Does a video clip show that soldiers in Ukraine are faking combat for the cameras so they can continue to get U.S. funding? No, that's not true: The video shows behind-the-scenes activity during the filming of a music video. Several of the people featured in the final video are real soldiers. The woman pictured in the behind-the-scenes clip is Mariana Checheliuk, a 22-year-old National Police investigator who was taken captive in Mariupol in 2022 and held by the Russians until May of 2024 when she and 75 others were released.
The claim appears in a post on X (archived here) published on March 1, 2025. It is captioned:
🚨 BREAKING:
Ukraine "soldiers" have resorted to faking combat in order to appear "war torn" so the slush fund from the U.S. keeps churning money their way!
What do you think about this?
This is how the post appeared at the time of writing:
(Source: X screenshot taken on Mon Mar 03 15:36:40 2025 UTC)
This clip does show a staged production, but it's a music video, not a production intended to make deceptive "fake combat" scenes. The woman who appears in the behind-the-scenes clip (pictured above) can be seen at the 1:35 minute mark (pictured below) in a music video. This video (archived here) premiered on YouTube on February 24, 2025, the third anniversary of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine (archived here). The video title, "«Брати» (Міша Скорпіон & Віцик) | Офіційний кліп", translated by Google reads:
"Brothers" (Misha Scorpion & Vitsyk) | Official video
(Source: YouTube screenshot taken on Mon Mar 03 15:47:52 2025 UTC)
The caption of the video (translated by Google) reads:
This song is about true brotherhood, which is born in battle. About those who became a family in the war, who stand by each other in the most difficult moments.
The video was shot with the participation of Ukrainian military personnel, in particular the defenders of "Azovstal" who were captured: Maryana Checheliuk, Asan Isenadzhiev, Mykyta Shastun, Oleksandr Bevz.
We remember. We fight. We win.
This caption credits several of the Ukrainian military personnel featured in the video -- the first person on the list, Maryana Checheliuk, would be immediately recognizable to Ukrainians. She was a police investigator in her home city of Mariupol when she was taken captive in May of 2022 (archived here). She was one of 75 Ukrainian captives who were released on May 31, 2024. In a collection of photos (pictured below) posted that day by the official Facebook account of Volodymyr Zelenskyy (archived here), Checheliuk appears wearing a black t-shirt (below right). The post caption (translated by Google) reads:
Throughout all of this time, we have not stopped working for a single day to bring everyone home from Russian captivity.
And today, we have an important result: 75 more of our people have returned to Ukraine. The Armed Forces, National Guard, border guards, and four civilians. All of them are already on their native land.
We remember about every person. We are making every effort to find each and every one of our people. I am grateful to the team responsible for the exchanges.
(Source: Lead Stories composite image with Facebook screenshots taken on Mon Mar 03 17:03:27 2025 UTC)
At the time this was written, India Today had reviewed the same claim.
Additional Lead Stories fact checks on the Russia/Ukraine War can be found here.
