Verification within Meta’s Third-Party Fact-Checking Program
A video is being spread online, purportedly published by Reuters, claiming that Volodymyr Zelenskyi might enact a law to annul the passports and driver’s licenses of Ukrainians abroad. These provisions could come into effect from June 1, requiring all Ukrainian men aged 18 to 60 living abroad to return to Ukraine.
However, this is fake. Reuters did not publish this video; it was compiled from photos and video snippets available in the public domain. There is also no information that the Ukrainian authorities intend to annul the relevant documents of Ukrainians abroad.
Screenshot of the post
There is no such video on the Reuters website or social media. Also, there is no such draft law on the website of the Verkhovna Rada. Reliable Ukrainian media have not written about the possibility of this decision.
Furthermore, the video is a montage of freely available footage. In the video circulating online, the first shot of Volodymyr Zelenskyi was taken from his speech in the Verkhovna Rada on July 1, 2022. In the video, he did not mention annulling passports or driver’s licenses, nor did he talk about draft-age men abroad.
Footage of the vehicle checkpoint in 2022 was spread by Ukrainian media, citing the Western Regional Department of the State Border Service of Ukraine.
International media and the Ukrainian military published footage of Ukrainians standing in line at passport offices in April 2024.
The fake video also claimed that about 50 draft-age men returned to Ukraine from April 22. However, the “publication” did not specify the source of this data. The State Border Service did not provide such statistics, as the agency only reports the total number of border crossings each week, without specifying age and gender.
Moreover, the video was mainly spread by Russian resources, with the first fake being spotted on the propaganda Telegram channel “Sheikh Tamir” on May 4. Russian resources create such fakes, presenting them as publications by reputable international media to create panic among Ukrainians both in the country and abroad.
In a previous fact-check, we already debunked the fake that Ukraine intends to annul the passports of its citizens abroad. In reality, Ukrainian officials have not submitted a bill containing such provisions. Additionally, to escalate the situation, Russian propagandists spread a fake that Ukrainian men abroad had bought all tickets from Europe to Asia due to new restrictions from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
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