PHOTOFAKE: In the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade, soldiers are forced to repair NATO equipment without instructions

Russian Telegram channels are spreading a screenshot of an article from a Ukrainian media outlet claiming that in the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Zakarpattia Brigade, repair personnel are given NATO weapons without instructions because the command allegedly confiscated all documentation on orders from above. As a result, soldiers supposedly have to repair the equipment “blindly” and look for explanations on YouTube.

However, this is a photofake. Propagandists changed the article’s headline and distorted its content. The original material contains no claims that the command confiscated instructions or banned access to technical documentation. 

Using keywords, we found the original article published on November 25, 2025, by the Zakarpattia media outlet “Banosh.” The real headline of the material is “A soldier of the 128th Zakarpattia Brigade repairs even NATO weapons without instructions,” not “A soldier of the 128th Zakarpattia Brigade is forced to repair NATO weapons without instructions.”

It is likely that propagandists changed the headline in a photo editor or by editing the page’s code.  

The article recounts the story of a repairman from the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade named Ivan, which was first published on the brigade’s own page on social media. In a comment, the serviceman stated that there is “practically no literature” for NATO weapons, so they additionally search for information on their own and successfully carry out repairs. This is a general statement about the difficulty of working with foreign weapon systems, not an accusation of concealing technical documentation. The text of the material makes no mention of the brigade’s command confiscating instructions for NATO equipment at the commander-in-chief’s order.

Ukrainian military personnel indeed face difficulties with repairing foreign equipment. In many cases, high-tech weapons are transferred to the recipient country with the condition that repairs or modernization may be carried out only by authorized service centers or the manufacturer abroad. Such restrictions are standard practice within the framework of export control and the protection of sensitive technologies, and they apply not only to Ukraine but also to other recipient countries of NATO systems.
In addition, there are purely logistical problems. In high-tech weapons, software often fails or control systems overheat. Such malfunctions can be fixed only by manufacturers or certified workshops in Europe — Ukrainian specialists have not yet had time to undergo the appropriate training. Also, even in manufacturing countries, there is a shortage of spare parts, which delays work that Ukrainian technicians could perform independently, such as replacing barrels.

Therefore, the difficulty of repairs is an objective factor unrelated to the alleged concealment of documentation by the Ukrainian command.