At the end of July and the beginning of August, an information attack against the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) started simultaneously on several platforms (Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube). The authors of fake posts claimed that in a published video, soldiers of the 79th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the AFU in Zaporizhzhia were receiving ephedrine from USAID. Some channels refer to ephedrine as a stimulant necessary for producing methamphetamine, while others directly label this substance as a drug. The new video is being attempted to be linked to the old narrative of Russian propaganda about ‘combat drugs of the AFU,’ which allegedly alleviate pain and boost the combat morale of Ukrainians.
With the support of the USAID Health Reform Support project, VoxCheck analyzes and refutes public health narratives spread in the information space of Ukraine, Belarus, and russia on a weekly basis.
What happened?
On July 27th, in a fake Telegram channel allegedly belonging to the 79th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a post was published with a video where soldiers allegedly receive “another aid from brothers Americans.”
Screenshot of the post
Four days later, the video began to spread widely across Russian and pro-Russian Telegram channels and on Twitter pages. The peak of its dissemination was on August 1st – on this day, over 30 posts with fake videos appeared on the network. After that, mentions of the fake gradually decreased. It is important that at the time of publishing this material, fake posts continue to emerge on social media, and previous publications still garner engagement and views. No social media platform has taken measures to restrict the spread of this video so far.
Throughout the observation period from July 27th to August 7th, VoxCheck recorded 88 original posts with fake video on Facebook, Twitter, Telegram, and YouTube. However, considering the limitations of manual search and reposts (especially in closed groups), the actual number of posts with fake video is significantly higher.
The fake was spread in at least three languages: Ukrainian, English, and Russian. We observed the highest number of cases – almost 74% – in English, 25% in Russian. Only about 1% of the posts were in Ukrainian.
Already on August 31, Maria Zakharova, a representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, shared this fake. She mentioned “USAID drugs” as an example of the legalization of drugs in Ukraine and the attempt to create “universal soldiers of the Armed Forces” with the help of psychotropic substances. Thus, in just a month, a fake that appeared in an anonymous Telegram channel ended up in the official rhetoric of Russian officials. There is a threat that the russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs will spread disinformation to discredit Ukraine in the international arena.
What’s the reality?
The video first appeared on the Telegram channel “79th Separate Airborne Assault Brigade Mykolaiv.” However, the 79th Brigade does not have an official Telegram account. Instead, there is a network of fake channels in this messenger that pretend to be the accounts of Ukrainian military units. Typically, they spread disinformation, create panic, and gather readers’ data.
Furthermore, in pro-Russian channels, it is claimed that the soldiers received stimulants in Zaporizhzhia. However, from open sources, it is known that the 79th brigade operates in the Mariiinka and Vuhledar directions in the Donetsk region. This was reported by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in July.
In a comment to foreign fact-checkers from Lead Stories, a representative of USAID stated that the Agency did not supply ephedrine or any other substances to Ukraine for the Armed Forces. This is also confirmed by the data on the organization’s website: USAID does not have programs assisting the Ukrainian military. Instead, support for Ukraine in the healthcare sector is focused on several areas, including the development of medical reforms, particularly the improvement of state procurement of medications, assistance to individuals with HIV and tuberculosis, enhancement of rehabilitation services, and vaccination.
Ephedrine can indeed be used in the production of methamphetamine. However, that’s not its sole purpose. Ephedrine is a substance derived from the ephedra plant. It is used for treating allergic reactions, bronchial asthma, low blood pressure during anesthesia, or to alleviate nasal congestion. For instance, in Ukraine, several medications for respiratory conditions are available that contain ephedrine. We haven’t found any cases where ephedrine in its pure form was provided to Ukrainian military personnel.
This information piece was produced with the assistance of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), provided on behalf of the people of the United States of America. This article’s content, which does not necessarily reflect the views of USAID, the United States Government, is the sole responsibility of Deloitte Consulting under contract #72012118C00001.
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