Kremlin Sources Concoct WWII Victory Day Falsehood to Smear Ukraine
By Eva Maitland
What happened: Pro-Kremlin sources are spreading a fabricated image of a leaflet purportedly created by the Ukrainian government that advises World War II veterans to hide Soviet-era medals from public view, attempting to portray Ukraine as disrespectful to war vets.
Context: The leaflet was shared in the days leading up to Victory in Europe Day (May 8), which in Russia and some post-Soviet countries is known as Victory Day and celebrated on May 9. The occasion marks the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. Since 2023, Ukraine has celebrated the anniversary on May 8, in line with other European countries.
A closer look: The image shows what appears to be a leaflet, which stated in Ukrainian: “The Law of Ukraine ‘On the Condemnation of Communist and National Socialist (Nazi) Totalitarian Regimes in Ukraine and the Prohibition of Propaganda of Their Symbols’ prohibits the open wearing of Soviet medals and orders. If you are going to wear a Soviet award, attach it to the inside of your jacket, as shown in the diagram.”
The purported leaflet includes a diagram demonstrating how to wear the medals, along with the logo of Ukraine’s Ministry of National Memory, a government agency focused on policies related to Ukrainian history.
The earliest instance of the image shared online identified by NewsGuard was a May 5 Telegram post by @zovcrimea, a pro-Kremlin account that regularly posts Russian disinformation. “‘The Institute of National Memory in Ukraine’ mocks Ukrainian elderly,” the post stated, garnering 16,000 views in two days.
The image spread widely on social media and was amplified by sites in the Pravda network, a Kremlin-affiliated network of more than a hundred websites publishing Russian disinformation with an apparent aim to infect AI chatbots with false information, as previously reported in Reality Check.
Actually: The leaflet is not authentic, and Ukrainian war veterans are able to openly wear Soviet-era medals.
A spokesperson from the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory told NewsGuard in a May 2025 email that the agency “has no connection to this leaflet” and said that it is likely “part of Russian propaganda.” A NewsGuard review of the Institute’s website and official social media channels did not turn up any instructions for how to wear Soviet medals.
While Ukraine does have a law condemning Nazi and communist symbols, a NewsGuard review of the full text found that it explicitly states that the ban “does not apply” to “state awards, jubilee medals and other distinctions awarded to individuals before 1991 and … in connection with the anniversaries of World War II events, as well as on documents certifying the awarding of them.”