Fact Check: Ukrainian Embassy In Czechia Did NOT Recruit Czech Mercenaries With Flyers

Fact Check

  • by: Lead Stories Staff
Fact Check: Ukrainian Embassy In Czechia Did NOT Recruit Czech Mercenaries With Flyers Fake Ad

Did the Ukrainian embassy in Prague recruit Czech fighters with the help of leaflets displayed in public places such as bus stops? No, that's not true: The embassy said in a statement published on its social media accounts that such flyers were forged.

The claim appeared in a post (archived here) on TikTok on March 25, 2024. The title above the photo of the fake recruitment flyer said (translated from Czech to English by Lead Stories staff):

On bus stops

The text on the flyer, which features headshots of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Czech President Petr Pavel, read (as translated):

The Embassy of Ukraine in the Czech Republic

Are you of full legal age? Do you like adventure? Become a mercenary in the Ukrainian army. Come to defend interests of the American dollar, capital, 'democracy and freedom'. Just like American heroes have graves in Vietnam you can have yours in Ukraine. The reward is USD 2,000 to 3,000 a month. Glory to Ukraine!

https://czechia.mfa.gov.ua

This is what the post looked like at TikTok at the time of writing:

(Source: TikTok screenshot taken on Tue Mar 26 10:59:17 2024 UTC)

In a statement on its Facebook account, the Ukrainian embassy called the flyers "Russian propaganda" and invited the public to "carefully approach" and "thoroughly verify" all information. On the authenticity of the flyer in the TikTok post, the embassy wrote:

We want to emphasize that the embassy does not and can't have any connection with the leaflets that were distributed in some public spaces, and can't support such activity.

This is what the embassy's post looked like on Facebook at the time of writing: