Truth about the viral video of the crowd in Bukovel
It’s Bukovel again, and the game of emotions resumes with thousands of reposts and comments. No sooner had the commotion over the fake traffic jam at the resort entrance quieted down than a new fake emerged - a video showcasing a crowd of holidaymakers on the territory of Bukovel. The material, of course, is accompanied by texts mentioning the war, the shopping centre, injustice, and mobilization.
Well, we’ll dig deeper and get to the bottom of this too. The recent debunking of a prior hoax about traffic jams near the same resort is accessible right here.
We analyzed the sensational video and highlighted a few key observations:
The ambiance captured in the footage aligns with the 2020/2021 season. It’s a well-known fact that during the quarantine period, Bukovel witnessed substantial crowds. A side-by-side comparison of the fake video and a 2021 photo reveals striking similarities.
Had this year’s crowd size at the resort mirrored that of the fake video, we would undoubtedly witness similar scenarios in other video materials. Numerous December videos from 2023 on YouTube contradict this, confirming a notably lower number of visitors. Even a quick scan through Instagram and surveillance cameras on the resort’s premises fails to reveal any evidence of a massive influx of holidaymakers.
A banner hanging to the left of the Aston restaurant helped us in our investigation. In the 2020/2021 season, the banner, with the words “Rope Park” in white letters, was distinctly blue. In 2023, the banner has undergone a transformation — it’s now yellow with black lettering. In the fake video, however, the banner maintains its 2020/2021 appearance, with blue and white contrast. Please check the comments with an illustration for comparison.
The Milka brand advertisement has helped us in our investigation, bridging the gap between the fake video and those from 2021. It was in 2021 that Milka orchestrated a draw for a Bukovel trip certificate. The advert for the chocolate brand was absent in 2023. Please leave your comparisons in the comments.
However, we suspect that there’s an orchestrated distribution of the video. This is evidenced by the presence of provocative captions, curated background music, and mirrored versions. The intentional mirroring is a tactic aimed at thwarting attempts to trace the video’s original source.
Conclusion: a video from the quarantine period of 2021.
Some visual statistics:
On TikTok, the fake video posted on Ihor Mosiychukєs page boasts 1.9 million views and 36,500 likes.
The Facebook page of the “Movement for the Language” recorded 44,000 views, 1,000 reactions, and over 270 comments.
A post on Yevhen Prokopyshyn’s page garnered 45,000 views, fifty reactions, and over 660 shares. Notably, MP Mariana Bezuhla’s endorsement through a thumbs-up amplified the fake’s reach within her audience.
As you can see, the video is being actively shared and commented on, and the numbers mentioned are just the tip of the iceberg.
The moral of this tale is a reminder: sometimes, the real story lies not in the foreground but in the details of the background, photos, and videos, offering a deeper truth than what’s in the foreground, which is often misleading 
