Fake: UAH 609 million of the budget will be spent on putting up Christmas trees

Information is circulating on social media claiming that 609 million hryvnias are earmarked from the Ukrainian budget for Christmas trees in all cities. Posts suggesting, “That’s 30,000 drones for the Armed Forces! You can’t even imagine how much they would help us now,” are making the rounds.

This, however, is a lie. There’s no information about the allocation of 609 million hryvnias from the budget for Christmas trees; it’s a fabricated claim. No such funds have been designated for Christmas trees, neither before the full-scale war nor at present.

The Centre for Strategic Communications refuted this fake on November 20, but the XXX Facebook community continued to propagate the fake news the following day. In total - 264 shares! 

UPD: the aforementioned community issued an apology and retraction, so we’ve concealed their name to prevent harming their future. However, we’ll keep an eye on their credibility. 

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely that the post will be removed, as the page administration has been informed that it’s not true, but continues to disregard comments refuting its veracity. The reach of the fake post is increasing by the minute, suggesting a deliberate effort to misinform readers.

As anticipated, the reaction from most commentators is one of despair and curses against the authorities. This is exactly what the fake news authors wanted. 

According to Chesno, in 2022, 16 cities responding to the movement’s request allocated a total of 191,000 hryvnias for Christmas trees and decorations. For instance, Lutsk spent 17,000 on decorations, while Lviv funded a Christmas tree through a local enterprise. 

Notably, both last year and this year, the main Christmas tree of the country will be installed on St. Sophia’s Square in Kyiv at the expense of patrons