Did a Ukrainian soldier find sharp blades in pies? Analysing a propaganda video

russians persist in littering the internet with fakes. They’re even willing to learn Ukrainian to propagate their lies. Today, we’ll debunk a video purportedly showing a Ukrainian soldier somewhere near Avdiivka discovering razor blades concealed in his pies.

In the video, the soldier claims to have received the pies from a local elderly woman. 

The video footage has garnered thousands of views and is circulating on social media with captions such as “a granny somewhere near Avdiivka generously treated Ukrainian soldiers to tasty pies” and suggesting that “locals hate Ukrainians.”

Let’s look at the signs that collectively suggest this video is a fabrication. 

The alleged incident is said to have occurred near Avdiivka. It’s dubious that amidst round-the-clock shelling, a multi-story building with electricity and intact windows would still exist in the city or somewhere in the outskirts. Yet, that’s precisely the setting depicted in the video;

The footage shows two individuals (one holding the camera) standing in a lit room in front of a window at night. From a security standpoint, this is incredibly reckless; it’s highly unlikely that Ukrainian military personnel would be so careless;

The military uniform lacks insignias, and the camera angle obscures the face of the supposed “victim” of the elderly woman.

Around the 6-7 second mark, the man is seen breaking apart a pie that already appears torn. This suggests the “theatre prop” pie was deliberately damaged to insert a razor blade before filming;

The soundtrack also raises suspicions. Firstly, at the 10th second, the pronunciation of “і тут леза” (and here are the razor blades) is in russian and seems odd for the singular form; it’s more natural for a Ukrainian soldier to say “і тут лезо” (and here is the razor blade). Secondly, the last two sentences could easily win an Oscar - the russian intonation is a giveaway;

The video surfaced around February 5 on platforms known for disseminating russian propaganda before seeping into Ukrainian channels a day or two later, as usual. Regrettably, it was picked up and found traction on some Ukrainian-language social media pages

Unfortunately, many Ukrainians thoughtlessly and emotionally shared the russian fabrications. Narratives depicting locals’ hostility towards Ukrainian Armed Forces gain traction among those who buy into stories like “granny treating soldiers near Avdiivka,” perpetuated both by Ukrainians and russians. This incident once again underscores the importance of verifying primary sources and analyzing the context.

Below, in the comments, we present the fake video with the pies. Please watch it and share your thoughts on whether you agree with our findings.

As a reminder, we recently debunked another russian video fake alleging Ukrainian soldiers buried their fallen comrades in a forest pit