The photograph in focus is not of women being rewarded for reporting their spouses in the Army, but women of the urban community Loziv who developed and implemented a major project perpetuating the memory of the killed troops from the community. They were involved in several projects and the mayor is expressing his gratitude 

We are fact-checking a post on Facebook sharing a photograph of several women with flowers and plaques in their hands thereby claiming that they were monetary rewarded for reporting their spouses to the mobilization authorities of Ukraine.

What can I say, states the post sharing the photograph. 

Our fact-check proved that the claim in the post is false. Namely, the photograph of seven women holding certificates and flowers was taken in the municipality of Loziv in Kharkiv, which is obvious from the background with the sign “City Council Loziv”. The information shared in the post, however, is fabricated. 

As published by the portal 2024 Press, the photograph is of women who are members of a working group of the urban territorial community Loziv, who had developed and implemented a major project perpetuating the memory of the killed troops from the community. 

On the 25th of March, the head of the community expressed his gratitude to the members of the group for their “significant personal contribution in perpetuating the memory of the fallen defenders of Ukraine, and for the enormous amount of work put into the Book of Memory and the Field of Glory.” 

Previously, this photograph was released on the official Facebook community page of the city of Loziv. On the 25th of March, the community expressed its honor and gratitude to those involved in organizing events perpetuating the memory of the fallen fighters of Ukraine. 

The photograph is of members of the working group that developed and implemented a project honoring the memory of fallen heroes, especially – the equipment of the Memorial Corner, the Book of Memory of fallen troops from the Loziv community, as well as the arrangement of the military burial sector “Field of Glory” in the Central Cemetery and the Walk of Fame in the park “Victory”.  

Local representatives, including those from educational, and cultural institutions, participated in the work of the group, along with family members of the victims, volunteers, historians, and concerned citizens of the community, as specified in the publication.  

The website of the territorial community of the city of Loziv has a full list of all those who received gratitude from the President of the community for “significant personal contribution in the propagation of the memory of the fallen defenders of Ukraine”. 

Therefore, the photograph does not show women who were rewarded for reporting their spouses to the Army, as the fact-checked post claims, but women from the urban territorial community Loziv who developed and implemented a major project as part of the working group to perpetuate the memory of the fallen troops from the community. They had been involved in several projects and hence the mayor wanted to express his gratitude.

Because of all of the abovementioned arguments, we assess the post as false.