A recruitment poster urging American welfare recipients to join war in Ukraine is fake

Context

A viral image on social media shows a fake advertisement for the International Legion for the Defense of Ukraine (ILDU). The poster shows a man lying on the seats of a train, with a placard reading "Will Work" next to him. It adds, "Tired of living on welfare? Join the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine," and adds that members will get international volunteer status, medical insurance, and monthly payments. One Facebook user sharing the photo captioned it as an advertisement in the U.K. looking for homeless people to join the fight against Russia. Others sharing the same poster on Facebook and Twitter captured more of the purported ad, showing it had an additional section with a phone number and was captioned "Join the Brave." Some claimed it is being circulated in New York suburbs and on trains in the U.S. However, this isn't an actual poster created by the ILDU.

In Fact

Logically Facts found that the phone number used on the poster is of the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, DC. However, we found no reference to the release of any such official poster on the websites and social media pages of the ILDU or the Embassy of Ukraine in the U.S. 

The name of the group is spelled using the British English spelling “defence,” rather than the American English spelling “defense.” We also traced the image of the man to the stock website Pexels, where it was posted by user Timur Weber on September 12, 2021.

Logically Facts contacted the ILDU and the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, DC, to comment on the legitimacy of these posters. Halyna Yusypiuk, a spokesperson for the Embassy in Washington, confirmed that the posters are not real, telling Logically Facts, "Neither Ukrainian MOD nor the Embassy ever produced any materials marketing the recruitment of the US citizens to the Legion. This episode is to be investigated by local security authorities."

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy created the ILDU after the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It consists of foreign citizens wishing to join the resistance against the Russian occupiers and fight for global security. 

The Verdict

A fake poster is being circulated on social media claiming to be a recruitment ad for the ILDU, and the Embassy of Ukraine in Washington, DC, has confirmed to Logically Facts that the ad is fake. Therefore, we have marked the claim as false.