Recently seen on X, the messaging platform formerly known as Twitter, was a fake recruitment campaign attributed to the United States and Ukraine governments. A picture of a fake recruitment leaflet urges indebted students in the U.S. to go fight in Ukraine.
The leaflet, bearing the emblem of the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and a U.S. phone number, shows a young person sitting on the floor, back to a wall, with his arms crossed and head down.
It is captioned:
“How to Pay off Your Student Loans? Join the International Legion for the Defence of Ukraine.” (Note the creator’s use of the British English spelling of “defen[c]e” vs the U.S. spelling of “defen[s]e”.)
The alleged advertisement promises “international volunteer status,” “medical insurance” and “monthly payments.”
Some verified X accounts reposted the image repeating the Russian disinformation line that poverty or financial strain is enticing American citizens to go fight and die in Ukraine.
For example, verified X user Russian Monitor, self-identified as a “Media and News Company,” (not to be confused with the Warsaw Institute propaganda research initiative Russia Monitor in Poland ) shared the image and wrote:
“As the meat grinding continues in Ukraine with an attendant massive losses for the Ukrainian military and its NATO mercenaries, The US [h]as launched an Indirect recruitment campaign amongst student, urging them to pay their ‘student loan’ by joining the Ukrainian army as an Alternative.”
Recruiting or hiring someone to serve in a foreign military on U.S. soil may constitute a federal crime.
By the time of this writing, X had already suspended Russian Monitor’s account.
Sources: VOA, X (Twitter).
