FACT CHECK: Fake Recruitment Leaflets Promise US Students Debt Relief for Joining Ukraine’s Defense

Recent Russian disinformation trends on X, formerly Twitter, include a fake recruitment campaign attributed to the United States and Ukraine governments. They use a picture of an alleged recruitment leaflet that urges students in the U.S. to go fight in Ukraine.Show more

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 suspended Russian Monitor’s account.

S.L. Kanthan, a verified X user with 105.4k followers who regularly spreads pro-Russia disinformation, likewise tweeted the image and commented:

“Late-stage capitalism in the USA: ‘Can’t pay off your $100,000 student debt for which you got a s****y job at Starbucks? ‘Go to Ukraine, fight and die.’ Debt trap and game of thrones, American style.”

DaiWW, a verified X user with 13.3k followers who tweets about geopolitics and marked Beijing as their location, tweeted the image with this commentary:

“If you can't afford the student loans, you can join the mercenary for Ukraine. This sounds exactly like a ‘debt trap.’”

These claims are false.

Research demonstrates that the flyer is fake. There is no evidence the U.S. or Ukrainian governments have ever attempted to recruit U.S.-based students to serve in or alongside Ukrainian military forces. #Russia #US #Ukraine #factcheck #voanews