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.

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