Circulating posts in multiple languages falsely assert that photographers were positioned on rooftops to capture a strike on Kyiv’s UNESCO-listed Perchersk Lavra monastery.
Pro-Russian accounts on social media have circulated fabricated images, purportedly proving that photographers were strategically placed ahead of time to document an attack on one of Ukraine’s key religious landmarks.
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These claims suggest that the presence of camera crews on adjacent rooftops serves as proof that the attack on Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra was orchestrated by Ukraine.
The monastery complex suffered damage between June 14 and 15 during a wave of drone and missile strikes launched by Russia against Kyiv.
Officials confirmed that five people lost their lives and residential zones were affected as missiles struck both the UNESCO-protected monastery and the Oleksandr Dovzhenko Film Studios.
Established in the 11th century, the large monastery and church ensemble stands as one of Ukraine’s foremost Orthodox-Christian sites.
A video showing the aftermath posted by Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko displayed the Dormition Cathedral engulfed in flames.
Following the strike, Russian officials claimed Ukraine was responsible and asserted the damage to the cathedral resulted from a US-made Patriot missile.
Several users on platforms like X, Facebook, and TikTok have also alleged the attack was staged by Ukrainians, sharing two photos as evidence.
One image presents two men setting up a tripod on a rooftop, aiming it at the cathedral. Another purports to show a man photographing the strike’s aftermath amid burning rooftops.
The Cube fact-checking team at Euronews identified these posts circulating in German and Greek, accumulating over 110,000 views across social media, with accusations that these cameramen were forewarned about the strike.
One post claimed, «Filming bombardments in Ukraine is forbidden,» but on that very night, photographers with professional gear appeared on rooftops adjacent to the Lavra in Kyiv.»
Using OpenAI’s image verification tool, The Cube analyzed the photos, detecting a SynthID watermark hidden within each file.
SynthID es una marca digital invisible incorporada en imágenes creadas por los modelos de generación de imágenes de OpenAI, que permite identificarlas incluso después de ser compartidas en línea.
Las imágenes presentan además errores visuales notables. Muestran el techo de la catedral en verde, aunque fotos verificadas del complejo confirman que es marrón (algunos edificios cercanos sí cuentan con techos verdes).
Según el Servicio de Seguridad de Ucrania (SBU), Rusia es responsable del ataque, provocado mediante un vehículo aéreo no tripulado Geran-2.
No hay pruebas que respalden las afirmaciones de que el ataque fue montado o que fotógrafos ucranianos tuvieran conocimiento previo.
El presidente ucraniano Volodymyr Zelenskyy calificó el ataque como «uno de los crímenes más graves de Rusia contra la cultura cristiana hasta la fecha», mientras que el ministro de Relaciones Exteriores, Andrii Sybiha, anunció que Ucrania iniciará procedimientos ante la UNESCO y «otros mecanismos internacionales» para exigir una respuesta ante estos «terroristas rusos».
El presidente francés Emmanuel Macron también expresó en X que, «al igual que la guerra de agresión que Rusia ha estado librando contra Ucrania por más de 4 años, nada justifica este ataque contra nuestro patrimonio universal.»