Amid intense negotiations to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, a video is circulating on Facebook in Bulgaria claiming to show residents of the Ukrainian city of Kharkiv protesting with demands for the city to become part of Russia. Another post shares the same video, implying that Ukrainian citizens identify as Russians. However, an investigation by Agence France-Presse (AFP) found that the video is not authentic and does not depict real events. The clip was generated using artificial intelligence — as shown by multiple visual inconsistencies and other evidence. AFP found no information from credible sources about pro-Russian protests taking place in major Ukrainian cities, a finding confirmed by the agency’s bureau in Kyiv.
"KHARKIV RESIDENTS WANT TO BE PART OF RUSSIA," reads a Facebook post from December 16, 2025. The post includes a 10-second video showing a crowd of people walking down a street with Russian flags, chanting in Russian: "Russia, we are waiting for you! We hope all this ends soon."
The same video was also posted on December 18, 2025, on the timeline of a Facebook profile bearing the name and photo of Strahil Angelov, a former Member of Parliament (2013–2014) from the “Coalition for Bulgaria”. The lengthy post begins with the words: "Russia has no choice – all Russians who are on the territory of the fictional state of Ukraine will return home!"
At the time of publishing this fact-check, the video in both posts had been viewed more than 725,000 times in total...
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