Fact Check: Did Russia Release TV Ad of Soldiers Urinating on NATO Vehicle?

Russia has reportedly faced major losses in recent combat, with Ukrainian authorities alleging that more than 6,000 enemy soldiers have been killed during the past week.

The General Staff of Ukraine's Armed Forces said Russia has suffered a total of 308,720 troop losses since the beginning of its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. That number includes 1,080 casualties suffered over the past day. Russia passed the 300,000 mark in Kyiv's tally on October 31, when it hit 300,810 losses.

However, a video alleged to have been made by the Russian Ministry of Defense portrayed a far more emboldened military force, depicting two soldiers proudly urinating on NATO hardware.

The Claim

A post on X, formerly Twitter, by user @MyLordBebo, viewed 836,400 times, posted on November 7, 2023, stated: "BOOM: Russia's new recruitment ad!

"LMAO ... "It burns"

The ad shows two soldiers facing the camera, appearing to urinate. Subtitles state that one soldier says: "And they said NATO (equipment) does not burn." The other replies "It burns so much, it's freaking hard to extinguish it."

The camera then pulls away in the opposite direction, revealing the soldiers are appearing to urinate on military equipment, surrounded by other burnt-out equipment and corpses. A title then reads "Burn it with us."

The Facts

The video has been shared widely on social media. Ukrainian government adviser Anton Gerashchenko posted on X on November 7, 2023 that "This is reportedly an ad to enlist into the Russian army. It lists being able to (pardon me) urinate on Western equipment as the job's perk.

"Every time you think Russia can't get any lower..."

Pro-Russian war Telegram channel Mill Info Live identified the vehicles in the film as "an Australian Bushmaster armored vehicle, a Swedish CV9040C infantry fighting vehicle, an American M1224 MaxxPro armored vehicle, a pair of M2A2 Bradley ODS-SA infantry fighting vehicles and an M113 armored personnel carrier, as well as two German Leopard 2A4s."

It has not been verified if the vehicles in the film are authentic or replicas, nor who the film was produced by.

As of the time of publication, the video has not been posted on the Russian Ministry of Defense's Telegram or its websites. All of the versions of the video that Newsweek was able to find online were the same length, none of which included contact details for recruitment or conscription.

Newsweek has contacted the Russian Ministry of Defense and NATO via email for comment.

Reverse image searches of key scenes from the ad showed there were no uploads of the film earlier than this week, none of which were attributed to independent TV or film productions.

This still does not confirm whether or not the film was commissioned or made by the Russian government.

The video lacks some of the seriousness of other recent Russian military propaganda and does not contain any insignia or information for Russian authorities.

However, the film has seemingly high production values, which may have required state funding, and uses a typeface at the end of the ad similar in style and presentation to that used in other Russian Ministry of Defense recruitment promos.

It was also posted to a pro-Russian news site based in occupied territory, where it was attributed to the Russian MoD. The film has also been attributed to Russia's MoD by Russian military bloggers.

Furthermore, while we cannot tell whether the vehicles in the ad are authentic or replicas, it is unlikely that anyone apart from the Russian military would have access to or logistics to transport recovered hardware from NATO member countries.

The Russian government has previously been suspected of producing unattributed political films to support campaigning efforts.

In 2018, opposition journalists claimed a viral video encouraging citizens to vote in the Russian presidential elections had been created by Vladimir Putin's campaign, reported The Guardian. The film contained homophobic content alleging that those who did not vote would see Russia turn into a gay-friendly state.

Nonetheless, while the video of Russian soldiers urinating on a tank may have been produced by the state, there is no verifiable evidence that confirms this was a government-produced film.

X user @MyLordBebo, which posted the video, has previously published unverified claims about the conflict including that a strike on a Russian airport in August was launched from Estonia, a NATO member country. The Estonian government denied the claim.

The Ruling

Unverified.

There is no verifiable evidence that this film was produced by the Russian government. While it has been attributed by multiple Russian military bloggers to the Russian Ministry of Defense, it has not been posted by the Russian MoD, and versions of the film posted online do not contain the insignia of Russian authorities nor links to recruitment organizations.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team

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