By Bond Robertson 
Claimed to show carefree, luxurious beach life in Odessa, the Black Sea city in southern Ukraine that Russia never managed to conquer, the video has racked up several million views on X/Twitter alone since mid-August.
Scantily clad women and men, summer and sun and plenty of food and drink all stand in stark contrast to the horrific situation along the nearly 2,500-kilometer front line in Ukraine.
The text accompanying the video in question sarcastically reads: “Please keep the Ukrainian people in your thoughts.”
But the video does not show what she claims to do.
From Berlin and Sochi
The 31-second video, which went viral on other social media, appears to consist of three different videos.
All of the clips are supposed to be from Odessa, but the first clip is actually from Lake Plötzensee in Berlin, Germany. The third clip originates from a beach in Sochi, Russia.
Drink like crazy
It is mentioned respectively Fact-checking site Logical Facts And Swedish national broadcaster SVT.
Both media geolocated the two clips.
It’s unclear exactly where the second video clip, which runs along the beach, came from. But it cannot be ruled out that the source of the passage is Ukraine or Odessa.
Shared by an anonymous account
The clips appear to have been posted elsewhere in the past and then pieced together, SVT writes.
– The clips are posted in a single context, which changes later when they are posted on other platforms, Moa Eriksson Krutrök of Umeå University, who researches the use of social media during the war in Ukraine, tells SVT.
Spreading Russian Propaganda: Exposed
The related video investigated by SVT, which has the most views, was posted on August 12 by an anonymous X/Twitter account.
The account often shares materials supportive of former US President Donald Trump, criticizing current US President Joe Biden and US support for Ukraine.
The United States accounts for nearly 80 percent of Ukraine’s military support.
Strengthens division
US aid to Ukraine is a divisive issue between some parts of the Republican Party and the Democratic Party.
Several prominent Republican politicians have called for subsidies to be drastically reduced, or cut altogether.
– The aim could certainly be to reinforce this division, by publishing this kind of clips. The Swedish researcher says that the material, which in various ways portrays Ukrainians as liars, taking Americans’ money, can of course be useful to the American right.
Sour sting: – We’re ready
If the United States cuts support for Ukraine, it is also good for Russia, notes author Lasse Josephsen, who has monitored online extremist environments and online phenomena for a number of years.
He does not know anything in particular about the X/Twitter account that posted the video in question, but believes it has many similarities to accounts that spread disinformation on behalf of pro-Russian actors.
– This is a novel that aims to constantly question the “general narrative”, as Josefsen tells Dagbladet.
Incredibly harmful
There are too many of them, and it’s become a big problem, because it’s something that catches the eye, says Josefsen about the emergence of new users of disinformation on various social media.
He says that content spreads in several ways. Either by people who are aware of the harmful content he is posting, to cast doubt on what is real. Or by people posting content without them knowing what they’re actually sharing.
The publishers are often on the left and far right in politics, but they are also people who get paid by the Kremlin, according to Josefsen.
Their goal is one:
Some people spread as much nonsense as possible, preferring contradictory information. The most important thing for Russia is not that people stand by it all the time, but that they sow doubts.
Lacey Josephsen sums up the essence of publishing this kind of information:
If there were a thousand truths, nothing would be true.
If you suspect that content on social media is misinformation, he advises you not to post it.
Even if you think there might be something, it’s incredibly harmful. In addition to being a war on the battlefield, there is a war about which the truth must be reported, and it is important not to be published.
– I don’t want to think about war
On August 12, Odessa reopened many of its beaches for the first time since the large-scale Russian invasion on February 24 last year.
– Personally, I think that beach holidays, as a leisure activity, have become a bit outdated while our servicemen are fighting for every meter of Ukrainian territory, said the mayor of Odessa, Hennadig Trukhanov, before the opening of the beaches. to CNN.
“I want to kill you”
Others were more positive about the opening.
– I finally want to be able to swim again, as a distraction, Jevin, a student from Mykolajev, whose school was hit by a Russian airstrike, told Reuters.
– I don’t want to think about war and terrible things. He further says: I don’t want to think about it.