The video is clearly staged: the purported «soldiers» speak with an exaggerated, affected accent that bears little resemblance to native speech. Similar fabricated clips have surfaced before, targeting figures such as Donald Trump and Emmanuel Macron, and are a recurring tool in the propagandists’ playbook.
A video circulating in pro-Russian online channels depicts individuals in Ukrainian military uniforms, faces obscured, allegedly threatening Erika Kirk, the widow of the late American activist Charlie Kirk, over her public statements on Ukraine. In the clip, the men warn that if she continues advocating for ceding Ukrainian territory to Russia, she could suffer the same fate as her husband. The footage also shows one of the figures striking a mannequin bearing Kirk’s likeness with a rifle.
In fact, the video is a Russian-produced fabrication. Native Ukrainian speakers immediately noted the unnatural accents and incorrect stress patterns in the supposed soldiers’ speech. Ukrainian viewers widely mocked the clip, with some commenting that «it’s hard to believe the Russians could produce something this low-quality.»
Russian propagandists have previously circulated staged videos targeting other Western figures. StopFake earlier debunked clips showing Ukrainian soldiers allegedly torturing a piglet wearing a Macron mask and burning a Trump effigy—both featuring «soldiers» speaking with noticeable accents. Versions of the Erika Kirk video with added English subtitles indicate it was designed primarily for a U.S. audience unfamiliar with Ukrainian or Russian, making the false narrative more believable.
Furthermore, Erika Kirk has not made any public statements regarding Ukraine, rendering the alleged threat baseless. Her late husband, by contrast, publicly opposed supplying weapons to Ukraine, referred to Crimea as «Russian territory,» and labeled President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a puppet of US intelligence services.
StopFake has also previously debunked a separate false narrative suggesting that Ukrainians on TikTok celebrated Charlie Kirk’s death.
