Neither Belgian media nor official sources make any mention of the Muslim community of the city of Eupen declaring an “anti-Ukrainian jihad.” Belgian outlets report, moreover, that members of Eupen’s Russian community were involved in the altercation. The phrase was simply invented by pro-Russian outlets in order to inflate the scale of a conflict involving Ukrainian refugees abroad and to spread anti-Ukrainian narratives in Europe.
Social media and Russian websites are circulating claims en masse that the Muslim community in the Belgian city of Eupen has “declared an anti-Ukrainian jihad” following a confrontation between Ukrainians and members of the Muslim community in one of the city’s parks. “In Belgium, members of the Muslim community of the city of Eupen have declared an ‘anti-Ukrainian jihad’ after the death of an armed Syrian refugee during a mass brawl in a city park. This is reported by a number of media outlets. (…) Members of the community are openly threatening violence and vowing to slaughter every Ukrainian living in the city,” Russian media write.
In fact this is a manipulation. Neither Belgian media nor any other reliable source makes any mention of the Muslim community of Eupen declaring an “anti-Ukrainian jihad.” The phrase was simply invented by pro-Russian outlets in order to inflate the scale of a conflict involving Ukrainian refugees abroad and lend it greater significance.
The Belgian outlet The Brussels Times reports that on Aug. 30, 2026, a police officer shot dead a 42-year-old man from Eupen during a mass brawl. The incident reportedly began with a quarrel between children who attend the same school. Their parents then became involved, and the dispute escalated into a fight between two groups of adults. “Police arrived at the scene and attempted to calm the situation. During the intervention, one of those involved moved toward the other group brandishing a knife, prompting an officer to open fire. According to the prosecutor’s office, the officer fired two shots, fatally wounding the man,” the outlet reports.
The Brussels Times further specifies that one person was stabbed during the incident but is not in life-threatening condition. The man who was killed had lived in Eupen for several years, was originally from Turkey and had four children. Two separate investigations have been opened: one into the assault and the stabbing, the other into the police use of a firearm.
What is more, the German-language outlet BRF.be states outright that the confrontation involved two groups of Kurdish-Turkish and Russian — not Ukrainian — origin. Another German-language site, Grenzecho, refers to “a group of people of Russian-Ukrainian origin.” Not a single reliable source contains any comment about a so-called “anti-Ukrainian jihad” following the incident. Russian websites, moreover, deliberately add inaccuracies and invented details to the story in order to suggest that Ukrainians can feel safe nowhere, not even in EU countries where there is no fighting.
Once again, then, Russian websites and social media pages are grafting invented details and inaccuracies onto a real story and exaggerating the scale of an incident to suggest a mass surge of hatred toward Ukrainians abroad.
StopFake continues to expose fakes of this kind in Fake: Ukrainian Beaten in Argentine Cinema for Singing the National Anthem, Fake: El Faro de Ceuta Says Ukrainian Neo-Nazis Killed a Moroccan Woman and Her Daughter in Ceuta, Fake: Euronews Reports That Ukrainian Soldier Shot Three NATO Troops at Latvia Exercises Before Killing Himself.
