Russian propaganda media outlets, Telegram channels, and bot accounts on the social media platform X are circulating misleading claims that Ukrainian photographers had allegedly “prepared in advance” for the strike on the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra by setting up a filming position beforehand.
To support this narrative, propagandists published a collage consisting of two photographs. They claim that the first image shows two men setting up photographic equipment during the day before the attack, while the second, allegedly taken from the same location at night, shows a photographer documenting the burning Dormition Cathedral. Based on this comparison, the authors of the posts falsely conclude that Ukraine supposedly “staged” the attack to obtain dramatic footage ahead of the G7 summit in France.
This claim is false.
In reality, the photographs depict two different cathedrals, which propagandists deliberately present as if they were the same building. The daytime image does not show the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra. Instead, it depicts St. Sophia Cathedral, a separate landmark located in another part of Kyiv.
The nighttime photograph, meanwhile, shows a photographer documenting the aftermath of the Russian attack on the Dormition Cathedral of the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra.
