00:00No, this is not a leaked French plan to occupy Ukraine.
00:07False claims are spreading online that Russian hacking group Killnet has gained access to confidential documents detailing a Western plan to occupy Ukraine in the event of a peace deal.
00:18The disinformation claims that hackers accessed French military databases and retrieved this map outlining the planned division of Ukraine.
00:28Allegedly, four countries would split the natural resources and minerals of Ukraine between them.
00:36The propagandists also claim that 50,000 peacekeeping soldiers would be deployed by the so-called Coalition of the Willing,
00:44which is a group of as many as 35 mainly European countries that have offered to contribute to Ukraine's security guarantees.
00:52But these claims are completely fabricated and a closer look at this allegedly leaked map shows that it's the work of disinformation actors.
01:01For example, Belarus is incorrectly translated into French and the name of French General Thierry Burkhard is also misspelled.
01:09A new ex-account managed by France's Foreign and European Affairs Ministries, which aims to revert false narratives online,
01:17has exposed further errors that demonstrate that this is potentially Russian disinformation.
01:24For example, the French article La is missing in the title of the map, which is a mistake typically made by Russian native speakers.
01:32We also detected this video circulating online making the same unfounded claims.
01:38It's been viewed almost a million times.
01:41In conclusion, this is a blatant piece of disinformation that has nonetheless spread widely online.
01:48It's yet another example of disinformation undermining European efforts to support a future peace settlement in Ukraine.
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