Russian propaganda channels spread forged front pages of global media outlets – including The Jerusalem Post – to discredit Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
The fake front pages were disseminated after Zelensky’s former press secretary, Yuliia Mendel, gave an interview last week with US pro-Russian pundit Tucker Carlson.
In the interview, Mendel attacked her former boss, calling him a “dictator,” accusing him of taking drugs, and claiming that he ordered her to produce Nazi-style “Goebbels propaganda.”
The drug accusation has circulated for a while; In 2019, several clipped fragments from a 2019 interview in which he actually said he was addicted to coffee and does not use drugs were edited to look like an admission of usage.
The doctored video was spread online, with one user sharing the caption: “Evidence this clown Zelensky is a habitual cocaine user.”
Shortly after the Mendel interview, Russian social media users on Telegram, X/Twitter, and Facebook circulated screenshots of supposed front pages from Germany’s Bild, Britain’s Liverpool Echo, Portugal’s Publico, France’s Ouest-France, and The Jerusalem Post.
For example, a fake front page of the Liverpool Echo displayed the title “It is no secret that he is a drug addict.” The original front page covered the story of a child’s rescue.
Fake websites that look and seem just like real news sites
The faked Post page showed Zelensky’s face with a red cross through it, alongside the title “he demanded that propaganda be conducted in a manner similar to Goebbels.” The original May 12 cover was about the major investigation into sexual crimes committed by Hamas.
The doctored cover of the Ouest-France issue from May 12 showed Mendel and Carlson with the title “Goebbels on Cocaine.” The real one was about hantavirus cases in France.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha described Mendel’s interview as “lies and manipulations aimed against Ukraine’s interests and in support of Russian demands and ultimatums.”
“I didn’t even listen to the end of the pathetic, vile ‘revelations’ of the former press secretary,” he said.
“The disgusting things she said are not an attack against the president, but against her own country. It is repulsive when, for the sake of ‘fame,’ such individuals are ready to humiliate their own state and grovel before Russian propaganda,” he stated.
“In the end, this person is not the first to join the club of servants of Russian propaganda and narratives. But that is a one-way ticket.”
Russia is well-known for running political disinformation campaigns. In 2022, it launched a campaign called “Doppelganger” that targeted Ukraine, Germany, France, and the United States, with the aim of undermining support for Ukraine.
This relied on fake websites that look and seem just like real news sites, such as Le Parisien, Fox News, and The Washington Post.
These doctored pages have been spread before, but this is likely the first time they have included the Post.
The Post’s editor-in-chief, Zvika Klein, confirmed that Russian propagandists forged a front page, using The Post’s name and design to push a fake narrative about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.
“This is the part of disinformation that people sometimes miss,” he wrote. “It does not only invent stories. It hijacks trusted institutions, copies their visual language, and tries to turn credibility into a delivery system for lies.”
“For those of us running newsrooms, this is now part of the job. We publish. We verify. We correct. We also defend the basic idea that a real front page should mean something.”
“The public can help by doing one simple thing before sharing dramatic screenshots: check the source.”
