Pro-Russian Telegram channels false claim: Ukrainian female soldiers were captured and raped
Author, Sandro Guindaze
Designation, BBC Monitoring and BBC Global Disinformation Unit
Author, Diana Kurishko
Designation, BBC Ukrainian
and
Author, Yaroslava Kiryukhina
Designation, BBC Russian
Published 30 minutes ago
Reading Time: 7 minutes
Warning: This story contains material that may be disturbing to some readers.
When Keti Leshkasheli, a Georgian doctor who served in the Ukrainian armed forces, returned from the front nearly three years ago, her phone kept ringing.
Friends and relatives wanted to know whether he was okay or not. She had seen posts on Telegram in which it was claimed that she had been kidnapped and raped.
"I learned that a video had surfaced claiming that I and some girls had been captured. It had a link to a Telegram channel in which we were being 'punished'," she told the BBC.
He recognized himself in the photo. It was a photograph of himself, taken several years ago in military uniform in the town of Avdiivka in eastern Ukraine. This city is now under Russian occupation.
She said, "They wrote all kinds of terrible things about me. It makes me angry. I can't do anything about it."
The post was part of a wider network of misleading Telegram advertisements. In these, users were attracted to pro-Russian channels by using fabricated claims and promises of video evidence of rape of Ukrainian women.
The BBC World Service obtained photographs of more than 20 women used as clickbait in the campaign, many of whom are or have served in the Ukrainian military. We talked to seven of these women.
Since Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, thousands of posts on Telegram groups or channels have claimed to show footage of the rape and murder of Ukrainian female POWs.
Telegram is a messaging app where users share and discuss content by joining large channels or groups. Posts on these platforms often include advertisements that link to other channels, private groups, or external sites.
It is the most popular messaging platform in Russia. Similarly, according to a nationwide survey, it was the main source of news for Ukrainians in 2025.
Using analytics tools to look for frequently used phrases and pseudonyms in Telegram posts, the BBC World Service found more than 6,500 ads related to sexual harassment.
These ads were posted by approximately 1,700 small channels on a variety of topics, ranging from "18+" to pro-war, finance, and memes.
Overall, these posts were viewed more than 6.5 crore times. Most of them followed the same pattern: they used real photos of real women, falsely claimed they had been kidnapped and raped, and added a link promising video evidence.
This was a deliberate shock tactic, aimed at attracting audiences with the promise of horrific scenes.
The post also claimed that the women had tortured Russian soldiers or "called for the burning of Russian children alive". These claims were also accompanied by racially and gender derogatory comments.
When users clicked on the post, they did not receive the expected content. Instead, the links took them to private Telegram channels that were filled with pro-war content.
These posts spread beyond Telegram. Videos on TikTok and YouTube, as well as posts on the Russian social network VKontakte, promote the same private Telegram channels, promising similar content.
Valentina Shapovalova, a researcher on gender-based disinformation, says the campaign "presents sexual violence as entertainment" in order to grab people's attention and make money.
She says that these posts may not have been made directly by the government. But it still serves the Kremlin's war aims. Because the people of Ukraine are insulted in these. Additionally, sexual violence against the 'enemy' is normalized.
Rename, delete, sell ads
By understanding the patterns seen in the posts, the BBC traced the network of Telegram channels that were benefiting from this campaign.
Six channels have more than 10 lakh subscribers.
BBC analyzed the three biggest channels among these. These three channels were created during the beginning of Russia's full-scale attack on Ukraine in February 2022. There was a gap of not more than 72 hours between their making.
The BBC analyzed more than 1,000 posts. Among these, the most frequently linked channel Priamoy Efir Novosti now has about 4 million subscribers. This number is higher than that of most major pro-Kremlin analysts and many government media organizations.
This channel calls itself a news channel. But its old name was "MVD 18+", which indicated adult content. Most of the channel's old messages from when the campaign was at its peak are no longer available.
Now it looks like any other pro-Kremlin Telegram news group. It posts news dozens of times a day. Takes information from Russian state media. It also carries advertisements for Alfa Bank, one of Russia's largest private banks. Britain, European Union and America have imposed sanctions on Alfa Bank. The BBC sought comment from the bank, but it did not respond.
These three channels are based on news from Russian state media and follow the Kremlin's editorial policy. They describe the Russian army's advance as "liberation". The European Union and Britain are described as aggressors. Celebrate the deaths of Ukrainian soldiers. Two of these channels regularly use ethnic insults against Ukrainians.
To find out how much money these channels were making from pro-war content, the BBC approached them as a potential advertiser.
Priamoy Efir Novosti reported that he charges at least 5 million rubles (5,000 pounds) for an advertisement. The other two channels asked for around 40,000 rubles (400 pounds) for an ad. There are also posts containing abusive and violent content on both these channels.
Priyamoy Efir did not answer any of the BBC's questions. In a message the channel described the BBC as "provocateur and propagandist". He said the BBC's information "does not match reality."
The BBC identified more than 6,500 clickbait posts. Of these, about 5,400 posts have now been removed. But new posts are continuously appearing.
In some posts, there are indications that these were created and posted automatically. The same text, including similar typographical errors, is posted from multiple accounts at the same time.
Yulia Mala said, "I reported these accounts and blocked them. But there are too many of them. The number of these fake accounts is continuously increasing."
To a large extent, no action was taken on the formal complaints of women whose photographs were used in posts related to violence.
Keti told that she repeatedly lodged complaints in Telegram. She said, "It is almost impossible to do anything. I want people to know that this type of fraud exists and not to fall for it."
Oleksandr, a Russian citizen who volunteered to fight for Ukraine, said she saw posts using her photos on so many channels in 2022, 2023 and 2024 that she eventually stopped tracking them.
"I saw that they used my photos and photoshopped my face onto a naked body... it was so extreme that at one point I stopped reacting," she said.
Telegram did not respond to the BBC's request for comment. Since February 2026, Russia's media regulator has banned Telegram in the country, accusing it of not complying with Russian law. However, this measure has not significantly restricted the use of the app, as Russian citizens are accessing the platform using a VPN.
She said, "It is very difficult for women to see such images. Women need to know that they are not alone, they have support. They have done nothing wrong."
