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| - A photograph of a female Ukrainian soldier has gone viral on social media amid the war between Russia and Ukraine, which began with the former's invasion of Ukraine on 24 February.
While some social media users identified her as the wife of the 'Ukrainian Vice President', others claimed that it showed the First Lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, taking up arms.
We, however, found the viral photograph was not recent as it has been present on websites that sell stock images since 22 August 2021. We also found that Ukraine does not have a vice president.
CLAIM
Those sharing the viral image wrote a caption that read, "This is the wife of the Vice President of Ukraine. She is fighting for her Motherland. Massive Respect."
Another group of people who shared the image claimed that it showed the first lady of the country, and wrote, "The first lady of Ukraine Olena Zelenska she is set to defend her county too. Applause for the brave family."
Similar claims were widely shared on Facebook and Twitter, archives of some of which can be found here and here.
WHAT WE FOUND OUT
We conducted a reverse image search of the viral photograph on Google and found the image posted on stock photograph websites, Alamy and iStockPhoto.
The caption of the image, posted on 24 August 2021, said, "Rehearsal of the military parade on the occasion of 30 years Independence Day of Ukraine. Ukrainian smiling female soldier in military uniform on Khreshchatyk street."
The image was taken by Volodymyr Zakharov.
What About the Wife of Vice President of Ukraine?
We then conducted a keyword search for the vice president of Ukraine and didn't find any relevant results.
We checked the government structure of Ukraine and found that the country does not have a vice president. The president of Ukraine acts as the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and oversees executive ministries.
The prime minister of the country is the head of government and is appointed by the president with the consent of the legislature.
Who Is the First Lady of Ukraine?
The first lady of Ukraine and wife of President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Olena Zelenska, who assumed the role in 2019.
As of now, there have been no reports stating that the first lady or the president of the country has joined the armed forces to fight in the ongoing war. A similar claim about President Zelenskyy went viral where old images of him in military attire were shared to claim that he had taken up arms against Russia.
Therefore, it is clear that an old and unrelated image from stock photo website was shared with misleading claims.
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