Tetiana Sadovnycha, sign language interpreter, Kyiv24 TV channel - attack 27.04.2026

On April 27, 2026, Natalia Liashchenko, director of the Kyiv24 TV channel, reported on her Facebook page that Russian propaganda had used the image of the channel’s sign language interpreter, Tetiana Sadovnycha. In the video described by Liashchenko, during a speech by President Volodymyr Zelensky on the economy, the interpreter allegedly shows a sign reading “You are being lied to.”

As Liashchenko told Women in Media, the fake video was spread by the Russian Telegram channel VOBLA, which has over one million subscribers. The caption claimed there was a “scandal on Ukrainian TV,” alleging that the interpreter had “first called Zelensky a ‘liar’ in sign language and then displayed a sign saying ‘You are being lied to.’” According to their version, this supposedly happened during the President’s speech about economic achievements, after which the woman was “removed from the broadcast.”

The Kyiv TV channel also aired a segment debunking the fake. Its description stated: “The enemy has once again resorted to manipulative tactics, using footage from our channel. This time, artificial intelligence was used to falsify the sign language of interpreter Tetiana Sadovnycha. Russian channels are spreading a video in which she allegedly shows a sign reading ‘You are being lied to’ during the President’s speech on the economy. We officially state: this is a low-quality fake!”

This case demonstrates signs of technology-facilitated gender-based violence (TFGBV), particularly through the use of deepfake manipulation and impersonation. The image of Tetiana Sadovnycha was used without her consent to create a fake video attributing actions and statements to her that she never made. This constitutes gendered disinformation and online defamation, as it distorts her professional activity and can undermine trust in her as a specialist.

The dissemination of such content through large pro-Russian channels indicates a targeted information attack aimed both at discrediting a specific woman media worker and at manipulating audiences by undermining trust in Ukrainian media overall.