Ukraine not planning to ask Canada to mobilise ethnic Ukrainians

A quote calling for Canada to mobilise ethnic Ukrainians to help Kyiv in its war against Russia is being baselessly attributed on social media to Ukraine’s defence minister, Oleksii Reznikov.

The posts (seen here and here) include a picture with the quote.

It reads: "Canada is home to a huge number of ethnic Ukrainians, one of the largest national communities. Now, when the historical Homeland needs them, they should be here. They are Canadian citizens, but first of all they are Ukrainians. We will ask the Canadian government to send 30 thousand men of military age to us."

The quote is in Russian and is preceded by the headline: "Ukraine is planning to mobilise 30,000 Canadians."

According to Statistics Canada, a governmental agency commissioned with producing statistics, a 2016 census showed that 1.36 million people, or close to 4% of the Canadian population, reported at least one of their ethnic origins as Ukrainian (here).

Both Ukraine and Canada have denied the information contained in the posts.

"Cheap fake," Yuriy Sak, an adviser to Ukraine's Defence Minister, told Reuters when asked to comment on the reports.

Global Affairs Canada, in response to a request from Reuters, said that Canada had not received such a request from Ukraine.

Reuters also found no evidence that Reznikov ever publicly made such a statement.

VERDICT

False. Ukraine said the quote is fake, while Canada said it received no such request.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our work to fact-check social media posts .