WHAT WAS CLAIMED
A video shows people being made up to look like war-torn Ukrainian soldiers to get more US funding.
OUR VERDICT
False. The clip shows behind-the-scenes footage from the making of a music video.
AAP FACTCHECK - Footage shows people in military uniform being made up to look like war-torn soldiers for a music video, not actors faking combat to extract more US funding, despite claims online.
The widely shared footage is a behind-the-scenes clip from a Ukrainian music video, but that hasn't stopped the false posts from spreading.
"Ukraine 'soldiers' have resorted to faking combat in order to appear 'war torn' so the slush fund from the U.S. keeps churning money their way," one Facebook post is captioned.
The claim came as the US paused military aid and intelligence-sharing in early March following a heated exchange between President Donald Trump and his Ukrainian counterpart Volodymyr Zelenskiy in the White House.
The posts share a 17-second clip in which an apparently dirty and bloodied young woman in combat uniform is being dusted with makeup.
A TikTok tag for the account @vitsikkkk2 is clearly visible in the clip.
The actual clip used in the Facebook posts appears to have been deleted by the TikTok account, but a similar clip showed a makeup artist working on the same female "soldier".
Ukrainian combat medic Vitsik, who owns the account, has confirmed the clip was behind-the-scenes footage from a music clip for Ukrainian artist Misha Scorpion.
A video for Scorpion's song Brothers on YouTube featured Vitsik and the woman from the behind-the-scenes clip (one minute, 36 seconds).
Another song by the Ukrainian artist used part of the same footage, and the same woman was visible (1:12).
Vitsik responded to the false claims about the clip in an Instagram story, saying: "This is the production of a music video."
The story has since disappeared, but a screenshot of it was published in an India Today fact-check article.
AAP FactCheck has debunked similar claims involving Palestinians in Gaza in relation to the Middle East conflict.
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