Does a real English-language France 24 video factually describe a Ukrainian bill about construction of a monument aimed at commemorating national heroes? No, that's not true: The head of France 24 English told Lead Stories that the French broadcaster never produced such a video. Contrary to the fake video on social media, the actual Ukrainian monument legislation is not centered exclusively on the World War II UPA fighters, or Ukrainian Insurgent Army.
While the bill mentions them as possible candidates, it includes a broad spectrum of historical figures. The Ukrainian parliament has emphasized that people who were convicted of crimes against international law and who are subject to legislation condemning the Nazi regime, among others, "cannot be included in the Pantheon."
The claim appeared in a post (archived here and here) published on X by @DangerousThinkg on July 8, 2026. It said:
This is just plain incomprehensible Ukraine has announced that construction of its UPA memorial will begin on July 11 -- the very day Poland commemorates the victims of the Volhynia massacres.
The English-language narration from the attached video continued:
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has signed an executive order authorizing the construction of a memorial complex dedicated to members of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, the UPA. Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko confirmed that construction is expected to begin on July 11th in Volyn Oblast near the city of Lutsk. The 70 million euro project will be funded by the European Union through the Ukraine Facility Mechanism. The central section of the complex will be dedicated to historical figures, including Dmytro Klyachkivsky, Roman Shukhevych, Andriy Melnyk and Stepan Bandera. The decision comes at a time when relations between Ukraine and Poland have reached one of their lowest points. In Poland, the UPA is widely condemned for its role in the Volhynia massacres, during which tens of thousands of ethnic Polish civilians were killed. The move follows another controversial decision in May 2026 when Zelensky named a military unit in honor of the heroes of the UPA. In response, Polish President Karol Nawrocki revoked Zelensky's order of the White Eagle, the highest state honor of Poland.
This is what the shared clip with the visible France 24 logo looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: post by @DangerousThinkg on X.)
Fake report
France 24 Deputy Director and Head of English News Channel Thomas Fenton answered Lead Stories via a LinkedIn message on July 9, 2026, about the purported report with the channel's logo:
No. It's clearly a fake.
In 2026, France24 covered (archived here) tensions between Poland and Ukraine, but this specific video did not appear on the channel's website.
Google searches across the France 24 English website for the keywords seen here (archived here) didn't show recent reports about the construction of the purported monument. Another search (archived here) returned one result but that page (archived here) discussed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's absence at a conference on the reconstruction of Ukraine, organized in Poland.
The viral video claimed to show a real presidential decree proving the claim:
(Image source: post by @DangerousThinkg on X.)
However, the real decree with that number (archived here) didn't say any of that. The document instead assigned a new rank to the head of the Main Directorate of the National Police in the Kyiv region. This what that page, automatically translated to English by Chrome, looked like on the website of the Ukrainian president at the time of writing:
(Image source: President.gov.ua.)
A Google search for the supposed Ukrainian title of the decree across the website of the Ukrainian president didn't produce any matches (archived here), either:
(Image source: Google; the page was automatically translated to English by Chrome.)
Tensions between Poland and Ukraine
The voice-over in the video reviewed in this fact check implied that the Ukrainian president approved celebration of the UPA fighters by building a memorial complex in Volyn (Volhynia), a site (archived here) of the infamous (archived here) massacres of the Poles during World War II committed by the Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists and UPA. Poland considers that a genocide (archived here).
Ukraine doesn't appear to dispute the events (archived here) but emphasizes that the murders of the Poles were followed by a retaliatory operation that killed many Ukrainians, and that this chain of events should be evaluated in a broader historical context.
However, the most recent tensions between Poland and Ukraine grew over a different situation. When Zelenskyy named one of the Ukrainian military units after UPA members, his Polish counterpart revoked the country's highest award (archived here) from Zelenskyy. In the aftermath, all living presidents of independent Ukraine returned (archived here) such awards to Poland.
Following a July 9, 2026, meeting in Ankara, Turkey, Poland's Nawrocki said (archived here) he and Zelenskyy "were unable to resolve the historical issues."
What we know about the legislation in Ukraine
On July 1, 2026, the Ukrainian parliament approved a bill no.15360 (archived here) about constructing a memorial to commemorate the historic figures Ukraine regards as heroes. The document says those could be heads of the state, military leaders, distinguished scientists and artists. Section 2.3 in Article 5 (page 4) explicitly says that members of the UPA can be considered for inclusion.
The bill was submitted by Zelenskyy.
Media reports (archived here) mentioned the names of the UPA leaders expected to be included in the Pantheon, but the bill's text didn't include a specific list. The parliament's press release (archived here) read, as translated to English by Chrome:
Persons convicted of crimes against the national security of Ukraine, international law, as well as those subject to legislation condemning communist, Nazi, and Russian imperial totalitarian regimes cannot be included in the Pantheon.
Special attention is paid to the decision-making procedure. Reburial is possible only with the consent of the deceased's close relatives. The candidates will be evaluated by a special advisory body, which will include historians, scientists and representatives of the Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance. A public discussion will be held before the final decision is made.
According to the bill, the monument's construction and future maintenance will be funded from the national budget and other sources that are not prohibited. It didn't explicitly say the project would be funded by the European Union.
Contrary to the viral video, the memorial is planned for Kyiv, not in the Volyn region.
As of this writing, Zelenskyy had not yet signed the bill into law.
