Journalists from Kyiv Post and news agency Ukrinform are being trained in digital fact-checking, thanks to a programme supported by the European Media and Information Fund.

Agence France-Presse will deliver the digital verification training to help Ukrainian journalists in countering the continuous influx of disinformation campaigns related to the war with Russia.

A team of AFP journalists specialised in fact-checking will be offering tailored training in digital investigation to the Ukrainian journalists in a programme will taking place over several months and managed by the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation.

AFP European training coordinator for digital investigation Estelle Péard (pictured) says the training will equip the Kyiv Post and Ukrinform journalists better to spot and verify false information circulating online. “Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the explosion of disinformation on social networks has complicated the task of journalists seeking to report the conflict in a reliable and impartial manner,” she said.

AFP has 140 journalists working on fact-checking across five continents, and is a member of the eight hubs of the European Digital Media Observatory. It is also part of Meta’s project to identify and report false and misleading information circulating on its platforms.

Ukrinform is participating in the project for the second time, following initial training led by AFP with the Austrian agency APA between September 2022 and February 2023.