On February 13, the Associated Press published a series of photographs featuring a Ukrainian military unit on the front lines. One of the photographs showed a man wearing a uniform with multiple military patches visible on his sleeves and vest. AP identified him as a “Ukrainian commander of unit aka Kurt.” In one of the photographs, the name “Kurt” is seen on the man’s helmet. One of the patches on the Ukrainian commander’s uniform caught the attention of Russia’s RT state news agency. RT noted that Kurt had a patch on his left sleeve resembling the logo of the terrorist group ISIS, which RT said suggested ties between the Ukrainian military and ISIS. India’s Hindustan Times went even further, with a headline formulated as a rhetorical question: “Putin’s ISIS claim about Ukraine war real? Kyiv’s commander with Islamic State insignia spotted.” “Shocking evidence of ISIS involvement in the Ukrainian armed forces has emerged,” the outlet reported. The Hindustan Times conclusion is false, and the reports by other outlets are highly misleading.
