At the end of August 2025, Polish President Karol Nawrocki proposed equating the symbols of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army (UPA) with Nazi and Soviet ones and banning them by law. He said the move would help disarm Russian propaganda and build Polish-Ukrainian relations on genuine partnership, mutual respect and understanding. Two days after this news broke, on Aug. 27, the Telegram channel “Zemlya Nasha” published a post claiming that at the Polish-Ukrainian border, people were being stripped to their underwear and their phones checked in search of “Banderite” symbols.
“This is what’s happening at the Polish-Ukrainian border nowadays. Polish border guards are forcing Ukrainians to strip to their underwear to check for tattoos with Banderite symbols. Travelers also have to unlock their phones and hand them over to Polish counterintelligence, which searches for any sign of sympathy with the OUN-UPA’s anti-Polish ideology. If the spooks take a dislike to someone’s look, they can send them packing just for a trident on the passport, calling it Banderite symbolism.”
To back up their claim, the authors attached a photo supposedly taken at a border crossing showing instructions to undress and unlock a phone for inspection.
The WTF team fact-checked — the image turned out to be fake. We found the same photo taken two years ago at the Rava-Ruska–Hrebenne crossing. The poster in that picture had a different message: it explained how to pay for and use the restroom.
The Polish Border Guard confirmed our findings. In response to our inquiry, we received the following message:
“We deny this. This is a classic example of disinformation. It was fabricated using an actual piece of the Hrebenne border crossing infrastructure — a banner showing how to use the restroom.”
