France busts fake Ukraine war recruitment website

The link to the website is similar to the real recruitment portal of the French army

French authorities have discovered a website containing a false recruitment campaign for French volunteers to fight in the war in Ukraine, the Defense Ministry said on Thursday.

An unnamed government source told AFP the site had now been shut down by the French service, without giving further details on the nature of the operation.

The website, which is currently inaccessible, claims that 200,000 French people have been invited to “enlist in Ukraine”, with immigrants being given priority.

The French Ministry of Defense said a link to the website – which is similar to the French army’s real recruitment portal – was posted on X, formerly known as Twitter.

“The website is a fake government website,” the ministry also said on X, “and has been retweeted by malicious accounts as part of a disinformation campaign.”

The Defense Department did not name any suspects in the site’s spoof, but an unnamed government official said the site bore “signs of Russian or pro-Russian behavior and was part of a disinformation campaign claiming the French military was preparing to attack Ukraine sends troops.”

French President Emmanuel Macron angered Russian leaders last month when he took a hard line on the conflict sparked by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, refusing to rule out sending ground troops and insisting Europe must do whatever is necessary to defeat Russia.

The official said recent examples of similar disinformation posts include photos falsely presented as a French military convoy heading toward the Ukrainian border.

The fake website invites potential recruits to contact “troop commander Paul” for information about joining.

Defense Ministry staff told AFP that the Defense Ministry and the government’s cyber unit were investigating.

The French government has recently stepped up efforts to condemn and combat alleged Russian disinformation and destabilizing activities aimed at undermining French public support for Ukraine’s war against Russia.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)