A Fox TV station has been accused of labeling the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, as Russian territory during an Easter broadcast, prompting Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry to call for an investigation “if this was a mistake rather than a deliberate political statement.”
Why It Matters
Moscow has attempted to paint the government in Kyiv as illegitimate, and President Vladimir Putin penned an extensive essay back in 2021 that called Russia and Ukraine “one people.”
Moscow has labeled territory annexed from Ukraine as Russian, and suggested these areas fall under the country’s nuclear umbrella.
The Kremlin seized control of Crimea, the peninsula to the south of mainland Ukraine, from Kyiv in 2014. After launching its full-scale invasion of its neighbor in early 2022, Russia said it had annexed four mainland Ukrainian regions—Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.
St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery on August 21, 2022, in Kyiv, Ukraine.
St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Monastery on August 21, 2022, in Kyiv, Ukraine.
Yurii Stefanyak/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
This is not internationally recognized. Russian state media on Sunday referred to Ukraine’s southern Zaporizhzhia region as “Novorossiya.”
Kremlin spokesperson, Dmitry Peskov, said in October 2022 that these Ukrainian regions were “inalienable parts of the Russian Federation.”
What To Know
Ukrainian media widely shared screenshots on Sunday of a LiveNOW broadcast that had first included a correct reference to an Orthodox service marking Easter at St. Michael’s Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv, Ukraine, before the caption changed to read: “Kyiv, Russia.”
Ukraine’s Foreign Ministry said that if the labeling was an error, the network should issue an apology and launch an investigation.
If this was a mistake rather than a deliberate political statement, there should be an apology and an investigation into who made the mistake. @FoxNews https://t.co/HOxV8b2hVK
— Heorhii Tykhyi (@SpoxUkraineMFA) April 20, 2025
Newsweek has reached out to Fox Television Stations for comment via email.
Easter is the main holiday for Orthodox Christians, although many in Ukraine now mark major holidays like Christmas in line with Western celebrations to distance themselves religious services from Moscow. Patriarch Kirill, the head of the Russian Orthodox Church, has endorsed the invasion of Ukraine.
Putin attended an Easter service at Moscow’s Cathedral of Christ the Savior, conducted by Patriarch Kirill, late on Saturday.
The Kremlin leader declared on Saturday that Moscow would halt “all military operations” for 30 hours between 6 p.m. Moscow time (11 a.m. ET) on Saturday and midnight into Monday morning as part of an Easter truce resting on “humanitarian” concerns.
The announcement was quickly met with skepticism from Kyiv officials and Western analysts.
⚡️ Fox News labels Kyiv a Russian city, Ukraine calls for ‘apology and investigation.’
The error reportedly remained on screen for 20 minutes.https://t.co/sRj9EvHtrO
— The Kyiv Independent (@KyivIndependent) April 20, 2025
Ukraine said Russian strikes and assaults along the front lines have continued despite the announcement. Moscow in turn accused Kyiv of violating the ceasefire.
“As of Easter morning, we can state that the Russian army is attempting to create the general impression of a ceasefire, while in some areas still continuing isolated attempts to advance and inflict losses on Ukraine,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a statement early on Sunday.
The declared truce came a day after Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Washington could be evaluating in the next few days whether U.S. teams would be able to clinch a ceasefire deal in the next few weeks.
“We’re not going to continue to fly all over the world and do meeting after meeting after meeting if no progress is being made,” Rubio said.
Kyiv, under intense pressure from Washington, has already agreed to a U.S.-proposed ceasefire deal. Referencing this agreement, Zelensky said on Saturday that “Ukraine responded positively, but Russia ignored it.”
Moscow only agreed to a partial truce covering the Black Sea when a raft of sanctions are lifted. This has not yet come into force.
“If a complete ceasefire truly takes hold, Ukraine proposes extending it beyond the Easter day of April 20,” Zelensky added. “That is what will reveal Russia’s true intentions.”
What People Are Saying
Heorhii Tykhyi, a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesperson, said on Sunday: “If this was a mistake rather than a deliberate political statement, there should be an apology and an investigation into who made the mistake.”
What Happens Next
It remains to be seen if the purported truce will hold. No new announcements have been made on talks concerning a broader ceasefire.