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Our journalists are the recipients of the national award “Free Word” from the Association of Journalists of Belarus in 2018, 2019, 2020, 2021 and 2022. At "Free Word" 2021 BIC’s team also received first place for Analytics
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We are also members of GIJN (Global Investigative Journalism Network)
The An-225 Mriya is a one-of-a-kind cargo aircraft with the largest carrying capacity in the world.
Pro-government media reported that Ukrainians were wasting money on flower beds instead of restoring the Mriya aircraft. The Weekly Top Fake team investigated the claim.
On May 31, 2024, the Telegram channel “ZhS Premium” posted a photo of a flower bed in the shape of the Mriya aircraft, destroyed by Russian forces at the Antonov airport near Kyiv, with the caption suggesting that Ukrainians were wasting money on flowers beds instead of restoring the aircraft.
“It’s 2024 and the shape of the 'Mriya' is starting to emerge, but not in blueprints or assembly shops, but in a flower bed in Kyiv. Here’s a task for Ukrainian corruption investigators: was the money spent on flowers or the plane?” the post said.
The An-225 Mriya is a one-of-a-kind cargo aircraft with the largest carrying capacity in the world, built in Kyiv in the late 1980s for the space program. It was destroyed in the first days of the war with Russia. Ukraine has declared its intention to restore the aircraft, but it will take time and significant funds.
The photo shared by “ZhS Premium” is from 2022. According to the Kyiv Administration, the flower composition, made of ten thousand flowers, appeared in Kyiv in May 2022.
