Marjorie Taylor Greene is spreading lies about Ukraine’s protests. Russia is taking note.

On July 22 and 23, Ukrainians took to the streets in the country’s first mass anti-government protests since the outbreak of Russia's full-scale invasion three and a half years earlier.

Thousands of citizens rallied in cities across the country on the first night with a clear goal: to urge President Volodymyr Zelensky to veto a bill passed in parliament that guts anti-corruption reforms, and to express anger with recent government attacks on anti-corruption figures.

But that didn’t stop the fringe far-right U.S. Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene from using the protests to falsely claim that protesters were angry at Zelensky about the lack of a peace deal with Russia.

“Huge protests erupt in Kyiv against Ukrainian President Zelensky as he is a dictator and refuses to make a peace deal and end the war,” she claimed on X, in a post that went viral with more than 50,000 likes, despite spreading falsehoods about the reason for the protests.

Kyiv Independent reporters present at the protests on both evenings saw no evidence that protesters were upset with Zelensky over the lack of a peace deal.

“Veto the law,” protesters chanted repeatedly, while hand-written signs referenced the bill, the parliamentary members who voted for it, and the anti-corruption institutions under attack, along with more general sentiments of protest.

"12414 is the number of betrayal," one sign read, using the number of the bill registered in parliament, while others simply showed the number with an X through it.

When asked about Greene's comments, Vasyl Volotovskyi, a 24-year-old marketing strategist who attended the protest, said, "I'm honestly shocked by how deep Russian propaganda has snuck into the government of a country that doesn't even border Russia."

"This claim (in Greene's post) is nothing but a cruel fabrication of the protest's goals. All we wanted was fair laws that represent the will of the people. Myself — and I believe the majority of participants — are actually Zelensky's voters and we were there to show our disagreement with his decision, not to rise against Zelensky himself," Volotovskyi added.

In a viral July 22 Facebook post by veteran Dmytro Koziatynskyi, widely credited with helping to organize the protests, he called on Ukrainians to gather in the street and specifically named the effects of the law on the National Anti-Corruption Bureau of Ukraine (NABU) and the Specialized Anti-Corruption Prosecutor (SAP) as the reason.

"As you know, today parliament voted for changes that will eliminate the independence of the anti-corruption system. The members of parliament decided that NABU and SAP should be subordinate to the prosecutor general," Koziatynskyi wrote.

"Therefore, take cardboard from boxes and make posters where you write everything you think about the recent onslaught on the anti-corruption system."

Nor is Greene's claim true that Zelensky has refused to end the war.  The president most recently proposed a new round of peace negotiations with Russia and has repeatedly stressed the need for a ceasefire, proposing a 30-day ceasefire in May that Russia has repeatedly rejected.

A new round of talks began in Istanbul the evening of July 23.

So far, Ukraine has made repeated concessions during negotiations, while Russia has refused to back down from its maximalist demands and has emphasized that its goal is "swift victory and the complete destruction" of Ukraine’s government.

'Pro-Russian powers will use this for their propaganda'

Greene’s comments, however, were noticed and amplified by pro-Kremlin voices, including the media outlet EurAsia Daily, which had its license license suspended by the European Union for being “essential and instrumental in bringing forward and supporting Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine, and for the destabilisation of its neighbouring countries," as well as the state-owned RIA Novosti, which is also blocked in the EU for spreading propaganda.

Some of the protesters said they expected Russia to attempt to use the protests against Kyiv, and expressed hope that foreigners would not be swayed by misinformation.

"Yesterday, hundreds of Ukrainians, including me, visited a massive peaceful protest in Kyiv and other cities to protect the independence of two anticorruption institutions," Orysia Khimiak, a 32-year-old activist, told the Kyiv Independent.

"Transparency is at least we can provide to our foreign allies and countries that so generously support us with weapons and aid, so we could continue our fight against a terrorist state — Russia that tries to destroy us.

"I know that pro-Russian powers will use this case for their propaganda, and we risk losing support and aid from our allies. I hope Mr. President (Zelensky) won’t let it happen."

Greene, who has a track record of promoting unfounded conspiracy theories, is one of the most strident opponents of aid to Ukraine serving in the U.S. Congress and has repeatedly been accused of parroting Russian propaganda.

Last year, Greene attempted to amend an aid package to Ukraine, requiring any member of the House of Representatives who votes for the Ukraine aid bill to go and fight for Kyiv. The amendment failed to gain any traction among her peers.

In response, Democrat Jared Moskowitz submitted his own failed amendment, proposing that Greene be appointed “(Russian President) Vladimir Putin's Special Envoy to the United States Congress.”

‘A fatal mistake’ — Ukrainian soldiers slam Zelensky’s anti-corruption crackdown

Editor’s Note: Some Ukrainian soldiers in this article asked to be identified only by their first name or callsign, citing fears of possible repercussions for speaking to the press about a sensitive topic. Even for Ukrainian soldiers locked in brutal warfare hundreds of kilometers from the capital, President Volodymyr Zelensky’s move to dismantle the country’s anti-corruption infrastructure built over the past decade felt like a blow. Zelensky signed a controversial bill destroying the indepen

The Kyiv IndependentAsami Terajima