Russia’s Ministry of Defense attempted to explain discrepancies in official statements regarding a nighttime drone attack on 29 December, which had earlier been reported by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov. According to Lavrov, Ukraine had allegedly attempted to strike Putin’s residence in the Novgorod region using 91 drones.

Lavrov claimed that all of the drones had been shot down by air defense systems. However, the Russian Ministry of Defense’s initial statement mentioned only 41 drones allegedly destroyed over the Novgorod region.

The ministry later released an updated version, asserting that another 50 drones had supposedly been heading toward Putin’s residence but were intercepted outside the region: 49 over the Belgorod region and one over the Smolensk region.

Russian outlet SOTA cast doubt on the official narrative after interviewing local residents. People living in Valdai, where Putin’s “Uzhin” residence is located, reported that they had not heard any air defense activity that would correspond to the interception of dozens of drones. The publication also noted that the facility is situated approximately 630 kilometers from the Ukrainian border.

SOTA considers the described attack to be technically implausible. Ukrainian drones typically fly at low altitudes and along relatively direct routes. A launch from northern Ukraine would have required them to pass through heavily protected Russian airspace containing strategic missile force facilities, air defense systems, and restricted administrative zones in the Tver region.

“A drone could have reached the Uzhin residence only by a miracle or with the deliberate acquiescence of the military command,” the publication concluded.

Despite this, Putin’s aide, Yury Ushakov, claimed that the alleged Ukrainian “attack” could affect the United States’ approach to working with Volodymyr Zelenskyy, as the American president had supposedly been “shocked” by reports of the overnight strikes.

Ukraine’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs described these claims as false and stressed that Russia was attempting to use them to justify new missile and drone attacks against Ukraine.

The Centre for Strategic Communications identified four major flaws in Russian propaganda’s story about the alleged “attack on Putin’s residence”.

The figures provided by Russia’s Ministry of Defense do not match Lavrov’s claims

According to the ministry’s official reports:

That amounts to a total of 41 drones, not 91.

The figure of 41 drones also appeared unchanged in statements issued by the governor of the Novgorod region. Those statements contained no mention of 91 UAVs or of any alleged “strike on the residence”.

There Is No Mention of an “Attack on the Residence” in Russian Ministry of Defense Reports

The official reports of Russia’s defense ministry:

Complete Silence on the Ground

The authorities of the Valdai district, where Putin’s residence is located, reported no extraordinary incidents. On the same day, district head Yury Stade conducted a routine public livestream on social media without mentioning any attack or security threat.

Lavrov’s claim that 91 drones allegedly targeted Putin’s residence is not corroborated by any other official Russian source – neither the Ministry of Defense, nor regional authorities, nor local government structures.

“They are now using claims about some supposed attack on one of their residences simply to prepare the ground for future strikes – likely against the capital and government buildings,” Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said in response to the Russian allegations.

False information is circulating on social media claiming that parents in Odesa schools are allegedly being fined because their children speak Russian during school breaks. Analysts from VoxCheck drew attention to these claims.

These allegations are untrue. No fines or penalties have been introduced in Ukraine for the use of the Russian language in informal communication among schoolchildren, including during breaks.

The Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language” does not regulate private communication and therefore imposes no restrictions on the language children use outside the educational process. No such provisions exist in any other currently applicable legal acts.

On 11 March 2025, Draft Law No. 13072 concerning language use in the educational process was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada. The document provides for the responsibility of school administrators and teachers to maintain a Ukrainian-language environment, but it contains no provisions regarding fines or financial penalties for students or their parents.

Moreover, as of the end of 2025, the draft law had not been adopted and had not even undergone a first reading, remaining only at the preliminary stage of parliamentary consideration.

Such claims are designed to portray Ukraine as a “repressive” or “authoritarian” state that allegedly punishes children and families for the language they speak. This directly reinforces the Russian narrative about the supposed “violation of the rights of Russian speakers”.

Russian propaganda has once again resorted to a familiar tactic, producing a staged video and attempting to present it as a “sensational exposé”. This time, the footage allegedly shows Ukrainian soldiers operating “mobile crematoriums” and burning the bodies of their fallen comrades. Despite its dramatic premise, both the content and presentation of the material reveal yet another crudely fabricated fake, devoid of logic, facts, and any understanding of how the Ukrainian military actually operates. This was reported by ArmyInform.

According to ArmyInform’s analysis, the published video contains no verifiable information whatsoever. It is unclear where the footage was filmed, there are no identifiable landmarks or location markers, no genuine participants can be confirmed, and the so-called “witnesses” speak in vague, formulaic phrases that resemble lines from a poorly staged production rather than authentic testimony.

As ArmyInform notes, such claims are either deliberate falsehoods or evidence of a complete misunderstanding of what military brotherhood means in the Ukrainian armed forces. For Ukrainian soldiers, a comrade-in-arms is never treated as expendable. Fighting for every serviceman, recovering the bodies of the fallen from the battlefield under fire, and conducting exchanges of remains are painful but everyday realities of war. For this reason, the story about allegedly burning their own fallen comrades appears absurd to anyone who has encountered the realities of the front line or spoken with military personnel outside the lens of a television camera.

This fake is an example of psychological projection, whereby Russia attempts to attribute its own actions to Ukraine. It is the Russian military that has repeatedly left the bodies of its soldiers on the battlefield, concealed its real losses, destroyed evidence to avoid compensation payments to families, and treated its servicemen as disposable resources. The imaginary “crematoriums” therefore emerge from the worldview of Kremlin propagandists themselves – they judge others by their own standards.

Foreign Affairs has published an analytical article by Erin Dumbacher warning that the rapid development of artificial intelligence and deepfake technology could create unprecedented risks for global security, particularly in the sphere of nuclear deterrence. The author argues that the combination of automated early-warning systems and AI’s ability to generate convincing fake videos, images, and audio recordings could lead to fatal mistakes at critical moments of decision-making.

The author recalls that since the Cold War, humanity has repeatedly come close to catastrophe because of false signals from early-warning systems. One of the best-known examples is the 1983 incident in which a Soviet system mistakenly detected what appeared to be the launch of American nuclear missiles. The world avoided disaster only because the duty officer chose not to trust the automated alert. Today, the author warns, similar scenarios could unfold in even more dangerous forms due to the use of artificial intelligence.

Particular concern surrounds deepfakes, which can convincingly imitate statements by political leaders or create the illusion of military actions that never actually occurred. The article references cases in which such fabricated videos have already been used for disinformation during Russia’s war against Ukraine and warns that, in a nuclear confrontation, even a few minutes of misinformation could have irreversible consequences.

The author also notes that some countries, including the United States, are actively integrating AI into defense and security structures. At the same time, she stresses that nuclear command, control, and early-warning systems must remain under strict human oversight. In her view, automation in this sphere carries more risks than benefits, as algorithms can make mistakes, “hallucinate”, or become targets of deliberate manipulation.

The article further highlights the need to reassess nuclear doctrines developed during the Cold War era. Today’s information environment, saturated with fake content and AI-generated material, requires new approaches to data verification, crisis communication, and decision-making. Experts call on nuclear-armed states to agree on a fundamental principle: no decision to use nuclear weapons should ever be made without direct and conscious human involvement.

Russian propaganda Telegram channels are circulating an image purporting to be a new cover of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo featuring a caricature of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. Propagandists claim that the magazine is supposedly criticizing his Christmas address to the nation. However, this claim is false.

According to Ukrinform, the fake cover bears the caption: “Friend of Satan: The last person who wished death upon others at the time of Jesus’ birth was King Herod.”

Neither the official Charlie Hebdo website nor the magazine’s social media accounts, where covers of new issues are traditionally published, contain any such image. This clearly indicates that the cover is a forgery.

Moreover, the fake image lists the publication date as 26 December and the issue number as 1745. However, no new issue of Charlie Hebdo was released on that date. The magazine’s actual year-end editions were published on 10, 17, and 24 December and carried issue numbers 1742, 1743, and 1744 respectively. Their covers featured cartoons unrelated to Ukraine.

Issue No. 1745 was not expected to be released until 31 December or even January, which further disproves the authenticity of the image being circulated.

Against the backdrop of this fake story, Russian outlets have been drawing attention to President Zelenskyy’s Christmas address to the Ukrainian people. In his Christmas Eve message, the head of state emphasized that Ukraine was celebrating Christmas under the difficult conditions of war, yet Russia was incapable of destroying what matters most – the unity of the Ukrainian people. The President also noted that Ukrainians’ wishes during the holiday season are remarkably similar and centered on the desire for peace.

“Today, we all share the same dream. And we all make the same wish. ‘May he perish,’ everyone may think to themselves, but when we turn to God, of course, we ask for something greater. We pray for peace for Ukraine. We fight for it. We pray for it. And we deserve it,” Zelenskyy said.

Although the President did not mention any names in his remarks, the Kremlin reacted to the statement with considerable emotion. Against this backdrop, Russian propaganda has sought to exploit the fabricated Charlie Hebdo cover in an attempt to discredit the President of Ukraine.

The circulation of this fake cartoon is therefore another example of information manipulation aimed at creating the impression that the West supposedly condemns the words of the Ukrainian leader and at undermining trust in Ukraine on the international stage.

Russian propaganda outlets are spreading disinformation alleging widespread looting by Ukrainian soldiers in the city of Lyman, Donetsk region. These claims are based on a video that has been actively circulated through Telegram channels and presented as an appeal by a local police patrol officer.

This was reported by StopFake.

In the video, a man identifying himself as Ihor Tarasiuk, a police officer from Lyman, claims that “looting is taking place throughout the city” and alleges that Ukrainian servicemen are transporting local residents’ property away in trucks while the police are supposedly unable to stop them. The speaker appeals to the Minister of Internal Affairs and the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, demanding that they “put an end to this lawlessness”.

In the description accompanying the video, propagandists claim that “policeman Tarasiuk from Krasnyi Lyman” is complaining about the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine ahead of the alleged “retreat of the Kyiv regime”, using terminology that is characteristic of Russian propaganda narratives.

The video contains the watermark of the TikTok account @loki_777ii, where it was first published on 5 December. An analysis of this profile shows that it only became active in October 2025, and that most of its content consists of AI-generated material or reposts. There are no original videos on the account, suggesting that it is being used as a technical platform for distributing manipulative content.

The video began spreading widely on Telegram from 6 December onwards. One of the first channels to publish it was the pro-Russian Z-channel “Stepnoy Veter”, after which it was amplified by other propaganda outlets.

Fact-checkers examined the video using the DeepFake-o-Meter tool developed by the University at Buffalo, which analyses photo, video, and audio content for signs of AI manipulation. To improve accuracy, the clip was tested using several different detection algorithms.

The results indicated a high probability that the video was artificially generated. The AVSRDD detector showed 100% confidence that the video was a deepfake. The WAV2LIP-STA and X-CLIP algorithms also indicated an almost certain likelihood that the clip had been generated using neural networks. In addition, analysts detected irregular lip movements, a common characteristic of synthetic videos.

Even without specialized tools, the video exhibits clear visual anomalies, including unnatural facial expressions, blurred facial features, irregular blinking, and a lack of synchronization between speech and lip movements.

Furthermore, journalists were unable to find any information about a police patrol officer from Lyman named Ihor Tarasiuk. It is highly likely that this is a fictional character created to give the video an appearance of credibility.

There is no evidence in open sources confirming any mass looting incidents in Lyman. Neither the National Police of Donetsk region nor other Ukrainian official institutions have reported such cases, and no reputable media outlets have documented similar incidents.

Experts emphasize that claims suggesting the police are incapable of confronting Ukrainian servicemen are part of a common disinformation narrative. Its purpose is to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine, undermine trust in state institutions, and portray the Ukrainian military as an uncontrolled and dangerous force.

The dissemination of this video is intended to sow fear and distrust among civilians, while also serving to justify Russia’s occupation and war crimes. The narrative of “military looting” has long been used by Russian propaganda to shift responsibility from the aggressor onto the side defending itself.

Notably, the video is accompanied by the hashtags #Ukraine, #AFU, #Police, and #TCC, indicating an attempt to artificially insert the fake into Ukraine’s information space and amplify its reach among Ukrainian audiences.

Propaganda sources claim that the “Kyiv authorities” are allegedly using “coercive” measures to force schoolchildren to speak Ukrainian not only during lessons but also during breaks. In reality, Ukrainian legislation provides for no fines whatsoever for children using foreign languages in private conversations. The law on the state language does not interfere with religious ceremonies or personal communication. This fake claim was debunked by experts at StopFake.

There are no sanctions in Ukraine for using the Russian language in personal communication. The Law of Ukraine “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language” does not prohibit the use of any language of choice in private conversations.

Ukraine’s language law regulates the use of Ukrainian as the sole state language “in the exercise of powers by state authorities and local self-government bodies, as well as in other public spheres of social life” (Article 1, Paragraph 7). The law does not apply to religious ceremonies or interpersonal communication, as explicitly stated in a separate provision of Article 2. Nor do any other Ukrainian legal acts contain “bans” on the use of Russian in private conversations.

At the same time, there is a draft law, No. 13072 of 11 March 2025, proposing amendments to certain laws regarding language use in the educational process. Russian propaganda frequently cites this document as evidence of alleged “repressive measures” in Ukrainian education. The draft legislation would introduce mechanisms allowing teachers to require students to use the state language within educational institutions. However, the text contains no provisions whatsoever regarding fines for children. Moreover, the draft law has remained under consideration in the Verkhovna Rada since March 2025 and has not yet been put to a first-reading vote.

In an interview with Alla Mazur, Ukraine’s Minister of Education and Science, Oksen Lisovyi emphasised that no fines for students exist in educational institutions. The primary goal of schools is not to punish children but to guarantee their language rights and foster a sustainable, fully functioning Ukrainian-language environment.

A video styled as official Microsoft content has begun circulating through a network of pro-Russian Telegram channels and on X. The clip claims that Elon Musk’s company, SpaceX, allegedly released shocking statistics revealing the most common online searches made by Ukrainian soldiers while using Starlink satellite internet services. Fact-checkers from Gwara Media explained why such videos are false and manipulative.

“And what did you expect? SpaceX has published a list of the most popular search queries made by Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers while using Starlink in 2025. The TOP 5 included: ‘Putin speeches’, ‘methods of suicide’, ‘how to surrender, some radio frequency’, ‘online casinos’, and ‘pornography’,” anonymous Telegram channels claim in posts accompanying the video.

However, no reputable international media outlet, nor the official websites of SpaceX or Microsoft, has published any such report. The use of the Microsoft logo in a video allegedly presenting SpaceX data is a classic “appeal to authority” tactic: viewers are expected to believe an absurd claim simply because it is presented under the branding of a well-known technology company.

From a technical perspective, the claims made in the fake are manipulative. Through its Starlink terminals, SpaceX acts as an internet service provider. This means that it merely supplies the technical connection. Internet providers do not have access to the specific content of users’ search queries entered into web browsers, as such data is encrypted and belongs exclusively to search engines such as Google or Bing. According to StatCounter, a service that analyses browser and search engine usage based on web traffic, Microsoft Edge (the browser that integrates Bing) held a market share of only around 3% in 2025.

No search engine has either the technical capability or the legal right to segment search statistics according to the type of internet connection used or the professional affiliation of users. For example, Google Trends provides anonymized data on general search trends by country or region, but it cannot isolate “searches made by soldiers through Starlink” from among millions of other queries. Moreover, actual search trends in Ukraine in 2025 showed that Ukrainians were primarily interested in electricity outage schedules, new film releases, and sporting events – a picture that differs dramatically from the fabricated list promoted by propagandists.

The purpose of this disinformation campaign is to create a false image of the Ukrainian soldier as demoralized and prone to suicide and other destructive behavior. The inclusion of themes such as “Putin’s speeches” and “how to surrender” is intended to sow despair and create the impression of an alleged collapse in morale within the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Any “search rankings” that link specific groups of people to a particular internet provider are entirely fabricated and represent a sophisticated manipulation designed to exert psychological pressure in the context of information warfare.

In mid-December, posts circulated on Polish social media claiming that mass protests by farmers in Greece had allegedly been triggered by the signing of the trade agreement between the European Union and the Mercosur countries (Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay). According to these claims, farmers feared that the market would be “flooded” with cheap Latin American products. In reality, the protests were a response to cuts in EU and national subsidies following a corruption scandal involving land fraud. The manipulation was debunked by Polish fact-checkers at fakenews.pl.

In reality, the reasons behind the protests are entirely domestic and economic, and the agreement itself has not even entered into force.

Greek farmers have indeed staged large-scale demonstrations, blocking ports and airports, but their anger is directed at the Greek government and delays in European payments, not at imports from Latin America. The main trigger for the protests was the freezing of more than €600 million in subsidy payments. This followed a large-scale fraud scheme in which a group of farmers, with the assistance of public officials, falsified land ownership documents in order to illegally obtain EU funds. Following an audit, the Greek government suspended payments, affecting legitimate producers as well.

The situation has been further aggravated by a biological crisis. Since August 2024, Greece has been battling an outbreak of sheep pox. This poses a particular threat to the production of feta cheese, one of Greece’s key export products protected under a geographical indication scheme. Approximately 80% of the country’s sheep and goat milk is used in feta production.

Claims that the market is being “flooded” with products from South America are unfounded. As of the end of 2025, the agreement was still undergoing approval procedures. Its final adoption had been repeatedly delayed due to opposition from France, Poland, and Italy.

Russian propaganda outlets and Eurosceptic actors frequently exploit genuine protests within EU member states to reinforce narratives about the supposedly “harmful decisions of Brussels”. In the case of Greece, however, the protests are a response to real issues involving corruption, domestic audits, and an animal disease outbreak – not international trade.

A video styled to resemble content from the Financial Times is being circulated through pro-Russian Telegram channels. The video claims that investigators from Bellingcat allegedly proved that the European Union has been secretly using frozen Russian assets for more than a year to plug holes in its own economy and enrich officials. Propagandists assert that official discussions about transferring the funds to Ukraine are merely a “smokescreen”, while in reality the money has supposedly already been spent on “young democracies” such as Moldova and Armenia, as well as on the private interests of European bureaucrats. To make the story appear more credible, the video includes a fabricated quote attributed to Danish politician Henrik Dam Kristensen about the “decline of Europe”. Experts at StopFake debunked the claim.

This video is yet another fake created through the graphic manipulation of the brands of well-known media outlets. The Financial Times has never published such a report. The Bellingcat team has also never conducted any investigation of this kind. Bellingcat’s most recent genuine investigations relating to Russia concerned entirely different topics, including the theft of Ukrainian grain through Crimean ports and efforts to conceal evidence of war crimes in Mariupol.

Danish politician Henrik Dam Kristensen was falsely attributed with remarks about the “failure of Europe” that he has never made publicly. In fact, Kristensen’s position is the exact opposite. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion, he has consistently supported Ukraine. In his public statements, he has described Russia’s actions as a “disregard for human life” and has called for the international condemnation of the aggressor.

Why Have the Frozen Assets Not Yet Been Transferred?

The reason the European Union has not yet confiscated Russia’s frozen assets is not because of any alleged “misappropriation”, but rather due to extremely complex legal barriers. European countries, including Belgium, are concerned about the possibility of numerous future lawsuits from Russia, the potential undermining of confidence in the euro as a global currency, and the violation of the fundamental right to property, which could create a dangerous legal precedent.

Therefore, the widely circulated video is a fabrication designed to convince pro-Russian audiences that the West is “robbing” Russia out of weakness, to create the impression of pervasive corruption within the European Union, and to sow distrust between Ukraine and its Western partners.