A number of propaganda Telegram channels are distributing a manipulative animated video, which illustrates a conversation between a boy and a personified school board and the sun (cartoon characters). The boy asks them why his father was forcibly taken away by the Territorial center of recruitment and social support workers, to which the school board replies that they were doing their duty, and that it was wrong that the boy's father “did not want to go”. After this, the sun joins the conversation and continues to promote manipulative rhetoric.

However, some words and phrases used in the cartoon exposed the propagandists. For example, the video contains the phrase “they don't choose a duty”, which is a tracing of the Russian "they don't choose an obligation". In addition, the cartoon contains a number of other manipulative cliches inherent in Russian propaganda: “either you fulfill your duty, or you are a coward and a traitor”; “if he didn't leave on his own, then they did the right thing by taking him away”.

Also, having taken a screenshot of the video, using the reverse image search function from Google, it was possible to find out that on the YouTube platform there is a training video with a similar background as in the fake cartoon, about how to create animated videos. That is, most likely, the propagandists used this video tutorial to create a fake cartoon about the Territorial center of recruitment and social support workers.

After all, this animated video is being distributed primarily in the pro-Russian segment of the Internet, which gives additional grounds to believe that it is a fake.

Earlier, we recorded a Russian fake about a cartoon “Ukrainian piglets” being shown in EU countries.

Russian propaganda sources are distributing a video produced by the organization Reporters Without Borders (RSF). It claims that law enforcement agencies are massively detaining and harshly interrogating Ukrainian citizens who contact Russian phone numbers, or even for searching the Internet in Russian. Thus, allegedly, in Sumy alone, as of early October, 56 criminal cases for collaborationism were opened, and 27 people arrested on such charges died from torture.

In fact, RSF did not release such a video, as reported by fact-checkers from the StopFake project. They contacted the head of the organization's investigations department, Arnaud Froger, who denied that RSF had published such material.

“This is the third time in recent months that pro-Kremlin social media accounts have used the RSF brand and staff to lend credibility to their propaganda. They use Western media or NGOs like RSF to add value to their narrative and bridge the trust gap that their own propaganda outlets suffer from. With this disinformation, Russia and its affiliated trolls manipulate what is at the heart of every relationship: trust” , Froger commented.

Two things are also indicative. Firstly, the footage of Frozhet's face in the propaganda video is indeed taken from a video in which RSF debunks another Russian propaganda story - about the mass use of Nazi symbols by Ukrainian soldiers in Kursk. We also recorded this disinformation in one of our previous materials.

Secondly, despite the fact that the fake video clip talks about 26 people allegedly dying from torture, the text of the propaganda publications for some reason already mentions 12 dead people – the propagandists are confused in their own fabrications.

After all, communication with relatives in Russia and Russian-language queries on the Internet are legal and are not regulated in any way by Ukrainian legislation.

Based on the results of monitoring, the Center for Countering Disinformation reports that Chinese media continue to write a lot about the results of the BRICS summit in Kazan. A number of publications are skeptical about BRICS, noting that some member states do not agree with its transformation from a geoeconomic to a geopolitical association. In addition, there is a message that the Russian-Ukrainian war could cause disagreements within the organization.

China also continues to promote a joint initiative with Brazil to diplomatically resolve the war in Ukraine. It is noted that Beijing is allegedly interacting with “various interested parties” to facilitate this. At the same time, Chinese journalists almost completely ignore the issue of the participation of the DPRK military in the war against Ukraine.

The Center for Countering Disinformation adds that anti-Western rhetoric remains very common in Chinese media. In particular, the narrative is being promoted that the long war in Ukraine has led Europe to an extremely difficult period, and that anti-Russian sanctions have a negative impact on the energy sector and the economy of EU countries as a whole. It should be noted that such rhetoric is in line with Russian propaganda.

A propaganda source is spreading information that on October 15, 2024, Russia launched a targeted strike on the alleged location of NATO “mercenaries” in Mykolaiv.

However, this is not true. In fact, as a result of the Russian missile strike on that day, civilians were injured and civilian objects were also damaged. This is reported by the VoxCheck project.

On October 15, Russian troops shelled Mykolaiv with S-300 missiles. As a result of the attack, civilian objects were damaged - private residential buildings, an infrastructure facility, a restaurant complex, etc. This was reported by the State Emergency Service and the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration Vitalii Kim. A woman died and 16 people were injured as a result of the shelling.

The propaganda message contains photos of a fire published by the State Emergency Service. They show the aftermath of a missile strike, but none of them prove that the Russians hit the location of “NATO mercenaries”. In general, the publication does not provide any real arguments and contains typical phrases about so-called “mercenaries” in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This is a recurring Russian narrative, with which it is trying to discredit Ukraine.

The disinformation about alleged “NATO mercenaries” at the impact site was published by Dmytro Vasylets, a pro-Russian blogger and propagandist. In 2015, he was arrested while assisting the separatist TV channel Novorossiya TV, but was fired in 2018. Before the full-scale war, the blogger moved to Russia, where he continued his propaganda activities against Ukraine. In early 2024, the SBU informed Vasylets of suspicion for public calls for a violent change of power or the overthrow of the constitutional order.

Finally, another propaganda source reports that the arrival was recorded by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. That is, this version contradicts the version about the arrival of “mercenaries” at the location of deployment. Accordingly, in this way the Russians are trying to justify the shelling of civilian objects, claiming that military personnel, equipment or ammunition depots are located there.

Russian sources are spreading the “news” that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, has admitted that Great Britain is taking part in the Ukrainian Armed Forces' operations against Russia. “Proof” of this is the latest conversation between the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Chief of Staff of the British Armed Forces, Tony Radakin.

In fact, this information is unfounded. This is written in the VoxCheck project. On October 15, 2024, a telephone conversation between General Syrskyi and Admiral Radakin actually took place. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported this on his pages in social networks. However, the corresponding message does not say that Great Britain is taking part in the operations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine or will join them in the future.

During the conversation, they discussed the current situation at the front and the organization of Ukraine's defense in certain areas. The report also noted that they discussed the possibility of hitting military targets deep into Russian territory. According to Syrskyi, the British side is working on its own proposals as part of the practical implementation of the Victory Plan.

The officials also discussed the main pillars of Ukrainian-British military cooperation: “Supply of military equipment and weapons, training of personnel, and increasing the effectiveness of using high-tech weapons”. In the end, Syrskyi drew the attention of his British colleague to the cynical violations of international humanitarian law and war crimes of Russian troops.

Earlier, we analyzed the manipulation of Russians over Syrskyi’s correspondence for the Day of Defenders of Ukraine.