Pro-Russian resources disseminated information that on February 3, 2024, the Ukrainian Armed Forces dealt a “cruel blow” to Lysychansk, Luhansk region, as a result of which a two-story “bakery” building collapsed and allegedly injured “civilians”. In particular, gauleiter of the occupied Luhansk region Leonid Pasichnyk wrote about this on his telegram channel. The next day, February 4, after clearing the rubble, the Russians announced 28 dead “civilians” and blamed the Ukrainian Armed Forces for this.

However, already on February 5, Pasichnyk himself admitted on his telegram channel that the Minister of Emergency Situations of the LPR, Colonel Oleksii Poteleshchenko, was killed during the shelling. He received Russian citizenship in 2019, worked in the ranks of the so-called “LPR People’s Militia”, and in 2023 headed the Ministry of Emergency Situations in the self-proclaimed LPR.

According to the British media Reuters, based on the design and color of the shelled building, as well as the location matching the file images, an acquaintance was able to confirm the location of the video shared by the Russian Ministry of Emergency Situations. On Google maps it coincides with the location of the Adriatica restaurant on Moskovska Street in Lysychansk. That is, the blow was struck not at the bakery, which is located next to the restaurant, but precisely at the Adriatica. Ukrainian blogger and journalist Denys Kazanskyi also writes about this, citing propagandist Anastasiia Kashevarova, who also claims that there were many security officials in the restaurant with the Minister of Emergency Situations of the LPR. According to her, they were celebrating the birthday of a “high-ranking man”. However, they were allegedly surrendered by local residents who did not support the activities of the occupation authorities.

By spreading disinformation about the shelling of a “bakery” and the death of 28 “civilians”, the Russians seek to demonize the Ukrainian army and nourish their narrative of “atrocities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces” against civilians on the temporary occupied territories. Earlier, Detector Media denied information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly fired at the market in Donetsk.

Pro-Kremlin resources are disseminating information that the Kyiv City Council is allegedly considering the issue of demolishing churches of the canonical UOC - on the list, according to propagandists, there are more than 70 objects. And in the Vinnytsia region, bulldozers are allegedly working now.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security drew attention to this news and denied it. They found that the website of the capital city council does not contain any news, statements or petitions on the destruction of religious buildings. A search at the request of the UOC reveals news there dated April 20, 2023 with a request from the Kyiv City Council to the Cabinet of Ministers and the National Security and Defense Council to take urgent measures to terminate lease agreements or use agreements with the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate for state-owned religious buildings. And there is not a word here about the destruction of temples.

Nothing like this can be found on the official website of the Vinnytsia City Council. The newest news marked “UOC” dates back to April 28, 2023, which refers to an appeal to people’s deputies with a request to speed up the consideration of bills banning the activities of the Moscow Church in Ukraine.

The purpose of this disinformation is to once again try to quarrel Ukrainians on religious grounds. On the other hand, the Russians want to demonize the Ukrainian authorities, who allegedly “wanted to sneeze” at Ukrainian believers of the UOC. Learn more about how Russia blurs reality with a newspeak: sinners.

Russia continues to promote the message that “Hungarians are encroaching on Transcarpathia”, despite a direct statement by Hungarian Foreign Minister Peter Szijjártó about supporting the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. The corresponding information leaks took place against the backdrop of Szijjarto’s arrival in Uzhhorod to meet with his Ukrainian counterpart Dmytro Kuleba, as well as the head of the Office of the President Andrii Yermak.

An important goal of such a meeting was to improve relations between the two countries by organizing a frank and constructive dialogue. Another goal of the conversation was to create the preconditions for a meeting between Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

At the same time, the result of negotiations in Uzhhorod between Szijjártó, Kuleba and Yermak was the beginning of an important dialogue on the rights of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine. Hungary and Ukraine agreed to create a joint commission, which, 10 days from the date of the meeting, should present a complete list of controversial issues regarding the rights of national minorities.

Also during the meeting, they discussed Ukraine’s membership in the EU, cooperation in logistics, development of transport links, energy and financial projects, etc. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing photos of a letter allegedly from the SBU to the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany with a demand to provide information about all adult men participating in the rallies for further sending their data to the ​​Territorial centers of recruitment and social support.

After verifying the letter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Center for Countering Disinformation reported that this “document” was fake. The text of the letter contains signs of Photoshop; there is no electronic signature on the “document”, as well as errors in the formatting of the letter. In addition, the letter allegedly from the SBU was written on the letterhead of the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany, and this does not comply with the rules for organizing office work.

By spreading such fakes, Russian propagandists are trying to sow panic among Ukrainians abroad, in particular in Germany. It should be noted that this spread of misinformation occurred against the backdrop of a new version of the Mobilization Bill.

• Read also: In Ukraine they allegedly call on people to mobilize into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with their entire families.

Pro-Russian resources are spreading information that London has developed a plan to secretly send NATO forces to Ukraine. Propagandists report that Great Britain has initiated a plan to introduce NATO troops to the right bank of the Dnipro and to the border with Belarus in order to “free up” the forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and send them to the “real war” zone.

In fact, this information is not true, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation. This is another disinformation spread by the Russians, based on manipulations around the British statement about the NATO training Steadfast Defender 2024. The training itself began near the borders of Russia at the end of January 2024.

Thus, propagandists seek to demonize NATO, in particular Great Britain, and assert that in the event of any “aggressive actions” by the North Atlantic Alliance, Russia will certainly “defend itself”. This fake feeds the Russian propaganda narrative that supposedly Russia is really fighting not against Ukraine, but against the “collective West”, which is interested in exhausting Russia. Ukraine seems to be nothing more than a tool in the hands of the West. Previously, we denied information that NATO countries would try to capture “six Russian regions”.