Spilnota Detector Media
Detector Media collects and documents real-time chronicles of the Kremlin propaganda about the Russian invasion. Ukraine for decades has been suffering from Kremlin propaganda. Here we document all narratives, messages, and tactics, which Russia is using from February 17th, 2022. Reminder: the increasing of shelling and fighting by militants happened on the 17th of February 2022 on the territory of Ukraine. Russian propaganda blames Ukraine for these actions

On 15 July, on the 1237th day of the full-scale war, our editorial office recorded:

2732
Fake
816
Manipulation
774
Message
559
Disclosure
Русскій фейк, іді на***!

Fake According to the BBC, less than two thousand Russian soldiers died in Ukraine.

This thesis was spread by the Georgian politician Demur Giorkhelidze. In his report, he claims that the total number of Russian soldiers killed in Ukraine after February 24 and by the end of April is 1,899. According to him, this is a reliable figure, because this is the data allegedly provided by the BBC. The report also mentions that a group of BBC volunteers have been counting the number of dead Russian servicemen since the day of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, while Georgian television has been spreading incorrect statistics. In fact, as fact checkers at Mythdetector found out, the post distributed on social media is untrue. "The data published by the BBC does not reflect the total number of Russian servicemen killed in Ukraine, but the number of servicemen that the Russian Air Force team was able to identify from open sources," the fact checkers wrote.

As a reminder, the pro-Kremlin media outlet Readovka earlier published a statement from the Russian Defense Ministry on combat losses: 13,414 killed and 7,000 Russian soldiers "missing." Of the Moskva cruiser, 116 were killed and 100 were missing sailors. Moscow published this statement and removed it. The total number of lost Russian fighters is close to 20,000, and this is exactly the data that the Ukrainian command claims. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that from February 24 to April 23, the enemy's total combat losses were estimated at 21,600 soldiers.

Message Russia defeats Western sanctions.

According to the Center to Counter Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Russian propaganda spreads this thesis, confirming it by saying that Hungary will veto the embargo on the import of Russian oil, which the European Union plans to include in the sixth package of sanctions against Russia. The veto of the embargo was announced by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on May 3. Since 65% of Hungary's oil consumption comes through the Druzhba pipeline, and there are no alternative lines to the country, the draft sixth sanctions package includes exceptions for Hungary and Slovakia, which are allowed to extend imports until the end of 2023. ""But due to the prohibition of transit through the Hungarian territory of military aid to Ukraine, the EU has launched a legal process, the result of which could be the termination of Euro-donations for Hungary. The reaction of EU countries prompts the Hungarian leadership to withdraw its veto of the EU oil embargo against Russia," the Center said in a statement.

Fake Zelensky's daughter called her father a Nazi.

This is the information spread by users of social networks. Posts that Olpeksandra Zelenska allegedly considers her father a Nazi and murderer of the people were published in two languages - Russian and Georgian. The posts say that President Zelensky's daughter fled to Poland because she considers her father a Nazi and a murderer of Ukrainians. The posts are accompanied by a photo of a young woman who is sitting in a car crying. However, as Mythdetector's fact checker found out, the person in the photo is not Oleksandra Zelenska, but a frame cut from a video published in 2017, in which a Russian-speaking woman is crying because her husband did not buy her a new iPhone. The Russian website 9111.ru is probably the original source of the information that Oleksandra Zelenska thinks her father is a Nazi. As the fact checker writes, the fact that the photo is not Zelensky's daughter is clearly visible if you compare the photo with that of the real Olexandra.

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Manipulation Allied countries transfer obsolete weapons and military equipment to Ukraine.

Russian propaganda media and anonymous telegram channels occasionally report that the weapons that Ukraine receives from allied countries are outdated and bad and do not meet modern characteristics: this thesis benefits Russia, because by showing that Ukraine allegedly has old weapons that were provided to it by EU countries and the US, propagandists seek to discredit Ukraine's allies and devalue their support and assistance to Ukraine in this war.

Also in this way Russia wants to create the appearance that even with weapons from allies Ukraine will be weak, because the equipment is supposedly not suitable for fighting in modern warfare, however, according to the Center to Counteract Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, there are samples of artillery transferred by Ukrainian allies. As an example, experts of the Center compare characteristics of two howitzers - Soviet-Russian Msta-B and American M777, which are transferred according to the lend-lease from the USA. "Msta-B versus M777: caliber 152 mm versus 155 mm; barrel length - 47 caliber versus 39 caliber (52 newest); range - 3VOF45/ERFB shell: 24.7 km versus 30 km (40 km with 52 caliber barrel)," the Center reports. On the basis of these characteristics it is clear that the new American howitzer hits 5 km further than the Soviet-Russian one. Consequently, this weapon is not obsolete and unsuitable for military operations, on the contrary, it will have a counter-battery advantage. The M777 also has a digital fire control system for M982 Excalibur ammunition with GPS targeting.

Manipulation In Ukraine and, in particular, in Transcarpathia, the rights of ethnic minorities are being infringed.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, this thesis is spread by Russian propaganda through the head of the Guild of Interethnic Journalism of Russia, a member of the commission on patriotic and spiritual and moral education of children and Margarita Lyange, who promotes a narrative about "the oppression of national minorities in Ukraine".

In particular, the propagandist claims that Ukrainian state policy does not allow Ruthenians in Transcarpathia to use their native language, Russian, and that Ruthenians themselves are allegedly persecuted for refusing to call themselves Ukrainians. The Center reports that according to the 2001 census, only 10,000 Transcarpathians, or less than one percent of the region's population, called themselves Ruthenians. In addition, Ruthenians do not communicate with each other in Russian, but refer to their language as so-called Ruthenian. Ukrainian scientists are inclined to believe that the so-called Ruthenian language is one of the many dialects of Ukrainian and not a separate language. In everyday life, Transcarpathians and, in particular, Ruthenians can communicate in a comfortable dialect .

Manipulation U.S. residents do not agree with Biden's policy towards Ukraine.

This is the thesis spread by the Russian propagandist media allegedly referring to The Washington Post. The reports claim that most Americans are "dissatisfied with Biden's policy toward Ukraine." As fact checkers at StopFake write, for example, propaganda resources presented the results of a poll conducted among Americans in late April 2022. The propagandists claim that Americans are dissatisfied with both the sanctions imposed against Russia and the amount of military aid to Ukraine. According to StopFake poll by The Washington Post-ABC News, the number of Americans who support Biden's activities related to the war in Ukraine has increased. The percentage of those who do not support the policy, however, has not changed. "This survey showed that a majority of Americans, despite concerns about the war, agree that Ukraine needs even more help. Other surveys conducted at different times and by other organizations also show broad support for Ukraine among Americans and assistance," - the fact checkers write.

Fake All foreigners fighting in Ukraine are mercenaries.

This information is spread by the Russian propaganda media. The reports assure that the fighters of the International Legion of Volunteers are mercenaries, and their goal is to get "easy money" from the war in Ukraine. However, this is not true. Foreigners fighting for Ukraine are not mercenaries. As StopFake writes, unlike mercenaries, legionnaires enlist in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and are subordinate to its command. "Foreigners who perform military service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine receive the same salary as Ukrainian citizens. Foreign citizens who did not wish to sign a contract with the AFU join volunteer battalions. They do not get material benefit - the majority of them have personal, ideological reasons to defend justice and rights of Ukrainians," the fact checkers write.

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Andrii Pylypenko, Lesia Bidochko, Oleksandr Siedin, Kostiantyn Zadyraka, and Oleksiy Pivtorak are collaborating on this chronicle. Ksenia Ilyuk is the author of the project.