Spilnota Detector Media
Detector Media collects and documents real-time chronicles of the Kremlin disinformation about the Russian invasion. Ukraine for decades has been suffering from Kremlin disinformation. 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 20 September, on the 939th day of the full-scale war, our editorial office recorded:

2395
Fake
732
Manipulation
714
Message
508
Disclosure
Русскій фейк, іді на***!

Fake Russian propagandists write that the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has issued an order to cancel the decisions of Military medical commissions of Ukraine taken since 2022

Pro-Russian resources are distributing an order on behalf of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, which concerns changes in the work of military medical commissions at the Territorial centers of recruitment and social support. In particular, the relevant document states that the decisions of the Military medical commissions issued in the Kyiv, Odesa, Lviv, Vinnytsia, Zhytomyr regions by local Territorial centers of recruitment and social support since 2022, have been declared invalid.

The Center for countering disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council verified this order with the Ministry of Defense and found out that it was fake. The document was written in gross violation of formatting requirements. It also contains many errors. For example, the correct name is the Central Military Medical Commission of the Armed Forces of Ukraine without adding the preposition “at”.

The Center emphasizes that the purpose of such stuffing is to discredit the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, sow panic among the population and disrupt the mobilization process.

Previously, we analyzed a fake order on behalf of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine to transform the children's hospital in Kramatorsk into a military hospital.

Fake The Russians once again claim that the torture in Bucha was carried out by the Ukrainian military

Pro-Russian sources through the social networks Telegram and X (formerly Twitter) times spread information to Western audiences that civilians in the city of Bucha, Kyiv region, were tortured not by the Russian, but by the Ukrainian military. In reporting this, propagandists refer to the words of the Czech military man Philip Seaman, who fought on the side of Ukraine and is now under investigation. Also, to the reports about the “atrocities of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” in Bucha, they add a screenshot of news from the Czech news agency ČTK, which talks about the Czech who committed offenses.

In fact, Philippe Seaman is now really on trial, but his case does not at all concern the torture of civilians. Ukrinform fact-checkers write about this. The ČTK material cited by propagandists states that the prosecutor’s office accuses Siman of illegal service in the Ukrainian army and looting in the combat zone during the occupation of the cities of Irpen and Bucha in the Kyiv region in 2022.

As for the first, the Czech did not have permission from the president of his country to fight in a foreign army. As for the looting, according to the indictment, in his free time, Siman repeatedly appropriated the belongings of both dead soldiers and civilians. Accordingly, in April 2022, the man was detained by the Ukrainian army, but was subsequently fired and returned to the Czech Republic. Today he could be sentenced to five years in prison for serving in a foreign army. Moreover, he also faces exceptional punishment for looting.

In a comment to Ukrinform, the Czech news agency ČTK confirmed that the information about the torture of civilians in Bucha by the Ukrainian military is fake and that their journalists did not write about it.

In the end, such statements by the Russians were refuted by numerous journalistic investigations by leading international media, in particular Bellingcat and the Associated Press.

Fake The popularity of the Russian language is growing in Ukraine

Social networks in the Russian segment have disseminated information that, according to some “statistical data”, the popularity of the Russian language is supposedly gradually growing in Ukraine.

“According to statistical data, the popularity of the Russian language in Ukraine is gradually growing. The number of Nazis has decreased – and nature has begun to cleanse itself”, users write.

StopFake analysts examined the case and determined that in their messages, users do not indicate where they got such data from, but simply write “according to statistical data”. They didn't cite any studies.

On July 24, the sociological service Razumkov Center published a study “Identity of Ukrainian citizens: trends of change”, with the help of which it was possible to refute the false information of propagandists:

Actually, the popularity of the Russian language in Ukraine is not growing at all, but on the contrary is falling. According to the aforementioned study, fewer and fewer Ukrainians believe that speaking Russian is prestigious. If in 2015 there were 21.5% of all respondents, then in 2023 they became 9.4%, and in 2024 this number generally decreased to 6.1%. At the same time, the prestige of the Ukrainian language began to grow significantly: from 43.2% in 2015 to 75.5% in 2024.

Message Kyiv stores have “run out” of fresh products

The network is disseminating information that Kyiv stores are “almost out of fresh products” that need to be kept in refrigerators, in particular dairy products, semi-finished products and meat products. The post includes a photo of empty shelves in the store.

VoxCheck analysts analyzed the case and determined that the propagandists took the photo with empty shelves from an advertisement on OLX in Kazakhstan. And there is no shortage of goods and limited quantities of them, since none of the Ukrainian media have received such news.

Analysts add that according to a survey of retailers conducted by Interfax-Ukraine, the power outages have indeed presented supermarkets with the task of storing perishable goods. Some large networks such as Auchan, Novus and Varus have long had generators that ensure uninterrupted operation during outages. And solar panels were even installed on the roof of one of the Novus stores. But there is no shortage of products.

Propagandists constantly try to exaggerate the scale of problems in Ukraine in order to show the inability of the Ukrainian authorities to cope with the crisis situation. Thus, they want to shift responsibility from the aggressor to the victim of aggression and persuade her to make concessions.

Read on Censor.NET: The Ministry of Agrarian Policy allegedly sends recipes for dishes from pigeons and dogs to Ukrainians

Message In Ukraine, disposable electronic cigarettes with the image of Volodymyr Zelenskyi are being sold en masse

Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that one of the specific Ukrainian online stores of electronic cigarettes sells the “Chill up Zelenskiy” cigarette.

VoxCheck analysts analyzed the stuffing and found that the assortment of the online store indicated by the propagandists does not include products with the image of Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Presumably, the screenshot was faked and replaced with a photo of the original product.

When searching using the keyword chill up, we were able to find original products that did not contain photos of Zelenskyi or other politicians.

However, in general, it is not prohibited to put images of politicians or any other figures on such products: only if the product itself does not violate Ukrainian legislation. For example, on the official website of Epicenter they sell a lighter with the image of Patron the Dog, a dog that inspires explosives. It's a common element of pop culture that arose in the context of a full-scale invasion. It can also be with a cigarette with the image of Ukrainian politicians.

Thus, anonymous people want to discredit the Ukrainian president, because they explain that in Ukraine they are beginning to “idolize” Zelenskyi and “push” his images everywhere: supposedly hinting at a dictatorial form of government. But for some reason, anonymous people, say, do not remember that in Russia there is an entire clothing brand dedicated to the dictator Putin, created by his supporters and participants in the Putin Team movement.

In fact, we recorded many fakes aimed at discrediting Volodymyr Zelenskyi: propagandists used false advertising banners, magazine covers, graffiti, created individual cartoons, and placed Zelenskyi’s faces on various consumer goods (for example, condoms). With the help of Russian propaganda, Zelenskyi was able to appear in various roles, in particular: a vain person who spends all budget funds only on himself; a punitive satanist destroying Ukrainian church property; a person with drug addiction; theft of Western money; a puppet controlled by the West; a monster who throws “everyone in a row” to the front, etc.

Orest Slyvenko, Artur Koldomasov, Vitalii Mykhailiv, Oleksandra Kotenko, Oleksandr Siedin, Kostiantyn Zadyraka, and Oleksiy Pivtorak are collaborating on this chronicle. Lesia Bidochko serves as the project coordinator, while Ksenia Ilyuk is the author of the project.