Russian propaganda resources are disseminating information that on the cover of its latest issue, the German magazine Handelsblatt depicted a bloody Ukrainian passport, as well as a severed hand, and signed it all with the words: “Yes, dead. But with a new passport”. This is how the publication allegedly responded to the decision of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to restrict Ukrainian men abroad from receiving consular services.

In fact, this information is fake, because the German magazine Handelsblatt did not publish an issue with such a cover. One can verify this by looking at the official website of the publication. In addition, the cover distributed by Russian propagandists shows the magazine issue number 87 dated May 4, 2024, but the actual issue of the magazine under this number is dated May 6, 2024 and has a different cover.

This fake is a reaction of Russian propaganda to the temporary cessation of the provision of consular services to Ukrainian men abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasized that the decision to suspend the process of providing consular services to a category of Ukrainian citizens defined by law is a temporary step, due, in particular, to the need to resolve the issue of military registration of citizens of mobilization age abroad.

Russian resources are disseminating information that Ukraine does not abandon its intentions to “continue terrorist activities”. This is how Russian Presidential Press Secretary Pieskov responded to Ukraine’s threats to strike the Kerch Bridge. He also added that Russian special agencies are already taking appropriate measures.

However, Ukraine has never practiced terrorism and condemns terrorist practices, write the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Russia these days continues its terrorist attacks on the territory of Ukraine. We are talking about missile and artillery strikes on civilian targets, as well as drones.

At the same time, Russia not only practices terrorism against Ukraine, but also has close relations with other terrorist movements. For example, representatives of the Taliban visit Moscow and are received there at a high level. Previously, we wrote about how Russia is everywhere trying to find the “Ukrainian trace” and blame Ukraine for certain ills of the world, in particular, terrorist attacks.

Russian sources disseminate information that in 2022, during negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the Ukrainian delegation allegedly could not “talk about itself” and was forced to coordinate its position with its allies. Representatives of Ukraine allegedly complained that they had “three bosses”. The negotiations themselves seemed to have been disrupted by Boris Johnson. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the statement of the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Medynskyi.

This message is a component of the Russian narrative, saying that Ukraine is not a sovereign state, but just a “pawn” of the West, forcing Ukrainians to fight in the interests of NATO, the “Anglo-Saxons”, etc.

Ukraine is building partnerships with Western countries. And the format of these documents proves that Ukraine is an independent subject of international relations. In no country in the world does Ukraine have a subordination system in the “superior-subordinate” format, writes the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

The demonization of Boris Johnson is a Russian IPSO aimed at undermining Ukrainians’ trust in the West. It is for this reason that Russian propaganda came up with the myth that Johnson allegedly disrupted the negotiations in 2022. Thus, he allegedly plunged Ukraine into an “endless war” that will last “until the last Ukrainian”.

Pro-Russian users of the social network X (formerly Twitter) are distributing a video in which Ukrainian soldiers allegedly burn an effigy of US presidential candidate Donald Trump with the words: “You will never be president again”.

However, this video is definitive, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. The individuals on it are not military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These are Russian actors playing Ukrainian soldiers in captured Ukrainian uniforms, the Center adds. These people in the video do not speak Ukrainian like residents of Ukraine - one can hear a strong Russian accent.

On the one hand, the purpose of this fake is to discredit the Ukrainian Defense Forces, and on the other hand, to spoil Ukrainian-American relations and bipartisan support for Ukraine in the US Congress. Moreover, this is happening against the backdrop of the election campaigns of US presidential candidates.