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 22 December, on the 1032th day of the full-scale war, our editorial office recorded:

2602
Fake
774
Manipulation
753
Message
541
Disclosure
Русскій фейк, іді на***!

Fake NATO troops entered Vovchansk

This thesis appeared on propaganda channels in Telegram. Blogger and officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatolii Shtefan (“Shtirlits”) drew attention to the same type of fakes.

Russian “military correspondents”, who write daily about the war in Ukraine, actively disseminate information that “NATO troops” entered not only Vovchansk, but also Kozacha Lopan. There are practically no Ukrainian military in these cities, “many blacks and English speakers”.

Anatolii Shtefan recalled who exactly fired Vovchansk, adding a photo of Ukrainian soldiers against the backdrop of the Ukrainian flag over the administrative building of the city.

In the south and in the Kharkiv region, the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, announced at the end of August, continues. According to President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, since the beginning of September, the Armed Forces of Ukraine have liberated about 2,000 square kilometers. As of September 11, Ukrainian units have de-occupied more than 40 settlements in the Kharkiv region.

Russian propagandists regularly throw messages about discrediting the Ukrainian military, and if they can no longer keep silent about the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, then they attribute them to foreign mercenaries and that the counteroffensive is carried out to the order of the United States or the West.

Fake The offensive of the Ukrainian military in the direction of Kherson is needed to "scam" the EU for new tranches

Russian propagandists decided not to deny the activity and victories of the Ukrainian army in several directions at once, as they could do before. This time they came up with an excuse and circulated it in anonymous telegram channels. It seems that US Secretary of State Blinken, during a meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyi in Kyiv, made him understand that "it will not work to divide the EU countries into new tranches until there is at least some success (albeit temporary)".

At the same time, the Russians are not worried that these new tranches will be used against them. They promote the thesis that foreign weapons end up on the black market, and it is easier to write them off during a counteroffensive. And they reassure themselves that, they say, a counteroffensive is no longer beneficial for Ukraine, because the Armed Forces of Ukraine suffered heavy losses in the Kharkiv direction.

Thus, they are trying to downplay the success of the Ukrainian military, to attribute the idea of ​​a counteroffensive to the United States or the EU, remembering that the battles were commanded by foreign mercenaries.

This is a typical Russian tactic - instead of voluntarily liberating Ukrainian cities and villages, they are dying on foreign soil, for no one knows why, and they blame the United States and the West for this.

Manipulation In the EU, they started talking about the gradual lifting of sanctions against Russia

In the EU, they started talking about the gradual lifting of sanctions against Russia. Russian media, citing an interview with Austrian Foreign Minister Oleksandr Schallenberg, spread manipulative “news” that Europe is ready to make concessions to the Kremlin and start negotiations to lift a number of restrictions against the Russian economy.

In an interview with the Wiener Zeitung, Schallenberg, on the contrary, expressed confidence that the sanctions are becoming more effective every day and it is too early to talk about the possibility of easing sanctions.

Answering a question from journalists about whether it is possible to imagine a situation in which the EU lifts sanctions from Russia, the Austrian Foreign Minister specifically stated that there are no such prerequisites now. Russia's disinformation news about the EU's readiness to lift sanctions on Russia is based on this quote by Schallenberg - cut off and taken out of context.

According to him, Putin has no desire to retreat, on the contrary, Russia's goal is still the destruction of Ukraine.

As you know, due to the fact that Russia pretends that the sanctions do not affect its economy and continues the war in Ukraine, EU member states are in favor of expanding the list of sanctioned persons influencing the Russian leadership. However, Russian propaganda is trying to convince at least on the domestic market that the lifting of sanctions is possible. It is indeed possible, but only after Russian troops leave Ukrainian territory. More details.

Fake Kyiv planned the murder of Italian journalist Mattia Sorbi

And the Russian military saved his life, according to the pro-Kremlin media. Like, on August 29, employees of the Ukrainian special services, dressed in military uniforms of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, promised to accompany the reporter Mattia Sorbi by taxi from Mykolayiv to the line of collision between Ukrainian and Russian troops. Approaching the combat area, the escorts left the car and sent the reporter along the mined road. A taxi with a journalist exploded on a Ukrainian minivan, the driver died, the Russian military who heard the explosion saved the journalist. Now he is in the territory controlled by Russia.

The Russians believe that the Ukrainian special services planned to wait for the death of the journalist as a result of shelling from Russian positions or explosion of a taxi on a mine for further accusations of Russia in the murder of Mattia Sorbi and a wide resonance in the Western media. It is not true.

At the end of August, Mattia Sorbi arrived in Mykolayiv, where, after some time, without permission, in violation of security rules, he left in the direction of the temporarily occupied Kherson, the Mykolayiv regional military administration said. Without the permission and escort of the Ukrainian military, he drove in the direction of Oleksandrivka (temporarily occupied territory between Mykolayiv and Kherson), which was in the “red zone” due to heavy fighting.

“Despite the widespread version of the Russian media about the alleged blowing up of the car, on the published videos you can see the damage to the car, more typical for shelling than blowing up a car on an anti-tank mine. Therefore, we can assume that at the entrance to the “red zone” the car was fired upon by the Russian occupation troops, and when they realized that it was the car of an Italian journalist, they decided to blame the Ukrainian side,” the Mykolayiv regional military administration believes.

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.