This message was disseminated on a Polish pro-Russian Telegram channel with reference to the propaganda resource RT (formerly Russia Today), which in turn received the relevant information from the Russian diplomatic mission in Paris.

The propagandists add that Paris officially denies the participation of French mercenaries in the Russian-Ukrainian war, and local media do not hesitate to call them volunteers in their reports. In addition, mercenaries are also recruited through French-language groups on social networks. In the end, the propagandists provide a link to the website of the Ukrainian Embassy in France, which “confirms” the veracity of their words.

In fact, propagandists deliberately use the term “mercenaries” instead of the correct term “combatants” to refer to foreign fighters fighting in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the Geneva Conventions, mercenaries participate in armed conflict illegally. They are not citizens or servicemen of the belligerent state, and this is their main difference from combatants. After all, foreigners who decide to fight on the side of Ukraine become part of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

As for the publication on the website of the Ukrainian Embassy in France, it provides basic information for citizens of other countries who are thinking about joining the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces or have already made the decision to do so. And, of course, there is nothing illegal written there.

With this message, Russia is feeding its narrative about the presence of “foreign mercenaries” in Ukraine. In this way, Kremlin propaganda seeks to assert that it is not really fighting Ukraine, but the so-called “collective West”.

Previously, we recorded a fake from the Russians that in Kryvyi Rih, Russians got into the Aurora Hotel because “foreign mercenaries” were stationed there.

Pro-Kremlin resources are spreading information that unnamed representatives of Ukraine met with members of the jihadist group Ghayat Tahrir al-Sham in the Syrian city of Idlib in mid-June 2024. The Ukrainian authorities allegedly wanted to exchange “Chechens, Turkmens and Georgians” who participated in the war in Syria, who are being held by Ghayat Tahrir al-Sham, for 75 UAVs. It seems unlikely that this will happen, given that these drones are being used against Russians in Syria. Among those who was allegedly supposed to be exchanged was, in particular, the so-called “Minister of Defense” of ISIS, Abu Umar al-Shishani.

However, this information is not true, Ukrinform reports. Ukraine does not negotiate with terrorist organizations. In addition, it is impossible to exchange Abu Umar al-Shishani for drones or anything else, because he died in 2016 in Iraq during the fighting around the city of Mosul.

Russian sources also refer to the Turkish-language publication Aydınlık, which is pro-Russian and has repeatedly published fakes about Ukraine. The publication belongs to the Vatan political party, which promotes an anti-Western and pro-Russian agenda. It is the only political force in Turkey calling for recognition of the Russian occupation of Crimea and Abkhazia.

It is worth noting that Ukraine does not have any diplomatic missions in Syria, since it severed all relations with this country on June 30, 2022.

With this fake, the Kremlin once again seeks to baselessly accuse Ukraine of “supporting international terrorism”. Propagandists also use this fake as evidence of the so-called “Ukrainian trace” in terrorist attacks taking place in Russia itself.

Russian resources are spreading information that the Volyn tragedy will not be taught in Polish schools in classes where Polish children study together with Ukrainian schoolchildren. The reason for the decision was the reluctance to create tension and interethnic conflicts among students. The corresponding “news” is being spread by propagandists, citing the English-language media about Ukraine United24.

However, this is a fake, StopFake journalists claim. There is no such story on the website, as well as on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of the United24 resource. The “news” was also not published in Polish media or on the website of the Ministry of National Education of Poland. That is, no one actually made such a decision.

The Volyn tragedy (in Polish historiography - the Volyn massacre) occurred in the summer of 1943 and is still a subject of debate among historians. At the same time, after the full-scale invasion, Ukraine and Poland leaned towards a policy of reconciliation and memory. “We are pursuing a calm policy. Not a policy of running around with pitchforks, but a policy of calmly seeking agreement on historically complex issues, decades-old, very complex, extremely painful for a significant group of our compatriots”, said Polish President Andrzej Duda in June 2023. In July of the same year, on the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, he arrived in Lutsk together with Volodymyr Zelenskyi to honor the memory of the victims of the tragedy.

Russia regularly speculates on the Volyn tragedy. For example, a little earlier we recorded a Russian fake about Babel publishing a quote from a Ukrainian director with the idea for the film “Volyn Chainsaw Massacre”.

Russian propaganda resources, citing Mira Terada, an “international human rights activist” and head of the Foundation for Combating Repression, are spreading information about the alleged supply of Ukrainian children to British pedophiles through the Olena Zelenska Foundation. Terada also claims that Ukrainian women are forced to give birth to children.

In fact, this is another fake, the Center for Countering Disinformation reports. Mera Terada did not provide any evidence for her words. In addition, the so-called “international human rights activist” is Russian, and her real name is Oksana Vovk. She is known for having spent almost four years in prison in the United States for money laundering and violating anti-drug laws.

After serving her sentence, Terada returned to Russia, where she headed the Anti-Repression Foundation, founded by war criminal and former head of the Wagner group Pryhozhyn.

The so-called foundation regularly spreads fakes about Ukraine and its allies. And the “international human rights activist” herself personally and through her “foundation” spreads fakes throughout Ukraine.

Russian Telegram channels are distributing a video story, allegedly created by Euronews, about a Ukrainian artist. The story claims that the Ukrainian amputated his own tailbone to express his support for the Ukrainian Armed Forces and to raise about 1 million euros for the army. However, he apparently managed to raise no more than 3,000 euros.

In fact, this video is fake as it is not on the official resources of the Euronews TV channel. This is written by the Center for Countering Disinformation. The propagandists used the name of a well-known European resource to increase trust in the fake. In addition, the story does not show the face of the “main character”, and the search engine does not identify such a Ukrainian artist.

With this leak, the Russians are trying to discredit the Ukrainian authorities, who, according to them, are corrupt and therefore unable to cover the needs of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This is why the population is allegedly forced to resort to such extremes, just to raise money for the army.

This is not the first time that Russian propagandists have spread fake videos on behalf of Euronews. We have previously documented similar leaks:

- the Territorial center of recruitment and social support workers allegedly beat up an ethnic Hungarian in western Ukraine, Euronews story

- Euronews allegedly reported on a Ukrainian fraudster in Poland who opened a beauty salon with fat-sucking mosquitoes

- The French President is allegedly being forced to escalate the Russian-Ukrainian war by blackmail (Euronews story)

- Euronews allegedly showed a story about how the statement of the Ukrainian Embassy in France angered French farmers