The Center for strategic communications researched the anti-Ukrainian campaign on Facebook and identified the main messages disseminated through advertising on Facebook pages.

In particular, analysts found the following messages:

The thesis that “the battle for Bakhmut has already been lost”, as experts say, is unfounded. The Russian army does not leave attempts to capture Bakhmut, but, according to the conclusion of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, this significantly weakens the Russian army in other directions. The messages that “the West does not believe in Ukraine” and that “the Command of the Defense Forces fled, and in the Bakhmut direction “the guys are fighting back alone”” are also untrue. Analysts say the Defense Forces are firmly in Bakhmut, and the commander of the Ground Forces, Syrskyi, constantly comes to the positions. At the same time, the West continues to supply Ukraine with weapons and equipment that will soon be used during the counteroffensive.

Analysts explained that the disinformation campaign is spread through newly created Facebook pages, without a specific description and content. Usually these pages have neutral titles. According to analysts, in this way the authors avoid additional moderation by Meta, which owns Facebook. Analysts urge to complain about such manifestations of advertising.

Specialists of the Center for strategic communications are convinced that such a disinformation campaign is designed to demoralize Ukrainians, and at the same time undermine their confidence in the authorities and Western countries.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Oleksii Danilov, during a speech for a Lviv TV channel, began to assert that “more and more Ukrainians are in favor of peace talks”. Like, this is “a dangerous trend for Ukraine”. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the Center for counteracting disinformation under the National security and defense council investigated the speech of Oleksii Danilov and determined that the propagandists distorted the general context of the speech. Fact-checkers explain that the words of Oleksii Danilov were taken out of context, because he did not speak exclusively about civilian Ukrainians. He spoke about supporters of the “Russian world” and collaborators who could destabilize the situation in Ukraine. In fact, collaborators are circulating pro-Kremlin narratives regarding the so-called peace talks.

By spreading this manipulation, propagandists want to destabilize the mood of Ukrainians, because Ukraine is allegedly preparing for peace negotiations. The Ukrainian leadership has repeatedly stated that it is impossible to negotiate with the aggressor. At the same time, earlier propagandists convinced that no one needed the war, it was necessary to “somehow” negotiate. Allegedly, Ukraine has unleashed a war with Russia and refuses any negotiations, moreover, Western countries allegedly forbade Zelenskyi to negotiate.

We recall that earlier Detector Media analyzed a message in which they claimed that the United States plans to hold peace talks with Russia, since it is America that is waging war side by side with Ukraine against Russia.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that during the March 8 protest, it was led by two Ukrainians who were “trained by the Americans” and participated in “color revolutions” in other countries. The authors of the reports add that “Ukrainian protesters” used Molotov cocktails. As evidence, the authors of the messages add a video fragment of the protest, recorded by one of the Georgian channels. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the MythDetector project got down to the case and found that Ukrainians were not depicted in the footage. As the fact-checkers explain, the video shows Georgian volunteers of the Center for Extreme Medicine providing medical assistance to the victims during the action. This video was also posted on the Center for Extreme Medicine Facebook page. The video shows people in the same clothes, they wash the eyes of the victim with a saline solution, which the authors of the messages call a Molotov cocktail.

Analysts also turned to volunteers, who confirmed that the footage depicts Georgian volunteers, and not “Ukrainian protesters trained by the Americans”.

The public of Georgia actively opposes the adoption in the first reading of the law “On the transparency of foreign influence”, called the “Russian law”. It is considered an analogue of the notorious ban on “foreign agents” in Russia, which actually suppressed the already weak voices of the opposition and made it impossible for international monitoring missions to be present inside the country. The law, adopted by the Georgian Parliament on March 7, 2023, provides for the creation of a register of “agents of foreign influence”. The authorities will create a special open database of organizations and individuals if the share of foreign investments in their activities is at least 20%. It is noteworthy that the voting continued in violation of the rules of parliament and without public discussion.

We recall that Detector Media analyzed messages aimed at discrediting the protest movement in Georgia.

Comparison with the standard of the negative (destruction of authority) is a propaganda tactic in which propagandists compare a new idea, process or person with an already known analogue that causes persistent negative emotions. In tactics, a certain logical flaw is applied: if A includes X and B includes X, then A = B.

Using this tactic, Russian propaganda is trying to convince both Russians and the whole world that Ukrainians are Nazis. In particular, Russians systematically find evidence of Nazism in the Ukrainian army. For example, they said that the uniform of the Ukrainian military was significantly changed after the 2000s and now it supposedly reflects the “reincarnation of Nazism”: rhombuses on shoulder straps instead of Soviet stars, the use of the “Nazi” edelweiss flower in the symbols of the units, as well as an artificially aged naval emblem of marine corps. Propaganda also considered Nazi symbols on military helmets, Ukrainian armored vehicles and even Ukrainian military awards. Moreover, allegedly the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army Valerii Zaluzhnyi also has a “bracelet with a swastika”. Thus, the Russians are trying to promote the conclusion that if Ukrainian soldiers use Nazi symbols, then they share the same views as the Nazis during World War II.

They use the same tactics in relation to Volodymyr Zelenskyi - they say that he is not only supported by the same countries that supported Hitler, he even published the book “My Struggle” similar in name and style to “Mein Kampf” by Adolf Hitler. Russian propaganda also said that in Poland they allegedly issued a stamp with Zelenskyi in the image of Hitler. Or they said that Zelenskyi, during a visit to the United States, handed over to Congress the flag of Ukraine “with SS runes”. And during a meeting with the leaders of France and Germany, the Ukrainian leader “could not resist” and “carefully showed Z” standing near the German flag.

Another example is the comparison of the Ukrainian special services, in particular, the Security Service of Ukraine, with punishers. Russian propaganda uses this tactic mainly in the temporarily occupied territories, convincing people that if they are released, they will live even worse. Like, the SBU is preparing punitive operations in the liberated territories. Allegedly, people will be judged even for such “innocent” acts as baking bread or organizing football matches during the occupation. In this context, the tactics of comparison with the standard of the negative are combined with the tactics of labeling (punishers) and the replacement of concepts (punishment for crimes committed is given as repression against civilians).

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that allegedly a woman on one of the forums asks for advice regarding her husband, who returned from Russian captivity. The so-called request says that the man was given a blood transfusion, which means that now he has “moskal blood” (Russian blood), so the woman is thinking about a divorce. It's fake.

Specialists of the VoxCheck project got down to the case, investigated it and determined that it was a fictional story, and the screenshot was edited using a special program. As analysts explain, the author of the discussion himself denied the fake, reporting on the forum that someone took his post, changed the text, title and passed it off as a call from a Ukrainian woman for help.

Analysts also examined a fake screenshot, which shows that a user under the nickname SecretlyYours started the discussion on the forum on February 21, 2022 at 19:16. However, there is no discussion on this topic on the site, nor is it among the user's other publications. However, the author has a post for the same date and time and with the same number of comments as the post in the fake screenshot. However, the question in the original post is quite different.

By spreading such a fake, the propagandists nourish the narrative of Nazi Ukrainians who supposedly recognize only so-called “purebred Ukrainians” and despise everyone else.

We recall that Detector Media previously refuted the fake, which said that Ukraine prohibits all foreign citizens from becoming blood donors.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular in pro-Russian telegram channels. Reports say that recently Ukraine flatly refused to create a protective zone around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant seized by Russian invaders. Like, Ukraine “is not ready to implement the IAEA initiative, which would prevent an attack from the territory of the power plant”. It is not true.

Analysts of the StopFake project investigated this case and found that the Ukrainian side did not make such statements regarding the Zaporizhzhia NPP. As analysts explain, Ukraine, on the contrary, supports all the efforts of the international community to disarm the captured Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, while Russia does not stop terrorist actions at the ZNPP, ignoring the statements of Western countries.

It is Russia that provokes the possibility of a nuclear threat due to its invasion of Ukraine and, in particular, the seizure of nuclear facilities. The shelling of nuclear scientific installations at Ukrainian research institutes, the launching of missiles over nuclear facilities in Ukraine - these actions of Russian occupiers violate all existing conventions on the treatment of nuclear facilities.

By spreading this fake, propagandists want to convince that Ukraine is an aggressor and that it is carrying out so-called provocations at the ZNPP. Thus, the authors of messages use the tactics of reflection, attributing their actions to opponents because intimidation and “nuclear blackmail” is one of the ways Russian propaganda achieves its goals.

We recall that earlier Detector Media denied the fake that Ukraine allegedly stores weapons on the territory of the ZNPP and analyzed the manipulation, in which they claimed that the Ukrainian leadership had imposed sanctions on the Zaporizhzhia NPP.

This thesis was spread on social networks and in the propaganda media. The reports say that the West did not provide the Armed Forces with the necessary amount of equipment to create full-fledged units. Like, the Ukrainian military has no weapons. The authors of the messages refer to the material of “Forbes”. This is a manipulation.

Analysts of the StopFake project drew attention to this case, investigating that propagandists distorted the context of the material. As the fact-checkers explain, the Forbes article says that the lack of heavy equipment in some units is not a problem at all and is a “temporary state of affairs”. A military journalist explained in his material that the Armed Forces of Ukraine have enough other weapons. He gives the example that while heavy tanks have not arrived on the battlefield, the Ukrainian army already has “a bunch of other weapons, including lightly armored tanks”. That is, the military journalist did not say that there were “not enough weapons” in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but on the contrary, he talked about the presence of “a bunch of other weapons”, at the same time he called the absence of heavy tanks a matter of time.

Propagandists systematically spread manipulations designed to discredit the West and allegedly show that the Western countries allegedly do not care about Ukraine, which will not be sent the promised weapons and so on. Thus, the authors of the messages discredit Western partners and undermine Ukrainians' confidence in the West.

Detector Media has repeatedly refuted fakes about Western weapons, for example, about the destruction of an American M1 Abrams tank near Soledar, which had not yet been handed over to Ukraine. He also denied the fake creation of Leopard 2 tanks with so-called “nuclear warheads” and explained the message that the West came up with a new deadly weapon called “tectonic weapons” to punish Turkey with an earthquake.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say a German restaurant has launched an advertising campaign depicting Volodymyr Zelenskyi as a “piggy bank”. As evidence, the propagandists add a video supposedly advertising on the YouTube video hosting. In the video, you can also see the inscription: “We are tired of feeding this pig - it's time to cook Eisbein! [edit] meat dish of German cuisine]”. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project investigated the case, and they asked the restaurant owner for a comment. A spokesperson for the restaurant assured that they did not run similar advertising campaigns on YouTube. Analysts explain that the video was published in the telegram channels of the Russian segment and there is no evidence that the advertisement was replicated on video hosting. They are sure that the video was edited using a special program.

In addition, the fact checker adds that such “advertising” most likely could not be moderated in Google Ads, since it is contrary to the company's advertising policy. The Google Ads website states that they check all ad elements for violations. If found, the status of the ad will change to “Rejected” and it will not be displayed. For example, they do not allow advertising of content that incites hatred, promotes discrimination or humiliates, insults, harasses an individual or group of individuals as in the case of “advertising” with the participation of Zelenskyi.