After pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk was detained, anonymous telegram channels controlled by the Russian special services launched a series of manipulative messages designed to undermine Ukrainians' trust in the authorities. For the most part, these messages and theories are built on assumptions, such as "Medvedchuk is wearing a new uniform, which means that his things are not suitable for photographing. In fact, the new uniforms can't prove that Medvedchuk's things are "unsuitable for photographing. Moreover, there is no evidence that he was dressed up on purpose. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Medvedchuk tried to disguise himself as a Ukrainian military man by wearing a uniform and crossing the Ukrainian border. It is noteworthy that the telegram channels avoid affirmative sentences and build messages on assumptions: "Zelenskyy knew about the start time of the attack on February 24, so the SBU could calmly take Medvedchuk to a safe place."

In addition, the telegram channels use the prefix "gossip" for their manipulations, after which one can write anything and retract his words if necessary. For example, "weaved in that the Russians knew that Medvedchuk was in the SBU, and negotiations on his exchange were unsuccessful. If Russia really did not plan to exchange Putin's cousin for Ukrainian defenders, it would mean that the Kremlin is not interested in Medvedchuk's future fate. If so, Russia, which keeps trying to discredit the Ukrainian authorities, would benefit from publicly stating that Medvedchuk is being held by Ukrainian law enforcers, as opposed to fleeing Ukraine's official statements. Medvedchuk's wife, host Oksana Marchenko, who recorded an April 13 address to Vladimir Zelensky, may also have previously claimed that her husband had disappeared. She, like the pro-Russian TV channels, says that Medvedchuk is allegedly "illegally detained by the SBU." Recall that Medvedchuk was announced suspicions and the court selected preventive measures in the criminal proceedings on oil and gas extraction in the Black Sea and on aiding the activities of a terrorist organization through the supply of coal from the occupied territories of Donbass. He should be under house arrest, but escaped from his estate, thereby violating the obligations under the preventive measure.

A fake video with the BBC News logo is being circulated online, claiming that Ukraine is allegedly responsible for the rocket attack on the train station in Kramatorsk, which resulted in the death of about 60 civilians. The BBC denied involvement in the video and said it was taking steps to have the video removed. Earlier, Russian propagandists spread fakes, allegedly "the Ukrainian military shelled the train station in Kramatorsk", "Russia does not use Tochka-U complexes", "AFU use civilians as human shields", so they shot up the train station in Kramatorsk", "serial number proves that the missile fired at the train station in Kramatorsk belongs to the AFU" - read refutation here.

Russian and pro-Kremlin media have spread a fake that the Russian military allegedly captured a military instructor who was training the Azov battalion, the commander of the NATO Joint Ground Forces Command, Lieutenant General Roger L. Cloutier Jr. of the US Army, writes Georgian portal. myth." Cloutier posted a message on his LinkedIn account and said he was at the European Joint Forces headquarters in Izmir, Turkey. The Facebook page of the NATO Joint Land Command also published a photo from Izmir in which Cloutier was present.

This thesis is disseminated by Russian media, citing alleged statements by American military expert Andreas Weber and U.S. military analyst Trent Telenok. The Center for Countering Disinformation reported that in fact the experts' quotes were taken out of context. "The main purpose is to create a false impression that Weber and Telenko support Russia's actions and analyze Russia's military achievements. In reality, the mentioned experts in the information space support the Armed Forces of Ukraine and comment on the actions of the Russian army in a negative context. The enemy uses mythologization to make the Russian population believe that the Russian army heroically accomplished all tasks," the Center explained.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry said that the Russian special services plan a series of terrorist attacks by bombing residential buildings, hospitals and schools in Russian cities, as well as missile and bomb attacks on Bilhorod or one of the cities of occupied Crimea. Russia plans to blame the Ukrainian Armed Forces and volunteer battalions for this. "It is entirely possible that these terrorist attacks will be presented as a revenge of the Ukrainians for Bucha and Kramatorsk and as an excuse for brutality against the Ukrainian civilian population", - told the CID and specified that these attacks will also be carried out mobilization. In the Center for counteraction to disinformation added that it is confirmed by fake videos with reading out the order of Volodymyr Zelenskyy about the attacks on the territory of Russia.

Anonymous telegram channels controlled by the Russian secret services are spreading the message that the prospects for an exchange of Viktor Medvedchuk are minimal, calling the Ukrainian president's proposal an "information trap. At the same time, they spread the thesis that Lukashenka might as well "detain employees of the Ukrainian embassy and offer to exchange them for Medvedchuk. On March 22, the Belarusian KGB said that spies allegedly worked under the cover of the Ukrainian embassy. The next day, it became known that Belarus announced the expulsion of 12 Ukrainian diplomats and the closure of the Ukrainian consulate in Brest.

This manipulative thesis was spread by former MP Oleh Tsarev, who fled to Russia and pro-Russian telegram channels. In fact, back in February 2021, it was Victor Medvedchuk and his wife Oksana Marchenko who were sanctioned for financing terrorism. Medvedchuk is not a hostage - he was announced suspicions and the court selected preventive measures in criminal proceedings for oil and gas extraction in the Black Sea and for facilitating the activities of a terrorist organization through the supply of coal from the occupied territories of Donbass. He should be under house arrest, but Medvedchuk fled his estate at the beginning of Russia's large-scale aggression against Ukraine. In addition, Tsaryov tries to present the proposal to exchange Medvedchuk for Ukrainian defenders captured by Russia as "proof" that "there is a civil war going on in Ukraine. This is refuted even by the Russian government, which, although it still calls the war in Ukraine a "special operation," confirms the presence of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory.

The Russian Defense Ministry and Russian media are spreading a fake that the Ukrainian authorities imposed a long curfew in Irpen, Kiev region, to allegedly prepare "staged filming of pseudo-proofs of Russia's guilt in the mass deaths of local residents. In fact, during this time, municipal services must clear Irpen of explosive objects, abandoned cars, consequences of explosions, etc. Back on March 30, Irpin Mayor Oleksandr Makrushyn reported that up to 300 civilians and 50 military personnel had been killed in the city, according to preliminary data. At the same time, images of Irpen liberated from the Russian occupation began to be published.

On March 31, 2022, the deputy commander of the Azov regiment, Sviatoslav Palamar (call sign "Kalina"), was killed in social networks. He was allegedly on the Mi-8 helicopter shot down by pro-Russian fighters near Mariupol. VoxCheck reported that with the help of the blog of the investigative journalist Oryx, it can be confirmed that Ukraine did lose one Mi-8 on March 31. However, there is no list of the military personnel on board the Mi-8 in open sources. At the same time, we can definitely exclude that Svyatoslav Palamar was in the helicopter. After all, Palamar recorded three video messages on the official Azov channel - March 31, April 2 and April 4. Also, on April 2, he twice commented for the media - Channel 5 and Radio NV.