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 16 May, on the 812th day of the full-scale war, our editorial office recorded:

2147
Fake
693
Manipulation
648
Message
438
Disclosure
Русскій фейк, іді на***!

Fake Female military personnel on Tinder looking for men who want to "burn Russian children" and "cut Russians"

Such information was disseminated on their telegram by Russian propagandists. As proof, they provide a screenshot of the profiles of three women in military uniforms on Tinder, the dating application. It seems that in the information box about themselves, the servicewomen noted: “I’ll meet a guy who likes to cut Russians”, “You suit me if you want to see Russian children burn”, “Raguli (persons of low culture) from the eastern regions, don’t disturb”.

One of the photos used in such publications allegedly belongs to 25-year-old Kseniia. But this is not true. StopFake recognized the owner: she turned out to be Shura Riazantseva (call sign is Yalta), who now serves in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Shura Riazantseva told StopFake that she does not have a Tinder profile, and the photo she posted on April 12 was taken from her Instagram page. She wears a beret of the Ukrainian Navy in this photo.

Since the start of the all-out war against Ukraine, Russian propaganda has been spreading fake photos and videos to promote the notion that the Ukrainian military and all Ukrainians in general are Nazis. Thus, they want to justify the war that Russia unleashed in Ukraine. During the occupation, the Russians kill the civilian population, including children, justifying their crimes, they say, this is how they carry out “denazification”, destroy the Nazis who threaten the Russians and Russia.

Manipulation Training of Ukrainian military in the UK revealed a "low level of training"

This was written by the Russian media with reference to the British edition of the Financial Times.

Allegedly, Lieutenant colonel John Harris who is in charge of training Ukrainians said that they are poorly mastered in “weaponry, battlefield tactics and cyber security” and that “the Russian armed forces makes it difficult” to resist.

We are talking about the article «Ukrainian army recruits join British boot camp to prepare for combat» in the Financial Times.

As the fact-checker Stopfake noted, the Russian propaganda completely distorted the essence of the article in the Financial Times, because the material just praises the high motivation of Ukrainians and their willingness to learn.

“They are the most motivated, determined, hungry-to-learn trainees that I’ve worked with across the world in my 20 years of soldiering,” Harris said. “That they train in water up to their knees for 36 hours and can still laugh, joke and quickly answer questions says it all for me.”

The conclusions are completely opposite to what the Kremlin propaganda writes about.

Russian propagandists are spreading manipulations about the “failure” of the Ukrainian military in exercises abroad, because they are actually afraid of motivated opponents trained according to NATO standards who will launch a counteroffensive and push Russian troops out of Ukraine.

Message In Ukraine there is a "war to the last Ukrainian", even the unborn

Such a message is spread by pro-Russian telegram channels. Like, both the President and the Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready to send absolutely everyone to the front, even unborn children. In the messages, the propagandists manipulate the words of the President about the readiness of Ukrainians to defend their country and a video in which a pregnant Ukrainian woman talks about receiving a draft notice. Allegedly, the President's message has just such an embodiment.

The mobilization of women in Ukraine is voluntary. Military registration is required only for workers in the medical field. Pregnant women and women on maternity leave (to care for a child before the child reaches the age of three or in some cases the age of six) are exempted from mobilization in accordance with the law. Obviously, the woman received the draft notice by mistake.

The propagandists used the emotional video to promote several disinformation narratives at once: the mobilization of women in Ukraine, the incompetence of the Ukrainian authorities, and the weakness of the Ukrainian army.

Message Zelenskyi deliberately visited Russia

Pro-Russian telegram channels write about this with reference to the representative of the Russian President Dmytro Pieskov. Like, Volodymyr Zelenskyi came to Kherson, although he knows that this is the “territory of Russia”.

In fact, the President of Ukraine visited de-occupied Kherson, which has always been and is part of Ukraine. Not only Ukraine, but the entire democratic world did not recognize the results of the illegal Russian pseudo-referenda, as well as Russia's decision to annex the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories, contrary to all international legal norms.

Message In liberated Kherson, all men of military age are to be conscripted

Since November 11, such messages have been distributed by anonymous telegram channels. They say that with the arrival of Ukraine in Kherson, mass mobilization will begin, all men of military age, despite their state of health, will be taken into the Ukrainian army.

Such information does not correspond to reality, since conscription activities throughout Ukraine are carried out according to the same algorithm.

Currently, Ukraine does not intend to carry out additional conscription. Considering that a war is going on in Ukraine, the course of mobilization will depend solely on the situation at the front, explained Anna Maliar, Deputy defense minister.

Russian propagandists are inciting fear among civilians in the Kherson region that mobilization is one of the methods of “reprisal” and “cleaning” for the fact that people lived under Russian occupation. Like, those who allegedly collaborated with the Russians should wait for filtration, and, accordingly, torture, and all other men of military age should expect conscription.

Such messages are intended to sow doubts about the legality of the general mobilization, to cause distrust in the authorities of Ukraine and the Ukrainian army in the liberated territory, and to show that life was better under Russian occupation in the Kherson region and there were no dangers to the civilian population.

Message Poland will take the West of Ukraine for its debts

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels once again spread information that supposedly Poland wants to return "its territories". They say that Kyiv and Warsaw agreed on the occupation of Western Ukraine, and the plan should be implemented by Polish mercenaries, a large number of whom are fighting for Ukraine.

Stanislav Zharyn, a spokesman for the Coordinating Minister of the Polish Intelligence Services, drew attention to this on his Twitter.

He noted that Russian propagandists spread misinformation, allegedly "the Polish government approves of such participation of these mercenaries".

According to him, Russian propaganda has actively worked to introduce these messages into the Western information environment, and these hostile efforts are "perfectly in line with the Kremlin's attempts to portray Poland as a warmonger and isolate Warsaw on the international stage".

"Russian propaganda is activating the information war in order to break the will and readiness of the allies to continue to support Kyiv, and comes up with far-fetched pretexts for striking civilian and energy infrastructure in Ukraine", Zharyn added.

Fake On November 14, humanitarian aid will be distributed in the center of Kherson

Such information was shared in some groups on social networks. It is not true.

On November 14, bomb experts will work on Svobody (Freedom) square and will carry out mine clearance. The head of the regional military administration Yaroslav Yanushevych urged everyone to stay at home.

The Russians mined almost everything in Kherson, so gathering in crowded places is risky. Kherson residents are asked to move carefully around the city and not to touch suspicious objects.

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.