The Internet advertises sites that are allegedly associated with the ex-commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Resources are located on different domains and created by anonymous users.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council reports that these sites are not associated with Zaluzhnyi, and Ukrainian law enforcement agencies have already been informed of their existence. Probably, behind the creation of these online platforms are Russians who are striving to split Ukrainian society, which is why they use different means to achieve this.

The sites lead to anonymous telegrams that collect information about users, which in the future can be used against citizens of Ukraine. The Center warns against registering on these resources and asks you to trust only verified sources.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing videos depicting discreditable posters of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and First Lady Olena Zelenska. This content is accompanied by the caption: “Rome, Italy. Our days. Zelenskyi is shown on all streets. Judging by the posters, he is not liked everywhere”.

The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council reports that such posters were posted by the Russian community in Italy to produce propaganda content. The Center learned about this after they submitted a corresponding request to the Ukrainian Embassy in Italy and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

The purpose of this slander is to create the illusion of fatigue from Zelenskyi and Ukraine. In addition, Russian propaganda systematically discredits the Zelenskyi family with the hope that Ukrainians will “eventually rise up against them”.

For now, the discreditable posters have been removed, and the Ukrainian Embassy in Italy is already working to prevent similar actions by Russians in the future. Previously, we refuted the information that the journalist who published the “investigation” of the purchase of a villa by the Zelenskyi family was allegedly “killed”.

The social network TikTok is distributing a video message from supposedly servicemen of the 117th separate territorial defense brigade of the 153rd battalion, calling for the overthrow of the constitutional order in the state.

In fact, the people in the video have never had and have no connection with the 153rd  battalion, as reported by the 117th separate territorial defense brigade on its page on the Facebook social network. This video was created using deepfake technology based on artificial intelligence. That is, it is fake. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council is already writing about this.

Thus, the creators of this video seek to discredit the Ukrainian military and demoralize Ukrainian society. Previously, we analyzed a fake video message from the ex-commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in which he allegedly called for a military coup.

This information was disseminated by pro-Russian resources, citing the “story” of the French France24. The TV channel host allegedly reported that French President Emmanuel Macron canceled his trip to Ukraine, planned for February 13-14, 2024, due to “preparation of an assassination attempt on him by the Ukrainian special services”. They say that the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, was preparing an assassination attempt on Macron, but the special operation was thwarted due to the transfer of information to the French side by the former commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

In fact, this information is not true. Yes, the French President really postponed his visit to Ukraine for security reasons. However, not because of the “attempt on his life”. Some Russian sites began to independently disseminate a refutation of this information with a link to the France 24 channel, since it did not publish such a story.

Propagandists referred to videos of very poor quality, making it difficult to verify whether it was a deepfake or not. However, due to the deepfake video detection tool DeepFake-O-Meter, it was possible to analyze it. The result is a credibility score indicating that the video is likely to be fake.

In addition, in a commentary to RBK-Ukraine, GUR representative Andrii Yusov stated that “this is another Russian special operation and information attack against Ukraine”.  “Thus, the enemy is trying to implement his so-called Maidan-3 plan to discredit Ukraine in the international arena and destabilize the situation within the country”, he added.

Propagandists spread this disinformation story online as France and Ukraine approach the finalization of a bilateral agreement on security guarantees for the latter. That is, by spreading such fakes, Russian propaganda is trying to prevent the signing of the agreement, since this is unprofitable for Russia.

In such messages, the authors, on behalf of the “prayer department”, offer to pray for the Ukrainian military who find themselves surrounded. For example, one of the messages talked about two Ukrainian brigades that were allegedly surrounded by 40 thousand Russian soldiers near Avdiivka.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security reports that the vast majority of such messages are the work of Russian intelligence services.

This is evidenced by the following:

- sometimes messages are written in Russian, which may already be the first sign of it;

- in the structure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine there is no “prayer department” responsible for prayers;

- lack of specifics about the brigades and the time of the location of hostilities;

- the desire to evoke an emotional reaction in the reader in order to obtain maximum coverage;

- in the comments there may be calls for Ukrainians to give up.

Russians can manipulate even such intimate areas as religion, so you should not trust overly emotional messages and calls on this topic.