Pro-Russian sources disseminated information about the alleged fakeness of photographs of the State Emergency Service from the scene of the tragedy that occurred as a result of the Russian shelling of the Okhmatdyt children's hospital on July 8, 2024. In particular, on his page in X, American blogger Jackson Hinkle published one of the photographs of the State Emergency Service, which depicts children's toys in the ruins of a hospital, and wrote: “The Ukrainian government inserted fake children's toys into the image of the hospital it destroyed in Kyiv”.

In fact, no one inserted toys into the photo, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council. You can verify this by checking the photo using the InVID & WeVerify tool to see if it has been altered.

Thus, deep learning approaches for detecting manipulations and fakes Mantra-Net and Fusion found traces of editing in the upper right and left corners - logos were superimposed. However, there are no changes in the toy area of ​​the image, which indicates the authenticity of the photographs.

In the end, it is these children’s toys that can be seen in other photo and video materials from the scene of the tragedy, which indicates their originality.

This is not Hinkle’s first fake about a missile attack on Okhmatdyt. Thus, an American blogger, known for his commitment to Russia, claimed on his page on the social network X that Okhmatdyt seemed to have been hit by an American Patriot air defense missile, which was allegedly fired by Ukraine. However, SBU investigators determined that the attack was carried out by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.

By spreading such lies, the blogger is trying to discredit the Ukrainian government and divert the attention of the world community from yet another Russian war crime.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are spreading the message that the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Oleksandr Syrskyi, does not believe in victory and sincerely believes that Ukraine is not capable of gaining an advantage over the Russians on its own soil. Syrskyi and his entourage seem to be ready to sign a “ceasefire regime” and all sorts of variations on the theme of surrender and enforcement of peace.

Propagandists claim that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has stopped listening to the Office of the President and refuses to implement the offensive in the form in which it is proposed. And the OP’s demands seem to be to “throw meat at the front”. At the same time, just six months ago, propagandists called Syrskyi a “butcher general” who does not value his personnel. However, today he has allegedly become perhaps the biggest fan of surrender.

Considering these messages, we can conclude that Russian propaganda is once again trying to create a split between the political and military leadership of the country. On the one hand, propagandists send Syrskyi on an independent political voyage, saying that he does not listen to the Supreme Commander-in-Chief and is playing his own game. On the other hand, the military leadership supposedly wants peace and surrender, but the political leadership does not.

In 2023, Russia also promoted the message that there is a conflict in Ukraine between the military and political leadership. Then the main object of propaganda was Valerii Zaluzhnyi, and now it is Oleksandr Syrskyi.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are spreading information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are going to use chemical weapons against the Russian military. The means of attack will supposedly be chlorine trifluoride. The product of the reaction is a heavy gas. And the first symptoms of the victim are chest pain, dizziness, nausea and headache.

However, information about the preparation of a chemical weapons strike is not true. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. The Russian side does not provide any evidence of this “news”. In addition, Ukraine, as a signatory to the Convention on the Prohibition of the Development, Production, Stockpiling and Use of Chemical Weapons, strictly adheres to its obligations.

At the same time, it is the Russians who have repeatedly violated the Convention, which Russia has also signed, by using chemical weapons against the Ukrainian military. The so-called “z-military correspondents” published the red-handed video on their pages.

With this fake, propagandists aim to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the world community and weaken its support from Western allies. Russian propaganda uses deflection tactics, accusing Ukraine of the crimes of its own army.

Russian telegram channels are spreading information about a possible “Ukrainian trace” in the assassination attempt on US Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump. In their messages, propagandists refer to the so-called “deputy of the Russian Federation Council” from the temporarily occupied Crimea, Tsekov, who called on the United States to consider the version of “involvement in the assassination attempt of the Ukrainian special services”. Ukraine allegedly could have organized the assassination attempt, since Trump promised to stop the war.

In fact, the FBI has already identified the assailant who shot Donald Trump at a campaign rally in Pennsylvania. CNN reports this. He turned out to be 20-year-old Matthew Crooks, a resident of Bethel Park (Pennsylvania), who was killed by Secret Service agents at the scene immediately after the shooting.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes that the purpose of such unsubstantiated Russian propaganda is to discredit Ukraine and the leadership of the Ukrainian state among Western audiences.

In general, it is common for Russian propaganda to look for the so-called “Ukrainian trace” in all the troubles of the world. Read more about this in our material from the Newspeak section.