Pro-Russian telegram channels, in particular Polish ones, are distributing a video allegedly on the phone of a deceased Ukrainian soldier, “demonstrating the tragedy” of the situation at the front. According to propagandists, his own people abandoned him and another seriously wounded soldier: communication was cut off, ammunition was running out. Finally, in the description of the video they add that the recording allegedly clearly shows that the Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman could not survive due to another betrayal of the command, which abandoned the soldiers to their fate.

However, this video is likely staged. Its author, posing as a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, most likely attached captured chevrons received in battle to his equipment. In addition, the video contains tragic music in the background, which Russian propagandists deliberately added to make the situation that allegedly developed with the “Ukrainian military” more emotional. The video also bears a watermark from one of the Russian propaganda telegram channels, which presumably became the primary source of distribution of the video. This gives additional reason to believe that this is a fake.

Staged video is one of the Russian propaganda tactics. A little earlier, we recorded a similar fake video, one of the messages of which was also “betrayal of command”. In the end, a certain similarity between these recordings is another argument in favor of the artificiality of the above video.

Pro-Russian resources say that this video is proof of the disdain of ordinary soldiers by the Ukrainian high military command. Thus, propagandists are trying to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

• Read on Censor.NET: Russians are filming fake videos about the Kursk region with people dressed in the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - The Center of Countering Disinformation  - Detector Media.

Network users are distributing a video in which a Ukrainian citizen allegedly tries to illegally cross the border using a light boat. The description of the video indicates that the man, in an attempt to avoid mobilization, decided to flee to Hungary by swimming across the Tysa near the Lonja-Zvenkova checkpoint. But the “Ukrainian’s” boat flew into the cable at high speed and capsized, causing the man’s death.

However, this video has nothing to do with the mobilization process in Ukraine. This was reported by the StopFake team. The events in the video took place on the morning of August 3, 2024 in the Szabolcs-Szatmar-Bereg county in Hungary. Hungarian media reported that day that a patrol boat crashed into a rope at high speed. At the time of the accident, there was only one local policeman on the boat - he survived and swam to shore on his own.

The Hungarian publication Szon reports that the incident occurred due to inattention while driving, as the policeman should have waited for the cable to lower. The ferry operator who witnessed the incident told reporters that he tried to signal to the police officer to slow down, but he did not notice or ignored him.

Playing on emotions and spreading fake news about such incidents is part of Russia’s traditional disinformation campaign aimed at undermining the mobilization processes in Ukraine and discrediting its army, political and military leadership. Also, the purpose of the fake is to create an atmosphere of tension among Ukrainian society. Previously,  Detector Media recorded a fake that Budanov allegedly proposed to mobilize Ukrainians from the age of 18.

The network, citing the Polish publication Interia, is disseminating information that Ukraine was provided with faulty F-16 aircraft. The fighters allegedly did not undergo maintenance before being sent to Ukraine, and now some of them cannot be used for flights.

However, the Interia publication’s material about the provision of F-16 aircraft to Ukraine was manipulated, the StopFake project reports. The text refers to only two F-16 fighters of the ADF version, which are most likely intended to be used as decoys, spare parts donors, or training for Ukrainian aviation technicians. Ukraine could receive these units from a military base in the Davis-Monthan desert in the United States, where decommissioned aircraft are stored.

These conclusions, based on the presentation of the F-16 by Volodymyr Zelenskyi in Ukraine, are also confirmed by experts from the information and consulting company Defense Express: “Both fighters lack automatic 20-mm cannons, technical inscriptions and other signs of a suggestive operational combat aircraft, at least these two F-16s were transferred to the United States as bait in Ukraine”.

Defense Express also points out that using F-16 fuselages as decoys is an effective strategy: their resemblance to real fighter jets is so strong that a thorough review will be required to accurately identify them. Even from a satellite or drone, these non-working F-16 mockups will be indistinguishable from the real aircraft. Experts from the information and consulting company suggest that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will use, in particular, modern inflatable copies as erroneous targets.

Fearing the participation of F-16 aircraft in hostilities, propagandists are trying in every possible way to discredit the appearance in Ukraine and sow doubt about their effectiveness. Thus, a little earlier we already analyzed such information dumps. For example, they refuted the statements of the Russians, saying that Syrskyi said that F-16 fighters would not bring any benefit to Ukraine.

Russians in the temporarily occupied territories continue to train teachers in schools, which are today cells of Russian propaganda, for the school year 2024-2025. The Center for National Resistance reports this.

Future and current teachers are instructed by Russian “teachers” from the “Knowledge” group. One of the tasks of this propaganda structure, which has existed since the times of the USSR, is to promote propaganda among educators and students in the temporarily occupied territories. Accordingly, the lectures focus on the importance of changing children’s self-identification and cultivating “patriotism” in them for Russia.

The CNS adds that according to international law, a deliberate policy of changing the self-identification of an ethnic group is a sign of genocide.

We previously wrote that Ukrainian students in the occupied territories are taught a subject about “Russian values”.

One of the Russian propagandists claims that a large outbreak of open tuberculosis was discovered in parts of the Ukrainian Armed Forces stationed in the Kherson region. This was allegedly reported by the “pro-Russian underground” in the Ukrainian rear. Deaths from this infectious disease are also already being recorded.

However, this information is not true. After failing with a fake about an outbreak of an unknown infection in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kherson region, without coming up with anything new, the Russians are spreading a similar fake about an outbreak of tuberculosis.

In fact, the sanitary and epidemiological situation in the Kherson region is stable and controlled. No outbreaks of acute intestinal infections or food poisoning were recorded. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council.

By spreading such fakes, the Russians are trying to confirm that the Ukrainian military and political command are hiding information about the infection of the Ukrainian military and neglecting them. However, in reality, fiction about “tuberculosis”, “cholera” or “an unknown gastric intestinal infection” in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is aimed at nothing more than to discredit the Ukrainian authorities, undermine confidence in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and destabilize the situation in the country.