Russia's Defense Ministry has issued a fake statement that the Russian military allegedly did not fire on civilians in Chernihiv. Instead, "Ukrainian nationalists" are again accused of shelling. Another version of this is a "staging of the SBU."

The Chernihiv Oblast Prosecutor's Office said that the Russian military fired firearms at people standing in line for bread, killing 10 people. It happened in one of the sleeping districts of Chernihiv. Law enforcement officers have already launched a pre-trial investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war, combined with premeditated murder (Part 2 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

Russia's Defense Ministry is spreading a fake message that the Security Service of Ukraine is allegedly "preparing a provocation with the use of toxic substances against civilians with the support of Western countries."

The SBU denied the report and noted that the fake spread after the occupiers fired on a peace column near Mariupol and dropped a bomb on the city's drama theatre building. « "Such statements by the invaders are just an attempt to divert attention from another war crime. But no fakes will cover the genocide of civilians and the humanitarian catastrophe in Mariupol, which is being destroyed by Russian missiles and bombs,"the SBU said.

Russia's Defense Ministry and Russian media are spreading fake reports that Azov fighters "could have held civilians hostage" at the Mariupol Drama Theater, but that Russian aircraft allegedly did not bomb the building and "did not see it as a target for destruction." Russian propagandists accuse Azov of this, which allegedly mined and blew up the theatre.

Russian aircraft launched an airstrike on the Mariupol Drama Theater, the city's largest shelter for civilians. Mariupol City Council said that a Russian plane deliberately dropped a bomb on the building, resulting in the entrance to the bomb shelter being destroyed. Information about the victims is being clarified.

Pro-Russian telegram channels spread information that rumours about Zelensky's quick escape are well-founded. Such reports assure, that the President of Ukraine may go to Brussels to meet with US President Biden, who will visit Belgium on March 24. Such texts predict that Kyiv will be blocked in a few weeks, and Zelensky will not be able to return there after the meeting.

There is no reason to claim this. There is also no official information that would confirm the planned meeting between Biden and Zelensky.

Russian propaganda media disseminate such information regarding the Russian Ministry of Defense. Such reports say that most Ukrainians have always advocated for good relations with Russia, and about 15 million "still have strong ties with the Russian Federation." The text also lists the areas in which friendship and assistance from Russia are allegedly most sought after.

However, this is fake. According to StopFake, the Russian Defense Ministry does not say based on which information these conclusions were made. Instead, according to Ukrainian national polls, most respondents believe that Russia's goal of invading Ukraine is destroying the Ukrainian people.

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Russian propagandists are spreading a fake that Time journalist Brent Reno, who was killed in Irpen, worked for US intelligence and has experience participating in operations in Iraq and Afghanistan. Brent Reno worked on the TIME Studios project on the global refugee crisis. He came to Irpen to film reports on the city's evacuation and to photograph the aftermath of the Russian shelling.

Despite the confirmed circumstances of the shelling of journalists, Russia is lying that the American journalist was allegedly killed by "Ukrainian Nazis". Serhiy Leshchenko, an adviser to the head of the President's Office, said, that Russian propaganda was questioning Renault's status as an American journalist to reduce the tragedy and lie to Ukraine. The Center for Combating Disinformation added, that this case demonstrates that Russia is doing everything possible to prevent journalists from recording war crimes against the Ukrainian population.

On March 16, hackers broke the news feed on Ukraine 24 TV channel and published a fake report allegedly from President Volodymyr Zelensky about the "surrender". Instead, the president recorded a video address, calling the fake a "childish provocation" and urging Russians to lay down their arms.

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Russian propaganda media disseminate such information. The reports claim that the Territorial Defence Forces units in the town of Volnovakha planned an attack on the territories not under Ukraine's control. It is also stated that "all children and patients were allegedly evicted" from schools and hospitals to accommodate the units' personnel.

However, this is a fake, which was refuted by the fact-checkers from StopFake and found out that the published documents do not confirm this and refute the thesis about the "Ukrainian attack on Donbas". Read more

Russian media are spreading a fake statement by Communist Party Chairman Gennady Zyuganov that the Ukrainian military is allegedly "selling the organs of Ukrainian soldiers killed or seriously wounded" during Russia's war in Ukraine (which he still calls a "special operation"). This fake was spread back in 2015, but it was about Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who died in the anti-terrorist operation zone. At the time, Russian propagandists even edited a video in which a former SBU officer allegedly told about "the organization of a special medical brigade that received orders from Western countries to sell the organs of servicemen and civilians killed in the anti-terrorist operation zone." The Security Service of Ukraine denied such "information", noting that some footage from the video had already been found online.

In addition, Ukrainian defenders killed in the war with Russia are buried in churches where possible. Instead, Russia does not even take the bodies of its soldiers, so Ukraine has to turn to the Red Cross to help remove the Russian military's corpses.

Messages of this content are sent in Viber chats and other messengers in Transcarpathia. The text allegedly advises an experienced military man, but his name is not mentioned. An unnamed military man "advises" not to hide in the basement during the "air alarm" signal and calls them "mass graves" because, in his opinion, being in them is deadly. The message ends with a request to disseminate information to relatives to "help them survive."

Such advice from anonymous experts should not be trusted, as they can harm a person's life. In the case of air alarm, the algorithm of actions recommended by official institutions, regional military administrations should be followed.