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 20 September, on the 939th day of the full-scale war, our editorial office recorded:

2395
Fake
732
Manipulation
714
Message
508
Disclosure
Русскій фейк, іді на***!

Disclosure Photos with signs of manipulation are being circulated online, allegedly demonstrating the “current state” of Ukraine

On social networks and anonymous telegram channels they distributed a photo with the caption “in one photo one can see the whole of Ukraine in miniature” and describe the photo:

“Pensioners are starving and forced to beg. People are trying to live their old lives and survive. The “people catchers” [propagandists called the Territorial center of recruitment and social support in such a way - Ed. DM] are looking for the next victim. There is a swastika on the fence. There are drug advertisements on the asphalt”.

However, as the InVid photo service interference analysis tool shows, there is interference in the image in the area: the names of the resource where drugs can be removed; swastikas and legs of military personnel.

It was not possible to determine the source of the photo publication. The oldest example of photo distribution provided by the TinEye tool is June 14, 8 am. This is later than the date of publication on anonymous and pro-Russian telegram channels.

Disclosure Unknown people are spreading a fake story allegedly from the French publication Le Figaro, which talks about a “Ukrainian refugee killer”

Anonymous telegram channels are distributing a video story supposedly from the French publication Le Figaro, which tells about the murder of a twenty-year-old woman on the closing day of the Olympic Games at the “hands of a Ukrainian refugee”. A screenshot of news material from the publication’s website is added to the publications.

However, this video is fake. In the original story there is no insertion that the suspect for committing the crime is a “Ukrainian refugee”. In general, the nationality of the accused is not indicated in the video material. There is only information that this is a forty-nine-year-old man who does not speak French. No additional information was added in the interests of the investigation.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own research. Since the beginning of the big war in Ukraine, Russian propaganda has been trying to discredit refugees who were forced to leave Ukraine in order to save their lives. Propagandists regularly spread fake news about them; call refugees dependents; they claim that they went abroad not for safety, but for profit; they convince that residents of countries that have accepted Ukrainian refugees are dissatisfied with the behavior of Ukrainians. Propagandists need this in order to stake out the opinion that Ukrainians are pagans who do not value the help that residents of other countries provide them; take advantage of the kindness of people in other countries.

Fake Ukrainian refugees allegedly planted a pig's head in a Berlin mosque, Berliner-wochenzeitung website

Anonymous telegram channels are spreading information that Ukrainian refugees planted a pig's head in one of the mosques in Germany. The post claims that employees of the Berlin mosque found a pig's head inside the temple, wrapped in a Palestinian flag with the inscription: “Ukraine supports Israel”.

VoxCheck analysts explained that Berliner-wochenzeitung is a fake site created by the Russians. For example, a German police spokesman and a mosque representative reported that this was fake news.

Using a reverse search on Google, it was possible to establish that the site has only 10 pages with publications - the first news was added on June 18. After July 5, the news on the site was not updated. The publication does not contain any information about the team of authors and editors, owners, as well as contact information, in particular mail and social networks.

In its own materials, the Berliner-wochenzeitung disseminates anti-Ukrainian narratives, in particular, creating the image of Russia as a victim, allegedly Ukraine is striking at civilians, and not at Russian military targets.

Fake In Ukraine they are allegedly preparing to mobilize students, Cabinet resolution

Anonymous telegram channels are spreading information that in Ukraine they seem to be preparing to mobilize students. They will undergo practical training in active military units, where they will be involved in the construction of defense positions, work in command posts and security.

VoxCheck project specialists have established that, according to Cabinet of Ministers Resolution No. 734, during basic military training, students will undergo practical training in training centers, regional centers for preparing the population for national resistance, police training centers, etc. Until the age of 25, they will have a deferment even after completing basic military training.

On June 21, 2024, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine adopted Resolution No. 734. It talks about the approval of the procedure for conducting basic combined arms training of Ukrainian citizens receiving higher education and police officers. This military training will consist of theoretical and practical parts. Preparation will become a separate academic discipline, mandatory for boys and voluntary for girls. For students who entered the university on the basis of complete secondary education, it will begin from the 2nd year.

Pro-Kremlin resources continue to promote the topic of mobilization, hinting at the decline of the military, the lack of personnel, that Ukraine needs to “resort” to radical decisions and mobilize women. Anonymous telegrams accuse Ukraine of being a “military meat grinder”, explaining that now it will be impossible to escape “grave”: neither children, nor elderly people, nor women.

Fake A French newspaper allegedly published a photo of Volodymyr Zelenskyi with a bored athlete

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing the cover of the French newspaper Libération. On it one can see athlete Tyler Mislavchuk, who was bored during competitions at the Olympic Games, and a photo of Volodymyr Zelenskyi below.

VoxCheck project analysts investigated this case and found out that the column images had been edited. On the original binding, instead of a photo of triathlete Tyler Mislavchuk, there was an inscription about Israeli strikes on Lebanon and Iran.

On August 1, 2024, the Libération newspaper actually published a new issue, on the front page of which, in particular, there was a photo of Volodymyr Zelenskyi with the headline “Restore our territorial integrity, but not only with the help of weapons”. However, missing from this issue is an image of triathlete Tyler Mislavchuk, who was exhausted after swimming at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris.

In fact, we recorded many fakes aimed at discrediting Volodymyr Zelenskyi: propagandists used false advertising banners, magazine covers, graffiti, created individual cartoons, and placed Zelenskyi’s faces on various consumer goods (for example, condoms). With the help of Russian propaganda, Zelenskyi was able to appear in various roles, in particular: a vain person who spends all budget funds only on himself; a punitive satanist destroying Ukrainian church property; a person with drug addiction; theft of Western money; a puppet controlled by the West; a monster who throws “everyone in a row” to the front, etc.

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.