Propagandists claim that American porn actress of Lebanese origin Mia Khalifa expressed gratitude to Ukraine for helping the Palestinian Islamic movement Hamas. In such “news”, users refer to some kind of recorded conversation with Khalifa, allegedly published by the American publication USA Today. This is fake.

The fact-checkers from the StopFake project investigated this case. Neither Russian media nor social media users provided a direct link to the American media. After checking the information with the fact-checkers of the publications related to military operations in Israel, it turned out that such a conversation was not published either on the website or in the official accounts of this media on social networks. The media only mentioned Mia Khalifa in the context of her support for the Hamas attack on Israel, as well as Playboy magazine's decision to terminate her contract.

Propagandists are trying to support the narrative that Ukraine is supplying weapons to the Hamas group. We recently denied information that Hamas militants are using weapons from Mukachevo.

Propaganda resources are disseminating information that Kyiv is preparing a provocation at the Kremenchuk hydroelectric station “according to the Kakhovka scenario”. They say that Ukraine replaced the station in order to create public tension and blame the Russian army for the attack on the hydroelectric power station.

The information was processed by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. They found out that there is no evidence of the mythical mining of the Kremenchuk hydroelectric power station by the Ukrainian military. Russian propaganda is based on its previous lies that the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was blown up by Ukraine. All critical infrastructure facilities, which include hydroelectric power plants, are constantly under the protection of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and the police in wartime. After the Russian terrorist attack with the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, the Ukrainian Defense Forces tightened patrolling of the stations.

It is Russia that attacks the critical infrastructure of Ukraine - as a result of massive shelling of the occupiers in the autumn-winter period of 2022-2023, not a single thermal or hydroelectric power station remained undamaged in Ukraine.

Russian media write that the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Budanov, in an October interview with NV, said that “Ukraine is bombing the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant” and “wants to arrange a nuclear Armageddon” to blackmail the whole world. The material mentions attempts by the Ukrainian military to de-occupy territories and strategic objects illegally seized by the Russians, such as the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. This is manipulation.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. In the NV media material, the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry and his work colleagues shared details of some special military intelligence operations. The Ukrainian armed forces landed three times on the left bank of the Dnipro near Enerhodar to create a springboard for the de-occupation of the city and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. Despite the fact that the operations were unsuccessful, that is, the desired result was not achieved, the Ukrainian military managed to at least thwart Russia’s plans to connect the Zaporizhzhia NPP to its energy system.

Representatives of Ukrainian intelligence did not make any “admissions” that Ukraine allegedly “bombed” the station. By trying to dislodge the occupiers, Ukraine is not committing a crime, but is using its legitimate right to self-defense in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter. Russia regularly creates crisis situations at Zaporizhzhia NPP, each of which carries the threat of a large-scale accident.

Previously, for example, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense denied Russian disinformation about Ukraine’s alleged plans to attack the Zaporizhzhia NPP with drones.

Propaganda telegram channels began to disseminate information that the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine seems to be urgently adjusting the State Budget for 2024. All items related to medicine, education and social security will be cut. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers for the Vox Ukraine project. The draft State Budget 2024 was submitted by the Cabinet of Ministers to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine as of the end of September. There is no information about its changes. The situation is the opposite: the budget assumes an increase in medical costs. Thus, in 2024, the total budget for the healthcare sector is about 202 billion UAH. In 2023, the budget included UAH 176.1 billion for relevant needs. Taking into account the inflation forecast by the NBU for 2024 at 8.5%, the planned amount for this year exceeds the previous one by approximately UAH 10 billion.

By the way, 159 billion UAH will be provided to finance the Medical Guarantee Program in 2024. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine explains that this will allow prioritizing tariffs for surgical and burn packages, as well as packages of psychological support and psychiatric care.

Recently, a Ukrainian application has become available that helps calculate the risk of stroke. It provides important information about how one can reduce their risk of stroke and monitors changes in personal risk factors.

An alleged report from the Israeli publication The Jerusalem Post began to spread online, in which Avi Melamedson, a pastry chef from Israel, accuses Volodymyr Zelenskyi of the fact that, due to corruption in Ukraine, Ukrainian weapons fell into the hands of Hamas militants. Thus, the President of Ukraine “undermines the trust” of the Israeli people and seems to be handing over weapons to the enemy. As a sign of protest and “punishment”, the pastry chef baked a cake with Zelenskyi on the gallows, and also published an angry video on Instagram about this. It's fake.

Users of social networks and authoritative publications are discussing where Hamas got such a large number of weapons from the Russian-Ukrainian war. Experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation analyzed the cake report and found that The Jerusalem Post did not actually create such a story. Yes, Avi Melamedson recorded a video and distributed it on Instagram, but its subject was not Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the accusation against him of Ukraine’s support for Hamas, and in the publication the pastry chef spoke about hate speech against Jews.

In this case, Russia uses discredit tactics - undermining the authority of an institution or person to reduce trust and legitimacy. Previously, we also wrote about how Russian propaganda systematically uses the topic of corruption in Ukraine to achieve its goals. Russia is trying to maintain the image of Ukraine as “the most corrupt state in Europe” and emphasize that the anti-corruption policy of the Ukrainian government is more like an imitation of pro-Western reforms.