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 22 December, on the 1032th day of the full-scale war, our editorial office recorded:

2602
Fake
774
Manipulation
753
Message
541
Disclosure
Русскій фейк, іді на***!

Fake At the G20 summit, a banner with a map of the Russian Federation with temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine was placed

Russian media write that at the airport in Bali (Indonesia) the Russian delegation was allegedly greeted with an "updated" map of Russia with the temporarily occupied Luhansk, Donetsk, Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions of Ukraine as part of Russia. It is not true.

StopFake fact-checkers write that Russian propaganda telegram channels were the first to spread the news. There are no other photos of this map on the network. Even the Russian media used the same photo as the telegram channels to illustrate the fake, it was a map with the circled temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. There is no information about who exactly took this “photo”.

InVID and FotoForensics check shows that this banner was most likely created in a photo editor. Also, a detailed examination of the "banner" shows its poor quality: on the right side of the image in the middle you can see how poorly the background behind the map is drawn, which is unlikely for such a major international event.

Earlier, propagandists wrote that Russia “has the right” to Ukrainian territories, since the West recognized the independence of Kosovo. Thus, the propaganda creates the illusion that the world supposedly supports Russia, but not Ukraine.

Fake The Hague court recognized the events of 2014 in eastern Ukraine as a "non-international conflict"

Russian media write about it. Like, during the announcement of the verdict on the downing of the MH17 Boeing, the judge stressed that it was a "non-international armed conflict in Ukraine." This is not true.

An international court judge said that in April 2014, Ukrainian troops fought against separatist groups controlled by Russia. The judge also stressed that the defendants do not have the right to use the immunity granted to the soldiers of the warring parties, since the representatives of the separatist formations are not soldiers of the Russian army. The Insider fact-checkers drew attention to the spread of the fake. Fact-checkers of the NatoYenota project recorded the spread of and refuted the fake that allegedly Ukraine was recognized as the “main criminal” in the case of downing the MH17.

Manipulation Ukraine is building a modular nuclear reactor "for terrorism"

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. They say that the “real” goal of the Ukrainian authorities is not to obtain electricity, but to terrorise and create a “dirty bomb”. Also, allegedly Ukraine will be used for the disposal of nuclear waste. It is not like that.

Ukraine, the US, Japan and South Korea will cooperate to build a small nuclear reactor. This became known on November 12. This will help Ukraine improve the country's energy security. It will take two years to complete the project.

According to StopFake, small nuclear reactors are used to generate electricity. They have nothing to do with nuclear weapons. Most of these small reactors are installed underground, which is also an advantage in the face of possible rocket attacks.

Disclosure Residents and enterprises of the Zhytomyr region are sent fake letters about fundraising

According to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, companies and individuals receive fake letters allegedly from the Zhytomyr regional military administration with a request to send money for the humanitarian aid program of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The head of the Zhytomyr regional military administration, Vitalii Bunechko, also denied sending the letter. He said that the Zhytomyr regional military administration does not raise funds for charity and urged to contact law enforcement agencies in case of receiving such letters or calls.

Earlier, entrepreneurs from Khmelnytskyi, Odesa and Dnipropetrovsk received the same letters. Thus, the scammers are trying to use the desire to help the Ukrainian military for personal gain.

Fake Zelenskyi dances with a rocket launcher

A blurry video is circulating online showing a man dancing with a rocket launcher. Users in the comments write that this is allegedly Volodymyr Zelenskyi, the President of Ukraine, and add other emotional disapproving comments. In particular, they are ironic about the fact that in this way Zelenskyi is begging for weapons from Western partners. This video is fake.

The spread of the fake was noticed by Reuters fact-checkers. They determined that the video featured comedian Max "Komikadze" parodying the Ukrainian president.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads fakes in relation to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Thus, they are trying to discredit him in the eyes of Ukrainians and foreign partners. To do this, the propagandists wrote that Zelenskyi was using Chroma key to imitate his presence in Ukraine, while "in fact" he fled from Kyiv towards the border with Poland.

Fake A soldier from Kyiv "depicts a Kherson citizen" in an AFP report

Russian media and telegram channels disseminate information that the man who allegedly starred in the story of the French AFP media from liberated Kherson is a military man from Kyiv who “came to carry out repressions”. It seems that his name is Yevhen Mykolayovych Pondin, and he is the commander of the National Guard company in military unit 3030. They say that this is how the Ukrainian media created “the illusion of support for the liberation of Kherson by the Ukrainian military”. Some media wrote that "Ukraine brought extras to Kherson for staged events". It is not true.

As StopFake writes, the man who appears in the AFP report from Kherson, liberated by Ukrainian troops, is indeed a Kherson resident. On the same day, he gave an interview to the film crew of the “Nastoiashcheie vremia” (Current Time) TV channel. Fact-checkers using facial recognition technology found several profiles of this man in social networks, confirming the name, age of the man and that he lives in Kherson. In the military unit No 3030, where the man allegedly "serves", they refuted his belonging to this unit.

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.