In the run-up to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Putin and Russian propagandists have increasingly spread the narrative that Ukraine is the aggressor in the war, which began back in 2014. They say that then the Ukrainian Armed Forces began shelling the civilian population of the Luhansk region and Donbas. This Russian propaganda narrative intensified in late 2021 after more than one year of a so-called “comprehensive truce” that Russia repeatedly violated. In this regard, it was decided to allow the Ukrainian military in the Joint Forces Operation (JFO) zone to return fire to the occupiers without the approval of senior leadership. Thus, in particular, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi deprived the military of the need to fill out unnecessary documents. However, according to propaganda, Ukraine allegedly “sabotaged the truce”. Moreover, according to propagandists, sooner or later Ukraine would have attacked “defenseless” Russia, since it was also increasing weapons production.

The rhetoric of the Russians that Ukraine is the aggressor can in no way be justified, since it is our country that has been suffering from a war unleashed by a neighboring country for more than nine years. Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine began on February 20, 2014, when Russian troops without insignia entered the territory of the Crimean Peninsula with the aim of occupying it. Only after this did the Ukrainian military begin to resist Russian attempts to seize military installations in Crimea by force. Some time later, at the beginning of April 2014, the Russian military, under the cover of the newly formed quasi-state entities - the DPR and the LPR - declared their intention to establish control over the Donbas by armed means. That is, in the war against Ukraine, from the very beginning it was Russia that was the aggressor.

By spreading the thesis that “Ukraine is the aggressor”, Russian propaganda is trying to justify Russia’s bloody war against Ukraine, in particular, the presence of Russian troops on the territory of our state. They say that if the “liberators” had not come, the “oppression” of Russian-speaking Ukrainians and the killing of Donbas residents by the Ukrainian Armed Forces would have continued. Ultimately, Russia must answer for all war crimes committed in Ukraine and pay reparations for the harm caused to our country.

Propagandists are distributing on anonymous telegram channels a video that was published by the 1+1 channel and is part of the United News telethon. It claims that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is a successful information-psychological special operation against the Russians. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. The video is distributed exclusively by Russian and pro-Russian sources, information from which was first published in the Sheikh Tamir telegram channel. There are no such records on the official resources of “1+1”. Errors were found in the video itself and outdated or Russian footage was used.

There is also an error in the video. From 00:25 to 00:28 the phrase is heard: “Russians are prone to a powerful psychological attack”. In Russian subtitles this text is translated as “Russians are subject to a powerful psychological attack”. The word “subject to” is a mistranslation of the word “subject to”. In this case, the words “subject to” or “experience” should be used. In addition, the video of the counteroffensive used old footage or recordings from Russian sources. For example, the moment with the husband in the hood is part of the video for the song of the Russian group “Hudson”. Another episode with military equipment and Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers is a clipping from a video by Military Television and Falcon Studio, published back in 2015.

Propagandists spread such fake news to discredit the Ukrainian armed forces. They say the counteroffensive was not successful. Detector Media has already refuted other Russian fabrications on the topic of a counteroffensive.

Propagandists are disseminating information with reference to a publication in the British tabloid Daily Mail, allegedly Ukraine has the components to create a “dirty bomb”. They say that the UK began to view Ukraine as a potential threat to Europe due to the fact that Kyiv allegedly “sells weapons indiscriminately to whom and where” and as a result of which terrorists can illegally transport nuclear materials through Europe to the UK.

The story in question is a Daily Mail report titled “Radioactive substances could be smuggled out of Ukraine during invasion unrest and end up used in “dirty bombs” on UK streets unless border controls are tightened in NATO countries, warns nuclear energy expert” dated December 12, 2023. However, this is manipulation.

The StopFake specialists drew attention to it. They found that this time propagandists are manipulating Rachel Bunyan's Daily Mail article to once again portray Ukraine as a danger to the world. In fact, nowhere in the Daily Mail publication is it written that the Ukrainian authorities are somehow illegally selling components for “dirty bombs” to terrorists. On the contrary, the author points out that the danger is precisely the unlawful Russian attacks on Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

Dr. Ghiassi, a research fellow at the Henry Jackson Fellowship think tank, noted in a commentary for the Daily Mail that Russia's takeover of the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, one of the largest nuclear power plants in the world, has resulted in regular shelling and power outages making it impossible to safely use the plant. According to the expert, the situation becomes even more dangerous due to the fact that more than 3,000 nuclear fuel cells containing highly radioactive substances and plutonium stored in metal containers at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant are vulnerable to air attacks.

Dr Ghiassi, in a commentary for the Daily Mail, noted that air attacks on the nuclear plant and the damage they caused could “facilitate terrorists or proxy groups acting on behalf of hostile states to illegally obtain radioactive substances to create nuclear dirty bombs”. The expert believes that the insecurity of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant poses “serious threats to the security of Ukraine and countries beyond its borders, including the UK”. He calls on countries to strengthen controls at land and sea borders, in particular, to increase the number of radiation detectors at checkpoints.

Moreover, the publication reminds its readers that initially the full-scale invasion, Russia, without providing evidence, accused Ukraine of Kyiv possibly planning to use a “dirty bomb” in the war. Citing experts interviewed, the Daily Mail writes that “dirty bombs” are relatively primitive and inaccurate weapons that terrorists use “more as a psychological weapon” to intimidate people.

Russia's false claims about a “Ukrainian dirty bomb” and a “Ukrainian nuclear provocation” were refuted not only by the Ukrainian government, but also by international organizations, including the UN. In addition, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), following the results of an unscheduled inspection conducted at the request of Ukraine in November 2022, did not identify any signs of illegal activities at nuclear facilities controlled by Ukraine. The Kremlin propaganda has more than once used the topic of “dirty bombs” to discredit Ukraine in front of its Western partners.

Propagandists in Russian media are actively spreading information that New Year's sweaters with the inscription “The Last Ukrainian” have appeared in Ukrainian stores. They say that Ukrainians “have completely come to terms with their role as ‘cannon fodder’”. However, this is fake.

The specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. Based on the distributed image, they found out that the propagandists tried to fake the page of one of the large online stores in Ukraine - Rozetka. It is important to note that this screenshot does not contain any detailed information that would allow such an “ad” to be verified: neither the seller, nor the name of the product, nor its price are indicated.

The StopFake specialists also analyzed the Rozetka pages in detail in search of a similar sweater and did not find a single product with the inscription “The Last Ukrainian”. An image search using various search engines also yielded no results. Therefore, it is likely that such an image was created using a graphics editor and was disseminated to support one of the Kremlin’s disinformation narratives.

A similar narrative about the “last Ukrainian” has been spreading in Russia since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. In particular, Russian President Volodymyr Putin expressed the idea that the West is ready to fight with Russia at the hands of Ukrainians to the last Ukrainian. By this, propagandists want to show that Russia is waging a war not with Ukraine, but with the West, and therefore the advance of Russian troops is not as rapid as it should be. On the other hand, the purpose of this narrative is to show that the Ukrainian government treats its people as a resource that is not valued and is thoughtlessly thrown into pre-lost attacks.

Russian media are interpreting the results of a sociological survey among Ukrainians in their own way, claiming that “Ukrainians do not need peace” and that “Ukrainians are drawn to battle”, even without the help of the West.

Such reports focus on the fact that if these results were true, then “Ukrainians in a single patriotic impulse” would daily storm their territorial recruitment centers to enroll as soldiers and, singing, go to the front to beat the “damned Russians”. Thus, the narrative is again put forward that Ukraine is ready to fight “until the last Ukrainian”.

The StopFake specialists found out that the manipulation was created on the basis of an opinion poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). It showed that the majority of Ukrainians believe that with the necessary help from the West, Ukraine can confront Russia and achieve an acceptable result. 87% of respondents expressed support for this statement.

At the same time, two strategies were proposed for Ukraine in case of a significant decrease in Western support: stopping hostilities while maintaining control over existing territories and receiving serious security guarantees from the West, or continuing military operations to put pressure on the Russian occupiers at the risk of Ukrainian-controlled territories. The results showed that 58% of respondents are now inclined to believe that even with a significant reduction in aid, the West should continue military action to put pressure on the occupiers, albeit at risk to controlled territories.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to shift responsibility for their actions from the aggressor to the victim of aggression, without mentioning that it was Russia that started the war against Ukraine.