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 18 April, on the 784th day of the full-scale war, our editorial office recorded:

2086
Fake
687
Manipulation
641
Message
425
Disclosure
Русскій фейк, іді на***!

Message Ukraine advocates paganism

Such a message is being shared by propagandists on social networks and telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It says that Ukraine wants to destroy Orthodoxy and at the same time promote paganism, because supposedly there are no real shrines left on the territory of Ukraine after the sanctioning of the Moscow Patriarchate church. That is why, according to propagandists, there is reason to believe that the process of abandoning the Moscow Patriarchate is aimed at replacing canonical Orthodoxy with “neopaganism”.

However, as analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project explain, the Ukrainian authorities neither plan to ban Orthodoxy, nor promote “neopaganism”. Parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate can freely transfer to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which received the tomos of autocephaly in January 2019. In addition, 78% of Orthodox believers declare their allegiance to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

By spreading this message, propagandists are trying to downplay the significance of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine for Ukrainians, presenting it as schismatic, separated from the real, canonical one. In contrast, propagandists do not stop positioning the Moscow Patriarchate as the only possible way to practice Orthodoxy. Thus, the enemies want to ideologically unite Ukrainians and Russians in order to promote the narrative of one people. At the same time, those who do not recognize the Moscow Patriarchate are sinners and schismatics.

Fake Near Soledar, the American M1 Abrams tank was destroyed by Russians

This message is being spread by propagandists on social networks and telegram channels. The report says that the Russian military near Soledar destroyed the first American M1 Abrams tank from the RPG-18 Mukha. It is not true.

As experts from the Center for countering disinformation explain, the occupiers used an old photo that was not even taken in Ukraine. Moreover, the US has not yet handed over a single such tank to Ukraine, which makes it impossible to destroy it.

Propagandists are spreading this fake in order to distort reality and show that Ukraine is constantly losing and even powerful American equipment does not help, because the Russians are successfully destroying it. Against the background of previously initiated military assistance from the United States, Russian propaganda is trying to convince people that all weapons are ineffective and can be easily destroyed.

Manipulation To support the Russian army, Poland allocated 1.5 million rubles

This is the message propagandists share on social networks and telegram channels that broadcast pro-Russian rhetoric to the Polish audience. The report says that Poland understood who is real in the war in Ukraine and is ready to help enslaved Russia: it sent almost 100,000.00 Polish zlotys, which is 1.5 million rubles, to help the Russian army. The author of the message adds a video to the publication, which allegedly shows collecting  money. However, this is manipulation.

In fact, there were no official statements from Poland about helping the aggressor country. We cannot say that the person really did not transfer funds, but this is definitely not the official position of the country. Both the Polish leadership and the citizens of Poland strongly condemned the large-scale war provoked by Russia against Ukraine. Poland is and remains a faithful partner of Ukraine.

Regarding the video, it is published on a propaganda resource and demonstrates the process of withdrawing cash from an ATM. The video is not accompanied either by the hero's comments, or by the hero himself, because the video work consists of video parts mounted together, showing how people withdraw cash.

By spreading this manipulation, propagandists are trying to distort reality and show that Ukraine is gradually losing its support even from the most loyal partners. They say that Ukraine will soon remain on its own, because at last the whole world has learned who the real aggressor is. However, our partners do not stop condemning and sanctioning a terrorist country that daily commits war crimes against Ukrainians. Also, partners continue to support Ukraine, supplying weapons to fight the enemy.

Message Due to heavy weapons supply by the West, Russia began to discuss a nuclear strike on Ukraine

A network of telegram channels supervised by Russian intelligence began to spread the message that in response to the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine, Russia could use nuclear weapons. It seems that British intelligence warned Ukraine about this.

Threats of nuclear weapons have been one of the most widespread messages of Russian propaganda since the beginning of the war. Back in April, propaganda was spreading this message, but then the reason was the “use of nuclear weapons by Russia” due to the fact that Ukraine should recognize Crimea and Donbas as Russian. If it refuses, Russia “retains the right” to use weapons.

Another wave of discussions about the “use of nuclear weapons” occurred in September, when, against the backdrop of the defeat of the Russian army near Kharkiv and the liberation of the Kharkiv region by the Ukrainian army, Putin announced the start of mobilization. Then and later, he stated that he “does not bluff about the use of nuclear weapons” if hostilities begin on the “territories of the Russian Federation”. Following these statements, Russia annexed parts of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions. And every day there is fighting on these territories. The Ukrainian army has since liberated a significant part of the Kherson region, along with Kherson, as well as settlements in other regions, but the Russians did not use nuclear weapons. Now the propaganda is back to the “use of nuclear weapons” thesis because of the actions of the West, which finally decided to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons.

Fake The World Economic Forum aims to reduce the number of people on Earth, including because of the war in Ukraine

This is the message propagandists use on social networks and telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. It states that the goal of the World economic forum is to reduce the number of people to 1 billion of “chosen ones” because there is not enough space and sources in the world for everyone. For this, WEF members, according to propagandists, have developed a special plan, which is already underway due to the war in Ukraine and the pandemic. It's a lie.

As Eu vs Disinfo experts explain, this is a propaganda stuffing built on conspiracy theories. The World economic forum is a well-known independent international organization. As noted in the program of the Annual meeting of the forum 2023, the current event is dedicated to various situations, in particular, the war in Ukraine and the Covid-19 pandemic. The agenda of the Forum “focuses on solutions to tackle the world’s most pressing challenges”.

When propagandists spread such fakes and use conspiracy theories, they want to achieve a distortion of reality that is beneficial for Russian propaganda to spread their narratives. They say that the war in Ukraine has long been planned by third parties, and Russia has nothing to do with it. So, Russia blurs the borders and justifies itself, creating the appearance that people in Ukraine are dying not because of its aggression, but because of the collusion of large organizations.

Fake During a visit to the United States, Zelenskyi signed an act of surrender

This is the message propagandists use on social networks and telegram channels that broadcast pro-Russian rhetoric to the Polish audience. It says that Zelenskyi signed the act of surrender during his visit to the United States. Like, one of the officials took an autograph from the president, but in fact it was not just a piece of paper with a signature, but a real act of surrender. Thus, Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed it without even knowing it, and at the same time admitted defeat in the war. It seems that the president will soon stand down. The authors of the messages add a probable act of surrender to the publication. However, this is not true.

In fact, not a single act of surrender was signed. Ever since the start of the full-scale invasion, Volodymyr Zelenskyi has been saying that Ukraine will not capitulate. At the same time, a series of talks held between the Ukrainian and Russian sides in February-March 2022 convinced the Ukrainian leadership that Russia wanted one thing, namely, a quick surrender of Ukraine and recognition of the Russian victory. However, Ukraine disagreed and called for an immediate Russian ceasefire. The so-called document, attached by the propagandists, contains spelling and lexical errors, indicating that it was compiled.

By spreading this fake, propagandists are trying to nourish the narrative that America wants to get rid of Zelenskyi and is ready even for such tricks. It seems that this is all a secret plan, a conspiracy against the president, and he does not even suspect how, as they say, his most devoted partners actually support him.

Fake EU and NATO plan to unleash a world war

Such a message is being broadcast by propagandists on social networks and in telegram channels with pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It says that the EU and NATO want to unleash a world war. The Declaration of cooperation recently signed between the EU and NATO clearly shows that NATO leads the European Union. Propagandists claim that the leaders of these organizations want to unleash a large-scale war aimed at aggression against Russia. However, this is not true.

According to EU vs Disinfo analysts, on January 10, 2023, the EU and NATO signed a Joint declaration of cooperation that emphasized the strategic partnership between NATO and the EU, condemned Russian aggression against Ukraine, and presented NATO as the backbone of European and American collective defense. The EU-NATO cooperation declaration is aimed at strengthening the mechanism of collective defense, this document does not provide for any aggressive actions against Russia.

Since Russia began aggressive actions against Ukraine, Russian officials have accused NATO of a series of threats and hostilities. NATO is a defense alliance whose main objectives are to maintain peace and protect the independence, security and territorial integrity of its members.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists are trying to demonize Western partners and at the same time nourish the narrative that Russia is fighting not only against Ukraine, but also against NATO or the EU. Like, these organizations are the center of war and devastation, and Russia is only defending itself from the armed aggression of the West. However, the real aggressors are Russia and the Russian military, who unleashed a war on the territory of Ukraine and daily commit terrorist crimes against peaceful Ukrainians.

Disclosure A deepfake with Yurii Lutsenko is being circulated online

In the Ukrainian segment of social networks, a video with allegedly featuring Yurii Lutsenko is being shared after a hard battle in Soledar, Donetsk region. In particular, the Volyn politician Volodymyr Bondar published a screenshot from the video on his personal page. However, according to the fact-checkers of the “Brekhunets” (Lier) project, this video is a deepfake.

According to the fact-checkers, with the help of special programs, the authors created a so-called deepfake, because the video footage shows a man in military uniform, who really looks like Ukrainian politician Yurii Lutsenko. In the video, the hero's face moves a lot, it increases or decreases in size, which is not typical of a live, non-supporting video. Analysts are convinced that the authors of the video took a photograph of a military man and, using computer technology, superimposed Lutsenko's face on it.

Moreover, the video was recorded for several seconds and contains only musical accompaniment, although the military himself is silent in the video and does not add a single comment.

Orest Slyvenko, Artur Koldomasov, Pavlo Rud, 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.