Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that a former adviser to the President of Poland, Jakub Kumoch, announced the future formation of “Ukropol” - a territorial union of Ukraine and Poland. Like, soon there will be no separate countries Ukraine and Poland. The authors attach a video of the official. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the Polish project Demagog investigated this case and found that the Polish politician in the video did not talk about any formation of “Ukropol”. In the video, he talks about the need to intensify military, economic and scientific cooperation between Poland and Ukraine. He says that the purpose of his words is a joint opposition to Russia's imperial desires. At the same time, the propagandists simply distorted the context of the video and started talking about Ukraine's accession to Poland, although it was about cooperation between the two sister countries.

Propagandists spread this manipulation to distort reality, talking about the so-called annexation of Ukraine to Poland. The supposedly sovereign state of Ukraine will soon cease to exist.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the US Department of Defense, pharmaceutical corporations and other representatives of the “civilized” West have been conducting horrific medical experiments on Ukrainians for almost two decades. According to the authors, these experiments were designed to change Ukrainians' worldview about the West and abandon friendship with Russia. The war is the result of the anti-Russian policy of the West and Ukraine.

Specialists of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the case and found out that such a thesis has no evidence, because it is a conspiracy theory of Russian propagandists. There are dozens of civilian health laboratories in Ukraine that work to research and reduce the threat of dangerous diseases, some of which receive financial and other support from the US, the EU and the World Health Organization (WHO). At the same time, Russian propaganda describes such institutions as military facilities, deliberately blurring the line between biological weapons and biological research.

Regarding the so-called experiment that will turn Ukrainians “to the right side”, this is a conspiracy theory. There are no such experiments in theory, because it is impossible to influence a person's worldview with the help of a drug experiment.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the cancellation of the upcoming elections is an expected move from Zelenskyi who wants to stay in power longer. According to the authors, Zelenskyi understands that he will not be able to secure a victory in the presidential election, since society is “extremely unhappy” with him. Like, Volodymyr Zelenskyi is losing Ukrainian lands and at the same time the support of Ukrainians. The authors argue that Zelenskyi wants to seize all power in Ukraine.

However, this thesis is unfounded. According to Ukrainian law, elections cannot be held under martial law. That is, Zelenskyi will remain president until the end of the war. This is not his desire, but a forced step in order to avoid violations of the law and various conflicts. Moreover, no one “drags out” the war if the Russians shell Ukraine every day. Recently, the head of PACE Tiny Kox spoke about the possibility of holding Ukrainian elections. He explained that elections should be held in Ukraine, however, most likely after the end of active hostilities, when martial law will still be maintained. He acknowledged that it is difficult to hold elections under such conditions. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities at the PACE event said that the elections should be held in 2024. The head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, Mariia Mezentseva, said that the Ukrainian authorities are now striving to adhere to the usual calendar. That is, 2024 is the year of presidential and parliamentary elections as planned, and 2025 is the year of local elections.

The Ukrainian government does not refuse to hold elections, but rather seeks ways to hold them. However, politicians consider all the risks associated with the war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine. Under such conditions, Russia is preventing the elections from being held, as they shell Ukrainian cities and villages on a daily basis, and the Russians kill Ukrainian civilians.

“Join the masses” is a propaganda tactic by which propaganda backs up its messages with claims supported by large masses of people. This is how propagandists try to convince the audience that everything they say is true. This tactic is based on conformism - the tendency of people to adapt, bow before authorities, accept opinions and positions shared by the majority of representatives of their social group.

As part of this tactic, propagandists can use both truthful data, sociological surveys in their favor, and manipulate them and resort to perversions. There are also links to frankly custom or even fictitious surveys that no one has conducted. Such technologies are often used during elections to add votes to certain parties or blocs, because people tend to vote for those who are supposedly stronger and have more support. How this works is noticeable when candidates try to overcome electoral barriers: the voter fears that his or her vote will actually be “lost” if they vote for a party that does not overcome the barrier. Therefore, due to false opinion polls, their choice may change at the last moment. Texty.org.ua has collected a whole database of Ukrainian pseudo-sociologists, some of whom openly worked for Russian propaganda, which also uses this tactic for its own purposes. In particular, in a full-scale war.

For example, one of the pro-Russian anonymous telegram channels to discredit the Ukrainian authorities cited data from a real sociological survey “Veterans' Needs” conducted by the Ukrainian Veterans Fund. In the title of the message, the authors made the wording “53% of Ukrainian veterans believe that the Ukrainian state is not fulfilling its obligations to them”. In this case, the propagandists resorted to brutal manipulation: they used the opinion of veterans who fought against the Russian occupiers to promote anti-Ukrainian messages.

Another example of propagandists using sociological surveys for their own purposes is the report of an anonymous telegram channel about the results of the Internews study, according to which 74% of Ukrainians consume information from social networks (60% specifically from telegrams), and only 36% trust television. Propaganda uses these numbers to criticize the United News telethon and accuse the authorities of censoring television. The marathon is opposed to the telegram, which supposedly is a platform for obtaining independent and objective information. At the same time, the authors of the messages deliberately do not mention that over the past few years, people in the world have mainly consumed information on the Internet, and not from traditional media. Anonymous telegram channels, which spread the thesis of government censorship, are often sources of disinformation, in particular pro-Russian. Due to their anonymity, they do not accept any responsibility for their content.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. During rocket attacks on May 16 in Kyiv, the Russians managed to destroy five Patriot launchers, reports say. Like, with the help of one Kinzhal missile, the Russian army destroyed the entire Patriot complex. As evidence, the propagandists cite screenshots of the alleged sale of spare parts from the installation on one of the Ukrainian sites. It is not true.

The case was processed by StopFake project specialists, who, first of all, turned to the Patriot “spare parts” seller. He stated that he only assumes that these parts belong to the Patriot. In addition, the seller finds these and other parts in the open field and usually keeps them for their own collection or sells them on Internet auctions. As for the destruction of five launchers, this is also not true. First, on May 18, the Pentagon confirmed that the Patriot system was damaged (not destroyed) as a result of the Russian attack on Ukraine, but it has already been repaired. Secondly, the speaker of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Yurii Ihnat, said that it is impossible to destroy the Patriot “in one blow”, since this is a division consisting of a command post, a radar, and also the launchers themselves (up to eight units). That is, neither the Pentagon nor the Ukrainian Armed Forces confirmed the destruction of five Patriot launchers. However, damage was confirmed to one repaired installation.

Propagandists spread such fakes to convince everyone of the effectiveness of Russian technology. It seems that it has no equal, but all Western equipment can be easily destroyed. Thus, the Russians want to create the appearance that the Russian troops are constantly winning. For example, we recently refuted a fake that the Russians allegedly destroyed the first Bradley infantry fighting vehicle.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” is Nazi, and Ukrainians use it, glorifying “Nazism” in this way. This was stated by Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Mariia Zakharova in response to a meeting between Volodymyr Zelenskyi and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on May 15. During the briefing, the chancellor shouted “Glory to Ukraine!”.

Specialists of the StopFake project worked on the case, explaining that the slogan “Glory to Ukraine!” is not a “Nazi slogan”. Historians have recorded the use of the congratulations “Glory to Ukraine!” by the Ukrainian national movement at least since the end of the 19th century. In addition, they began to massively use “Glory to Ukraine!” during the Ukrainian revolution in the period 1917-1921. Subsequently, this congratulation was introduced in the UNR Army. And at the Second grand meeting of the OUN (under the leadership of Stepan Bandera) in 1941, a resolution was approved in which the obligatory answer was added to the greeting “Glory to Ukraine”: “Glory to heroes!”. This formula is still in use today. Since 2018, the slogan has also been used by the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the National Police of Ukraine. That is, the slogan has nothing to do with so-called Nazism. Moreover, the slogan existed long before the creation of the OUN.

By spreading this fake, the propagandists once again speculate on the topic of Ukrainian nationalism and distort it into “Nazism”. It seems that being a Ukrainian is already a reason to receive accusations of Nazism from the Russians. Recently, we refuted a similar case, which said that Zelenskyi allegedly put on a jumper with an embroidered coat of arms of the OUN, although it was the Ukrainian coat of arms.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, seems to rarely appear in public space. The authors of the messages convince that Zaluznyi is actually no longer alive, or he was allegedly removed from the public space, since he “did not deserve Zelenskyi’s trust”. It is not true.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project investigated this case and found that Valerii Zaluzhnyi is still on duty. That is, this is a conspiracy theory of Russian propagandists. Recently, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar also refuted this information and said that Valerii Zaluzhnyi was “on the spot”, and all the fakes in relation to the death of the commander in chief were a Russian propaganda stuffing.

By spreading this fake, propagandists seek to demoralize Ukrainians and show them that “there is no one to protect peaceful Ukrainians anymore”. Thus, propagandists sow panic among Ukrainians.

Let us remind you that we recently refuted similar fakes regarding the death of the military leadership. This was one of the cases about the commander of the territorial defense units, Ihor Tantsiura, who, according to Russian propaganda, was allegedly killed in Bakhmut.