Pro-Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that on the website of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, residents of Zaporizhzhia have registered an electronic petition for the “opening of anti-radiation shelters”. The text of the appeal states that there are such shelters in the city, but it is supposedly impossible to get into them if you do not know the “right” people. Propagandists add a screenshot of the petition as “proof”.

In fact, such treatment does not exist. One can verify this by checking the petition, a screenshot of which is being distributed by propagandists on the electronic petitions website. Thus, on the website of the President of Ukraine there is no appeal under number 22/215b442-eп. Moreover, it could not exist, since the petition number contains an extra letter “b” in the middle. If one removes the unnecessary things, the petition numbered No. 22/215442-eп really exists, but its topic is different, and it is dated January 11, 2024.

The Center for Countering Disinformation also stated that this is a fake. The Russians once again created a fake petition, probably with the help of a graphic editor, and passed it off as real. For example, a little earlier we recorded misinformation about the alleged existence of a petition to name the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces after Iryna Farion.

Russian propaganda resources, citing the US Embassy in Ukraine, disseminated a message that Russia is preparing an attack on government facilities in Kyiv in the near future. In this regard, the United States allegedly calls on its citizens to urgently leave Ukraine.

In fact, this information is distorted and untrue, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation. Propagandists referred to one of the messages from the US Embassy in Ukraine from 2022.

As of August 22, 2024, the last message on the department’s website is dated August 21, 2024. The US Embassy in Ukraine issued this warning: “Over the next several days and into the weekend, there is an increased risk of both night and day Russian drone and missile attacks throughout Ukraine in conjunction with Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24”.

US citizens were advised to monitor local media reports, find out the locations of shelters and hide there in the event of an air raid warning, and follow the instructions of Ukrainian officials and first responders in the event of an emergency.

However, the message from the US Embassy does not talk about any attacks on government facilities or recommendations to leave Ukraine. The CPI adds that the danger of Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine exists constantly, regardless of holidays and ‘circular dates’.

Russia regularly spreads disinformation about strikes on Ukraine in an attempt to intimidate Ukrainians. For example, on August 12, 2024, we documented a fake by Russian propagandists that local authorities in Kyiv were allegedly calling on citizens to leave their homes if they lived near “decision-making centers”.

Russian resources disseminated information that Ukrposhta allegedly presented a stamp called ‘On your knees before Ukraine!’ depicting Russian prisoners of war in the Kursk region. As evidence, the propagandists cited a corresponding screenshot from the company’s page on the X social network.

In fact, Ukrposhta did not issue stamps about the Kursk operation, they wrote in the StopFake project. In the original post on social network X, the company’s SMM manager asks: “Yes, who did this?”, thereby making it clear that they did not create such a brand. In the Ukrainian information space, the Ukrposhta publication was perceived as a joke (since it was one), but Russian propagandists took this message seriously.

There is no such product in the “Wartime Postage Stamps” section on the Ukrposhta website. Alternatively, it could be a fake created in a photo editor. Or someone who actually ordered such a stamp using the “Own Stamp” service, which allows you to order postal products - stamps, envelopes, postcards with your own design for personal use.

Recently, a similar situation occurred with a stamp dedicated to Iryna Farion, who was killed on July 19, 2024. A number of Russian and Ukrainian media spread the news about the release of such a stamp, but later representatives of Ukrposhta clarified that the products were ordered by the relatives of the deceased as part of the ‘Own Brand’ project.

Previously, we analyzed a fake, they say, Ukrposhta issued a stamp with a veteran of the Waffen SS Galicia division Yaroslav Hunko.

Pro-Russian telegram channels claim that Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers carried out a chemical attack in the Kursk region due to the “impossibility of breaking through” Russian defenses. As propagandists write, the Ukrainian military used chemical weapons against Russian positions, violating international law.

However, this is another Russian fake, according to the Center for Countering Disinformation. Propagandists do not provide any real evidence indicating the veracity of this information. In addition, Ukraine is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention and strictly complies with its international obligations on the non-use and non-proliferation of chemical weapons. This fact has been repeatedly confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), operating under the auspices of the UN.

At the same time, it is the Russian so-called “military correspondents” (the same propagandists) who from time to time distribute videos showing the use of chemical weapons by Russian troops against Ukrainian positions, which is a war crime and an outright violation of the laws of war.

Such fakes are part of the Kremlin’s strategy regarding the information response to the events in the Kursk region. The head of the center, an officer of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, Andrii Kovalenko, spoke about this earlier.

Pro-Russian telegram channels, with reference to the head of the occupation administration of the Kherson region - collaborator Volodymyr Saldo - are spreading reports about an alleged outbreak of a bacterial infection in Kherson. Propagandists add that the infection was caused by the contamination of the Dnipro with the bodies of Ukrainian military personnel and the failure of treatment facilities. The population of “areas controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces” is allegedly under threat.

However, after verifying information in the Kherson Regional Military Administration about the sanitary and epidemic situation in the city, the Center for Countering Disinformation reported that no outbreaks of infections were recorded, and the epidemic situation was normal.

Also recently, a daily study of sanitary water indicators was carried out in the Chornobaiv community of the Cherkasy region. However, even there, the State Service of Ukraine for Food Safety and Consumer Protection did not find dangerous deviations from the norms, the Center adds.

With this stuffing, the Russians are once again trying to sow panic among the residents of the Kherson region and discredit the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, whose dead bodies are the cause of the pollution of the Dnipro and, accordingly, the infection itself.