This thesis is spread by Russian propagandists in the light of the events around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant and the murder of Daria Duhina. Moreover, the Russian State Duma planned to recognize Ukraine as a terrorist state at a meeting on August 25. The corresponding bill has already been introduced by Russian politicians. Calling Ukraine a terrorist state, Russia uses disinformation messages aimed at justifying the invasion of Ukraine, which the Russian Federation continues to call not a war, but a special operation. According to EUDisinfo, Russia continues to come up with various explanations and reasons for its aggression.

According to the Center for Counteracting Disinformation, the Russian Defense Ministry said that over the past 24 hours, the Armed Forces of Ukraine had carried out large-caliber strikes on the ZNPP area seven times, and in Kaliningrad, a “saboteur” with a bomb was detained, who admitted that his plans were coordinated with Azov. In fact, it was Russia that started the war against Ukraine, brutally killing Ukrainians and Ukrainian women, destroying Ukrainian cities and villages. It is Russia that can be called a terrorist state, especially after rocket attacks on shopping centers in Ukrainian cities, which killed dozens of civilians. Spreading the thesis that Ukraine is a terrorist state, this is not the first time that Russia shifts responsibility for its own and seeks to justify itself in the eyes of other states. Also, in this way, the Russian Federation wants to divert the attention of the world from its own war crimes on the territory of Ukraine.

This thesis is spread by the Russian propaganda media. They say that British intelligence may be behind the murder of Russian propagandist Daria Duhina, because at first the British media Daily Mail reported about her death. In fact, according to EuDisinfo fact-checkers, there is no evidence to support the claim that British intelligence is behind the murder in Moscow of Darya Duhina, daughter of Oleksandr Duhin.

The murder of Daria Duhina was indeed reported by the British edition of the Daily Mail, as well as numerous international media. All in all, there is no evidence linking Daily Mail reports to British intelligence agencies.

Recall that earlier Russia also accused Ukraine of murder, providing only doubtful evidence that cannot be verified. In particular, accusing the Azov servicemen of the murder. Ukraine denies any involvement in the attack.

This is not the first time that Russian propaganda has accused the governments and intelligence services of other states of various crimes, instead of conducting a proper investigation on its own. In particular, propagandists have repeatedly claimed that MI6 was involved in the January protests in Kazakhstan; convinced that the UK is pushing Ukraine to fight Russia, promising help with a nuclear strike and so on and so forth.

Information of such content is distributed in social networks in Russian. They say that over the next year there will be mass protests in the world, a change of power, “state defaults” due to the economic, fuel, food, and resource crisis. And, of course, according to correspondents, all this trouble in the world will come through the fault of Ukraine and Ukrainians. The reports add that all these phenomena could have been avoided if Ukraine had followed the Minsk agreements at the time.

VoxChck analysts drew attention to the message in the info field. According to their report, the authors of reports about the fault of the Ukrainians do not provide any arguments why Ukraine is responsible for a possible crisis. In fact, only Russia bears full responsibility for the war in Ukraine and for what is happening in the world as a result of it. It was this country that committed aggression against Ukraine on February 20, 2014, and on February 24, 2022, it launched a full-scale invasion. Ukraine did not resort to provocations, did not violate the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Russia, but only defended and continues to defend its own integrity and independence.

As fact-checkers write, it was Russia that repeatedly violated any peace agreements. In particular, the ceasefire regime in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, and before the large-scale invasion, Russia recognized the independence of the so-called LNR/DNR. It was because of Russia's actions that the food and energy crisis worsened, and a new wave of refugees appeared in Europe. By spreading the thesis that Ukraine is to blame for everything, Russia seeks to shift the responsibility for its crimes to another state and justify its criminal actions.

Russian propaganda spreads this thesis. In particular, the American economist Jeffrey Sachs stated this in the program of the propagandist Soloviov. He accused Ukraine of shelling the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant. They say, most likely, the Ukrainians are shelling it themselves, since what is the point of shelling a Russian nuclear power plant if it controls it. In fact, Ukraine has repeatedly stated about the provocations of the Russian military on the territory of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, which is now really controlled by Russia, which poses a significant danger. As the Center for Counteracting Disinformation writes, the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov called the shelling of the territory near the ZNPP a provocation by Russian infidels. Also, the GUR of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reported on 23.08 about Russian shelling of the ZTES ash pits in order to cause radioactive dust. In addition, Jeffrey Sachs, according to whom propaganda concludes that it is not profitable for Russia to shell the ZNPP, is not at all competent to comment on such issues. Sacks is an American economist and economic advisor to governments in Latin America, Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union countries, Asia, and Africa, but he is not an expert on nuclear security or military strategies. Of course, he can express his opinion about the situation at the ZNPP, but you should not take his words seriously. Remember that Russia has repeatedly tried to shift the responsibility for its crimes to Ukraine. For example, this was the case of shelling the colony in Olenivka. Using all sorts of foreign experts broadcasting theses that are beneficial for propaganda, Russia seeks to stake out the opinion that any provocations and shelling at nuclear power plants are not beneficial to it and thus absolve itself of responsibility for possible crimes.

Pro-Kremlin propaganda media spread messages with such a statement. The reports claim that the Ukrainian army is trying to assign itself additional tank brigades, which in fact do not exist in the Armed Forces. According to the propagandists, Ukraine is trying to deceive the West and create the appearance of its power, to show its fake superiority of the Russian army. In fact, the units that propagandists persistently call virtual are quite genuine and perform the tasks assigned to them.

As StopFake writes, Russian publications refer to the American magazine Forbes, they say, it was this authoritative publication that "exposed" such large-scale fabrications by the Ukrainian military. But the author of the article, David Eks, does not say that this is a case of falsification, let alone deception of countries friendly to Ukraine. In the article "It Seems Ukraine Is Struggling To Form Tank Brigades", he reflects on the reasons why the Ukrainian Armed Forces have not yet launched a counteroffensive in the southern direction. The journalist of Forbes is trying to find out how many full-fledged tank brigades are at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and expresses doubts about the combat capabilities of two of the six brigades known to him. David Ecks believes that the reason is the lack of trained personnel, and not the lack of military equipment. Speaking about the lies of the Ukrainian army, Russian propaganda seeks to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of Western partners and reduce the capabilities of the Ukrainian military. Like, they will definitely lie about the number of their units and available forces, but in reality they can't do anything. More details.