Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that Volodymyr Zelenskyi is allegedly silent about the “colossal losses” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Propaganda media write about this with reference to a video from the YouTube channel of Oleh Soskin, a former adviser to the ex-president of Ukraine Kuchma. However, this is a fake.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security undertook to analyze this case. The fact is that information about the number of killed and wounded Ukrainian military personnel during martial law constitutes a state secret. This is at least due to the fact that Russia can use this data to calculate possible further actions of the Defense Forces. That is, we are talking about the military’s demand, and not about Zelenskyi’s personal desire to hide important information from society.

By spreading disinformation on a sensitive topic for Ukrainians, Russian propaganda is trying to once again discredit the current President of Ukraine and undermine the trust of Ukrainian society in him. After all, the approximate number of Ukrainian military deaths in the war against Russia will only be known after its end. Previously, we analyzed the propaganda message that the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly lying to the Ukrainians, that there are no losses in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

A screenshot is being circulated online with an alleged article from Ukrainska Pravda, which contains information that the ICTV channel, owned by Victor Pinchuk, will air the series “Volunteer of the People”. Serhii Prytula should supposedly star in the leading role. However, this is a fake.

Experts from the VoxUkraine project analyzed this case. They managed to find out that the screenshot was fake, and there was no mention of the launch of this series in the Ukrainian media. There is not a single article about the series “Volunteer of the People” on the Ukrainska Pravda website, and the latest material by journalist Mykhailo Tkach, according to a screenshot of the author of the mentioned article, was published on November 17. The publication about the series is dated November 23. That is, here is yet another proof of the falsity of the information.

This case of disinformation is intended to sow discord among the Ukrainian people. Everything would be fine, but the fact that the main character of the series should be Serhii  Prytula - a man who runs his own charitable foundation and helps the army on a large scale - aims to outrage the Ukrainians and disabuse them of Ukraine's victory.

This information is disseminated by pro-Kremlin resources. Referring to an article from the TSN website, propagandists claim that the purpose of these actions is quite obvious: when teenagers turn 18 and finish school, they will allegedly immediately be mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine and sent for a month’s training. After that, adults will be trained for “meat assaults” on forest plantations and positions of Russian troops. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation drew attention to this case. They found out that propagandists resort to manipulation of information, since the TSN article is not about mobilization, but about military registration of Ukrainian citizens who have reached the age of 17. In addition, even the military registration procedure that was in force since 2016, but no longer in force, also provided for the submission of lists of conscripts who had reached 17 years of age. They were submitted to the district or city military commissariat by the relevant institution or organization.

In this case, propagandists manipulate information to sow fear, doubt and uncertainty among Ukrainian society. Thus, they also nourish the narrative that “grabbing” continues in Ukraine. Earlier, Detector Media released a large-scale study on how Russian propaganda is speculating on the topic of Ukrainian children.

This information was disseminated by pro-Russian resources. They say that Berlin sent the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a thousand laptops as a gift to remove the issue of transferring Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine. This is manipulation.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security undertook to analyze this case. They investigated that the very fact of a gift of thousands of laptops for the needs of the Verkhovna Rada was confirmed by the German Embassy in Ukraine, but emphasized that they were transferred “as a sign of solidarity and support”. The issue of supplying Taurus missiles has been discussed over the past months, but so far Ukraine and Germany have not reached a consensus on this matter. That is, the gift of a thousand laptops is exclusively humanitarian assistance, and not a payoff for missiles, as some pro-Kremlin resources tried to provide.

Thus, Russian propaganda wants to discredit international support for Ukraine and assure everyone around that Western countries are already tired of the Russian-Ukrainian war and therefore strive to end it as quickly as possible by any means. Previously, we refuted information that the Russians allegedly destroyed a Leopard tank with a German crew.

Pro-Kremlin resources are spreading information that the West has finally realized that Russia is not going to lose the war to Ukraine. Propagandists also claim that Western countries allegedly realize that they cannot compete with Russia in the production of weapons. In its publications, Russian propaganda refers to an article entitled “It’s time to end magical thinking about Russia’s defeat” by the online newspaper The Wall Street Journal (WSJ). This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers from the StopFake project processed this information. They managed to find out that propagandists disseminate only those theses that confirm the narrative that is favorable to them about Russia’s military and economic achievements. In addition, the Russians are distorting the true content of the mentioned WSJ article. For example, the conclusion that the West is unable to compete with Russia in either the volume or quality of weapons production is based on a single phrase in the WSJ article that Russia produces more artillery shells than the West. That is, we are talking about only one type of ammunition, and the quality of the product is not mentioned at all.

The most important thing, as the authors of the article emphasize, is that “contrary to all forecasts, Ukraine withstood the Russian attack, and in less than two years, wiped out an entire decade of Russian military modernization”.

The authors of the material on the WSJ also believe that the West responded quite effectively to the immediate challenges caused by a full-scale invasion, and provided Ukraine with modern weapons and intelligence data in real time, as well as the development of sanctions packages against Russia. It should be noted that the article also says that the war is dragging on, and therefore Ukraine’s allies do not have the right to rely on “magical thinking” that Ukraine will soon win and peace will come. Rather, the authors write, we should move to long-term strategies to combat Russia. Detector Media also previously denied information that the West allegedly revealed the map of its plans, where there is almost no Ukraine.