Pro-Kremlin sources are spreading the message that the F-16 fighters that will be transferred to Ukraine will suffer the same fate as Leopard and Abrams tanks, they will be easy targets for the Russians and will become military trophies at parades in Russia. In reporting this, propagandists refer to the statement of expert and analyst Lucas Leiros.

In fact, it will not be so easy for the Russians to hit F-16 aircraft. Aviation expert Anatolii Khrapchynskyi argues that Ukraine repels the vast majority of Russian attacks on airfields. In addition, he adds that the F-16 fighters themselves will become a tool of defense: “The appearance of the F-16 aircraft will be a powerful enough reinforcement of the airspace, which will make it possible to repel these air attacks at an early stage, when either missiles or the same reconnaissance UAVs hit under control in the airspace of Ukraine”. The event will also enhance the F-16's airborne early warning capabilities, namely SAAB aircraft.

Also, some F-16 aircraft will be deployed abroad. This will be one of the ways to protect them, as the head of aviation of the Air Force Command of the Ukrainian Armed Forces Serhii Holubtsov spoke about: “Not all aircraft that will be transferred to Ukraine now will come to Ukraine. Some of them will remain in the centers where our pilots and aviation personnel are trained... There is a number that will come to Ukraine. There are several aircraft that will be stored at secure air bases, not in Ukraine, so that they will not be targets here. And this will be our reserve if necessary to replace faulty aircraft during routine maintenance”.

Russian propaganda is increasingly trying to convince Ukrainians that the appearance of F-16s in the skies over Ukraine supposedly “will not change anything” and “will not in any way affect the course of the war”, writes the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

To do this, Moscow uses so-called “foreign experts”, for example Lucas Leiros, the Center adds. In fact, 25-year-old Brazilian Leiros is one of the mouthpieces of Russian propaganda. In June 2024, he visited the occupied and destroyed Mariupol and spread a propaganda message that the city was developing dynamically. Also in 2023, Leiros spread fakes from the UN rostrum about Ukraine’s use of chemical weapons.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that an allegedly significant amount of NATO weapons exported from Ukraine ended up on the Italian black market and fell into the hands of mafia groups. The Consulate General of Ukraine in Naples acts as an intermediary, facilitating black market transactions. According to propagandists, the department is involved in the trafficking of children and human organs. In relevant publications, illustrations are added to the text.

However, this is fake. Using the reverse search function on Google, we were able to find out that the primary source of the widespread photos is The Intel Drop website. On July 21, 2024, it published an extensive article entitled: “The Zelenskyi regime resells Western weapons and human organs to mafia structures in Italy”. However, in fact, this site was artificially created by propagandists with the aim of spreading Russian disinformation in English. So the content of this article has nothing to do with reality.

The Intel Drop has published anti-Ukrainian materials more than once. Thus, the pseudo-publication spread fakes about Zelenskyi’s purchase of a mansion from the King of Great Britain for 20 million pounds, about the Russian attack on the Ukrainian command post with NATO military, as well as about the involvement of Olena Zelenska’s foundation in various child trafficking schemes.

Pro-Kremlin resources, citing an alleged resident of the Ukrainian village of Novhorodske, disseminate information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces “threatened civilians, intimidated them, and also took children out without the consent of their parents”. Also, military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly demanded intimate services from locals.

In fact, there is no real evidence of this. The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reports that the publication of  “evidence” on behalf of “victims of the Kyiv regime” is one of the tactics of Russian propaganda. Russia cynically uses residents of the occupied territories or even Ukrainian prisoners of war, forcing them to voice absurd “testimony” or “confession” about the alleged atrocities of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Therefore, Russian propaganda probably resorted to the mentioned tactics this time too.

The Center adds that in this way propagandists seek to arouse indignation and the illusion of truthfulness among the audience, although the facts presented cannot be verified.

Such “video confessions” are aimed primarily at residents of front-line territories. Propaganda is trying to undermine their trust in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and convince them that the Ukrainian military really “is the main source of threat to the civilian population”.

Somewhat earlier, we analyzed a similar fake, which was that the Ukrainian authorities were allegedly forcibly taking children away from their parents in the Donbas in order to hand them over to pedophiles or organs.

The Russian information field is disseminating information that Moldova seems to be ready to cooperate with Ukraine on the issue of “surrendering evaders”. Thus, propagandists refer to the “statement” of the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Moldova, Mihai Popsoi: “We have carried out all stages of negotiations with Ukraine and will begin to extradite wanted Ukrainians. Since August, our Ministry of Internal Affairs has begun to closely interact with the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine”.

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In fact, this information has already been denied by the Moldavian Foreign Ministry. In particular, they noted: “Mihai Popsoi never made this statement public. When Minister Mihai Popsoi makes a public statement, it is transparently broadcast every time on the communication platforms of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the minister. The erroneous reference to fictitious statements is part of a deliberate disinformation campaign targeting the Republic of Moldova”.

The department added that the purpose of this fake is to split Moldovan society or simply misinform it.

Previously, we analyzed such fakes and manipulations. For example, they recorded lies that Ukrainian refugees would allegedly be “squeezed out” from the EU and sent to war.

Pro-Russian resources are massively disseminating information that all Ukrainian athletes competing at the 2024 Olympics are allegedly required to wear personal GPS trackers on their legs. This should supposedly prevent escape attempts, that is, the non-return of Ukrainian athletes to Ukraine after the Olympic Games in Paris. In reporting this, propagandists refer to the “head of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine” Vadym Hutsait.

In fact, this information is not true, they write in the StopFake project. Neither on the official website of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine, nor in other open sources of information, nor in the statements of the ex-Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Vadym Hutsait, there is any mention of the fact that Ukrainian athletes are forced to wear electronic ankle bracelets during the Olympics in Paris. This “news” is disseminated only by propaganda resources. In addition, acting Minister of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Matvey Bedny, and Vadym Hutsait held this post from March 2020 to November 9, 2023. Today Hutsait is the president of the National Olympic Committee of Ukraine. That is, this is another confirmation of the falsity of the news, because pro-Kremlin propagandists could not even correctly identify the head of the Ministry of Youth and Sports of Ukraine.

Moreover, there is no need to track the movements of Ukrainian Olympians abroad using GPS trackers. Many may be exempt from mobilization and travel abroad is permitted for them. Also, despite the possibility of reservation, many athletes voluntarily went to defend Ukraine from the first days of a full-scale war.

In an interview with AFP Minister Deputy of Youth and Sports of Ukraine Matvii Bidnyi said that since the beginning of the full-scale war, the Russians have killed about 500 Ukrainian athletes and coaches, among whom were dozens of world and European champions. The sports infrastructure also suffered significant losses. Russia damaged and destroyed more than 500 sports venues, including 15 Olympic training bases across Ukraine. In the end, Bidnyi added that sports facilities can still be restored, but returning dead athletes cannot be possible.

With this fake, Russian propagandists seek to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and assert, they say, “the authoritarian Zelenskyi has everyone on the hook”.

Previously, Detector Media denied information that on the eve of the 2024 Olympics, the World Anti-Doping Agency planned to introduce anti-doping exemptions for the Ukrainian Olympic team to combat the stress of war.

• Read also: We’ll come to Paris on tanks: how Russian propaganda reacts to exclusion from the 2024 Olympic Games – MediaSapiens.