On behalf of the American organization Freedom House, propagandists are sending out letters calling on Ukrainian military personnel to leave the service. However, these are false letters. This is what the Center for Counteracting Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes.

Its experts found that the propagandists created a fake email address and used the Freedom House logo to make the messages look official and credible. Such tactics are often used to spread disinformation to lower military morale and undermine trust in Ukraine's Western partners.

Freedom House is not involved in these letters, and no employee of the organization sent such messages. The text of the letter contains lexical errors, specific Russianisms and other linguistic features that indicate forgery. This is another case of using fake letters as a tool of information warfare aimed at increasing mistrust among the Ukrainian military and discrediting support from Western countries.

Anonymous Telegram channels are spreading a Spanish-language story about how the body of fallen Colombian International Legion soldier Michael Ramirezi Fino was returned to his family “without internal organs”. In the video, the soldier’s mother allegedly claims that she asked the International Legion leadership for an explanation and was told that her son’s organs were transplanted to wounded comrades, but the woman doubts this.

But this story is made up, and the video was fabricated by propagandists. Firstly, it was not possible to find a Spanish-language media outlet called Ahora online - the propagandists probably drew the logo of the fictitious publication themselves. Secondly, no other authoritative source reported on this story. Mentions of this story are published only in social networks of the Russian segment.

Black transplantology in Ukraine is a conspiracy theory that Russians have been developing for a decade. The constant return to the topic testifies to its importance for Russia. These messages are promoted to both domestic and international audiences. However, their refutation in foreign and Ukrainian media prevents the campaign from having the desired effect. Among the goals pursued by Russian propaganda within the framework of this topic are discrediting the military-political leadership of Ukraine and reducing trust in it, creating a negative image of the state in the eyes of the international community, and justifying a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Read also: How and why Russia uses the topic of “black transplantology” in Ukraine

Russian propaganda is once again spreading information that Ukrainian instructors, together with the US, are allegedly training international terrorists in Syria. Now Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov has joined in spreading this message.

However, this is a fake, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation. This disinformation has already been spread more than once by the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, without providing any evidence.

The head of the Center for Countering Disinformation, an officer of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, Andrii Kovalenko, believes that the main focus of this campaign is directed at the Middle East, the countries of the Global South, and the American information field. He added that this is the key information threat at the international level.

Thus, the Russians are trying to claim that Ukraine is a “terrorist state”. However, in reality, it is Russia that supports militants in Syria, who have used, in particular, chemical weapons. Moscow also maintains relations with the Taliban, Hezbollah, Hamas, and ISIS.

We previously refuted information that Ukraine and NATO are preparing provocations in Syria.

Propagandists are spreading information on social networks that 47% of Ukraine's territory belongs to BlackRock, and that company representatives came to Kyiv and asked not to bury the dead soldiers on their lands. However, this is a fake.

It was refuted by fact-checkers of the Lithuanian version of the Baltic media conglomerate Delfi. They found that the claim that BlackRock banned Ukraine from burying its military is wrong. According to the press service of the President of Ukraine, in late 2022, Volodymyr Zelenskyi held a remote meeting with BlackRock CEO Larry Fink, during which they discussed possible projects to help structure funds for the country's recovery. In 2023, the Ukrainian government signed an agreement with BlackRock and JPMorgan to create a fund designed to attract hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment to restore the Ukrainian economy, but this did not include restrictions on burying the military. In addition, about 70% of Ukraine's territory is agricultural land. As of 2020, about 31 million hectares, or 75%, were privately owned. The largest companies controlled only 16% of agricultural land, or about 6.45 million hectares. There are more than 10 foreign agricultural companies operating in the country, owning about 3-4 million hectares of land. The largest of these are the US-based Agroprosperis (300,000 hectares) and the Saudi Arabian Continental Farmers Group (195,000 hectares), but BlackRock has not invested in either company.

Georgian fact-checking portal Mythdetector found a recording from a Telegram channel that this claim is based on back in July. The author of the post claims that the CEO of BlackRock allegedly advised Ukraine not to pollute arable land with the bodies of dead soldiers and to use crematoriums. The description of the channel indicates that this information may be satirical or false.

This fake is intended to portray Ukraine as a country that has lost its sovereignty and is completely dependent on Western corporations. Successful partnerships between Ukraine and international companies, such as BlackRock, could become a tool for post-war reconstruction. The propaganda attempts to sow distrust in such investors, portraying them as a threat to sovereignty and national interests. By spreading such fakes, propagandists try to demoralize the population of Ukraine, creating the impression that even burying fallen defenders could become a problem due to the loss of control over national lands. Propagandists also use this fake to distract attention from their own failures and problems, in particular, Russia's crimes in the temporarily occupied territories, economic instability, and poor human rights situation.

Propagandists are spreading information on anonymous Telegram channels that allegedly Ukrainian Armed Forces units, which include Polish, French and American “mercenaries”, are displaying “extreme cruelty” towards the civilian population in the Kursk region. The source of such statements is said to be unknown “security agencies” of Russia.

However, in reality, in the territory of the Kursk region, which is not controlled by Russia, there are no “security structures” to which one could refer. These accusations pursue only one goal - to dehumanize Ukrainians in the eyes of the Russian audience. This is reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

Many foreign journalists from independent and influential media have already visited the territories controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and in their reports they have not confirmed any atrocities against either captured Russians or the civilian population. In addition, as reported by the speaker of the Operational-tactical grouping Siversk Vadym Mysnyk, it was Russia that refused to provide a humanitarian corridor for the evacuation of civilians from the territories of the Kursk region controlled by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which also refutes the statements of Russian propaganda.

Russians are creating fake pages of the Coordination Headquarters for the Collection of Confidential Information. This was reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

Fraudsters create so-called “doubles” of official resources, promising Ukrainians alleged “help” in finding relatives who have been captured by the enemy or “assistance” in obtaining information about them. These fake sites and pages are created with the aim of misleading citizens and forcing them to voluntarily provide their personal data.

According to the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War, such actions by the Russian side are aimed not only at collecting information, but also at having more dangerous consequences. The enemy seeks to gain access to private data for further blackmail and recruitment of Ukrainians, using the vulnerability of the families of prisoners of war. In addition, the enemy can manipulate public sentiment, creating an atmosphere of fear and mistrust.

The purpose of these fraudulent actions is to destabilize Ukrainian society by using the families of defenders for psychological pressure. The enemy can also use the information obtained to threaten the safety of prisoners of war and conduct reconnaissance on military operations.

The Coordination Headquarters reminds: never provide your personal data, phone numbers, bank accounts or data of your loved ones through unverified resources, as well as third-party applications and anonymous sources. Disclosure of such information on fake sites can seriously harm not only Ukrainian prisoners of war, but also endanger the lives of their fellow prisoners. Do not give the enemy the opportunity to manipulate emotions and use you for their own purposes.

The Russian media is disseminating a fake report from the Romanian Ministry of National Defense about the allegedly “failed training” of Ukrainian pilots for F-16 fighters. This document states that they were able to train only 3 pilots out of 50. The reasons for this low rate are given as “inability to learn English” and “alcohol consumption”.

“The Romanian Ministry of Defense prepared a report in which it recognized problems in the results of training of Ukrainian pilots on F-16 fighters... Also noted is the careless attitude of Ukrainians to training, reluctance to study English and a drop in athletic performance due to weight gain and alcohol consumption”, the publications added .

StopFake analysts investigated this case and found that the Romanian Ministry of National Defense denied the existence of a report on the failed training of Ukrainian pilots for F-16 fighters. Russian propaganda created a fake document using fragments of this report, making a number of mistakes.

The department added that the fake document also states that the training of Ukrainian pilots was allegedly carried out at the European F-16 training center at the airbase in the city of Feteshte. But, as the Ministry clarified, this is also an “absolute lie”, since only Romanian pilots have studied at the center.

Photos of an announcement allegedly from the National Police are being circulated online, calling for people to contact the hotline in case of aggression from people in military uniform. The announcement allegedly again contains the hotline numbers of the National Police in Zhytomyr.

However, this information is not true, they write in the VoxCheck project. Photos of the “announcement” can only be found in Russian and pro-Russian sources. Also, the owner of the phone number 0-800-505-222 is not law enforcement agencies, but the WIZARD company. It supplies equipment for water supply, drainage and heating. Another number (+380 (44) 254-96-96) is inactive. GetContact users mark it as the phone number of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. This may be an outdated MIA contact.

In addition, reliable national and regional media did not report the creation of a similar hotline in Zhytomyr. The Main Directorate of the National Police in the Zhytomyr region does not indicate the functioning of such a line.

Russian propaganda is disseminating information that a Ukrainian serviceman hid for two years in the sewer system of the Azovstal plant in occupied Mariupol. He allegedly drank sewage and ate rats, but survived.

In fact, the emaciated man in the photo returned from Russian captivity on May 31, 2024. This is one of the National Guardsmen who guarded the Chornobyl nuclear power plant when the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine began. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. The purpose of this Russian fake is to deny the facts of cruel treatment and abuse of Ukrainian prisoners.

The Center adds that Ukrainian law enforcement officers are investigating the murder of more than 60 Ukrainian captives by Russians. Also, 450 criminal proceedings have been registered on facts of ill-treatment of prisoners of war. At the same time, the Russian Federation, in violation of international law, systematically captures Ukrainian civilians. Previously, we wrote about how Russia is manipulating the topic of prisoner exchange.

Propagandists are distributing a video on social networks in which a Ukrainian serviceman allegedly says that three days before the shooting, his “brothers” were grabbed on the street by representatives of the Territorial center of recruitment and social support and sent to the front line, where they immediately died. The caption for the video is: “Show this to everyone while there are still men left, so that they don’t even think about going there!!!!! Khazarian faces and Territorial centers’ employees are corrupt nits... Here's mobilization for you... They were at home for another three or four days, and now... They are immediately sent to certain death!!! Without any preparation, just like meat”. The video has already been viewed more than 200 thousand times on Meta and shared more than 3.4 thousand times.

In fact, this video is staged and probably created by Russian propaganda to discredit the mobilization campaign in Ukraine. Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this. They found that the video had several obvious signs of being staged. Firstly, the voiceover tries to speak Ukrainian, but for native speakers it is clear that the native language of the author of the video is Russian. The voice-over text, read in a calm and emotionless voice, is full of anti-Ukrainian propaganda.

The author of the video claims to show the consequences of mobilization, showing the supposed bodies of three dead “brothers” who were allegedly mobilized just a few days ago. However, it is very difficult to recognize the “dead” in the video - the bodies lie at a considerable distance from the camera, and their faces are hidden. The author of the video also claims that a group of soldiers was hit by artillery fire, but no blood or shrapnel was visible on the bodies. All the “dead” have typical Ukrainian surnames - Morozenko, Gontarenko, Sidorenko, but call signs are not given.

In addition, recruits could not be sent to the front lines three to four days after receiving draft notices, as stated in the video. After mobilization, all recruits undergo military training at training grounds, which can take several weeks. Also, the video does not indicate the name of the military unit where these soldiers served; there are no chevrons or other special signs. The date and location of the shooting remain unclear. Instead of grass, typical of May in Ukraine, it is clear that the video was filmed in early spring, but for some reason was published only now.

The video has a caption in Russian, “Valkyrie of Light”, and in the center of the frame is an empty vodka bottle, placed to discredit the Ukrainian army. It is unclear why the “real Ukrainian military man” who allegedly filmed this video did not remove the bottle. The video was distributed from an account that masquerades as Ukrainian, but regularly publishes Russian narratives about mobilization in Ukraine.

Propagandists spread fake news to undermine the mobilization campaign and discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Detector Media also refuted other fakes on this topic.

Propagandists are spreading information online that Russian troops have allegedly entered Vovchansk, Kharkiv region, and that heavy fighting continues in the city.

In fact, there is no officially confirmed information about the presence of Russian occupiers in Vovchansk. The head of the Vovchansk police department, Maksym Stetsyna, said that on the night of May 13, 2024, the Russians continued to fire at the border Vovchansk from different types of weapons. And he added that the situation in the city is difficult, evacuation is underway, but there are no street battles and no Russians there.

The purpose of this information dump is to sow panic among residents of the region, as well as to exaggerate the successes of the Russian army at the moment. We previously wrote about how the Russians are waging a disinformation campaign in Kharkiv.

Russian propaganda resources, as well as some foreign media, are disseminating information about the supposedly official decision of France to send its troops to Ukraine. Moreover, soldiers of the French Foreign Legion allegedly already arrived in Sloviansk to help the Ukrainian military.

In fact, this information is not true. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes about this. The primary source of this information is an article in the Asia Times. Its author, former Pentagon official Stephen Brian, who had previously been caught “playing along” with Russian narratives, published a lot of pro-Russian materials on the social network Substack, from where Asia Times took them. In this article, Brian refers to information from Russian propaganda resources that published this fake news. In addition, information about the decision to send French troops to Ukraine has already been denied by the French Foreign Ministry. This was written on the official page of the department on the social network X: “Disinformation campaigns to support France in Ukraine are more active than ever. France did not send troops to Ukraine”.

Russian propaganda has indeed intensified the creation of fakes about French troops in Donbas, Ukrinform reports. The goal of this campaign is to strengthen anti-Western and mobilization sentiments among Russians. Previously, Detector Media analyzed the fake Russian propaganda that French troops were supposedly heading to Romania and then arriving in Ukraine.

Propagandists on social networks and media are disseminating information that one of the restaurants in Lutsk allegedly refused to host a memorial dinner for the widow of a Ukrainian military man. It was noted that the reason for this refusal was that the military man was from Kharkiv. When disseminating this news, Russian propaganda either referred to the story of the Ukrainian media - Channel 12, or did not indicate the original source at all.

StopFake specialists decided to check if this is true. They found out that the Channel 12 story, which propagandists refer to, states that the widow of a Ukrainian soldier, Ivanna Tsiukh, complained that a Lutsk restaurant refused to host her funeral dinner. According to her, having heard about the wake, representatives of the restaurant suggested holding it in the “gazebo” of the establishment, and not in the main room. In the story, Tsiukh expressed the opinion that the reason for the refusal was the mournful nature of the dinner, the holding of which, according to her, was contrary to the rules of the restaurant. However, the Ukrainian media story does not mention that the refusal was due to the fact that her husband was from Kharkiv.

StopFake specialists also found a video message from the military wife Ivanna Tsiukh about this incident on her Facebook page. In it, she tells a story similar to what she told Channel 12. However, even here she never remembers that the refusal was due to the fact that her husband had a connection with Kharkiv. There is also a message on the restaurant's official Facebook page in which they explain their refusal to Tsiukh by the fact that they do not have the opportunity to share the room.

Propagandists spread such disinformation to create the impression that Ukrainians despise their army and consider it criminal.

Propaganda spreads information that Ukrainians allegedly began to donate less and help volunteers and the military less. And also that Western foundations and organizations have completely stopped funding, as a result of which financial support for the treatment of the military has decreased. In addition to this, the ability to travel abroad to receive surgical services was allegedly limited. But all this is fake.

Vox Ukraine specialists drew attention to it. Based on the results of a survey conducted by Gradus Research on the second anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion, there is a positive trend toward an increase in the frequency and regularity of citizens making donations. Data from Monobank, one of the leading banking services for collecting charitable contributions, confirms this positive trend. During 2023, support for charities and voluntary organizations has more than tripled compared to the first year of the full-scale invasion.

Data from the reports of the Come Back Alive foundation also refute this fake. Compared to 2022, the amount of donations in 2023 was slightly lower, but it is known that the average amount of donations in the second year of a full-scale invasion increased by more than 10%.

In this case, propagandists are trying to level out the support of Ukrainian citizens and contribute to the destabilization of society by reflecting false opinions. They describe the situation in such a way as to provoke a pessimistic attitude towards assistance to the Ukrainian military and dramatize the economic situation of citizens.

Russian clinical psychologist Svitlana Kolobova stated that according to official data from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, currently 30% of military personnel at the front suffer from various mental illnesses. She also noted that such estimates may be underestimated, and Ukrainian experts allegedly do not disclose how they identified these psychological problems in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Russian propagandist Volodymyr Soloviov conveyed these statements to himself. However, these statements are unreliable.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to them. There are no data or studies confirming such statistics on the official websites of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and on social networks. The Public Health Center or the National Health Service of Ukraine have also not released any information on this matter.

So far, only statistics are available on the number of military personnel who may face mental disorders in the future, but these data were not made public by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, but by foreign and Ukrainian specialists. For example, in the report “Scars on their souls: PTSD and veterans of Ukraine”, experts from the international analytical center Globsec noted that during the ATO and Joint Forces Operation, about 25% of cases of combat stress turned into PTSD of varying severity, and from 20 to 30% of military personnel. those who received psychological trauma during hostilities were unable to solve them without the help of a specialist. According to these data, the real number of cases of PTSD in Ukraine may be more than 20%.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They say they don’t pay attention to this problem, which is becoming increasingly widespread. Russian propaganda stigmatizes the issue of mental health and tries to intimidate the local population.

Propagandists began disseminating information in the media and social networks that a Ukrainian military man was allegedly injured during a training session to drop ammunition from a UAV. As “evidence”, they add a video of a man in military uniform dropping a grenade from a drone, which allegedly explodes near him. However, this is fake.

Analyzing the distributed video, StopFake specialists noticed that the “explosion” looked unnatural. The moment of detonation is not visible on the recording. The image of an explosion suddenly appears and immediately blocks out what is happening on the screen. In the video editing program Adobe Premiere Pro, one can see that the “explosion” overlaps the original video in one hundredth of a second.

Such a sudden change in frames suggests that the video has been edited. StopFake analysts began looking for similar “explosions” on the Internet. It turned out that this is a very popular effect that can be applied to any video. For example, on Instagram it is called Explosion. Fact-checkers created a similar video of the explosion and also divided it into frames in Adobe Premiere Pro. The frozen footage taken overnight from this effect and the fake video indicates that this is one and the same “explosion”.

It seems that propagandists added an “explosion” to the video of the military man or passed off someone’s joke as reality to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces. This video fake began to spread not only in the Russian segment of the Internet, but also in different languages of the world. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other fakes of Russian propaganda against the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that a drug courier was detained in Kharkiv, he was allegedly involved in supplying some prohibited substances to the military of the 113th separate territorial defense brigade.

In fact, this information is fake. Propagandists took as its basis a publication from the page of the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, dated April 25, 2024. It talks about a man who, back in 2021, was exposed with 200 bundles and five transparent plastic bags containing a psychotropic substance. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes about this.

It should be noted that this is not the first time that propagandists have spread misinformation regarding the 113th separate territorial defense brigade. Systematic fakes about the military of this brigade indicate that it does its job efficiently, protecting the state.

The Russians are trying to discredit the brigade in various ways. This time it is due to the imposition of the image of “drug addicts” on the military. In general, the goal of this information campaign is to sow despondency and panic among both the brigade fighters and the civilian population of the Kharkov region, which they protect, the Center adds.

Previously, we refuted information that officers of the 121st battalion of the 113th separate territorial defense brigade allegedly beat an elderly man because of his reluctance to leave his home.

In the Russian segment of social networks they add that in Ukraine they do not sell medicines without a reference from Territorial centers of procurement and social support. In their publications, the authors refer to the so-called new norms of the law on mobilization. It's a lie.

VoxCheck analysts write that the law signed on April 16, 2024 does not refer to restrictions on the purchase of goods, including medicines, without presenting military registration documents or updating data at Territorial centers of procurement and social support.

That is, in the law on mobilization there is no information that men will not be able to purchase medications at a pharmacy without a reference from the Territorial centers of procurement and social support. VoxCheck specialists asked the largest pharmacies in Ukraine whether they really do not sell medicines without such a certificate. The Podorozhnyk pharmacy chain responded that they act in accordance with current legislation, that is, they provide medicines to everyone in need. So the Russians’ statements are just part of the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign to intimidate Ukrainians and discredit the healthcare system in Ukraine.

A video is being circulated on social networks in which an unknown man complains that the Ukrainian military is allegedly being fed chaff bread. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the Beyond the News project drew attention to it. They argue that this story looks like a provocation aimed at demoralizing Ukrainians. Their post notes that the bread shown in the video was actually made before the video was made. There is also no evidence that the person in the video is a military man, since no signs (such as chevrons) are shown to indicate this.

This video is being distributed from the page “Everything will be Ukraine”, which, at first glance, looks patriotic, but in reality is filled with low-grade content. In one day, dozens of videos are published on this page, mostly from TikTok, dedicated to humor, life during the war, and the everyday life of displaced people. Among this “light” content, themes of corruption, mobilization and reflections of pseudo-experts on the situation in the country also penetrate. These videos, although they do not repeat a pro-Russian position, do contribute to Russian propaganda.

Such “patriotic” communities with emotional and clickbait content gather around people who are guided not by facts, but by emotions and are easy to manipulate. These communities actively spread unverified information, even rumors and panic. At the same time, they are sincerely confident that they are helping and spreading the “hidden truth”. In the specific case of the bread, many viewers questioned the veracity of the video, expressing doubts and making arguments, but often faced hostility and accusations of indifference towards the military. Thus, such “patriotic” communities, instead of disseminating reliable information, disseminate dubious materials that can undermine confidence in the army and cause negative emotions among citizens.

Social networks report that in Lviv they detained military personnel from the 103rd Territorial Defense Forces brigade who robbed a bank and tried to flee abroad. The motive for their actions seemed to be “reluctance to return to the front”. It's a lie.

VoxCheck analysts took up the case and explained that the Lviv region police confirmed that the detainees had nothing to do with the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

On March 25, 2024, the patrol police of the Lviv region actually reported the arrest of alleged bank robbers. However, the robbers have nothing to do with the military.

This was noted by the Lviv Region Patrol Police in a statement: “We note that people have nothing to do with the military, except for elements of clothing”.

Propagandists are distributing supposedly real correspondence between the wives of military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on anonymous telegram channels. These reports claim that the leadership of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is allegedly hiding real losses among the military and evading payments to the families of the victims. This information is false.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that this “correspondence” is distributed only by Russian and pro-Russian telegram channels. Message texts are formal in nature.

From the photographs it is clear that messages were sent at regular one-minute intervals, regardless of the length of the text. It is unlikely that a woman who had just learned of the death of her husband could so accurately observe these intervals in her answers.

The messages also incorrectly use the name Artem. First, one of the wives calls her husband by this name, then uses the shortened form “Tema” whereas in Ukrainian it would be “Tioma”, and in Russian it would be “Tiema”. Thus, it can be assumed that the text was incorrectly translated from Russian.

The texts of this correspondence are filled with Russian stereotypes about large losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, lack of payments, incompetence of command and calls for the murder of commanders. In fact, the losses of the Ukrainian side are much less than what is covered in the Russian media. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi mentioned the number of deaths - 31 thousand over two years of a full-scale invasion.

Propagandists spread such fake news to discredit the Ukrainian armed forces.  Detector Media refuted other similar fakes created against the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Anonymous Telegram channels spread information that the Ukrainian military beat a NATO instructor for refusing to speak Ukrainian. The incident happened in Denmark during pilot training. This is a lie.

The VoxCheck analysts took up this case and found out that it was a fictional news story published on a satirical channel.

Neither Ukrainian nor foreign media wrote about such an event. The primary source of the fabricated news is the satirical telegram channel “Empire of the Very Evil”. The description of the channel states: “Caution, possible fake and harsh satire. All written is fiction, all coincidences are accidental”.

Pro-Kremlin mass media spread information that France is allegedly threatened by an epidemic of tuberculosis, because it “was detected in Ukrainian military personnel sent to France for treatment”. According to propagandists, the infection was found in 85% of military personnel and at least 35 doctors who came into contact with them. In asserting this, Russian propaganda refers to the French radio station RFI.

In fact, this “news” is fake, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council. Radio France Internationale itself has already denied the information about “tuberculosis in the Ukrainian military”. They emphasized that their editorial office was subject to a coordinated information attack.

With this fake, Russian propaganda seeks to discredit the Ukrainian military and make the French hostile to them, to Ukrainian refugees, and to Ukraine in general. By the way, propagandists systematically spread misinformation about Ukrainian refugees in their host countries. So, for example, we have already refuted the information about “Ukrainian refugee women in Germany who started giving birth to children by Turks in order to obtain citizenship”. Another case is the refutation of the “news” that allegedly “a Ukrainian refugee in Germany painted Nazi symbols on residential buildings - 14/88”.

Information that French troops are being sent to Romania to confront the Russian army in Ukraine is actively spreading online. It is noted that they will be in Odesa. However, this information is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to this. They found out that such information first appeared on the FranceNews24 news portal on the X network, but was then deleted because it turned out to be false. It should be noted that this resource is not a reliable source of information as it does not have contact information or details of the owners or editorial team. He is also noted for publishing only pro-Russian materials.

Rumors about the deployment of French troops in Odesa circulated amid statements by President Macron about possible military assistance to Ukraine. However, even if this happens, military intervention requires permission from the relevant authorities, and in this case, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine. It should also be noted that France has already stationed its troops in Romania as part of strengthening NATO's eastern flank.

Propagandists spread such fake news to intimidate the local population and discredit Western partners. Detector Media has already written about how Russian propaganda reacted to Macron’s recent statements.

A video recording of the moment of the explosion of a trench candle, which was allegedly handed over to the Ukrainian military by volunteers from Mykolaiv, is being distributed online on behalf of the Ukrainian volunteer telegram channel. In the text to the video they write that the soldiers almost died. Therefore, the volunteers are suspected of a “planned action” that was intended to harm Ukrainian fighters.

The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council analyzed the video and found out the source of distribution. As a result, the Center stated that this is an “orchestrated Russian IPSO”, the purpose of which is to discredit Ukrainian volunteers in the eyes of the people of Ukraine, including military personnel, and undermine confidence in them.

The volunteer movement in Ukraine is a powerful component of the fight against the occupiers, so Russia is trying to disgrace it in various ways, in particular through the dissemination of edited videos, fake articles and news. Previously, we refuted the information that the Ukrainian volunteer allegedly received gratitude from the Ministry of Defense, and at the same time a draft notice as an invitation to “serve” in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

An allegedly advertising video from the mobile operator Vodafone dedicated to the new “Hero Phone Number” memorial campaign is being circulated online. According to the advertisement, Vodafone will start selling the phone numbers of fallen heroes for $100 to raise funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It's a lie.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project analyzed the content and determined that the video was fake. Vodafone has never published such a video on its channels, which it confirmed to the Center for Countering Disinformation.

In addition, in the summer of 2023, the Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov reported that the phone numbers of dead and missing defenders would not be sold for two years.

According to the standard procedure, this period is one year. But, as Fedorov explained, “usually after a year without use, the number goes on free sale - this way you can receive the message “Your loved one has joined Viber” when he is no longer alive”. The initiative was supported by Ukrainian mobile operators.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels claim that the Ukrainian military is given the drug ketamine so that they will not be afraid of battle. They write that “Time magazine, citing neuroscientists from the United States, stated that the Ukrainian command uses ketamine “at zero front line”; it is a specific hallucinogenic drug”. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that propagandists distorted the content of the article, which actually talked about the use of ketamine in the treatment of veterans and military personnel in Ukraine.

The Time article noted that “psychedelic drugs may help troops overcome trauma” in war and that “some (Ukraine) military personnel have already received legal ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic with some hallucinogenic effects, in private clinics”. This applies to the treatment of military personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or having a traumatic brain injury. However, the massive use of ketamine in therapy has not yet been considered in Ukraine.

Regarding the use of drugs by military personnel in combat, Time mentions in its article a report alleging that Russian soldiers in Ukraine are given amphetamines before combat.

In Ukraine, there is still an ongoing debate about this method of treatment, as StopFake notes. In particular, previously the initiator of the introduction of psychedelic-assisted therapy, a doctor at the State Center for Psychological Health and Rehabilitation of Veterans “Lisova Haliavyna” of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Kseniia Voznytska, explained that this topic is very stigmatized in Ukraine and that most people do not even know what psychedelic-assisted therapy is. This is an inpatient type of treatment under the supervision of psychotherapists.

Propagandists from time to time spread misinformation that Ukrainian military personnel are drug addicts and alcoholics because they cannot withstand the horrors of the front. These false reports are intended to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces, hinder mobilization in the country and demoralize Ukrainian society as a whole. Detector Media has already refuted such a fake before.

Information is being spread online that the United States supplies the Ukrainian Armed Forces with large quantities of the painkiller Nalbuphine. The authors of the “news” write that the substance is used to extend the “shelf life” of organs, for their further transportation and sale on the black market. The Ukrainian military man is allegedly first injected with the drug, and then the active substance “preserves the organs for their further removal”. However, this is fake.

There are no studies that prove that Nalbuphine can be used for the preservation of donor organs. Specialists from the VoxCheck project write about this. In addition, it is not clear what propagandists mean by “preservation” of organs in the human body and why they should be preserved in humans at all. After all, in Ukraine, transplantation operations are performed after brain death is declared (in the case of posthumous donation). At the same time, the heart continues to function and support the vital functions of the organs, so in this case “preservation” is not necessary.

This drug is not new; it was approved in the USA back in 1979. And in Ukraine, it has been in the first aid kits of the Ukrainian military since 2014. In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it can most likely be used to reduce pain in the pre- and postoperative period or as an addition to anesthesia, but certainly not for organ preservation.

In general, the Russians have been spreading the message about black transplantology in Ukraine, in particular in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since 2014. This fake propaganda echoes others like it about the “functioning of American biological laboratories in Ukraine” or about “combat mosquitoes”, for example. The purpose of such information dumps is to demonize the West, including the United States in our case, and Ukraine. More details about the propaganda campaign of information influence “Black Transplantology” can be found in the study of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council.

We also previously refuted information about the activities of black transplantologists in Sieverodonetsk. Then all the evidence presented in the propaganda video was fabricated.

Pro-Kremlin resources are spreading reports that dissatisfaction with the policies of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi is allegedly growing in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, so that the Ukrainian military “wants to seize the Verkhovna Rada by force”. In asserting this, Russian propaganda refers to supposedly closed chats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces military.

In fact, this information is not true, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Russia has been promoting this narrative since the beginning of the full-scale invasion - on February 25, 2022, Putin called on the Ukrainian military to “take power into their own hands”. This narrative became more active during the period after the resignation of ex-head committee of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi. This is at least the second time that propagandists are using fake screenshots from “secret chats of the Ukrainian military”.

Thus, Russian propaganda “plays” with the moods and feelings of Ukrainians. This fake is aimed at exploding mutual trust in Ukrainian society: civilians towards the military, political leadership towards the military command, and the military, in fact, towards the authorities and command. Previously, we refuted the information that deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, allegedly under martial law, were required by law to resign.

Pro-Russian resources are distributing an image with the logo of the Ukrainian online publication UNIAN, which contains a photograph of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatolii Barhylevych and a quote allegedly belonging to him: “With what disability group can you serve in the army? With anyone. If a person can tie a grenade to themselves and jump into the dugout, then they are fit”.

The Center for Countering Disinformation analyzed this “news”. Specialists from the Center verified the information in UNIAN and reported that there were no materials with similar content on the official pages of the news agency. And the quote itself, allegedly from the Chief of the General Staff, is made up, since Barhylevych did not say anything similar about people with disabilities. In addition, the creators of the fake also made a mistake in the quote. The word “man” is feminine, but at the end of the quote the Russians used the pronoun “he”, which corresponds to a word that is not feminine, but masculine.

The purpose of such fakes is to discredit the top military leadership of the Ukrainian state. Also, by spreading disinformation on behalf of Ukrainian online publications, the Russians are trying to give it more truthfulness. Previously, we have already recorded cases when propagandists spread fake news on behalf of the UNIAN news agency.

Propagandists on anonymous telegram channels, where they spread pro-Russian rhetoric, are distributing a screenshot of a message from an individual who is allegedly a volunteer of the 110th territorial defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and is surprised that wounded military personnel are being taken for treatment to Zaporizhzhia, and not to Kharkiv. They say that it was this brigade that the Russians “destroyed” in Avdiivka, so it would be more logical to take the wounded to Kharkiv, and not halfway across the country to Zaporizhzhia. Russian media indicate that the command chose this strategy due to the fact that Kharkiv doctors allegedly help the military desert and hide in the big city. However, all this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that these statements are part of the Kremlin's disinformation campaign. For example, a person who is called a volunteer of the 110th territorial defense forces brigade is actually a journalist from Zaporizhzhia. Russian media also mixed up the brigade that served in Avdiivka.

In light of this, VoxCheck notes that the medical evacuation of Ukrainian military personnel is under threat due to constant Russian shelling, often aimed at medical facilities. This creates very difficult conditions for providing care to the wounded. Russians use such methods, in particular, to discredit the Ukrainian healthcare system.

Propagandists on anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric are spreading information that the National Police of Rivne allegedly detained a military man from the 14th separate mechanized brigade named after Prince Roman the Great for selling amphetamine. The authors of this report claim that the soldier went on leave, and two days later he was detained while transferring a narcotic substance. The text notes that the man allegedly brought amphetamine from near Kupiansk, where the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to the authors, has established drug supplies. In addition, the military man allegedly intended to sell the remainder that had not yet been distributed on the front line. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that a report from the National Police in the Rivne region mentioned the arrest of a man involved in selling drugs already in early January 2024. There is no mention that the detainee was a military man of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to the police, the attacker is in a pre-trial detention center and has been charged with committing a crime that could result in up to 10 years in prison.

It should also be noted that information about the detention of a military man has not been confirmed in the Ukrainian media or on the website of the National Police in the Rivne region. This news was disseminated by only a few Russian resources, which indicates attempts to discredit Ukrainian military personnel. Russian media have not provided any evidence to support their claim. Previously, Detector Media had already refuted such fakes aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Propagandists are spreading information in the English-language segment of social networks, allegedly the American media company CNBC published news about a “global” US military operation called “Storm”, which was supposed to take place in 2024. One user posted the screenshots on Platform X (formerly Twitter), describing them as “shocking in many ways” and pointing out that they referred to Donald Trump as the “current president” of the United States. However, this is fake.

The fact-checkers from Reuters drew attention to it. They found that the expression “Storm” is often used by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Through it, they describe moments when influential individuals are expected to be detained. Also, the authors of this fake falsely claim that Donald Trump has led the US Military since 2020.

The material was published on the now defunct website cnbcusa.com, which is not related to the official CNBC website. A CNBC spokesperson confirmed in a comment to Reuters that the article was not published by them and stressed that cnbcusa.com was never affiliated with CNBC. Reuters also did not find any related articles about Trump as the “current military president” in 2024 or about the “global” US military operation called “Storm” on the official CNBC website. Therefore, this information is false.

Propagandists distribute or support such materials in the English-speaking world to deepen divisions in American society and create distrust in democratic institutions. Detector Media has already written about what methods Russia is using for this in the context of the upcoming presidential elections in the United States.

Information is being spread online that the Ministry of Defense has launched a campaign to recruit women into the army: “serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine helped me lose weight, contact the nearest Territorial center of procurement and social support, you deserve to be the best!”, says this video. At the same time, the video itself was allegedly published on the “TikTok account” of the Ministry of Defense. It's a lie.

The VoxCheck specialists analyzed the case and came to the conclusion that the video was fake and compiled from any footage. Moreover, the video does not serve as a video campaign for recruiting women into the army. After all, the Ministry of Defense doesn’t even have a TikTok account. The video about weight loss was also not found on other social networks of the ministry.

In general, only doctors and pharmacists must register with the military from October 1, 2023; however, military registration does not mean mobilization or the establishment of restrictions on travel abroad. The Ministry of Health notes: registration is necessary only to summarize data on the existing reserve of doctors in the country. The travel of this category of women is unlimited. To register for military service, this category of women will have three years - until December 31, 2026.

The social network TikTok is distributing a video message from supposedly servicemen of the 117th separate territorial defense brigade of the 153rd battalion, calling for the overthrow of the constitutional order in the state.

In fact, the people in the video have never had and have no connection with the 153rd  battalion, as reported by the 117th separate territorial defense brigade on its page on the Facebook social network. This video was created using deepfake technology based on artificial intelligence. That is, it is fake. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council is already writing about this.

Thus, the creators of this video seek to discredit the Ukrainian military and demoralize Ukrainian society. Previously, we analyzed a fake video message from the ex-commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in which he allegedly called for a military coup.

In such messages, the authors, on behalf of the “prayer department”, offer to pray for the Ukrainian military who find themselves surrounded. For example, one of the messages talked about two Ukrainian brigades that were allegedly surrounded by 40 thousand Russian soldiers near Avdiivka.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security reports that the vast majority of such messages are the work of Russian intelligence services.

This is evidenced by the following:

- sometimes messages are written in Russian, which may already be the first sign of it;

- in the structure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine there is no “prayer department” responsible for prayers;

- lack of specifics about the brigades and the time of the location of hostilities;

- the desire to evoke an emotional reaction in the reader in order to obtain maximum coverage;

- in the comments there may be calls for Ukrainians to give up.

Russians can manipulate even such intimate areas as religion, so you should not trust overly emotional messages and calls on this topic.

Propagandists are distributing a video on social networks in which allegedly a Ukrainian military man serving near Avdiivka discovered sharp blades in pies. Like, a local grandmother treated him to these pies. The video was seen by thousands of people, it is actively distributed on social networks with captions like “a grandmother near Avdiivka treats Ukrainian soldiers with delicious pies” and “they hate Ukrainians in this place”. However, this is a staging.

This was found out by specialists from the “Beyond the News” project. They explain that it is doubtful that after the round-the-clock shelling, a multi-storey building with electricity and intact windows remained in the city or its surroundings. However, this is the environment in which filming takes place. In the video, we see two people (one holding a camera) standing in front of a window in a lit room during night time. From a security point of view this is very dangerous. The Ukrainian military would be unlikely to commit such actions. The military clothing that we see in the video has no signs of identification, and the chosen shooting angle does not allow us to see the face of the “victim” from the grandmother. At 6-7 seconds one can see that the man is breaking an already broken product. Probably damage to the “theater prop” was done before filming to insert a blade into it. The audio of the video also has its own characteristics. Firstly, we hear the Russian pronunciation at the 10th second. In addition, the phrase “and here are the blades” sounds strange to denote the singular; it is more likely that a Ukrainian military would say “and here is the blade”. The Russian intonation is especially heard at the end of the video.

It appeared around February 5 on resources publishing Russian propaganda. The video appeared in the domestic segment within a day or two. Unfortunately, it was picked up and spread on some Ukrainian-language pages on social networks.

Propagandists spread such fake news to show that local residents do not really want Ukrainians to fight for them. They say that’s why they feed the Ukrainian military pies with blades.

Propagandists spread information in communities on Facebook that disguise themselves as Ukrainian ones, which allegedly discovered bags with the remains of Ukrainian military personnel near Dnipro. However, this is fake.

Specialists of the NotaYenota project drew attention to it. They found out that the source disseminating this information is a Facebook page created on February 24, 2022. It imitates Ukrainian and, between patriotic content, places enemy stuffing.

The information about military belongings (not the bodies of military personnel, but their belongings) found on the territory of a fish farm in the Dnipropetrovsk region is true. But this happened in 2018. Then the police began to investigate this case. The photo illustrating this news on the page was actually taken in Bucha on April 8, 2022, where the exhumation of bodies buried in a mass grave during the Russian occupation began.

Propagandists are spreading this fake news against the backdrop of other enemy propaganda with staged videos allegedly about neglecting the bodies of Ukrainian military personnel. They do this in order to discredit Ukraine.

Russian propagandists began a disinformation campaign claiming losses of the Ukrainian Defense Forces near Selydove in the Donetsk region. This is a clear example of Russian disinformation.

This was reported by the United Press Center of the Taurian Defense Forces. He noted that on February 13, 2024, Russian troops used the Uragan MLRS to strike the town of Tsukuryne, Pokrovskyi district. Rescuers from the State Emergency Service inspected the area and determined that as a result of the shelling, 2 multi-apartment two-story residential buildings on Svitla street and a car were damaged. There are no casualties or wounded.

Thus, the enemy is trying to divert attention from his significant losses in the Taurian direction. In just one day on February 12, they suffered 645 losses, and in the previous week (from February 5 to February 11) - 2,947 people.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing a video in which an unknown person in a Ukrainian Armed Forces uniform allegedly shoots a serviceman for allegedly refusing to participate in assault operations. As propagandists write, the victim of the “execution” seems to be a soldier of the 425th Special Operations Brigade “Skala” of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

However, after verifying the information together with the StratCom of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other relevant structures of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Center for Countering Disinformation reported that this video was fake. It is impossible to identify the characters and the area, as well as determine the nationality of the participants in the video. In addition, 425th Special Operations Brigade “Skala” is part of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and not the Main Intelligence Directorate, as propagandists are trying to imagine.

Considering all the above-described signs of a fake and the fact that the video is being distributed by Russian resources, the Center reports that the video was probably shot by the Russians as part of the IPSO in order to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is not the first time that fake videos have been created to demonize the Ukrainian army. Here, for example, is an analysis of a video in which the Russian military allegedly captured a pregnant Ukrainian female soldier.

Propagandists are actively disseminating information that The Times predicts that after the end of the war, half of the Ukrainian population will face mental illness. In addition, social networks are spreading the claim that Uliana Suprun, who served as the acting Minister of Health of Ukraine from 2016 to 2019, led to the death of Ukrainian medicine by destroying hospitals and rehabilitation institutions in the country. However, this is not true.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to this. They found out that in an article dated January 27, journalist Anthony Lloyd talks about the psychological problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, the statistics that 50% of Ukrainians face mental problems are not mentioned. According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, between 3 and 4 million people in Ukraine (including military and civilian) require mental health care. It is estimated that up to 15 million Ukrainians may need psychological help after the war ends.

There are public and private centers in Ukraine that provide assistance to military and civilians with psychological trauma. Also, the state budget for 2024 provides 2.6 billion hryvnia for activities for mental, sports, physical, psychological rehabilitation and professional adaptation of military personnel and members of their families. In addition, Ukraine’s partners are ready to help overcome the psychological consequences of the war. For example, NATO member countries are exploring the possibility of funding recommended measures to improve the health care system in Ukraine in the area of mental health.

Propagandists spread such disinformation to intimidate Ukrainian society into accepting Russia's conditions. Detector Media has previously written about how Russian propaganda stigmatizes the topic of mental health.

Russian telegram channels circulated an image purporting to be from the Instagram account of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. It shows a homemade bong – a device for smoking cannabis, with the caption “will you smoke?” However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that the image had been edited using one of the advertising images of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. They did not find any similar photos on its official page. The picture shows that this is an Instagram story, that is, in theory, it may have already been deleted.

However, VoxCheck found the original image - this is an advertisement for a test week of the attack aircraft that the brigade offers. There a person can undergo a 7-day training course and understand whether he is ready to join the unit. The Russians took a photo of a unit with a military man and put a homemade bong on it. This is indicated by the fact that the device in the fake picture is located on top of the Instagram username, and from under it one can see a military headdress on top and a belt-shoulder system with magazines to the left of the picture. They match the advertising photo. Also in the fake and authentic pictures there are identical trees on the right.

Propagandists spread such fake news to try to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces and stigmatize people who use marijuana. They say that the soldiers cannot stand it, and therefore resort to such methods of relieving stress. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other Russian fakes aimed against the Ukrainian military.

Russian propagandists, citing statements by journalist Christoph Wanner, are spreading information in the media that the defenders of Ukraine have to give up positions from small sections of the front due to a lack of people. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security drew attention to it. Probably, the propaganda had in mind the retreat of the defenders of Ukraine from Krokhmalne in the Kharkiv region and the capture of this village by Russian occupiers. The representative of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Fitio, clarified during the telethon that the defense forces retreated to reserve positions due to the fact that the village was completely destroyed by the occupiers, and it was no longer possible to remain there, since this endangered the lives of the Ukrainian military. In addition, they found that Wanner's journalistic work was characterized by one-sidedness, violations of journalistic standards and an open pro-Russian position.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to give a false impression of victories at the front. Detector Media has repeatedly denied other Russian manipulations related to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Users of social networks broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric are distributing videos where supposedly Ukrainian soldiers demonstrate underground fortifications recaptured from the Russians. Like, there are hundreds of meters of branched underground tunnels, a high level of engineering equipment. Commentators ask to see Ukrainian fortifications hinting that they allegedly do not exist. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that in fact the video is not of the Ukrainian military demonstrating their recaptured positions, but of the Russians showing their underground bunkers. However, it is unknown where these fortifications are located: on the front line, deep in the rear in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or on Russian territory.

The author of the two-minute video initially introduces himself as “Borman from the 3rd battalion”. However, at 01:26 from the video, it is noticeable that he has a patch with the Russian tricolor on his left hand. It should also be noted that inside the bunkers there are no traces of combat or dirt, typical of military conditions in the fall and winter. Therefore, it is more difficult to determine the date and location of the video shooting.

Despite the fact that the Russian defense line does pose a big obstacle to the Ukrainian army moving forward and liberating the occupied territories, the Russian military also complains to the propaganda media about Ukrainian drones and tunnels.

By spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to incite despair and mistrust among Ukrainians, especially in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, in this way they are also trying to show that Russia is supposedly constantly winning on the battlefield, in particular thanks to its “amazing fortifications”.

A video from the American publication Wired, specializing in IT and innovation, is being circulated online, declaring that the Ukrainian military allegedly uses satellite Internet from Starlink primarily for online gambling. The video states that approximately 35% of all connections allegedly led to Ukrainian casino sites. The video fake was exposed by the StopFake fact-checkers.

There are three reasons why this video is fabricated.

Firstly, the American publication Wired never published the video in question on its social networks. The StopFake journalists checked the latest publications on the Wired websites (wired.co.uk and wired.com), which mentioned Ukraine. They have no mention of the Ukrainian military allegedly using Starlink to play online casinos. Instead, Wired has numerous posts about Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine, such as: Elijah Wood and Mike Tyson Cameo Videos Were Used in a Russian Disinformation Campaign, Elon Musk Mocked Ukraine, and Russian Trolls Went Wild, Fake Taylor Swift Quotes Are Being Used to Spread Anti-Ukraine Propaganda.

Secondly, although the attackers tried to imitate Wired's branding, there are many differences that can be seen when comparing this video with real Wired videos. In particular, all Wired videos have a title in the first seconds - an inscription on a black background, made in a different font. The fake video does not have such a title. It should also be noted that to create the fake, the attackers used video from low-quality open sources, which is not allowed in authentic Wired videos.

Thirdly, it was not possible to find a single study in open sources that analyzed Internet traffic from Starlink stations used by the Ukrainian military.

With such publications, propagandists are trying to discredit the effectiveness of assistance to Ukraine and expose the Ukrainians as short-sighted people who allegedly abuse the help of the international community.

Enemy telegram channels are spreading the fake news that the missile attack on the Park Hotel in Kharkiv on January 10, 2024 was directed against the Foreign Legion, whose fighters allegedly lived in the complex. It was also noted that the strikes did not lead to casualties. “Unfortunately, the strike did not lead to any result (only the facade was damaged, and the mercenary unit lived on the ground floor). Therefore, the Ukrainian media promptly made a story about how the Russians were shelling peaceful hotels. Immediately after the strike, units of the International Legion and foreign mercenaries who lived in similar buildings began to be notified throughout Kharkiv”, said one of the anonymous telegram channels disseminating pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It's fake.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, thirteen people were injured as a result of a rocket attack on the Park Hotel in Kharkiv. In total, there were 31 people in the hotel complex: eight employees and 23 guests. All these people were civilians; there was not a single military man in the hotel. Representatives of foreign delegations, journalists, and documentarians often stayed here, in particular. According to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, the Russian military fired two missiles from the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system at Kharkiv at about 22:30 from the direction of Belgorod. One rocket hit the ground near the facade of the hotel, the second hit the roof of the building, which led to a fire. According to preliminary data, among the victims in the hotel there was one Turkish citizen, one Georgian citizen, both represented the Turkish media. One man's condition is serious. Most of the victims suffered from shrapnel wounds and traumatic brain injuries. “There were no military mercenaries, there were no military people here. This is a civilian facility, civilian infrastructure. We have always settled our friends, guests who were in Kharkiv, and foreign delegations here”, said the mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov, in a comment to Suspilne (Public) Kharkiv. “The military never lived in this hotel, almost all of Kharkiv knows this. This hotel was used by journalists. This was a well-known fact. At the time of the attack, there were foreign journalists in the hotel, in particular from Turkey. Therefore, I believe that the Russian Federation dealt this blow specifically to the media”, said Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv region police. Serhii Tomilenko, head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, notes that Russia is targeting journalists in Kharkiv: “In October - Reikartz, this New Year - Kharkiv Palace and at night - Park Hotel. These hotels were constantly used by journalists from national and international media to stay. And with every shelling, journalists were injured”.

Russia attacks civilian targets, cynically presenting them as legitimate military targets, but they are not. Such attacks are a flagrant violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians, including attacks on civilian buildings, in particular hotels.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric disseminate information that viral pneumonia is “massively spreading” in the Kharkiv region. As evidence, they add a photo allegedly from a Ukrainian military doctor in an ambulance with people who “get pneumonia”. And they claim that local doctors cannot fully determine what kind of disease it is: they suggest that it may be a form of COVID-19 or another disease. It is not true.

Analysts from the VoxCheck project investigated the case and found out that there are no statistics yet on the number of people infected with any type of pneumonia. Moreover, in the Kharkiv region, influenza and COVID-19 diseases do not exceed the epidemic threshold. And using a reverse search on Google, analysts found the original source of the photo - on Facebook, a military man posted a photo of an ambulance and wrote that he pulled a fellow soldier from the battlefield who had a fever due to pneumonia. According to the author of the message, after treatment the guy recovered and returned to service.

That is, the anonymous people used a reliable photograph that illustrates a military man suffering from pneumonia, but distorted the context in their own way. Allegedly, disease epidemics are approaching in Ukraine.

Propagandists claim that, according to them, only 173 military personnel returned to Ukraine in exchange for 248 Russian citizens. According to them, the exchange allegedly took place in the format of 173 people on both sides. At the same time, Russia additionally received 75 military personnel for those five Azovstal defense commanders, whom Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi took from Turkey in the summer of 2023. It is not true.

In fact, the Ukrainian side officially reported that 230 people returned to their homeland, including 130 military personnel, 55 national guardsmen, 38 border guards, one policeman and six civilians.

Propagandists spread such fakes to create distrust in the Ukrainian authorities. They say that Kyiv does not care about the fate of prisoners. They spread such fabrications whenever there is talk of an exchange of prisoners. So, in the summer, when the exchange of Azovstal commanders was called a violation of previous agreements. They say that the military should have remained in Turkey until the end of hostilities.

Propaganda resources disseminated information that the Russians destroyed three or four F-16 aircraft in Odesa. It's fake.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Security has processed this information. In fact, Ukraine is just getting ready to accept the F-16 – we are talking about infrastructure, pilots, and engineering personnel. All statements about the destruction of these fighters in Ukraine are an invention of Russian propaganda, which Yurii Ihnat, a representative of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has already ridiculed.

“Their [Russian – ed.] reports are encouraging: per day, five Ukrainian aircraft are destroyed in the reports of their general staff. There are even memes about the F-16 that they have already found them in Ukraine”, Ihnat said on the telethon.

Propagandists exaggerate the achievements of the Russian army in the war against Ukraine by spreading such disinformation. Like, they have everything under control. Previously, we denied information that Russia allegedly destroyed five Patriot air defense missile launchers.

Anonymous telegram channels are distributing a video that allegedly states that Volodymyr Zelenskyi supported the so-called petition of Ukrainian linguist Iryna Farion for the “dismissal” of Russian-speaking fighters from the Ukrainian Defense Forces. “From now on, we will mobilize only Ukrainian-speaking citizens”, Zelenskyi was quoted. It's a lie.

The Voxcheck specialists analyzed the case and found that there is no such petition on the website of the official Internet representation of the President of Ukraine, and the quote from Volodymyr Zelenskyi was completely invented. Analysts also checked the social networks of the former deputy of the 7th convocation - they did not find any information about the presentation of the petition. And the original source of this video is a TikTok account in which the author systematically disseminates fakes about mobilization, humanitarian aid and creates deepfakes with the participation of Ukrainian politicians. The author also runs a telegram channel, where, according to analysts, he relays Kremlin narratives: for example, he does not call Russia an aggressor.

This fake is most likely spread against the backdrop of Iryna Farion’s scandalous statements about Russian-speaking military personnel on the air of the program “Rendezvous with Yanina Sokolova”. Then she stated that “she cannot call Russian-speaking military personnel Ukrainians”. After all, according to her, if there is no discipline in the army (to study the Ukrainian language - DM), then it is a rabble. Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets appealed to law enforcement officers and the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting to verify Farion’s statements about Russian-speaking military personnel.

Subsequently, on November 8, 2023, she released an email from a Crimean student, which supported his position on the importance of using the Ukrainian language among the military. At the same time, Farion published the letter and did not hide the student’s personal data. Anonymous and pro-Russian telegram channels “thanked” the linguists for the information provided and a few days later they published a video in which the guy confirms that it was he who sent the letter to Farion. In the video, he also said that he was at the Center for Combating Extremism of the Russian occupation Ministry of Internal Affairs and they had an “intelligent conversation” with him. As a result, Dmytro Lubinets contacted the Security Service of Ukraine regarding the disclosure of confidential information.

Now criminal proceedings have been opened against Farion under several articles, in particular, violation of the equality of citizens depending on their race, nationality, regional affiliation, religious beliefs, disability and other characteristics.

In the pro-Russian segment of social networks, information is being spread that Chernihiv has come up with a “working scheme” for mobilization. They say that advertisements offering help to people in difficult situations indicate the telephone number of the Chernihiv Regional Military Office. However, this is fake.

The fact-checkers from Ukrinform analyzed this information. Currently, territorial recruitment and social support centers are functioning in Ukraine, which have completely replaced the military registration and enlistment offices, which are allegedly mentioned in the “ads”.​​

In a comment to Ukrinform, representatives of the Chernihiv regional  territorial recruitment and social support centers emphasized that their institution was the first center of the country. “On December 28, 2018, order No. 1 of the institution was officially signed. This date, accordingly, is the day of the founding of the Chernihiv  regional territorial recruitment and social support centers together with the city and district territorial recruitment and social support centers of the entire region”, the center reported. In addition, the phone number provided by the propagandists is also not valid. The current telephone number of the Chernihiv Regional territorial recruitment and social support centers can be found on their official Facebook page.

Russian propaganda seeks to discredit the mobilization process, so it creates fake news on this topic. Previously, we refuted information that in Ukraine they allegedly call on people to mobilize into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with their entire families.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are creating an advertising campaign to “promote” women into the army. And they explain this initiative by saying that women should “encourage” men and get to know them. “Do you want a “real man”: strong, courageous, responsible? You know the answer. All the “real men” are here now - join the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, the video says.

The VoxCheck analysts investigated the case and found that such a video does not belong to the official campaigns of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. For example, this video is not on the official website or on the social media pages of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, using a reverse search on Google, it was possible to find out that the video was compiled using frames from stock videos. In addition, the video was distributed exclusively in the Russian segment of social networks.

Russian propaganda is once again speculating on the topic of “mobilization of women”. But only doctors and pharmacists must register with the military from October 1, 2023; however, military registration does not mean mobilization or the establishment of restrictions on travel abroad. The Ministry of Health notes: registration is necessary only to summarize data on the existing reserve of doctors in the country. The travel of this category of women is unlimited. To register for military service, this category of women will have three years - until December 31, 2026.

Propagandists also repeatedly appealed to the provisions of the bill, previously promulgated by People’s Deputy Marianna Bezuhla. Possible legislative norms published state that women who are fit for military service will be registered as liable for military service. At the same time, during martial law, women are recruited to combat positions only voluntarily. But during a big press conference that Volodymyr Zelenskyi held on December 19, 2023, he said that he would not sign a bill with clauses on the mobilization of women.

Among other things, we recommend reading another of our documented cases, in which propagandists claimed that Ukrainian doctors and pharmacists were supposedly “escaping” from Ukraine en masse through the so-called mobilization.

Pro-Kremlin resources are disseminating information that they allegedly decided to start arming Ukrainian soldiers with shovels in case they run out of ammunition. According to propagandists, such a plan was allegedly shared by the commander of the 59th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a commentary for the Associated Press (AP). This is manipulation.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security reviewed this information. They found out that the commander of the 59th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces actually stated that if there was a shortage of bullets, Ukrainian soldiers would kill the invaders with shovels. However, it was not said that the military leadership would give soldiers shovels instead of weapons, but about how motivated the Defense Forces are to go to victory: “Probably everyone is tired of the war physically and mentally. But imagine if we stop, what happens next? - the commander summed up. Ukrainians do not intend to stop fighting for their own state, no matter what the situation at the front.

Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the military leadership of Ukraine, saying that it doesn’t care about soldiers, so they will soon be sent into battle even with shovels, as long as they hold the defense. That is, in this case, propagandists are speculating on the expression “war to the last Ukrainian”, since it is obvious that it is impossible to resist with shovels against modern weapons. In addition, Russian propaganda creates the picture that no one needs Ukraine anymore, so international military assistance is becoming weaker. Previously, we analyzed the propaganda manipulation that Ukraine allegedly wants to refuse supplies of Western weapons.

Russian media are interpreting the results of a sociological survey among Ukrainians in their own way, claiming that “Ukrainians do not need peace” and that “Ukrainians are drawn to battle”, even without the help of the West.

Such reports focus on the fact that if these results were true, then “Ukrainians in a single patriotic impulse” would daily storm their territorial recruitment centers to enroll as soldiers and, singing, go to the front to beat the “damned Russians”. Thus, the narrative is again put forward that Ukraine is ready to fight “until the last Ukrainian”.

The StopFake specialists found out that the manipulation was created on the basis of an opinion poll conducted by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS). It showed that the majority of Ukrainians believe that with the necessary help from the West, Ukraine can confront Russia and achieve an acceptable result. 87% of respondents expressed support for this statement.

At the same time, two strategies were proposed for Ukraine in case of a significant decrease in Western support: stopping hostilities while maintaining control over existing territories and receiving serious security guarantees from the West, or continuing military operations to put pressure on the Russian occupiers at the risk of Ukrainian-controlled territories. The results showed that 58% of respondents are now inclined to believe that even with a significant reduction in aid, the West should continue military action to put pressure on the occupiers, albeit at risk to controlled territories.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to shift responsibility for their actions from the aggressor to the victim of aggression, without mentioning that it was Russia that started the war against Ukraine.

Users of social networks spreading pro-Russian rhetoric are disseminating information allegedly from servicemen of two separate mechanized brigades in eastern Ukraine, namely the 54th Separate Mechanized Brigade named after. Hetman Ivan Mazepa and the 14th OMBR named after Prince Roman the Great were infected with rabies. It is noted that they were hospitalized due to consumption of meat from infected animals. However, such statements are false.

Analysts from the VoxCheck project investigated the case. They claim that the Ukrainian Ministry of Health and local media have not recorded any cases of rabies among the military men mentioned in the post or any other military brigades. As of December 2023, there were no cases of rabies infection in humans in the Kharkov region. At the time of writing, only one case of rabies was confirmed in Ukraine in a resident of the Vinnytsia region. Despite the fact that the mentioned brigades do participate in the defense in the Kharkiv region, there is no evidence of rabies infection among their military personnel.

It is noted that in Ukraine there has been an increase in cases of rabies among animals, especially in September-October. However, infection due to consumption of meat from infected animals is unlikely because the virus does not persist in meat for long periods of time outside the body.

Propagandists spread such fake news in order to desecrate the image of the Ukrainian military and cause distrust of them among the Ukrainian population. Detector Media has repeatedly written about other inventions of Russians aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Users of social networks broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric began to spread fake information that one of the Ukrainian companies specializing in the production of video content is now showing a video where a neural network “revitalizes” dead soldiers so that they express the opinion: “It was not worth it” (reflection of Russian aggression, which led to the death of soldiers at the hands of the Russian occupiers. - ed.). As “proof”, users attach a short video, which, according to them, was recorded from the group’s official YouTube page.

The StopFake project verified whether this video is actually related to the mentioned company. It turned out that the disseminated information was not true. Firstly, the video shows that the broadcast, as noted, took place on the Film.ua Group YouTube channel. The Ukrainian group of companies actually has its own channel on this platform, but the original channel has an authenticity icon next to its name, while the fake one does not. Secondly, there are no videos on the channel distributed by Russian propaganda. StopFake specialists reviewed published videos and live broadcasts over the past few months and did not find anything similar. Thirdly, StopFake turned to Film.ua Group for a comment: did they really broadcast the video that was being distributed on social networks. The group's PR manager Kateryna Zymina said that they did not do this.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine and create a false impression that everything is tragic at the front. Like, it’s not worth fighting, so it is necessary to agree to Russia’s terms. Detector Media wrote about a number of other inventions by Russians against the Ukrainian military.

Russian telegram channels are distributing a video by a TikTok user under the nickname shket057, in which soldiers of the 167th brigade of the Ukrainian Defense Forces disorganizedly retreat from their positions near Bilohorivka. They say that such actions are related to the lack of supplies of resources necessary for fighting on the battlefield. However, this is fake.

Experts at the Center for Countering Disinformation analyzed this video. They found out that the profile from which the video was distributed duplicates the real page of the user shket057, but this video is not on it. In addition, in this case, the fact that there are no 167 brigades in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is also important.

To make things more credible, propagandists create fake accounts on TikTok, where they spread their lies on behalf of the Ukrainian military. The purpose of such actions is to demoralize the population of Ukraine, sow panic among them and assure everyone of the successes of the Russian army on the battlefield. The Russians also spread information that Ukraine allegedly went on the defensive along the entire front line, however, this turned out to be a manipulation of the words of Hanna Maliar, the former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine.

According to Russian propaganda, the Ukrainian Armed Forces have allegedly regularly committed war crimes since the start of the Russian-Ukrainian war in 2014. For example, propaganda resources blamed the Ukrainian side for the downing of a civilian Boeing 777 passenger plane near Donetsk in the first year of the war, while denying Russia’s guilt. Then 298 people died - all on board.

In conditions of a full-scale war, propagandists continue to use “reports” and “interviews of residents” who allegedly managed to leave the combat zones as evidence of “crimes of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. They say that the Ukrainian military, for example, is firing at the cars of people who are trying to evacuate along humanitarian corridors, or they say that civilians are allegedly being used as “human shields”. Or, say, when in March 2022, the online publication Sky News took a comment from the Kremlin Ambassador to the UN Vasyl Nebenzia about the overthrown air bomb on the drama theater in the center of Mariupol, he denied Russia’s involvement in this.

The court in The Hague concluded, in particular, that the Boeing 777 aircraft mentioned in the text was shot down by a missile from the Buk anti-aircraft missile system and belonged to the 53rd anti-aircraft missile brigade of the Russian Armed Forces. As for Mariupol, investigations by a number of foreign organizations unanimously indicate that it was a Russian plane that dropped an aerial bomb on the Drama Theater in the center of the city on March 16, 2022, where about 600 people could have died. The atrocities of Russians in Bucha and Gostomel in the Kyiv region, in Izium in the Kharkiv region and in other de-occupied territories have been confirmed and documented by journalists from the world's leading newspapers - and these are war crimes that Russia commits in Ukraine every day.

The October 2023 UN report on war crimes by Russia and Ukraine in the war for the period from February 1 to July 31, 2023 contains information that during this time six murders of Ukrainian prisoners of war and not a single murder of Russians in captivity of the Ukrainian Armed Forces were recorded. There is also no confirmed information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces fired at civilians trying to leave dangerous territories.

By resorting to newspeak, in this case, Russian propaganda aims to shift responsibility for the war crimes of the Russian army onto the Ukrainian army. Like, “evil in the form of the Ukrainian Armed Forces must be punished”, and “peaceful Ukrainian citizens must be protected”. Deportations of civilians, their torture, massacres, the use of cover for the Russian military (“human shields”) - these and other violations of international humanitarian law by Russia are documented in the 50-kilogram book “Crime Without Punishment”, created in Ukraine and already represented in NATO and the European Parliament.

Various photographs are actively being circulated in the Ukrainian segment of social networks, in which it is believed that Ukrainian soldiers are on their knees, praying for salvation. Like, Avdiivka asks for prayer. However, these photos are fake.

Over the past few weeks, StopFake analysts have observed the spread of various pictures on social networks depicting Ukrainian military personnel, with calls to pray for their fate. Similar publications are distributed mainly by bot accounts.

In fact, these images are not authentic - they were all created using artificial intelligence technology. Neural networks such as Midjourney, Bing Image Creator, DALL-E or DeepAI are capable of independently creating completely new content or transforming existing ones. Using services like AI or Not, one can check whether an image was created using AI or not. However, now it is possible to distinguish real photographs from artificially created ones without special tools - by carefully studying all the details in the picture. StopFake analysts checked the images circulating online using the AI or Not tool and found that they were likely all generated by a neural network.

The fact that this is an artificially created image is also indicated by many errors. For example, analyzing the image of a girl in military uniform in one of the photographs, you can notice: an incorrect image of the limbs (one leg, unnatural position of the fingers); the absence of a body and an example of a machine gun (in addition, the weapon in the photo does not resemble any of the models in service with the Armed Forces of Ukraine); incorrect image of the sleeve chevron (its size and color of the flag of Ukraine). In addition, the camouflage pattern of the uniform that the people in the photo are wearing is not used in the Ukrainian army, and is generally not similar to any real-life camouflage option.

Propagandists are likely spreading such images with the aim of demoralizing Ukrainians amid the fierce fighting for Avdiivka. Allegedly, the only thing left to do is pray, everything is so bad.  Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other fakes regarding the Ukrainian military.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that the battalion commander of the 14th separate mechanized brigade (14 separate mechanized brigade) allegedly shot and killed young psychologist Nataliia Lychman, who forced soldiers to storm Russian troops to return lost territories. Her death was then attributed to artillery shelling by the Russian Armed Forces with cluster munitions. However, this is a fake.

The specialists from the StopFake project checked this information. They managed to find out that Nataliia Lychman was not a psychologist and did not serve in the 14th Mechanized Infantry Brigade, but was a serviceman of the 128th Separate Mountain Assault Brigade. She participated in the defense of Bakhmut, and her death became known on December 19, 2022. Then many Ukrainian media reported about the deceased serviceman from Transcarpathia, using in their materials a photograph that the propagandists took for their fake news.

This disinformation is consistent with the Russian propaganda narrative that Ukrainians do not seem to want to fight, and therefore they need to be forced to confront the Russians. In addition, propagandists continue to “create a picture” of discord between Ukrainians – in particular, the military, as in this case. Previously, we refuted information that in Ukraine they allegedly distributed propaganda letters to elderly people so that they could mobilize them into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels and other social networks began to spread fake information that the Ukrainian language ombudsman Taras Kremin allegedly “admitted” that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were shooting at Russian-speaking citizens. They use a video with his quote, which is supposed to “confirm” such messages. After the dissemination of such information, StopFake decided to check this information. It is not true.

On November 21, Taras Kremin actually made a comment on the Ukrainian service of Radio Svoboda (Liberty), where he spoke about language problems within Ukraine. On this broadcast, the resource’s journalist spoke about the discussion that arose in Ukrainian society. According to it, one part of the population says that it does not matter what language one speaks if a person is a patriot of Ukraine, and the second part says that communicating in Ukrainian is still very important. It was these two opinions that the journalist asked the language ombudsman to comment on. To which Kremen replied that “with the beginning of a full-scale invasion, the factor of language is not only a factor of freedom, but also the security of our identity and culture, and this is a marker of “friend or foe”. According to him, soldiers from the front line have repeatedly said that where one hears the Russian language, the first reaction is a shot. Propagandists used this to make it look like they were targeting all Russian speakers, especially civilians.

However, if you look more closely at the quote, you can hear that we are talking only about identifying a person as “friend or foe” precisely on the front line. There was no talk about shooting at Russian-speaking civilians in the interview.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to strengthen their own myth about the oppression of the Russian-speaking population. They say that “protecting” this category of people is one of the goals of launching a full-scale invasion. However, it was Russia that turned the language issue into a political instrument. In addition, it attacks civilians in mostly Russian-speaking cities, which undermines the narrative of “protecting” civilians who communicate in Russian.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels disseminated information that supposedly in Lutsk law enforcement officers exposed the activities of a drug laboratory in which, according to them, servicemen of the 14th separate mechanized brigade worked. It's fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that in the fake, propagandists refer to the original article from the Volyn News website for November 9, 2023. It says that on November 8, the Volyn region police exposed the activities of drug laboratories. However, firstly, this article makes no mention of the military personnel of the 14th separate mechanized brigade. Secondly, propagandists claim that the laboratories were exposed in Lutsk, although the head of the department for combating drug crime in the Volyn region, Oleh  Zubko, stated that the searches were carried out in the Zhytomyr and Kyiv regions. Thirdly, none of the sources confirms the involvement of servicemen of the 14th Mechanized Brigade in the identified laboratories.

They also found several publications in other media about this National Police operation, and none of them mentioned soldiers from the 14th Separate Mechanized Brigade.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to discredit the Ukrainian armed forces. They say that soldiers cannot survive what they saw in the war and integrate into Ukrainian society. Detector Media also refuted other fakes with a similar message, including that the military was allegedly buying up antidepressants en masse.

Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that Ukrainian soldiers are being pelted with the carcasses of dead animals during training in France. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. The Politico article “Inside the secret French camp where Ukrainians prepare for war” confirms the use of dead animal carcasses in training to create more realistic conditions. This is carried out to prepare the Ukrainian military for the smell arising from the decomposition of flesh. However, this does not have the scale that the Russians talk about. The training course was adapted according to the comments of the Ukrainian side, including the use of artillery, grenades and simulating various combat situations. Instructors try to limit the shock effect of the Ukrainian military upon arrival at the front.

By spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to discredit the NATO armies and the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They say that the situation has become absurd, and therefore Russia needs to be allowed to win. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other inventions of Russians aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks are distributing a video claiming that the body of a serviceman of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was found on the shores of the Georgian city of Batumi. However, this is manipulation.

A group of fact-checkers from the Myth Detector project have already confirmed the falsity of this information. It turned out that this video was filmed in the city of Sukhumi, and the body belonged to a local resident who went missing in 2022. It is recorded that the video was recorded on July 1, 2023.

At that moment, the body of local resident Aram Davajyan, who was considered missing since November 27, 2022, was found. This information was confirmed by “law enforcement agencies” of Abkhazia, a region occupied by Russia. After fact-checkers contacted the Emergency Management Service, it was established that there had been no reports of the body of a Ukrainian serviceman on the shore in Sukhumi.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to strengthen their narrative about the “large-scale losses” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They say that the war needs to be stopped on Russia’s terms. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other manipulations aimed at directly discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that special forces from the Kraken unit of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense will allegedly be sent to Transcarpathia to strengthen the mobilization of the men there. In addition, a separate task for the fighters will be to catch and torture Hungarians, and then mobilize them too. As evidence, propagandists attach “screenshots of correspondence” between two Kraken fighters. This is nothing more than a fake.

The specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation decided to study this case. They contacted the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine with a request to confirm or refute the “news”. They didn't have to wait long for an answer - the Main Intelligence Directorate says that the information disseminated by Russian propagandists is untrue. Today, fighters of the special forces “Kraken” are in the combat zone. There they carry out the tasks set by the highest military-political leadership of the country, facilitating the de-occupation of Ukrainian territories from Russian troops.

By spreading such disinformation, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine and the Kraken special forces, as well as promote the message that Ukraine is allegedly seeking to destroy ethnic Hungarians and is recruiting them en masse into the army. Previously, we refuted information that NATO could allegedly attract the Azov and Kraken battalions to suppress protests in France.

Russian propagandists claim that in Ukraine they have begun distributing advertisements for homosexuals calling for them to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The first half of the 10-second video shows heterosexual and homosexual couples kissing, while the second half features footage of military personnel. The footage is accompanied by a male voice saying: “It doesn’t matter at all whether you love women or men. It is important that you love Ukraine. Join the Armed Forces of Ukraine”. However, this is fake.

This case was analyzed by the fact-checkers for the StopFake project. They found out that the video is fake for a number of reasons. Firstly, the kissing footage was taken from a report published on the iD YouTube channel back in 2020. The second part of the video already uses footage from the social advertising of the Ukrainian Ground Forces “The Ballad of the Infantry”, published back in 2016. Secondly, the use of the word “love” in relation to Ukraine in the video indicates that its authors probably have poor command of the Ukrainian language. The word “love” describes specifically romantic love, while Ukraine or, for example, animals or colors can be “loved”.

With this fake video, Russian propaganda nourishes the narrative that supposedly Ukrainian troops will suffer huge losses on the battlefield and, as a result, they are running out of people. Therefore, “even” homosexuals are now being mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, attempts to discredit the Ukrainian army are in vain, since the Armed Forces contain representatives of different gender and sexual identities who defend Ukraine along with other military personnel. Previously, we analyzed disinformation that supposedly Ukrainians are dying for the right to be homosexual.

Propaganda telegram channels are disseminating information that Russian soldiers captured the pregnant Ukrainian military. Moreover, pro-Kremlin resources publish a video as evidence in which the Russian military demonstratively shows that this allegedly happened. It's fake.

Experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation began to analyze this case. They found that the video distributed by propagandists contained a number of disinformation features. For example, the woman is wearing ordinary sneakers, which are not standard shoes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Also, the “prisoner” has a blue ribbon on her leg, while the Ukrainian military does not put identification marks on her legs. In addition, on the military shoulder one can see the chevron of the 65th Missile and Artillery Arsenal, which probably fell to the Russians during the occupation of part of the Kharkiv region.

By spreading information about a pregnant woman in the Ukrainian army, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the mobilization process. They say that people don’t want to fight, so the authorities have to indulge in extremes and send even pregnant women to fight. With this case of disinformation, propagandists are also nourishing the narrative of “grabbing” in Ukraine or “war until the last Ukrainian”. Previously, we refuted information that Ukraine had created body armor for pregnant women because they were going to be sent to the front.

Pro-Russian resources began distributing a video in which supposedly Ukrainian military personnel, introducing themselves as fighters of the 3rd battalion of the 110th separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, complain to the President of Ukraine and the Commander-in-Chief about poor command and heavy losses in Avdiivka.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project processed this case. They found out that the 110th separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces responded to this video and refuted it. On the brigade’s official Facebook page they write that the video is not of their Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, but of occupiers dressed in Ukrainian uniforms. In addition, suspicion was also aroused by the fact that the “military man” who complained on behalf of the battalion did not name his company, unit, position, surname or call sign in this “appeal”, although the video was recorded with open faces.

Propagandists are trying to demoralize Ukrainian society by spreading fake news like this video. They do this cynically, insidiously and resort to peculiar methods. Previously, we refuted the information that allegedly Hamas representatives recorded a video in which they thanked Zelenskyi for providing the weapons.

Propagandists claim that independent journalists from Ukraine allegedly counted 284 thousand Ukrainian military obituaries that were published on social networks by the families and friends of the victims. In November 2022, the number of obituaries was “record”, with 1,100 allegedly published daily. It's fake.

The information was processed at the Center for Strategic Communications. They researched that not a single Ukrainian publication has materials related to the number of obituaries about Ukrainian soldiers. Back in August 2023, the network spread information that the so-called Russian military expert Ruslan Tatarinov had carried out his “calculation”. Then, for the first time, pro-Russian resources began to spread misinformation about 284 thousand obituaries.

Data on the dead Ukrainian military is a state secret and will not be made public until the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The figures mentioned in the material were invented by Russian propaganda with the aim of demoralizing Ukrainians: to sow fear, uncertainty and doubts about the issue of war and Ukraine’s victory in it.

Russian high-ranking officials claim that it is absurd to talk about the prospects of Ukraine's victory. They said that all the goals that were set for the special military operation will be fulfilled.

Specialists of the Center of Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine drew attention to this message. They found such statements to be manipulative and contrasted with Russia's front-line failures, sanctions pressure, and heavy casualties during the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

By spreading such messages, propagandists are trying to establish among Russians the myth of the power of the Russian army. Moreover, such reports also aim to show that everything is supposedly under control in Russia. They seek to create the impression that Russia is in a winning position and will fight against Ukraine until it achieves its own goals. There were more such messages against the background of the Ukrainian counteroffensive, which Russian propagandists repeatedly tried to discredit. Detector Media wrote about this, refuting a number of fakes and messages on this topic.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks publish a scan of a document allegedly in the name of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi. In it, the moral and psychological state of the Armed Forces is assessed as low. However, this document is a fake.

The analysts of the Center of Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine drew attention to it. They found that the “document” contained a large number of grammatical errors. In addition, the text has a characteristic Russian-language tracing paper and a style uncharacteristic of documents. Moreover, the margin between the main text and the official's signature has been increased by 1.5-2 times. That is, part of the main text is hidden or deleted.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to demoralize the Armed Forces of Ukraine and cause panic among the civilian population. He said that terrible things are happening to the psyche of the military, and therefore, you have to agree to Russia's terms and start living normally. In this way, the Russians manipulate the important topic of mental health of veterans, turning it into a scarecrow for Ukrainians. Detector Media has already written about how Russia devalues the topic of mental health during the war in general.

Anonymous telegram channels in the Russian segment are distributing a photo of an allegedly Ukrainian military ID of “foreign mercenary” Brian Boenger. The document contains the fighter’s personal data, and also contains a separate photograph: a photograph of both guys kissing. This is how the authors convince that this is a photograph of an American. They also add that this ID was found in the Zaporizhzhia direction and that “his beloved friend waits in vain for the military” hinting at the probable destruction of the American military man.

The analysts from the VoxCheck project began analyzing the case and found that the photos of the military ID were partially compiled. The figure of the American fighter Brian Boenger is real, and he fought in Ukraine. Using a reverse search, the fact-checkers found that the image of an American soldier’s military ID was indeed published in journalistic materials back in 2016.

And to create a fake photograph, propagandists superimposed on the image of a real military ID a photo of a stranger and a photo of two guys kissing.

Moreover, Brian Boenger is not a “foreign mercenary”; in April 2016, he entered into an official contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At that time, the decree allowing foreigners or stateless persons to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine was signed by the then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko back in November 2015.

Russian propaganda systematically fuels the narrative that professional military personnel from other states - the so-called “foreign mercenaries” - are fighting in Ukraine. Thus, Russian propaganda also tries to justify the failures of the Russian army. They say they are not fighting “weak” Ukrainians, but “specially trained NATO members” or Americans. Moreover, Russian propaganda spreads fake news about hiring students, the unemployed, and they like to show that in Ukraine there is no one left to fight and they are recruiting “everyone in a row”.

By the way, in our Newspeak section we talked about Russia that recruits mercenaries, in particular, Wagner group representatives. This is essentially a terrorist organization within the Russian army.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric disseminate information that the Ukrainian military is allegedly fighting under the influence of “combat chemicals” obtained in the form of chocolates and injections. Russian military officers report that it is psychotropic drugs that are behind the courage of the Ukrainian military and therefore they are not afraid of death. It is not true.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project. Russian propaganda has been systematically spreading fake news about drug addiction among Ukrainians since 2014. Russian propagandists have repeatedly stated that psychotropic substances were added to the food of Euromaidan participants and that they were used by ATO participants. Russian propaganda also accused the Ukrainian military of using drugs at the end of March 2022, when the Russians, under pressure from the Ukrainian Armed Forces, left the north of Ukraine. After the start of the counteroffensive, these topics re-emerged in the Russian information space.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to demonize the Ukrainian military and sow fear among Ukrainians about them. Also, Russian propagandists seek to justify Russian aggression - they say, Ukrainians need to be saved from aggressive Ukrainian fighters and the failures of the Russian military on the battlefield. Previously, we refuted the fake that the United States supplies drugs to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric in the media and social networks claim that Mazur Mecheslav, a Polish citizen serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, has been put on the wanted list in Ukraine. He is allegedly suspected of committing a number of crimes, in particular “arbitrary escape from a military unit, murder, causing harm to health and bullying of minors”. As evidence, they are distributing a photo of a wanted notice for this person. It's fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They noticed a number of grammatical errors in the “announcement”, which are not typical for native speakers of the Ukrainian language and representatives of government agencies. For example, the official abbreviation of the police agency, the proper word “police”, the use of the Russian word “department” and the phrase “poses a threat”. They also tried to find this person in open databases of all people wanted in Ukraine on a separate website of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine. Among the persons found on the site there is no Mecheslav Mazur, and other persons with the same surname do not match the parameters specified in the “announcement”.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to once again discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They say that only criminals fleeing responsibility abroad serve them. Detector Media has already refuted a number of fakes and manipulations of Russian propaganda about the “Foreign Legion”.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels claim that three thieves robbed the house of the family of a deceased military man during his funeral in the Lviv region in 2023. They say that while the defenders are being buried, other Ukrainians are robbing them. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that the story, which is being distributed as evidence of this message, was published on July 25, 2016. The event occurred on July 22 of the same year in the city of Zolochiv, Lviv region. Thieves broke into the house during the funeral of serviceman Andrii Shvets, who served as a volunteer during the Anti-Terrorist Operation in eastern Ukraine. Later, the police detained the suspects - three teenagers who stole money and property worth 40 thousand hryvnia.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to ridicule and discredit Ukrainians. Detector Media previously refuted other Russian lies about the Ukrainian military.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social media claim that Ukrainian soldiers sent abroad for treatment and refugees contracted infections in Ukrainian hospitals and then spread these diseases to the EU. They say that these infections are resistant to most antibiotics, and this supposedly proves that the United States is testing bioweapons in Ukraine. In doing so, they refer to an article by the Financial Times.

The message was noticed by the fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project. They found out that this was not true. An October 2 Financial Times article titled “Ukrainian infections show rising threat of antibiotic resistance” stated that Russia's invasion of Ukraine back in 2014 contributed to the rise in drug-resistant infections in Western Europe. As the authors point out, this could be due to the toxicity of heavy metals in the balls, which caused injuries and wounds that could lead to infections, as well as the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. The situation was also complicated by the fact that medical facilities in combat regions were often damaged, tests to determine the necessary antibiotic were largely lacking, and local residents forced to leave the region could carry these diseases. The article also pointed out that after the start of the full-scale invasion, due to the arrival of Ukrainian military and refugees in EU countries, there was indeed an increase in the number of drug-resistant infections. In particular, they explain this by the fact that in some regions the healthcare system was overloaded.

The VoxCheck experts once again note that there are no US biological laboratories in Ukraine, and no country is engaged in the production or testing of biological weapons here. They also found that antibiotic resistance is an international trend that occurs due to the limited number of effective drugs available and the low number of new drug developments. According to the publication, even states that spend a lot of money on financing the healthcare system cannot cope with this problem.

Propagandists spread this message to discredit Ukrainians and create artificial panic about their presence in Europe. They say that helping Ukrainians is dangerous. Detector Media also wrote about other messages and fakes with which Russia is trying to discredit both the Ukrainian military and refugees.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are disseminating information that the foreign ministers of the European Union countries allegedly did not reach an agreement on the allocation of military assistance to Ukraine in the amount of 5 billion euros in 2024. Russian propaganda refers to a statement by the head of European diplomacy, Josep Borrell. It's fake.

The case was studied by fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. The European Union is currently working on creating a military assistance fund worth 20 billion euros, which Ukraine should receive from 2024 to 2027. As the fact-checkers of the BezBrekhni (No Lies)” project have established, the EU will allocate 5 billion euros annually. Moreover, this program was proposed by Josep Borrell himself, and there is no information in the official EU channels that international partners have not reached an agreement on assistance to Ukraine.

Russian propaganda is trying to sow panic among Ukrainians, allegedly abandoned by their international partners, and also to create the impression that the West is tired of the war and will no longer allocate funds for military assistance to Ukraine. Previously, we refuted the fake that Germany and France promised early accession to the EU if Ukraine helps to overthrow the Polish government.

Pro-Kremlin media are disseminating information that Great Britain allegedly has plans to bring British military personnel into Ukraine to de-occupy Crimea. Russian propaganda refers to a statement by the top military leadership of the United Kingdom about the prospect of transferring the training of the Ukrainian military from Great Britain to the territory of Ukraine. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checker of the StopFake project. They established that Great Britain had no plans for the participation of the British military in the de-occupation of Crimea. Russian propaganda manipulates, citing an article by The Telegraph about the new Minister of Defense of the United Kingdom, Grant Shepps. He reflected on assistance to Ukraine and training of the Ukrainian military by British instructors, but did not make statements on the introduction of British troops. Grant Shepps suggested that training could be moved closer to the western regions of Ukraine.

Subsequently, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak explained that these plans are long-term and that instructors will not be sent to Ukraine in the near future. Moreover, he emphasized that Great Britain does not intend to send its army to war with Russia.

Thus, Russian propaganda nourishes the narrative that Russia is allegedly at war with NATO and the collective West. This should create the impression that Russia has the best army and justify defeat at the front. Previously, we talked about the manipulation that Jens Stoltenberg confirmed that Russia invaded Ukraine “because of NATO”.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks claim that Sweden has allegedly confirmed the loss of all Leopard 2A5 tanks with the Swedish modification of Strv 122, which were provided to Ukraine as part of military aid. However, this is a fake.

The Reuters fact-checkers drew attention to the case. In response to their request for comment from a spokesperson for the Swedish Armed Forces, they received information that no such official statements had been made. Experts also could not find any reliable materials on the Internet that all 10 Swedish tanks were destroyed. In the press release of the Armed Forces of Sweden for September 21 on the topic of Swedish tanks, there is no mention of their loss. For example, in the article for September 23, the Forbes publication claims only two Swedish tanks were destroyed by a Russian air attack.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to discredit the Ukrainian military and Western partners. For example, either Ukrainian soldiers do not know how to use Western weapons, or the weapons themselves are of poor quality compared to Russian ones. Detector Media has already refuted a number of other fakes aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces.

Fake pages of Ukrainian journalists, activists and volunteers are being created on social networks and dating sites. They are created using photos and information from authentic profiles.

The specialists of the NotaYenota project drew attention to this. They note that, in particular, Lviv volunteer Mariia Kisil and producer of Ukraїner found themselves in such a situation. The volunteer claims that each of her volunteer reports is distributed by a closed page with her name, which she cannot even access due to the privacy settings of the fake account. NotaYenota analysts remind that fake pages of Ukrainian military and volunteers have been actively created by the Russians since last year, however, they do not exclude the possibility that scammers may be behind this.

By resorting to this technique, propagandists can more easily spread falsehoods into the information space, as was the case last year. Using them, they want to obtain certain information, discredit Ukrainians, or lure money under the guise of well-known names with a good reputation.

In the Russian segment of the social network VKontakte, a video advertisement is being distributed in which environmentalists allegedly put forward a proposal to hide the Ukrainian military “in special biodegradable capsule bags". This development was allegedly presented on the air of the Ukrainian telethon “United News”. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checker of the StopFake project. They found out that in fact such advertising does not exist, and Ukrainian environmentalists did not make such statements. Using an image search, experts found footage from the video - Russian propaganda used the presentation of the Capsula Mundi project by Italian designers Anna Citelli and Raoul Bretzel in 2016. Russians used these frames, added the “1+1” channel and the “United News” telethon, and read low-quality text.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to spread the message about high losses among the Ukrainian military and sow despondency among Ukrainian society. Previously, Detector Media refuted the fake that Defense Minister Umierov disclosed data on Ukraine’s losses during the counteroffensive.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are disseminating information that on September 6, the Russian military fired at the location of the Ukrainian military in Kostiantynivka. Russian propaganda notes that there are supposedly photos and videos of the wounded that confirm this. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checker of the VoxCheck project. On September 6, Russian troops shelled a market in Kostiantynivka, killing 15 people. Minister of Internal Affairs Ihor Klymenko, speaking on the United News telethon, said that only the civilian population was affected, and there were no military units there.

By disseminating information that the Russian military is targeting exclusively military targets, Russian propaganda is trying to whitewash the Russians and show that they allegedly do not commit war crimes against Ukrainians. Earlier, Detector Media refuted the fake news that the Russians fired at a meeting of Lithuanian and Polish NATO officers in Chernihiv.

Propagandists are distributing materials on social networks that allegedly confirm that the southeast is fighting for all of Ukraine. They say that Western Ukraine does not adequately evaluate these efforts. It was noticed in the NotaYenota project.

The specialists found out that Russia regularly restores this message, adapting it to different regions of Ukraine. For example, materials are being distributed to the western regions according to which supposedly only Western Ukraine is fighting, while Eastern Ukraine is holed up in the Carpathians. The opposite message is being spread to the southern and eastern regions.

Project specialists note that these messages do not correspond to reality, since representatives of all regions are fighting at the front for Ukraine. To confirm them, Russians manipulate data and create deliberately false infographics. In particular, in the West only regional territorial recruitment centers are considered, and in the East - regional, district and other branches. Previously, the eastern regions had a higher population density, but now the situation has changed due to Russian aggression. In addition, in the infographics one can notice the typo “southeast”, which is typical for Russian speakers.

Propagandists use this message to turn residents of the western regions against the eastern ones and thus destabilize the situation from within. Detector Media wrote about how Russian propaganda manipulates people from different regions of the country, especially (de)occupied territories.

On social networks one can find advertisements according to which the Ukrainian government has allegedly “approved” a law on payments to “families defending” the country at the front. NotaYenota project specialists drew attention to it.

They found out that the Russians were actually behind the ads. In particular, this is indicated, at least, by the fact that in Ukraine the government does not “approve” laws. In addition, neither the Verkhovna Rada nor the Cabinet of Ministers made such decisions.

Project specialists note that Russians launch such advertising campaigns to spread negative sentiments in society and cause distrust in the authorities in general. The advertisements were created with the expectation that Ukrainians would start asking local authorities about payments and, in response to a refusal, would accuse it of lying. Subsequently, Russians will make advertisements about how corrupt Ukraine is. Detector Media has already written about how the topic of corruption in Ukraine is used by Russian propaganda in its own interests.

Russian propagandists in anonymous telegram channels claim that on September 5, the Susupilne supposedly published the news “In the Odesa region, a military man was detained on suspicion of raping a 10-year-old girl”. They say that the criminal is a soldier of the 41st mechanized brigade. It's fake.

Analysts from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that as of September 12, the article had a different title, namely “In the Odesa region, a man was detained on suspicion of raping a 10-year-old gir”. Neither the police nor the Susupilne identified the suspect as a military man. A backup copy of the news as of the morning of September 10 shows the same title. Consequently, the propagandists edited the screenshot of the news.

By using this fake, Russia wants to discredit the Ukrainian military and cause distrust of the population in them. They say that only rapists and unhealthy people serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Thus, the Russians justify their aggression against Ukraine. Detector Media also debunked other fakes regarding the Ukrainian military.

Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are disseminating information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are allegedly using “live mine clearance” tactics with their own fighters in an attempt to overcome Russian defenses. It's fake.

The case was studied by analysts of the EUvsDiDiNFo project. They found that there was no evidence to support Ukraine using these tactics. In fact, the opposite is true: according to many sources, the Ukrainian counteroffensive was slowed down by mined fields precisely because the Ukrainian military wants to prevent massive casualties.

Russian propaganda uses reflexive tactics to prevent reports that in Bakhmut the Russian command is throwing the Russians into desperate actions and sparing no manpower. Also, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit the military command of Ukraine, saying that they do not value the lives of their servicemen. Earlier, Detector Media talked about manipulation, allegedly the chief of staff of the Azov brigade said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive was very publicized, and Russia was invincible.

The social network TikTok is distributing a video in which the military command of Ukraine, in particular Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Oleksandr Syrskyi, Serhii Shaptala, Dmytro Marchenko  allegedly created a petition for the dissolution of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine and the subsequent mobilization of deputies. The video also features Vitalii Kim, the head of the Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration. Social network users are encouraged to follow the link and sign the petition. It's fake.

The case was examined by fact-checkers from the Center for Countering Disinformation. In fact, such a petition does not exist, the video is fake, and the link to the petition leads to various telegram channels and third-party sites.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the military command of Ukraine and promoting the message that there is a conflict between it and the leadership of the state. Previously, we talked about a message that allegedly Zaluzhnyi “was asked to reduce the level of his publicity due to the conflict with Zelenskyi”.

Russian propaganda resources began to spread the fake news that allegedly the new Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umierov accidentally revealed data on Ukrainian losses during the counteroffensive. A number of anonymous telegram channels disseminating pro-Russian rhetoric promoted the message, allegedly Minister Rustem Umierov in his first public speech named the amount that is not enough to pay the relatives of dead servicemen - UAH 250 billion. Next, propagandists resort to the following arithmetic: the amount is not paid immediately, the first payment is 3 million UAH. Consequently, according to propaganda, the Ministry of Defense must pay the families of more than 83 thousand victims. They say that this is the number of Ukrainian losses in recent months, and it indicates the failure of the counteroffensive. It is not true.

Rustem Umierov really spoke about 250 billion, speaking as a candidate for minister before the vote in the Verkhovna Rada. Quote: “Just until the end of this year we will need an additional 250 billion hryvnia for cash allowance, and these costs are growing every day”. Thus, Rustem Umierov was not talking about payments to the families of the victims, but about monetary allowances, in other words, about salaries for military personnel. We see that Russian propagandists took the real figure announced by Umierov, but grossly manipulated its value.

Let us recall that on September 6, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine appointed a new Minister of Defense. The candidacy of Rustem Umierov was supported by 338 people's deputies. In 2019, Rustam Umierov was elected as a people’s deputy of Ukraine from the Voice party, in 2022-2023 he headed the State Property Fund of Ukraine, and after being confirmed as head of the Ministry of Defense, he became the first Crimean Tatar in the history of independent Ukraine to hold a ministerial post.

Propagandists ridicule the new minister, who “knows how to count money well”, but allegedly casually reveals state secrets about the number of deaths. Russian propaganda is also trying to sow panic among Ukrainians against the backdrop of the counteroffensive, saying that there are many losses in the Ukrainian army. Previously, we refuted the fake news that in Ternopil they are threatening to cut off gas and hot water to conscripts who do not come to the Territorial centers of recruitment and social support.

Such information was disseminated on social networks, in particular on anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that soldiers of the 79th separate air assault brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in Zaporizhzia receive drugs from the United States namely ephedrine. Video evidence is added to publications. It's a lie.

Fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project analyzed this case and determined that the propaganda video was published in the fake telegram channel of the 79th separate air assault brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, where supposedly the military was receiving “another help from fellow Americans”. The video itself was published in the Russian segment of social networks, and the official channel of the 79th brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces does not exist in the telegram. Most likely the video is compiled. At the same time, a USAID representative stated that the United States did not supply ephedrine or any other substances for the Ukrainian Armed Forces to Ukraine.

In addition, Russian channels claim that the military received ephedrine in Zaporizhzhia. However, the 79th brigade operates in the Mariinsk and Uhledar directions of the Donetsk region. The Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported this in July.

By the way, read how the Russians create fake accounts of the Ukrainian military on social networks and what the Kremlin achieves in this way.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular in telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the so-called Western biological laboratories have already flooded the whole of Ukraine and are conducting experiments on the military there: in particular, they are testing vaccines of “unknown” origin. The experiments are allegedly carried out by the Pharmabiotest company, which is allegedly affiliated with clinics in the USA. The authors add that in the temporarily occupied Luhansk region, Russian troops found the corresponding “documents” confirming the testing. Interviews with supposedly Ukrainian prisoners of war are added to the publications.

VoxCheck project analysts analyzed this case and came to the conclusion that the Russians did not provide any evidence or documents in their publications to support their thesis. Moreover, the fact-checkers were unable to identify the characters in the video. That is, probable military prisoners of war. They suggest that the videos could have been compiled and passed off as Ukrainian prisoners. Or the occupiers forced the Ukrainian military to lie, blackmailing them in any way. After all, Russia can use prisoners of war for its own political purposes. For example, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry condemned such actions by Russia.

Read what is happening to Ukrainian soldiers behind the walls of Russian prisons in the Human Rights Media Initiative. Because intimidation, constant terror and blackmail are the actions of the Russians towards Ukrainian captives.

By the way, Pharmabiotest is a real laboratory where experiments are carried out. However, on the website of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine there is a list of all possible experiments conducted by different clinics. Therefore, Pharmbiotest conducted studies on the bioavailability of drugs such as Adesin, Tenzocard, Klovask, etc. All these names are common drugs. There is no mention of vaccine testing on the clinic's website. That is, propagandists threw in information without confirmation.

Ukrainian users of the Signal application, popular among military personnel, receive messages calling for them to surrender. Allegedly, according to a certain frequency, the Ukrainian military can voluntarily choose life.

The case was studied by fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. Russian propaganda has monkeyed with the Ukrainian project ”I Want to Live”, which appeared in 2022 thanks to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, where Russians can surrender. The Red Cross and the media have access to the prison camp in Ukraine, and it meets the standards of the Geneva Convention.

However, Ukrainians in captivity are tortured and subjected to psychological violence, and international organizations do not have access to their places of detention. The Russians also commit mass murder. As the Main Intelligence Directorate reported, “On July 28, a powerful explosion occurred on the territory of the former correctional colony No. 120 in the city of Olenivka in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk region, which is now used as a detention center for Ukrainian prisoners of war”. As a result, Ukrainian prisoners died. As of July 28, 2023, of the 59 returned bodies of dead people, 52 have been identified.

Rusian propaganda is trying to divert attention and deflect responsibility for the torture, mistreatment and murder of Ukrainian prisoners of war, saying that they created all the conditions for a safe surrender. Previously, we refuted the fake news that Azov commander Denis “Redis” Prokopenko was captured again.

Mary Wareham, advocacy director of the arms department of the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch, allegedly admitted that Ukraine is killing civilians with cluster shells. On September 5, Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels began to disseminate such information. Russians and propagandists refer to the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 report. The analytical team of Detector Media has looked into the primary sources and tells what human rights activists wrote and what the propagandists thought up.

On September 3, the Human Rights Watch website published Mary Warham's column on the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine. In the text, she refers to Russia's “widespread use of cluster munitions” that has resulted in “civilian deaths and injuries, damage to civilian infrastructure, and contamination of agricultural land”. The human rights activist points out that Ukraine also uses cluster munitions, which “cause civilian casualties, but on a much smaller scale than the Russian army”.

In his blog, Wareham refers to the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 report. This report mentions that the Ukrainian Armed Forces “used cluster munitions in attacks on Izium in the Kharkiv region between March and September 2022, when it was controlled by the Russian army”. The authors of the report note that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine denied the accusations of using cluster munitions. The list of sources of the document contains a link to a letter from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. And the letter from the Ministry of Defense states that although Ukraine is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions of May 30, 2008, “The Armed Forces of Ukraine strictly comply with the norms of international humanitarian law when planning and conducting military operations”. Human Rights Watch condemned the use of cluster munitions, but primarily blamed Russia, not Ukraine, for their use on the battlefield. The authors of the report cited the discussion about the transfer of cluster munitions by the United States to Ukraine as an example of how “stigmatized” the use of these munitions on the battlefield is. But they were reminded of the threats to their civilians even after the end of the war due to the fact that they may not explode immediately. Propagandists claimed that the human rights organization criticized only Ukraine and admitted that it violates international humanitarian law, and ignored the criticism of Russia by human rights activists.

This is not the first time propagandists and Russians have turned to the topic of cluster munitions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which allegedly kill civilians. In July, Detector Media refuted a claim about the death of a Russian propagandist who was allegedly killed by Ukrainians with American cluster shells. With messages about the use of cluster munitions by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, propagandists are trying to plant several ideas on the audience. Firstly, that the Ukrainian military seems to be killing civilians, and this symbolically equates the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the war crimes of the Russians. Secondly, they try to shift the responsibility for the suffering of civilians from the aggressor to the victim of the aggression. And for this, they use the tactics of “third party” propaganda — they put into the mouths of representatives of non-Russian public organizations and media theses that are consonant with the messages of Russian propaganda.

Russian media and anonymous telegram channels are circulating a photo that allegedly shows an order from the commander of the 123rd Trooper Brigade to create mobile crematoria. In the “document” this decision is explained by a large number of losses on the Ukrainian side and overcrowded morgues. However, this is fake.

Specialists in the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They checked the document for errors and found out that the text indicated a period of 5 days instead of a period. In addition, the format of the name does not meet the current requirements for official documentation, according to which the document should not contain “R. Tokarenko”, but “Roman TOKARENKO”. Moreover, since the 123rd TRO brigade is a territorial defense formation in the Mykolaiv region, such orders should be issued in Mykolaiv, and not Kherson, as in the photo. There were no reports of command redeployment. The seal is also not real - there is no organization with the EDRPOU code 07849800. VoxCheck specialists tested the print with the InVid plugin and found signs of being added in the photo editor. Also in the photo one can see that the text is above the seal, but should be below it. The 123rd troop brigade also denied the fake on their Facebook page, calling it “another IPSO of Russian propaganda”.

By creating and spreading such fakes, propagandists want to exaggerate the scale of losses and the situation, as well as demoralize Ukrainian society. They say that the Ukrainian army has heavy losses, which indicates the loss of Ukraine. However, such fakes only indicate that Russia wants to cover its own numerous losses and failures at the front.  Detector Media has already refuted the Russian fake from the “Kyivstar video” about the losses of the Ukrainian army.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that one of the local clinics in Kharkiv is providing free HIV testing. Consequently, propagandists sum up: since a free test is offered in Ukraine, it means that there is an outbreak of infection among the military. They also add that the cause is poor-quality blood, which was previously supplied by NATO countries to Ukraine. And they add “photo evidence” to the messages - one of the announcements about testing for the detection of HIV infection.

Fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project began to analyze this case and explained that HIV testing in Ukraine is free. All Ukrainians have the right to use this opportunity. Actually, according to the new version of the law on combating HIV, everyone on the territory of Ukraine has the right to free medical care and provision of antiretroviral drugs for treatment. The authors of the fake message hint that the Ukrainian healthcare system is suffering at the hands of “unprofessionals” and are intimidated by various diseases that are breaking out in Ukraine. However, the fact-checkers emphasize that free HIV testing indicates the relative quality and stability of the medical system of Ukraine. Testing is one of the elements of disease regulation or its timely detection.

By the way, in the first 6 months of 2023, the volume of HIV testing services increased by 52.7%, which even exceeded the pre-war figures. As a reminder, free HIV testing can be done at one’s family doctor, therapist or pediatrician.

In addition, Russian propaganda has repeatedly manipulated the issue of providing blood in the state. Thus, the Kremlin is trying to create a false impression that there is not enough blood in Ukraine, there is not enough of it, and therefore it is impossible to heal the army qualitatively. Among other things, in the opinion of consumers, misinformation was also suggested that they supposedly supply infected blood to Ukraine. That is, they portrayed the image of Ukraine as a state in which international partnership is not interesting. They also wrote that the Verkhovna Rada “orders” Ukrainians to donate blood. Women of Ukrainian fighters complain that their men are being transfused with “Russian blood”. And in general they explained that Ukrainians forbid foreign citizens to become blood donors. And with such messages, the authors fed the classic narrative about the existence of “Ukrainian Nazis”.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that allegedly in the Kharkiv region, the Ukrainian military infected a Polish fighter of the Foreign Legion with an “unknown disease”.  According to the authors, after the infection, the Polish fighter was allegedly put into a medically induced coma in order to find out “what kind of disease the Ukrainians infected him with”. Subsequently, the “sick” was sent to the Polish city of Rzeszow, where he allegedly spread the virus to the Poles. The publications refer to the material of the Associated Press. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project investigated this case and determined that the material really refers to an investigation into the cause of an outbreak of legionnaires' disease in the city of Rzeszow, which killed 7 people and infected more than 100. And this is not an “unknown disease”, but legionellosis. One can get sick from small drops of water containing the causative agent of the disease - the Legionella bacterium. The disease is not transmitted from person to person. Weapons for Ukraine are being transported through the city, so Stanislav Zharyn, Deputy Minister-Coordinator of the Polish intelligence services, explained that the services will check Russia’s involvement in the spread of the disease.

However, there was no talk of any International Legion and Polish fighter in the material. This is just an invented story of propagandists. At the same time, they used the topic of the material to create a false impression that the infection started from the Ukrainian military. In fact, the authors distorted the context of the material and added false information from themselves. Moreover, the first case of legionellosis infection was found in Poland, that is, in the city of Rzeszow. Meanwhile, not a single case of legionellosis has been registered in Ukraine over the past year. Russian media regularly spread misinformation about disease outbreaks in Ukraine. Including in order to intimidate people with various ailments. Also to show that Ukrainian officials do not care about the sanitary and epidemiological state of the country and leave everyone to the mercy of fate. Propagandists seek to discourage Ukrainians to the state.

Read similar fakes on the topic: an infectious disease with leptospirosis is allegedly spreading among the Ukrainian military, or how an outbreak of cholera was allegedly recorded in Odesa. Kyiv and Mykolaiv also suffered from this propaganda story. But finally, pay attention to the message that cholera in Ukraine is the work of the United States and their “biological laboratories”.

On the YouTube platform, advertisements are being distributed regarding the high losses among the Ukrainian military. The video says that “350,000 warriors sacrificed themselves so that we remember”. The video accompanies the text that the United24 fund allegedly accidentally disclosed the losses. It's fake.

The case was noticed at the Center for Counteracting Disinformation. Earlier, Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Maliar commented in her telegram channel on information about the alleged number of dead Ukrainian soldiers, which appears in various publications, including foreign ones. She said: “During martial law, this information is a state secret. Not because someone wants to hide, but because this is a requirement of the military”. Maliar explained that the enemy could use data on the dead and wounded in order to calculate their further actions.

By launching fake ads about losses among the Ukrainian military, Russian propaganda is trying to sow panic and despondency among Ukrainians and discredit the authorities, saying that it is silent about the true number of deaths and the United24 fund, which raises funds for the army and humanitarian needs. Earlier, we refuted the fake advertisement about Zaluzhnyi, that claimed that the Foreign Ministry allegedly hides his incompetence.

Russian propagandists are spreading information that the Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar allegedly disclosed real losses among the Ukrainian military in the war against Russia in the promotion of a charity initiative. Allegedly, the company has created a video in which it encourages sending text messages to dead servicemen, but hundreds of thousands of defenders will not be able to respond to the messages. This is fake.

The case was investigated by fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation. They checked the information at the Kyivstar company, where they were told that the telecommunications operator did not conduct similar actions and did not release a promotional video.

Russian propagandists are trying to intimidate Ukrainians and discredit the military leadership by spreading fakes about casualties among the Ukrainian military. They say that the authorities are silent about real losses so that people are not afraid of mobilization. Earlier, we refuted the fake that in Ternopil they threatened to cut off the gas and hot water to conscripts who do not come to the Territorial centers of procurement and social support.

In the Ukrainian segment of Facebook, a video is being circulated where the Novus supermarket chain allegedly sells a batch of Ukie energy drinks, which was allegedly intended for the military. This is manipulation.

The case was investigated by the VoxCheck fact-checker. The video does not show the entire inscription placed on the bank with the energy drink. In fact, it says: “Monthly, a free supply of Ukie energy drinks is donated to the military”. Consequently, the energy producer gives a batch free of charge every month, but nowhere is it indicated that this particular batch in the Novus supermarket chain was intended for the military. Producers of the energy drink “First Private Brewery” also talked about the campaign in their social networks. The author of the video manipulated by showing only part of the inscription.

Thus, they are trying to sow discord among Ukrainians, saying that some people profit during the war. Earlier, we refuted the fake that Ukrainian military equipment is being sold at the car market in Poland.

In the pro-Kremlin media and in the Russian segment of Facebook, they spread information that the Ukrainian military administration allegedly fled from the city of Kupiansk, Kharkiv region. The news appeared against the backdrop of fakes that the Russians allegedly took Synkivka. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. There is no information on the official pages of the Kupiansk city military administration and the Kharkiv regional military administration that the administration left the city. Andrii Besedin, the head of the city administration of Kupiansk, told the fact-checkers: “Everyone is at their workplaces. We are working as normal”. And the speaker of the Kharkiv regional military administration, Olena Shapoval, on the air of Radio Svoboda (Liberty) said that everyone was in their places.

Also, after the publication of information about the flight of the administration, Andrii Besedin published a post about a working meeting with photographs from his office. Also on August 21, he posted a video from the city center near the memorial sign of the defender groundhog - the symbol of Kupiansk.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to spread panic among Ukrainians and cause distrust in the authorities, saying that the Ukrainian military administration left them and Ukraine does not need them. We have previously refuted the manipulation that Ukraine is going to attack the Hasidim in Uman in order to get the Israeli air defense system.

Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that Ukraine is preparing to carry out armed provocations against Hasidic pilgrims. The Ukrainian military will allegedly launch a missile attack on Uman during Rosh Hashanah New Year celebrations to blackmail Israel into getting their air defense system. They refer to the words of Ukrainian Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniichuk. It is not true.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. In an interview with Liga.net, he said that Russia may resort to provocations against Hasidic pilgrims who come to celebrate the New Year in Ukraine. That is why Ukraine offered Israel to provide air defense to protect its citizens. The Russian media distorted what the ambassador said and said that Kyiv was preparing a provocation against the Hasidim.

Russian propaganda uses repulse tactics to shift the responsibility for Russia's crimes to Ukraine - to accuse it of shelling Ukrainian territories. However, it is Russia that is shelling Ukrainian cities. Also, propagandists are trying to quarrel Ukraine with Western partners. Earlier we talked about the message that the Russian military “destroyed” an ammunition depot in Uman.

Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric and in the Ukrainian segment of Facebook are distributing a document in which servicemen of the 123rd Territorial defense forces brigade are forced to agree to cremation in case of death. The bogus order states that such a need arose as a result of the “high number of brigade casualties” and “limited logistics to the rear areas”. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. They checked the “document” with the InVID photo analysis tool and found that the print image differed from other text in terms of compression, so it was probably added in a graphics editor. Also, the wrong EDRPOU number of the military unit is indicated, and the signature of the commander of the unit, Colonel Roman Tokarenko, looks different.

On the Facebook page, the 123th Territorial defense forces brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine also reported that the document was fake. StopFake fact-checkers also took a comment from the brigade, representatives said: “This order is the IPSO of the occupying state, aimed at demoralizing the personnel of the brigade and Ukrainian society. The command of military unit A 7052 never gave any such orders”.

Thus, the Russian propaganda is trying to sow panic among civilians and military personnel, saying that Ukraine has many losses at the front. Earlier, we refuted the fake that in Ternopil they threaten to turn off gas and hot water to conscripts who do not come to the Territorial center of recruitment and social support.

Russian media, broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, reported that the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra will be populated by servicemen of the Azov Battalion, who will “shout, swear, suck on already legalized drugs, drink, mock, commit arbitrariness”. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. The National Reserve Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra presented a program for military personnel “Spiritual Restoration of Culture”. Within 7 days, the military and chaplains will communicate with the clergy, historians, art historians, archaeologists, etc. Under this program, chaplains will reside on the premises of the National Academy of Cultural and Art Leadership. Therefore, we are not talking about the settlement of military personnel on a permanent basis or the transfer of Lavra to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Thus, the Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Azov military personnel and split the society through religion. Earlier, we refuted the fake that NATO could involve the Azov and Kraken battalions to suppress protests in France.

Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that the Ukrainian military is allegedly preparing the kidnapping of 523 children in the Kupiansk district of the Kharkiv region. The children are planned to be sold, and the money to be divided between Zelenskyi's officials and Western patrons. This is manipulation.

The case was studied by the fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. The Ukrainian military does not kidnap children, unlike the Russian military, but evacuates them from dangerous areas. After the shelling of the Kupiansk district became more intense, it was decided to evacuate part of the population. Precisely because Russian troops are shelling the civilian population and infrastructure, the issue of forced evacuation of minors is being considered, but only accompanied by parents or guardians. They are promised to be provided with free housing in Kharkiv or in the West of the country and all necessary assistance.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and the military, and also diverts attention from the crimes of Russians who are kidnapping children in the temporarily occupied territories. Earlier, we refuted the fake that Ukraine is taking away children from families living in the war zone.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that the Ukrainian military had allegedly looted a pharmacy in Chasiv Yar and set it on fire. It seems to be a typical tactic of the Ukrainian army. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the VoxCheck fact-checker. The house depicted in the photo distributed by Russian propaganda was damaged as a result of Russian shelling. Through a reverse Google image search, they determined that the photo was first published by the head of the Donetsk Regional Military Administration, Pavlo Kyrylenko.

On July 26, civilian objects were damaged by enemy shelling, including 2 houses in the Chasiv Yar community. Kyrylenko did not give the address, but the photo posted on the telegram channel shows exactly this pharmacy, which is being distributed by propagandists.

Russian propaganda is using reflection tactics to divert the world's attention from Russia's crimes and blame Ukraine for them. Earlier, we refuted the fake that the Ukrainian military is equipping dungeons for children.

On August 15, Russian Defense Minister Serhii Shoihu spoke at the 11th Moscow Conference on International Security, where he stated that “one of the priority humanitarian tasks of a special military operation is the release of Russian servicemen from Ukrainian captivity”.

Special military operation (in Russian - SVO) is a term that has entered the dictionary of the Russian new language and is used to refer to Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine. That is, the war unleashed by the aggressor country Russia. To justify the crimes against the Ukrainian people, Russian propagandists have repeatedly noted that this “operation” is designed to save the Russian-speaking people who are experiencing oppression in Ukraine, to denazify Ukrainians.

The Russian military began to be captured in Ukraine after they had attacked the territory of our state and committed war crimes. Russian propaganda deliberately distorts the causes and consequences in order to divert attention from the real situation and the real motives of the war - the genocide of the Ukrainian people and the seizure of territories.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric disseminate information that the infectious disease leptospirosis is spreading among the military of the 103rd  separate territorial defense brigade. They refer to an article from the Public website, where they mention 4 people hospitalized in a Lviv hospital. It is not true.

The case was investigated by fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation. T. Aleksanian, head of the fourth diagnostic department of the infectious diseases hospital, stated that from July 31 to August 9, 4 people were hospitalized with a diagnosis of leptospirosis. However, the article does not report that the military from the 103rd brigade  were hospitalized.

Thus, the Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the brigade and sow panic among the Ukrainian military and reduce morale. Earlier, we refuted the fake that an outbreak of cholera was recorded in Odesa.

On the Russian and Lithuanian segments of Facebook and anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric information is spreading that the Ukrainian military received drugs from the United States that make them fearless at the front. In the video, a man in camouflage uniform shows a bag with the USAID logo, on which the names of the chemicals - methylphenidate and ephedrine - are written. On the right side of the video, there is a US flag and the inscription “thank you”. Also, some reports say that the 79th Separate Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine received ephedrine, used in the production of methamphetamine, along with a US aid package. It is not true.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the 15min project. These substances are used to make medicine and are prescribed by doctors. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has approved many medicines containing this active ingredient, methylphenidate. And ephedrine can be found in drugs, but doctors prescribe it to treat nasal congestion.

In the brand book posted on the agency's page, it is noted that the colors of the logo should be red and blue, and not black and red, as in the video. Also on the USAID page there is no information about humanitarian support for the Ukrainian military.

Moreover, the representative of the 79th separate airborne brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Lieutenant Yaroslav Chepurnas confirmed that the video is fake. Representatives of the brigade denied receiving assistance with such medication.

Thus, propagandists are trying to discredit the United States and weaken the assistance of Western partners to Ukraine. And also to support the fiction that the Ukrainian military uses drugs and, in part, they are forced to do it. Previously, we refuted the fake that psychotropic drugs are being supplied to the Ukrainian military.

In the Italian segment of Facebook, the social network X, which was formerly called Twitter, and TikTok, a video allegedly staged by Ukrainian military personnel is being distributed. The video shows two soldiers in camouflage pulling a dummy behind a tree, while a woman in a green vest follows them and takes pictures. One of the users who shared the video signed it: “Hollywood in Ukraine. It would have been nice if the woman in the green vest had stepped out of the frame when they were filming the scene”. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the Facta project. In fact, the video was published on the page of the NGO of the Training Center 12 of the city of Kremenchuh. The video is signed as follows: “It is better to test yourself and really evaluate your strengths in training tasks ... Basic military training of the civilian population of GO STC 12”. So, the video shows the moment of military exercises.

In this way, Russian propaganda promotes the message that Russia does not commit any war crimes, and Ukraine lies and films “performances” to discredit it. The Russians are trying to remove responsibility for war crimes, saying that they do not kill Ukrainians, and Ukraine itself fakes events. Earlier, Detector Media denied the fake that Ukrainian servicemen were filming “staging” with the wounded.

Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread the information that Ukrainian soldiers allegedly set up dungeons for children when the Russian army protects them. It's fake.

The case was studied at the Center for Strategic Communications. There is no evidence that the Ukrainian military tortures children. However, it is the Russians who illegally take Ukrainian children from the occupied territories to Russia, which is deportation, kidnapping and a war crime. It is for this that Volodymyr Putin and the Commissioner for Children's Rights in Russia, Mariia Lvova-Bielova, were put on the wanted list by the International Criminal Court in The Hague. Also, the Russian military set up dungeons for children in the Kherson region and tortured and starved children.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit the Ukrainian servicemen. They use the tactics of reflection: after the Russians were accused of torturing Ukrainian children, they began to accuse the Ukrainian military of the same crimes. Earlier, we refuted the fake that Ukrainian battalions kill Ukrainian children and then export their organs under the grain export code.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are circulating a video of a Ukrainian soldier saying that the Ukrainian military is clearing minefields with their own feet. And this is confirmed by the fact that the military command is throwing elite units to the slaughter. This is manipulation.

The case was investigated by the VoxCheck fact-checker. The propagandists used the story of Radio Svoboda (Liberty). On the video there is a fighter of the 47th separate mechanized brigade “Magura” with the call sign “Frenchman”. The video distributed by the propagandists and the video of Radio Svoboda (Liberty) are identical. The military says that the Russians densely replaced the fields and places where sappers cannot reach, the military will clear mines with their own hands. “It is very difficult because they have been standing here [the Zaporizhzhia direction] for more than a year, and all the fields are very heavily mined with anti-tank and anti-personnel mines. Unfortunately, we can say we will clear these fields with our own feet”, the military man said.

Thus, the Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the high military command of Ukraine, which allegedly does not spare the Ukrainian military and leaves them to their deaths. They also try to show the incompetence of officials and therefore the impossibility of Ukraine winning the war. Earlier, we refuted the fake that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are calling for the destruction of all people in the de-occupied territories.

Russian media disseminate information that allegedly French instructors who train the Ukrainian military do not give a damn about their future fate. Referring to the author of the Le Monde edition, Elise Vincent, they claim that the instructors, after completing the training, arrange “farewell meetings” for Ukrainians who “leave for possible death”. Like, the instructors say: what will happen to the Ukrainians does not concern us. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists of The Insider project drew attention to it. They allege that Vincent's brief article, “French Train Ukrainian Soldiers in Poland”, states that France has declassified information about a Ukrainian military training program at a former Soviet military base in Poland, which is attended by 120 French instructors and 80 additional personnel. The French Colonel Benoit, who participates in the training, notes the high motivation of the Ukrainian military. But the phrase propagated by propagandists is taken out of context. The full version of the article says that “there is no official talk about the fear of the future”, in the context of which Benoit said that further events are “not their topic”.

In this case, propagandists are trying to pass off the phrase of one colonel as proof of the indifferent attitude of foreigners to the lives of Ukrainian soldiers. However, the phrase itself refers only to the ceremony of completing the training.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Ukrainian air defense is not yet effective enough, because it is led by “incompetent” military. The authors add that the Ukrainian Defense Forces do not know how to manage air defense and themselves end up in Ukrainian high-rise buildings. According to their conclusions, all hits in civilian infrastructure (homes, shops, hospitals, kindergartens) occur, they say, because of the unprofessional Ukrainian army. At the same time, as an example of this thesis, the authors add to the publications a video of “Ukrainian air defense hitting” one of the Kyiv high-rise buildings on July 13, 2023.

Fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation explained that on the night of July 13, the Russians attacked Kyiv and the region with strike drones. The video shows the consequences of the fall of the wreckage of the Russian Shahed-136/131 UAV on a residential building in Kyiv. The propagandists simply reflected the situation and began to claim that the building had suffered at the hands of the Ukrainian army. But it is not like this.

Rhetoric about the incompetent military is often used by Russian propaganda to cover up its crimes against Ukrainian civilians. That is, all rocket attacks or drones are attributed by the Russians to the Ukrainian army, which is “inept”. Such propagandists whitewash themselves and demonize the Ukrainian military, who allegedly target Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information about the alleged disbandment of the 92nd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after the otaman Ivan Sirko. They refer to the words of lawyer Yevheniia Zakrevska, who serves in the aerial reconnaissance of the 92nd brigade. In her message, it seems to be written: “I understand the commander, Bies, a little. After he was forced to accept a company, the company soon almost disappeared. Less than a week later. Now there is actually no 92nd OMBR: there are several units of UAV operators and a hundred infantrymen scattered by other brigades”. It's fake.

Specialists of the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center drew attention to the case. They found Yevheniia Zakrevska's message and established that the Russian propagandists simply came up with and added several proposals, allegedly submitting them on behalf of a lawyer and a serviceman. Yevheniia Zakrevska wrote about how hard it is to inform people about the death of a loved one, and not about the disbandment of the brigade. In fact, her post  says: “I understand the company commander, Bies, a little. He doesn't even look older than 25. After he was forced to accept a company, the company soon almost disappeared. Those who ended up on Kreminna have almost run out in Bakhmut. Less than a week later. Bies is good. He is not hiding in the rear of the KSP, he pulled us out of various pricks several times. The fighters love him. And Pasha too. But Bies did not tell the wife about Kent's death. And now Pasha must do it”.

Against the background of news about the counteroffensive, Russian propagandists are trying to convince the Ukrainians that it is unsuccessful, and there are many losses in Ukraine, that the brigades have to be disbanded. Thus, Russian propaganda sows panic and despondency among Ukrainians. Earlier, Detector Media denied the manipulation that the former head of Estonian intelligence, Rainer Sachs, said that the Ukrainian counteroffensive was a “failure”.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say the Russians are successfully destroying Ukrainian ammunition depots. Like, Ukraine loses its combat capability and loses the war. As evidence, the authors cite as an example a video of an allegedly “destroyed” ammunition depot in Uman. The authors add that this happened on June 8, 2023 during rocket attacks.

The case was noticed by the fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project who found that on June 8, 2023, the Russians actually hit at an industrial facility and a car wash, and not at an ammunition depot. In addition, the Russians hit the supermarket. As a result, there are casualties. That is, propagandists use the rhetoric about the destruction of military objects  to cover up their war crimes because the invaders are shelling civilian infrastructure, public places where people can be. For example, on June 27, 2023, the Russians shelled the center of Kramatorsk in the Donetsk region, hitting the nearby cafes and shops. This is not a rare case.

Thus, propagandists seek to whitewash themselves, as if they do not kill civilians and do not commit genocide. At the same time, they are trying to convince that they are shelling military targets (which also does not justify their aggression), when in fact the Russian army is destroying civilian infrastructure, killing people.

Users of social networks, in particular the American segment of Instagram, spread a video showing a house driving across a field, and added the inscription: “Ukrainian tank uses the house as camouflage”. The author of the publication believes that the video allegedly shows military equipment disguised as a Ukrainian house. This is manipulation.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the PolitiFact project. They determined that there was no Ukrainian tank disguised as a house in the video. In fact, this is a car, namely the Zaporozhets, which, back in 2020, a family from near Dnipro turned into a “mobile home”. Craftsmen decorated it with Petrykivka painting, and placed icons and embroidered towels inside. A reverse search also showed that the video, dated 2020, was filmed by TV Channel 34. The Instagram post was labeled as the “False Information” one. 

The Ukrainian military does not disguise military equipment as houses. Earlier, Detector Media explained the manipulation that Mexican cartels allegedly receive weapons provided to Ukraine as military aid.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that a Ukrainian military sabotage group allegedly blew up a section of the Togliatti-Odesa pipeline that Russia was using to export ammonia. The authors add that toxic fumes allegedly covered the positions of the Ukrainian military: one was killed, several were poisoned, the rest of the military received orders to use gas masks in their positions. They also claim that the Ukrainian military is doing this on purpose. It is not true. 

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case, they established that it was not a “sabotage group of Ukrainian military”, but the Russian military that damaged the pipe of the Togliatti-Odesa ammonia pipeline near the village of Masiutivka as a result of artillery shelling. This was stated in the Kharkiv police department. The head of the Regional Military Administration confirmed that the pipeline had been depressurized as a result of Russian strikes.

Also, the thesis about the death and poisoning of the military is a lie since later the Kharkiv police department came out with a statement that the situation with the release of ammonia in the Kupiansk district is fully controlled. Nothing threatens the life and health of people. After the night shelling, the safety valves at the station worked, and due to this, the leakage of ammonia was relatively insignificant. It was also reported that a cloud of ammonia was blown away by the wind in the direction of the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions. That is, in fact, it is the Russian military who carry out terrorist attacks on industrial facilities and destroy the ecosystem of Ukraine. For example, the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine recently reported that the Russians were mining the Crimean Titan plant in temporarily occupied Armiansk and preparing a terrorist act with the release of about 200 tons of ammonia. This can lead to an artificially created man-made disaster. Russia simply reflects its actions and thus tries to present itself as a constant victim of Ukraine's “aggression”. Allegedly, it is Ukraine that commits terrorist attacks and kills civilians.

Similar theses were heard on the air of Russian propaganda TV channels and media. They say that the German authorities are silent about the war crimes of the Ukrainians, and the Ukrainian military, who came to study in Germany, show videos of the torture and execution of Russian prisoners of war. Russian propaganda says that Ukrainians are more interested in ways to intimidate the enemy than in exercises, and refers to the words of General of the Bundeswehr Andreas Marlow, who allegedly spoke about this. “They praise the punitive operations that the SS troops carried out during World War II, they show the swastika”,  Marlow allegedly said. He seems to be trying to get through to the German courts, but he and other German officers are ordered to be silent, otherwise they will be fired. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of The Insider media drew attention to the case. Propaganda telegram channels refer to the telegram channel Übersicht Ukraine, which, in all likelihood, was the first to publish an article with a “statement” by Andreas Marlow with the headline German General Confirms Ukraine’s War Crimes. The channel itself does not name its sources, but the description states: this channel offers translated content from Russian sites for the German-speaking region. We do not advocate war or violence.

In February, General Marlow gave an interview to the German television channel ntv Nachrichten, where he spoke about the Ukrainian military: “What strikes me deeply is the seriousness and motivation of the people who come to us. They are inquisitive and would rather not stop learning and exercising as much as possible”. That is, in fact, Marlow expressed directly opposite opinions to those that were disseminated by the propagandists.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads the narrative that Ukrainians are Nazis and murderers. And as if the West supports them in this. Thus, Russia is trying to shift responsibility from the aggressor to the victim of aggression. Earlier, Detector Media denied the fake that Zelenskyi allegedly wore a sweater with Nazi symbols to a meeting with the Pope.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that people living in Africa or the Middle East are calling to take part in the war against Russia on the side of Ukraine. Allegedly, people are “attracted” by EU citizenship. The authors of the messages add a screenshot of an ad on a job search website, which offers to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and note that employers will be able to provide an accelerated acquisition of EU citizenship. It is not true.

The case was taken up by Reuters fact-checkers, who turned to officials for comment in order to find out “the EU citizenship program”. At the same time, the representative of the EU Commission said that the ad has nothing to do with EU initiatives, because they did not implement or finance something similar. The speaker also added that he is sure that the ad  is part of a disinformation campaign against Ukraine and the European Union. Since there is no document certifying exclusively EU citizenship. EU citizenship is determined by the presence of citizenship of one of the EU member states. In other words, any citizen of a country of the European Union is considered a citizen of the Union. And “EU citizenship” is just a term that allows a person to better understand his or her belonging to the Union. That is, it is impossible to obtain “EU citizenship” and not become a citizen of one of the states of the European Union.

By spreading this fake, the authors are trying to show that there is no one to fight in Ukraine. Allegedly, people are already being recruited to the front, using various baits such as “EU citizenship”.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting Kremlin rhetoric have circulated an article by Russian media citing CNN about US plans to expand military training from Ukraine. Russian propaganda writes that the article used an image of a truck with pigs. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project drew attention to the case. They note that neither the Russian media nor CNN have published images of the pigs in the truck. This was verified using the Internet Archive tool.

Also, the CNN article does say that US President Biden's administration is considering training 2,500 Ukrainian troops at a US base in Germany. However, a different photo was used in the news. The results of checking with the Internet Archive showed that the CNN publication did not include a photo of pigs in a truck.

Thus, Russian propaganda wants to sow doubts about the sincerity of the support of the Americans and show that they despise the Ukrainians. Earlier, Detector Media denied the fake that the Ukrainian military allegedly massively complains about equipment supplied by the United States.

The Russian media disseminated information that forty fighters of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were poisoned to death by dumplings received from volunteers. It's fake.

Analysts of The Insider project drew attention to it. They note that propagandists began to spread it after a voice message with this story appeared in chats on Signal and WhatsApp. It was sent to these chats by a user with the nickname marjankopuk. This nickname can be found on the Internet only once in an ad on the OLX website for the sale of a children's bed and a malfunctioning microwave. According to it, “Marjan” is a Lviv resident. Also, the project specialists found a publication in 2014, according to which in the Luhansk region, indeed, “Ukrainian soldiers were poisoned with dumplings”, but no one died.

Propagandists talk about “deadly dumplings” because they want to undermine Ukrainians’ trust in volunteers and cause public panic. They say that even volunteers feed Ukrainian soldiers with trash, and what can be said about food from the state. However, Ukrainians are unlikely to be demoralized by dumplings.

Such information is disseminated by the Kremlin propaganda media. They refer to the statement of the chief US general in Europe, Christopher Cavoli, which he allegedly made on the air of the American TV channel TruNews. According to propagandists, Cavoli said that the Russian military allegedly “has not been affected negatively” in the war, and Western media seemed to distort information about the “degradation” of Russian troops. This is manipulation.

According to the fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project, Christopher Cavoli did not talk about the advantage of the Russians in the war and that the Western media distort the facts, moreover, he emphasized that Ukraine is in a good position. Russian propaganda took out of context a quote where the general spoke about the activity of the Russians in the Atlantic Ocean and that it was precisely that part of the Russian military that the war had almost no effect on. “Russians are more active than we’ve seen them in years, and their patrols into the Atlantic, and throughout the Atlantic, are at a high level, most of the time at a higher level than we’ve seen in years”, Cavoli said exclusively about the Russian military in the Atlantic Ocean.

Russian propaganda also said that the general spoke on the TruNews TV channel, but took out of context a quote from his speech to the House Committee. The Media Bias/Fact Check project, which aggregates the assessments of independent IFCN fact-checkers, writes that TruNews is a conspiracy and pseudo-scientific publication that spreads conspiracy theories and hate speech and is an unreliable source of information. VoxCheck noticed that TruNews was spreading pro-Kremlin narratives.

Russian propaganda systematically distorts interviews with foreign experts in order to discredit them. Thus, propagandists are trying to convince Ukrainians that the event does not support our country in the war and sow discouragement among society. Earlier, Detector Media refuted the fake that American General Mark Milli allegedly accidentally praised Russia for “successes” in the beginning of a “special military operation”.

Propagandists are spreading information that the head of the US General Staff, General Mark Milley, accidentally praised Russia for “successes” in the beginning of the “special military operation”. Like, he said that Russia was striving to advance into Dnipro, and thus he accidentally praised the Russian army for its professionalism. It's fake.

Analysts of the StopFake project drew attention to it. In fact, the American general did not say that about the Russian army. On the contrary, in an interview for Foreign Affairs, he stated that in a very short time, Russia did not achieve its strategic goals and could not achieve what it wanted militarily.

Propagandists constantly resort to distorting interviews with Western media people to fit their own messages. In this way, they want to show that the support of the West is not real and that in fact it recognizes the victory of Russia. But in fact, the pace of support from the West continues to grow.

Such information was disseminated in Russian propaganda media, referring to the head of the Kharkiv military garrison, Serhii Melnyk. He believes that Ukraine “will never have enough people and equipment to defeat Russia”. Russian propaganda also stated that “the combat-ready part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was destroyed, and the professional military was out of action”. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case. Russian propaganda media used an interview with General Serhii Melnyk for the Spanish edition of El País. Melnyk spoke about the defense of Kharkiv in 2022 and the upcoming counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2023. The general noted that Ukraine needs not only a large amount of equipment and ammunition, but also the military, so that rotations can be carried out more often. It was this statement that took the propaganda out of context and created the manipulation that the Ukrainian army had “already been killed”.

After the Russian propaganda media began to spread this manipulation, Serhii Melnyk explained his words. He noted that although the fighters are heroic, however, they are exhausted, some are injured, and someone dies. He also noted that Ukraine has enough resources for a counteroffensive, but the most important thing is to get enough weapons to save the lives of the fighters.

This is not the first time Russian propaganda wants to undermine the reputation of the Ukrainian military leadership and cause discouragement among Ukrainian society by manipulating the topic of a counteroffensive. Like, even the military leaders do not believe in the victory of Ukraine over Russia. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the manipulation that if the Ukrainian military fails the counteroffensive, the West will allegedly stop supporting Ukraine.

Such a “document” was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The “document” says that the Ukrainian military has increasingly begun to leave their positions, refusing to perform tasks at the forefront. They also allegedly sabotage the orders and instructions of the commanders.

This case was noticed by the fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project, who found that the report was not real. The fact-checkers sent a request to 123 TD brigade. They replied that they did not create such a report.

In particular, the “document” contains elements in its design that do not comply with the standards of modern Ukrainian office work. For example, in this case, the document should not be signed for the “commander of the OUV KHERSON (operational group of troops KHERSON)”, but is required to write for the highest military authority (for example, the headquarters of a military unit) and the authority of the Military Law Enforcement Service. This is a different type of document, namely a report. Therefore, there are other instructions for its design.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that the Offensive Guard is a “group of evaders to defend the regime of Zelenskyi”. Like, the brigades of the Offensive Guard are subordinate to the Ministry of Internal Affairs, which means that they will protect Ukrainian officials from civilians and from the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Allegedly, the Offensive Guard will work in the event of mass protests by Ukrainians, hindering freedom of speech.

The fact-checkers of VoxCheck drew attention to the case, and found that the brigades of the Offensive Guards were created to conduct combat operations since the National Guardsmen, policemen and border guards fought at the front even before the full-scale invasion of Russia. The main goal of the Offensive Guard is to form assault brigades that will liberate Ukrainian territory. Currently, 9 brigades are being formed. All these units participated in the fighting, but under a different name or in a different structure.

That is, the Offensive Guard, like the Armed Forces of Ukraine, serve Ukraine and the Ukrainians. This is not an initiative of “individual officials” to introduce their own agenda. The military, on the contrary, protects every Ukrainian man and every Ukrainian woman, and does not interfere with their freedom.

Kremlin propaganda media spread information that if the Ukrainian counteroffensive fails, the West will allegedly stop helping Ukraine. They refer to an article on The New York Times website. This is manipulation.

 As experts from the StopFake project note, in fact, the New York Times article does not say that a hypothetical failure during the Ukrainian counteroffensive will lead to the refusal of the West to help Ukraine. In the original article, the authors note that assistance can only weaken for a while, and Kyiv will be under more pressure during this period and persuaded to negotiate with Russia.

 According to the authors of the article, if this happens, by the beginning of 2024 the West will again be able to help Ukraine in full as within this time the partner countries will develop a sufficient amount of ammunition and military equipment. Moreover, during his visit to Washington, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told reporters: “between this year and next year, I think Ukraine will continue to have the momentum with it”.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to sow discouragement among Ukrainian society and convince them that they should not count on the help of the West, as well as on victory over Russia. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the message that Western tanks would allegedly not help Ukraine, but would be completely destroyed by Russia.

Propaganda anonymous telegram channels distribute a document in which the commander of the military unit 3056, Ruslan Kuzmich, allegedly instructs the personnel to “use weapons to defeat” at checkpoints. Also, this “document” refers to the organization of round-the-clock patrols and “firing points” in the Mykolaiv region in order to identify Ukrainian military evading mobilization and who arbitrarily left their combat positions. The order was allegedly issued on April 20, 2023. It's fake.

 StopFake project experts note that this document is fake. This is indicated by a number of errors, for example, the incorrect name “military unit 3056” instead of “military unit 3056 of the National Guard of Ukraine”, the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in the heading of the “document”, instead of the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the National Guard of Ukraine. Also, the name of the commander is incorrectly written in the document - Kuzmych instead of Kuzmich.

Also, the wrong code of the Unified State Register of Enterprises and Organizations of Ukraine (EDRPOU) is indicated on the seal - 12345678, although the military unit 3056 NGU has a different code - 23313931. StopFake analysts note that the propagandists probably used a sample of a seal for a military unit, which they found on one of the websites of a seal manufacturing company.

The press officer of the military unit 3056 NGU said that such an “order” was not issued, the signature does not belong to Ruslan Kuzmich, and the military unit is now in Kherson, although it was based in Mykolaiv for some time.

So, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Ukrainian army, to show the cruelty and inadequacy of the leadership of military units and to intimidate society. Earlier, Detector Media denied the fake that 20,000 policemen are going to be mobilized into the Ukrainian army.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric spread information that the Ukrainian military is allegedly complaining about the equipment that Western partners handed over to Ukraine. It is about the International M1224 MaxxPro MRAP armored car. Earlier, propagandists posted a video with this car and wrote that it was smashed “near Artemivsk”. It's fake.

The case was noticed by specialists from the StopFake project. They report that the Ukrainian military, on the contrary, has repeatedly written about the reliability of the M1224 MaxxPro MRAP, for example, the armored car withstood a hit from a grenade launcher. And even the most anonymous Russian telegram channels write that the Russian army should also be equipped with similar vehicles.

By spreading this fake, Russian propaganda continues to discredit Western partners that provide weapons to Ukraine. The propagandists want to show that this technique is outdated or expired. Earlier, Detector Media refuted the fake that supposedly fascist crosses were depicted on Ukrainian armored vehicles.

The Kremlin websites disseminate information that in Ukraine, due to the war with Russia, there are allegedly almost no people of twenty years old left. Propagandists attribute this to “the West's order to Zelenskyi to fight to the last Ukrainian”. Like, precisely because the Ukrainians are forced to fight, the number of twenty-year-old boys and girls in Ukraine “has decreased by four in just a year”. It is not true.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project investigated this case. They determined that the Russian propagandists were referring to “official statistics from the annual World Population Prospects published by the UN Secretariat”. Thus, Russian propaganda claims that last year in Ukraine there were about 200 thousand boys and 200 thousand girls of twenty years old, and this year's data show that in the age category of 21 years (these people are now 21 years old) there are only about 60 thousand boys and 50 thousand girls left.

However, the data presented in the World Population Prospects differ from the figures voiced by the propagandists. In 2023, about 133 thousand boys and 118 thousand girls aged 21 live in Ukraine, and not 60 and 50 thousand, respectively. And in 2021, when they were 19 years old, the number of boys was about 190 thousand, and girls - 180 thousand. That is, over the specified period, the number of young people in Ukraine has indeed decreased somewhat, but not by several times, as Russian propaganda claims. According to StopFake experts, the main reason for the decline in the population of Ukraine in 2022-2023 was emigration abroad due to Russia's armed aggression.

Russian propaganda spreads such fakes in order to discredit the Ukrainian authorities, demoralize Ukrainians and show the inexpediency of further resistance to Russia. They say that Ukraine is losing its youth because of the opposition to Russian aggression, and the authorities are not able to ensure the safety of their people. We note that this is not the first time Russia has manipulated figures on the population of Ukraine. Detector Media has already told how Russian propaganda counted Ukrainians by the amount of bread consumed and claimed that there are 5 million fewer Ukrainians every year.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that many of the military allegedly did not want to return to Ukraine after military training in the UK, while at the same time some even tried to hide. In addition, the authors of the reports claim that only 20% of the Ukrainian military successfully passed the exams after the training in the UK. As evidence, the authors refer to the material of The Guardian. It is not true.

The case was noticed by the VoxCheck project specialists, who determined that there was no mention of military desertion, unwillingness to return home, and poor training results in The Guardian material. The Guardian, published on March 27, noted that Ukrainian crews who were trained on Challenger 2 tanks in the UK have returned home.

We recall that earlier Detector Media refuted a fake that Ukrainian soldiers arrived in the UK for military training along with their wives, and explained the case about the alleged ban on the Ukrainian military from the West to use equipment, including Challenger 2 tanks. We also refuted the fake, in which the propagandists claimed that in Ukraine they “dug a ditch on the border with Moldova in order to stop the flight of men from mobilization”.

Such information is distributed in the Georgian segment of Facebook in Russian. Reports say that 60% of the Ukrainian military cannot return alive from the front line, and the losses are about 200,000 out of 800,000 fighters. The authors of the messages referred to information from The New York Times allegedly dated March 11. However, this is an unsubstantiated conclusion.

According to Myth Detector project analysts, the statistics presented in the viral post cannot be found in any official source. In addition, the New York Times did not publish an article about the liquidation of 60% of the Ukrainian military.

However, according to analysts, the New York Times is not directly mentioned as a source in the published information, although the text circulated on Facebook is accompanied by a screenshot of the publication, which gives the impression that this media published the information.

In fact, the March 11 issue of the New York Times pictured in the post contained two articles about Ukraine. The first one concerned the meeting between US President Joe Biden and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, where the main topic of discussion was the effective resistance of Russia against the backdrop of the ongoing war.

The second article is devoted to the grief of the fighter Dmytro Kotsiubailo who died near Bakhmut and was the commander of the “Da Vinci Wolves” unit. However, none of these articles contains information about the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces and statistical information about the Russian-Ukrainian war.

Propagandists are spreading a video in which Ukrainian soldiers allegedly shoot at a civilian car of a woman with a small child. Like, that was the reaction to the Russian language, heard from them. According to the plot of the video, the military man and the driver allegedly belong to the Crimean Tatar people. It's fake.

The fake was refuted by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Its specialists found out that the location captured on the video is located in the temporarily occupied territory between Donetsk and Makiivka. In addition, one of the primary sources of the fake is a netizen under the nickname “Yurii Aleksieich Z V”. The Ukrainian military put solid crosses on their cars, and the Wehrmacht crosses are visible on the video. Moreover, the use of registrars in Ukraine is prohibited even in the rear. The Main Intelligence Directorate specialists also found out that the body of the car on which the Ukrainian military was traveling was manufactured in Russia and was not delivered to Ukraine. In the video, you can see signs of unsuccessful editing.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine, to show them as cruel and inadequate, and also to cause conflict with representatives of the Muslim community, in particular with the Crimean Tatars.

Anonymous telegram channels spreading pro-Russian rhetoric publish information that it is currently impossible to buy antidepressants in Ukraine due to their shortage. Like, upon returning from the front, the Ukrainian military “swept away” them from pharmacies. It's fake.

When looking for antidepressants in Ukrainian pharmacies, even online, you can find the exact addresses of pharmacies where you can buy them at the moment. This is not about the presence of several items, but about a wide selection of antidepressants. Moreover, even if such a deficit did occur, it is impossible to confirm whether it was the military that provoked it or not. Civilians living in the stress of war can also buy these drugs, and antidepressants are even on the list of drugs provided under the government's “Affordable Medicines” program.

Thus, Russian propagandists want to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces and demoralize Ukrainian society. They say that allegedly the Ukrainian soldiers cannot withstand the war, which means that they must give up and start negotiating.

In fact, the topic of mental health for both military and civilians during the war is quite important. However, Russian propaganda stigmatizes it. It seems that taking care of one’s mental health is the business of “weaklings”. However, the trauma of wartime experiences can interfere with a return to normal life.

Such a message was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the Ukrainian military mocks the Islamic religion: they cut bacon on the Koran, and then kindle a fire over it. The authors of the messages add a video to the publication where this can be seen. It is not true.

The Center for Strategic Communications investigated this case and determined that the video was staged. As experts explain, it contains errors in pronunciation and an “unhidden Russian accent”. Experts quoted the phrase of one of the heroes of the video, which sounds like this: “Guys, you can’t set the fire”. The Center for Strategic Communications is sure that the Russian military independently filmed a video, tearing up the Koran and passing it off as the actions of the Ukrainian military.

Radio “Svoboda” (Liberty) journalists came to this conclusion in their study of Russian disinformation on social networks. In particular, during the study, media workers discovered fake accounts disguised as profiles of the Ukrainian military.

One of the tiktok accounts masqueraded as the personal page of a sergeant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who actually keeps his war diary. The clone page had over 19,000 subscribers, with some videos reaching millions of views. The account, which was a clone of the profile of a member of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, contained real videos shot by real soldiers, but the messages superimposed on them were not at all the messages that the author of the real tiktok account had in mind. According to journalists, these messages inspired despair and mistrust. For example, such messages were promoted: “Bakhmut cannot be kept”, “We leave Soledar”, “Military are tired”, etc. Later, a real sergeant of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was found, who confirmed that his video was used by Russian propagandists.

The journalists also investigated the fake telegram channel of the 46th airmobile brigade, created back in September. The propagandists have gathered a fairly large audience on this channel, up to 15,000 subscribers. That is, it allows the dissemination of various manipulative or fake news from there that are beneficial to Russian propaganda. It was also a clone of the real telegram channel of the 46th brigade. The official authors stated that there was nothing to do with the creation of the clone page.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the Ukrainian military is freezing male seeds using a cryopreservation method. As the authors of the messages explain, this is all planned to “breed the army of Ukrainians with a high level of russophobia”.

Analysts of the VoxCheck investigated this case, who found out that since 2014, cryopreservation has become popular among Ukrainian military personnel. After the start of a large-scale invasion, the number of applicants increased. Some clinics offer free cryopreservation for the military. However, there is no confirmed data, due to which it is possible to “breed” a whole “army” of Ukrainians with an increased level of russophobia. This is a conspiracy theory of Russian propaganda, since the cryopreservation method does not bring out a “special type of people”, but freezes male spermatozoa in liquid nitrogen for further artificial insemination “in vitro”.

The storage of frozen spermatozoa is not limited in time. For the most part, the freezing of male sperm is associated with the “in vitro” fertilization procedure. This is a specific method of treating infertility, that is, in vitro fertilization. However, cryopreservation is advised to be carried out before chemotherapy and operations that can affect the reproductive function of a person. Cryopreservation can be performed not only for men, but also for women (egg freezing).

Such information was disseminated in social networks and propaganda media. Reports say that allegedly the Ukrainian government does not allocate funds for the rehabilitation of military personnel with post-traumatic stress disorder. Allegedly, Zelenskyi “spends all the money on something else”. It is not true.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project investigated this case and found that, in accordance with the Law of Ukraine “On social and legal protection of military personnel and members of their families”, the state provides free psychological assistance:

to military personnel who do military service on the territory of Ukraine and perform military duty outside its borders;

to the military, who became persons with disabilities due to a disease associated with the passage of service;

to members of volunteer formations of territorial communities.

That is, the law regulates the process of providing free psychological assistance, so the thesis about “non-allocation of funds by the government” is unfounded. Analysts believe that the basis for creating this fake was the material of The Economist, in which journalists talk about a military rehabilitation center for the treatment of PTSD, located in the Kharkiv region. The material also said that all this was “new” for Ukraine, since until 2014 the military had received almost no psychological assistance.

It is worth noting that post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a chronic mental disorder that can develop after a traumatic event. Persistent thoughts about the traumatic event last more than a month and usually occur 6 months after the event. Intrusive thoughts appear involuntarily when some kind of trigger reminds of trauma.

Pro-Russian and occupation telegram channels are circulating reports that Poland is amending legislation to send 10,000 to 40,000 troops to Ukraine under the guise of mercenaries and employees of a private military company (PVK). Like, the Polish military would like to go to the front under their own flag, but NATO will not allow this, because then the North Atlantic Alliance will become a participant in the war. It is also alleged that Poland is adopting a law to legalize “mercenaries” who are already fighting in Ukraine and compensation to the families of the victims. It is not true.

There are no foreign mercenaries in Ukraine. The law on the legalization of Polish mercenaries in Poland is also not being prepared. According to VoxCheck, the authors of the messages refer to the so-called “military” expert and editor of the “Arsenal of the Fatherland" publication Oleksii Leonkov, who systematically promotes Russian and Belarusian propaganda narratives. Leonkov does not provide any evidence to support his words about the arrival of the Polish military in Ukraine under the guise of mercenaries and PVK employees.

Fake stories about foreign mercenaries in Ukraine have been repeatedly refuted. The propagandists claimed that the military from the EU countries fought on the territory of Ukraine even before the full-scale invasion, or the number of foreigners in the Ukrainian army would soon exceed 50%. To confirm the message about Polish mercenaries in Ukraine, Russian propaganda disfigured the quote by the Minister of Defense of Poland. The Russians claimed that in Poland they began to openly recruit Ukrainian tank troops. It was also said that Polish professional soldiers were dying in Ukraine, and a special cemetery had allegedly been created for them. Thus, propagandists are trying to downplay the combat effectiveness of the Ukrainian army, which has been resisting the Russians for a year now, and explain their own failures by the fact that they are allegedly fighting against a stronger enemy than they expected.

Such a fake was spread on social networks, in particular in telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. Reports say that Ukrainian fighters came for military training with their wives. Like, the men of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are taking their wives at the expense of taxes paid by the British. As evidence, the authors of the messages cite a photo published by the British Ministry of defense, which depicts a woman with military personnel.

Analysts from the VoxCheck project examined the case and found that there is no evidence that the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine arrived in the UK with their wives at the expense of the Ministry of defense. Probably, there was also a soldier in the photo, and this is not unusual, because both women and men serve in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

According to the Minister of defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov, as of the end of 2022, 59,786 women served in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Of these, about 19 thousand are civilian workers (in the field of medicine, office work, communications, finance and administration), and the rest are military personnel. Also, about 5 thousand women are directly involved in hostilities.

Messages are being spread on telegram channels that allegedly the Prime Minister of Moldova, Nataliia Havrylytsia, admitted that weapons and donor organs are smuggled into Moldova from Ukraine. Like, Moldova has become a real black market for selling the organs of wounded soldiers. Reports claim that on October 20, 2022 a law was passed allowing organ transplants in private clinics in Moldova. After that, the number of wounded Ukrainian soldiers allegedly increased, who are allegedly taken to Moldova for treatment, and instead are used as donors. This is manipulation.

Propagandists have been manipulating themes of organ trafficking and arms smuggling since the start of the full-scale invasion. However, not once did they provide evidence of these crimes. The Prime Minister of Moldova did not say that donor organs of the Ukrainian military get from Ukraine to Moldova. Nataliia Havrylytsia noted that the country needs additional support from the EU to combat the increase in cases of human and arms trafficking from Ukraine. In particular, in July 2022, the EU created the Support Center for Internal Security and Border Control in Moldova. It deals with combating the trade in firearms and people. Forced transplantation, which propagandists talk about, is only one of the components of the concept of “human trafficking”, as well as recruitment, transportation, sale, involvement in criminal activities, forced labor, etc. So the problem is much broader.

According to VoxCheck, the Ukrainian military is sent for rehabilitation to the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Poland, Germany, Italy, Romania, the USA and Israel. There is no official information about treatment in Moldova. Reports of “black transplantology” in the Ukrainian army have also been repeatedly refuted.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit international support for Ukraine and worsen partnerships between Ukraine and other states. Earlier, propagandists spread messages that in Poland a refugee from Ukraine was sold for organs, and in Donbas, wounded Ukrainian soldiers and locals with pro-Russian views became victims of black transplants.

Such messages are distributed in pro-Russian telegram channels. Like, on the air of Polish television, Mariusz Blashchak was asked how many Polish “mercenaries” are fighting in Ukraine, despite the criminal liability for hiring. It seems that he answered this question that this is not a big figure and this is not a problem. This is manipulation.

In fact, Mariusz Blaszczak was asked about the Polish military who are fighting in Ukraine. There was no mention of criminal liability either in the question or in the answer. The Polish minister said that a small number of Poles are fighting in Ukraine, and the opposition artificially exaggerates the problem.

Russian propaganda took Blashak's words out of context and deliberately uses the term “mercenaries”. Under Polish law, Poles must obtain the consent of the Polish Ministry of Defense to serve in a foreign army. That is, those who have received this permission sign a contract and fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian army. Otherwise, the Poles are fighting as volunteers, that is, they do not receive financial rewards from Ukraine, which means they are not mercenaries. Poland is considering the possibility of amending the legislation in order to regulate the issues of volunteers fighting in Ukraine.

Propagandists constantly spread disinformation about the participation of the Poles in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Previously, they claimed that in Poland it was open to recruit Ukrainian tank troops. It was also said that Polish professional soldiers were dying in Ukraine, and a special cemetery had allegedly been created for them.

A video allegedly from an interview with the Head of the Defense Committee of the Bundestag, Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann, is being distributed on social networks. She says that German soldiers should be sent to war in Ukraine. It's fake.

The video circulating on social networks is compiled from phrases taken out of context. As the fact-checkers of the Correctiv project note, in fact, in an interview, the politician did not explain her expectations for the candidate for the post of German defense minister after the dismissal of Christine Lambrecht. In particular, the words of Strack-Zimmermann related to the fact that the minister would be responsible for people who, according to his decision, would go to war. That is, it was said that the Minister of Defense as a whole is responsible for the leadership of the army, and not for the participation of the German military in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Moreover, the Chairman of the German Defense Committee does not decide on the missions of the German army. Also, the fact-checkers did not find any evidence that Marie-Agnes Strack-Zimmermann once spoke positively about the deployment of German soldiers in Ukraine.

Thus, Russian propaganda nourishes the narrative that foreign military forces are fighting in Ukraine. Previously, propagandists spread the message that the EU and NATO were planning to unleash the Third World War, and the military from the EU countries fought on the territory of Ukraine even before the full-scale invasion.

Such a fake was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Poland is not only preparing to take the territories of Western Ukraine, but will also try to cut off part of Belarus or Russia. Polish President Andrzej Duda allegedly wants to implement a plan for the restoration of the territories of the Rzeczpospolita (Poland republic) and will do everything possible for this. The authors of the reports add that the alleged military training planned for March will be an offensive campaign into these territories. It is not true.

As the fact-checkers of the EU vs Disinfo project explain, this is stuffing and a conspiracy theory of Russian propaganda. In the Polish segment of social networks and in the media, in particular, there is indeed information about military training, but this is a project of the Ministry of Defense, which is designed to train reservists during 2023. Reservists are persons liable for military service, but in peacetime they are leading service in a civilian way and making a career outside the armed forces. Therefore, they can study for one day or up to 90 days.

There was no talk of an attack. Poland respects international law regarding state borders and fully supports the independence and territorial integrity of neighboring countries.

Propagandists are spreading this message to once again promote the narrative of Poland being a hostile state to Ukraine. In this way, the authors of the messages want to discredit our allies, who, they say, really want to cut off the territories and pretend to be benevolent.

Telegram channels and pro-Russian media are spreading messages that allegedly the Ukrainian army and authorities are leaving Kupiansk. Such messages also found their way into the English-speaking segment. It is not true.

The head of the Kupiansk military administration, Andrii Kanashevych, denied this information. He said that the employees of the district military administration, the Security service of Ukraine, the National police, the prosecutor's office of the Kupiansky district are at their workplaces and continue to do their job properly. The Ukrainian army, according to Kanashevych, keeps the situation under full control.

According to the Kharkiv anti-corruption center, Russians have recently been spreading fake reports about a new offensive by the Russian army on Kharkiv, Kupiansk, Dvorichna, Izium and other settlements. Propagandists also say that Ukraine allegedly does not restore the liberated settlements.

Russian media and pro-Russian social media accounts are spreading reports about two Ukrainian soldiers who allegedly went to study in Germany and asked for political asylum “because of their unwillingness to die in a senseless war”. The messages refer to news published in the Financial Times. Like, the military believes that Western weapons will not help Kyiv win, but will only lead to an increase in casualties both among the military and among the civilian population. It's fake.

The Financial Times article, cited by Russian media, does not mention the Ukrainian military who asked for political asylum in Germany. It also does not contain statements by Ukrainians that Western weapons will not help Ukraine win the war. The screenshot of the publication was edited and a paragraph was added that was not in the original article.

As StopFake writes, in fact, in the article, citing two sources, they say that everything is ready at Eckernförde, the German training ground, for the start of training for the Ukrainian military on the operation of modern Leopard 2 tanks. The training will begin in two weeks.

In this way, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Ukrainian army, sow panic among  and demoralize the Ukrainians. Allegedly, if the military does not believe in victory, the situation is quite bad.

Russian media, referring to the words of the representative of the Russian foreign ministry Mariia Zakharova, write that allegedly military personnel from the EU countries fought in Ukraine even before the start of the war. Like, they worked as instructors representing the Western intelligence services. Moreover, they were mere mercenaries. It is not true.

The EU countries have not sent and do not plan to send their military personnel to Ukraine. The High representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, Jessepp Borel, noted that the EU intends to maintain the status of a “non-belligerent party”, therefore it can help everyone, except for the introduction of troops into the territory of Ukraine. Foreigners fight on the side of Ukraine exclusively on a voluntary basis: either in the ranks of the Ukrainian army, or as volunteers. The EU and international partners provide significant political, military, financial and humanitarian support to Ukraine. After the full-scale invasion, European countries not only increased aid to Ukraine, but significantly increased sanctions against Russia.

Russian propaganda tries to justify a full-scale invasion, discredit international assistance, and systematically spread messages about foreign mercenaries fighting for Ukraine. Thus, they feed the narrative that Russia is at war not with Ukraine, but with the “collective West”. Earlier, Russian propaganda said that Poles and Syrians were being recruited into the Ukrainian army. The propagandists also wrote that, along with weapons, Western countries are sending soldiers to Ukraine. More details.