Russian propagandists are spreading information on social networks that Ukrainian children are allegedly beaten in Polish schools for speaking Ukrainian. As proof, they show screenshots of falsified Google reviews. However, in reality, these “reviews” are falsified, and in the original texts they complained about completely different things, in particular, repairs or the quality of teaching.

VoxCheck writes about this. Its experts found out that although some cases of aggression towards Ukrainian students in Poland were recorded, Polish human rights activists point out that these are more isolated incidents than systematic discrimination. Previously, Russian propaganda tried to spread hostility between Ukrainians and Poles, claiming that Poles bribe schools so that their children do not study with Ukrainians, or that during the flood, Ukrainian refugees are placed in hotels, and Poles in camps.

The aim of spreading this disinformation is to incite hostility between Ukrainians and Poles, as well as to undermine trust between allies in Europe. Russian propaganda attempts to sow distrust towards Poland as a country that provides shelter to Ukrainian refugees, creating an image of Poland as a “hostile” environment for Ukrainians. This tactic is aimed at reducing support for Ukraine in Polish society and devaluing the partnership between Ukraine and the West.

Russian Telegram channels are spreading information that Ukrainian children are allegedly beaten in Polish schools for speaking their native language. As proof of this, the propagandists add screenshots of corresponding reviews from Ukrainian parents whose children study in Polish schools.

In fact, this is a fake. The screenshots are fake, the VoxCheck project reports. Yes, the original reviews were replaced, because they talked about things unrelated to the language issue. For example, there were reviews about school renovations, the quality of teaching, and others. VoxCheck journalists did manage to find one complaint about cruel treatment of refugees from Ukraine, but it was published a year ago.

It should be noted that cases of aggression towards students from Ukraine in Poland do indeed occur.

Russian propaganda continues to work to set Ukrainians and Poles at odds with each other.

Russian propaganda Telegram channels are distributing a screenshot of an alleged message on the page of the newly appointed Ukrainian Ambassador to Poland Vasyl Bodnar on the X social network. The publication states that the Poles are unworthy of the memory of their ancestors, who besieged Moscow four centuries ago. “Poland does not provide Kyiv with MiG-29, refuses to shoot down Russian missiles over Ukraine, considers Bandera a Nazi and a criminal”, Bodnar allegedly writes. In turn, the propagandists comment on this message as follows: “the new ambassador has begun work on a diplomatic scandal”.

In fact, this is a fake, the newly appointed Ukrainian ambassador to Poland did not publish this message. This is reported by the VoxCheck project. The screenshot distributed by propagandists is the same in all the messages where it appeared: the time of publication (“4 hours ago”), the number of views, preferences and distributions are the same. It is unlikely that these indicators would be identical in screenshots of different users. That is, different propaganda sources are distributing the same fake screenshot.

Bodnar has not yet started his duties as ambassador to Poland. President Zelenskyi signed a decree on his appointment on October 25, 2024, but some time will pass before he actually takes office. An ambassador begins his work from the moment his credentials are presented to the head of a foreign state, and copies of his credentials are also presented to representatives of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the case of Poland, an official ceremony with the participation of President Andrzej Duda must take place, and only after that will Vasyl Bodnar take office. For example, almost half a year passed between the appointment of former Ukrainian ambassador to Poland Vasyl Zvarych and the inauguration ceremony.

For now, Bodnar is still working in his previous position as the Ukrainian ambassador to Turkey. This is evidenced by the diplomat's social networks and the Ukrainian embassy in Turkey. In particular, after signing the decree on the new appointment, he attended a book presentation in the rank of the Ukrainian ambassador to Turkey.

The news was spread on social networks, in particular on the propaganda Telegram channel Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny, citing the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. The fake news states that 500 volunteers have been recruited for the Ukrainian Legion, which is being formed in Poland, but there is not a single Ukrainian among them.

“Ukraine needs to quickly gather enough people to form a battalion. Ukraine is doing everything to recruit foreigners to fight”, the propaganda correspondence said.

However, the fake news repeated the context of the news. In fact, the point is that as of early November, more than 500 applications from 30 countries had been submitted to the Ukrainian Legion, a military unit that is currently being formed in Poland among Ukrainian volunteers living abroad. In fact, the decision to create the Ukrainian Legion, which will be prepared with the assistance and support of the Polish Ministry of Defense, was announced following the signing of a security agreement between Ukraine and Poland on July 8 in Warsaw.

That is, only Ukrainian volunteers living abroad are signing up for this unit. There is no talk of any “recruitment of foreigners”.

Russian propaganda systematically feeds the narrative that professional military personnel from other countries are fighting in Ukraine — so-called foreign mercenaries.  In this way, Russian propaganda also tries to justify the failures of the Russian army. They say that they are not fighting weak Ukrainians, but “specially trained NATO soldiers” or Americans. Moreover, Russian propaganda throws in such fakes to show that there is no one left to fight in Ukraine and they are recruiting “anyone in sight”.

By the way, in our Newspeak column we reported that it is Russia that is recruiting mercenaries, in particular Wagner representatives. This is essentially a terrorist organization within the Russian army.

Let us recall that Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny is a fake resource created solely to spread propaganda messages that are beneficial to Russia.

Read also: The lie that Polish media reports about half a million fallen Ukrainian soldiers.

Pro-Russian sources, citing the Polish publication Gazeta.pl, are spreading information that from November 20, 2024, paper hryvnias will allegedly be printed only in Poland. According to the propagandists, the reasons for this decision are power outages, a shortage of materials, and the expensive logistics of producing the national currency in Ukraine.

However, in reality, this is a fake, journalists from the StopFake project write. First of all, the gazeta.pl website did not disseminate the relevant information. In addition, the publication publishes materials exclusively in Polish (the fake material is in English), and does not create video content (the source of the fake is a fabricated video). In the end, neither the National Bank of Ukraine itself, nor any authoritative media published the relevant “news”.

By spreading such fakes, Russian propaganda is trying to undermine trust in the Ukrainian banking system. We have previously recorded disinformation concerning the National Bank of Ukraine. For example, we refuted information that cryptocurrency payments were banned in Ukraine.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels and social media users are spreading information that Poland has allegedly begun handing over to Ukraine citizens who “escaped from mobilization”. Russian propagandists claim that the first case occurred in October 2024, when Polish police detained a Ukrainian and sent him to the Ukrainian border under escort. However, this is fake.

The StopFake project mentioned it. Its experts found out that in fact this incident concerns not evasion of mobilization, but deportation due to violations of Polish laws, namely suspicions of assisting illegal migration. Official sources do not confirm the accusations of mobilization reasons for deportation.

The spread of fakes about the deportation of Ukrainians from EU countries, in particular Poland, is part of the disinformation campaign of Russian propaganda. In October 2024, no EU government introduced a policy of returning Ukrainian citizens through mobilization. EU Commissioner for Home Affairs Ylva Johansson said that the deportation of Ukrainians of military age contradicts the Temporary Protection Directive, which regulates the status of refugees in the EU.

Russian propagandists used the flooding in Poland to create anti-Ukrainian sentiment and sow discord between Ukrainians and Poles. One of the main messages was that supporting Ukraine allegedly weakens Poland's ability to help its citizens. Propagandists spread information that Ukrainian refugees received more aid than the affected Poles, which caused negative emotions and fueled discontent. This is written by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

Examples of manipulations:

Accusations against Ukrainians of looting in areas evacuated due to flooding.

Using fake videos and data from other countries to exaggerate the scale of the disaster.

Manipulation of the numbers of dead and missing in order to distort the real state of affairs.

According to the PAP press agency, from September 13 to 25, 23,000 disinformation messages were recorded online, reaching around eight million users. The campaign also aimed to incite hostility, weaken the strategic alliance between Poland and Ukraine, and undermine unity in confronting Russian aggression. This is part of a broader information war aimed at isolating Ukraine on the international stage and reducing support among key partners. In response, the Polish authorities emphasize the continuation of comprehensive assistance to Ukraine in the fight against the aggressor.

Russian propagandists are spreading information about the demolition of a monument to UPA soldiers in the Polish village of Werkrata (Subcarpathian Voivodeship) with corresponding photos. However, this is manipulation. This is written by the Center for Counteracting Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council. They found out that in fact this is old news from 2016.

Thus, propagandists try to create the impression that Poland does not support Ukraine, provoking tensions between the nations. Such information attacks are aimed at weakening Polish-Ukrainian relations and inciting national discord, which is part of the strategy of isolating Ukraine. However, Poland continues to support Ukraine in its fight for independence, despite these destructive messages.

Anonymous Telegram channels are discussing the reaction of the Ukrainian leadership to a previously published article by The Wall Street Journal, which states that the number of killed Ukrainian soldiers allegedly reaches 80 thousand, and the wounded - 400 thousand. At a meeting with journalists on September 20, 2024, Volodymyr Zelenskyi denied such information.

“80 thousand? That's a lie. The real figure is significantly lower than what was published. Significantly”, Zelenskyi said.

WSJ journalists also reported that it is difficult to determine the exact number of dead and wounded in the Russian-Ukrainian war, since Russia and Ukraine refuse to publish official estimates or publish ones that “many do not trust”. And they formed their figures based on unnamed sources familiar with the situation in Ukraine.

Russian propagandists used this information drive and spread reports that Polish journalists also decided to conduct their own assessment of the dead and came up with a figure of up to 500 thousand killed Ukrainian soldiers.

“The more Ukrainian soldiers, and especially those from the western regions of Ukraine, die, the easier it will be for Poland to take back what already belongs only to it,” the propagandists who allegedly commented on the “results” of the study on Polish radio reported.

But this is just a Russian fake. No major Polish media outlets have come out with such news - and even with the help of a reverse Google search - using the key phrase “500,000 wojskowych zabitych na Ukrainie” (500 thousand soldiers died in Ukraine) there are no similar publications.

As for the phrase on Polish radio, it was also made up, because there were no “results”  of the study. Moreover, the quote that the propagandists cite was only published in the segment of Russian and anonymous telegram channels. That is, official sources did not confirm this: and the quote itself is a set of Russian rhetoric about “Poland taking the western part of Ukraine”.

Information about the dead is sensitive information that the Kremlin's minions are trying to speculate on, playing on the mood of Ukrainians. Due to the extremely inflated figures from the propagandists, it may seem that the war has no end and soon no one will be fighting. In general, such figures cannot be genuine; even the Ukrainian authorities can adjust some constant figures, for example, only deny the WSJ material, since it is currently impossible to establish the real number of dead during the active phase of the war.

Let us recall that in February of this year, the Ukrainian president reported the number of 31 thousand fallen Ukrainian soldiers over two years of the great war.

Propagandists claim that Warsaw allegedly has territorial claims on Western Ukraine. They say, if the Polish army enters Volyn, the Lukashenko regime will support the local population, since Belarusians will be next. The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security writes about it.

They indicate that this message has been used by propagandists since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion. Poland has been a reliable ally of Ukraine since the beginning of the war, and there is no evidence to support its territorial claims. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Belarus has become a base for Russian attacks on Ukraine. In addition, the so-called allied relations between Moscow and Minsk are considered a “diplomatic occupation of Belarus”, since Putin actually controls both the power bloc and military structures in Belarus, which indicates the loss of its sovereignty.

This misinformation is being spread to create distrust and tension between Ukraine and Poland, two key allies in the fight against Russian aggression. Russia and Belarus use this message to weaken the support of Ukraine from Poland and other Western countries, which provide significant military, humanitarian and economic assistance. This fake is also trying to blow up internal unity in Ukraine. In addition, its dissemination aims to distract attention from the real role of Belarus in the war as an ally of Russia and a participant in the aggression against Ukraine. In a broader context, such fakes help to create an image of an external enemy for Belarusian society, amplifying the rhetoric of fear and mobilization around threats to sovereignty in order to justify Lukashenko's political actions and strengthen Belarus' dependence on Russia.

Russian Telegram channels and pro-Russian users of the social network X are distributing a video allegedly published by the BBC. The material says that Polish schoolchildren allegedly do not want to study together with Ukrainian children because of the latter’s “low academic performance and bad behavior”. In turn, Polish parents are even allegedly ready to bribe the directors of local schools just to protect their children from studying in mixed classes. However, this is fake.

The video clip being distributed online has nothing to do with the BBC, Ukrinform journalists report. There is no corresponding clip on the British Broadcasting Corporation's website or on its official social media pages.

Additionally, all BBC videos on YouTube Shorts recently contain information about when they were released. However, the fake video does not have a publication date.

Russian propaganda faked the video using photos and videos found on the Internet. Some of them do not even concern Ukraine. For example, the frame with which the video begins appeared online back in 2021 - it can be found on foreign websites.

It should also be noted that earlier the Russians distributed a fake video on behalf of the BBC, which concerned the “mass use of Nazi symbols” by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. The audio track in that video matches the audio track present in the video about the negative attitude towards Ukrainian schoolchildren in Poland.

With this fake, propagandists are trying to sow discord between Ukrainians and Poles, as well as weaken relations between Ukraine and Poland. Earlier, we refuted the information that the Volyn tragedy will not be studied in Polish schools where Ukrainian children study.

A number of pro-Russian sources have spread the “news” that those evacuated as a result of the flood in Poland have nowhere to stay, because “all the places are occupied by Ukrainians”. As evidence, the propagandists cited a publication by an allegedly injured Polish woman named Dagmara Malynowska, who wanted to evacuate to a hotel with her child, but they were allegedly refused.

Therefore, the woman and her daughter were apparently forced to spend the night in a camp on the site of a school, where the child contracted pneumonia. Finally, as the Russians claim, Dagmara called on the authorities to check why Ukrainian refugees are provided better conditions than Polish citizens.

However, Russian propagandists have faked the publication. StopFake journalists found the original message by Dagmara Malinovskaya with such a photo. In the post, the woman did not write anything about Ukrainians who allegedly occupied all the places in the hotels. In fact, Dagmara published information that Primary School No. 3 was accepting evacuees and also needed humanitarian aid: water, warm food and blankets.

The Polish woman later personally refuted the Russian propaganda, stating that she had not written it. She also added that she had not been evacuated and that she did not have a daughter.

With this fake, the Russians want to spoil the attitude of Poles towards Ukrainian refugees and to quarrel with residents of neighboring countries. Earlier, we recorded a Russian message about “possible reduction of jobs for Polish teachers in favor of educators from Ukraine”.

Propagandists are spreading information in the Polish segment of social networks about possible job cuts for Polish teachers in favor of educators from Ukraine. Specialists from Demagog decided to contact the Polish Ministry of Education to verify these statements.

In its response, it stated that the admission of Ukrainian children to schools “does not result in Polish teachers losing their jobs”. Current regulations do not envisage Ukrainian teachers teaching children in Polish schools. According to the Ministry of Education, 3 million people have come to Poland since the start of the war in Ukraine, 43% of whom are children and young people. It is not known exactly how many of them have stayed permanently. The ministry notes that these children may in the future help rebuild Ukraine or become part of Polish society if they decide to stay. The ministry emphasizes that all students, including Ukrainians, must study according to the Polish curriculum, which means that teachers must know Polish at a sufficient level to teach lessons.

Spreading false information that Ukrainian teachers may displace Polish teachers from their jobs is aimed at inciting social conflicts and tensions between the two nations. This may cause fear and discontent among Poles, especially in the professional sphere. Such fakes are also aimed at reducing public support for Ukrainian refugees and aid to Ukraine in general. Creating the impression that Ukrainians are “taking” jobs or influencing the budget may push people to believe that supporting Ukraine is harmful to Polish society. Propagandists may use these fakes to create an impression of incompetence or betrayal on the part of the government, which allegedly puts the interests of Ukrainians above those of Poles. This may undermine trust in state institutions and the current authorities.

Russian resources are spreading information that the Volyn tragedy will not be taught in Polish schools in classes where Polish children study together with Ukrainian schoolchildren. The reason for the decision was the reluctance to create tension and interethnic conflicts among students. The corresponding “news” is being spread by propagandists, citing the English-language media about Ukraine United24.

However, this is a fake, StopFake journalists claim. There is no such story on the website, as well as on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of the United24 resource. The “news” was also not published in Polish media or on the website of the Ministry of National Education of Poland. That is, no one actually made such a decision.

The Volyn tragedy (in Polish historiography - the Volyn massacre) occurred in the summer of 1943 and is still a subject of debate among historians. At the same time, after the full-scale invasion, Ukraine and Poland leaned towards a policy of reconciliation and memory. “We are pursuing a calm policy. Not a policy of running around with pitchforks, but a policy of calmly seeking agreement on historically complex issues, decades-old, very complex, extremely painful for a significant group of our compatriots”, said Polish President Andrzej Duda in June 2023. In July of the same year, on the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, he arrived in Lutsk together with Volodymyr Zelenskyi to honor the memory of the victims of the tragedy.

Russia regularly speculates on the Volyn tragedy. For example, a little earlier we recorded a Russian fake about Babel publishing a quote from a Ukrainian director with the idea for the film “Volyn Chainsaw Massacre”.

Propagandists are distributing on social networks a fake quote from director Iryna Tsilyk, which was published by the Babel publication. It says: “An American director negotiated with us. He wanted to make the film “Volyn Chainsaw Massacre”. We refused, but now I think it was in vain. The vile Poles will poke our noses at the massacre like kittens as long as it benefits them, and will block our entry into the EU to the last”. However, the editor-in-chief of the publication confirmed on social networks that such a quote had never appeared in the publication.

Poland is an important ally of Ukraine, especially in the context of Russian aggression and Ukraine's integration into the EU. Intensifying conflicts based on historical events, such as the Volyn tragedy, are intended to worsen diplomatic relations and cooperation between countries. This could influence public opinion by creating a negative image of neighboring Poland and its policies

The spread of fake quotes and misinformation about Ukrainian cultural figures may reduce the level of support for Ukraine from Poland and other European countries. Russia wants to complicate the process of Ukraine's accession to the EU and other international organizations in this way. Such fakes help to divert attention from the real problems associated with Russian aggression and shift the focus to other problems.

There were reports on social networks about a knife attack in Krakow, as well as speculation that the attacker was allegedly Ukrainian. This information was quickly picked up by propagandists, but it is not true.

Polish fact-checkers from Demagog drew attention to it. They found out that on June 27, a recording was published on Facebook showing two men in a fight, one of whom was holding a knife.

The incident occurred when a cyclist hit a dog. After an argument with the animal's owner, the cyclist stabbed him several times and fled. The police quickly identified the criminal who had barricaded himself in his house. Thanks to the actions of negotiators and counter-terrorists, the attacker was detained while trying to escape through a window. The perpetrator turned out to be a 24-year-old resident of Krakow, previously known to the police.

To find out the nationality of the criminal, fact-checkers contacted the Voivodeship Police Commandant's Office in Krakow. Speaker-sub-inspector Katarzyna Czyslo denied the information that the attacker was Ukrainian:

“From the materials we have, it is clear that the perpetrator is of Polish nationality”.

They remind that in the case of sensational reports of attacks, special attention should be paid to the reliability of such information. Propagandists seize on such information to discredit Ukrainian refugees and create skepticism towards them.

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels spread information that Polish doctors are allegedly being sent to Ukraine to front-line hospitals and to participate in hostilities. According to Russian propagandists, this will happen in the near future and, moreover, forcibly. As proof, the Russians provide screenshots of one of the Polish sites with the corresponding article.

However, this information does not correspond to reality, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security Council. The article actually says that 15 Polish doctors will come to Ukraine precisely for educational purposes. The material does not mention their participation in hostilities at all.

By spreading such messages, Russian propaganda promotes the narrative of “foreign mercenaries” allegedly fighting against the Russians in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Earlier, we refuted information that a Ukrainian called on Poles to go fight against Russia.

Polish-speaking Facebook users posted a picture about Ukraine. It says: “How can a country engulfed in “war”: export goods, participate in Eurovision, participate in sports competitions, trade with the whole world, have fun in Kyiv and other places where cowards hide? Something doesn’t add up here, and at the same time it requires help from all over the world. It’s a lie, do you agree?” Polish fact-checkers from the Demagog project drew attention to this case.

In response to the question “How can a country engulfed in “war”: export goods, [...] trade with the whole world?”, they cite research by Dr. Maria Greenberg of MIT. She argues that the relationship between trade and armed conflict is complex and ambiguous. War destroys trade ties between countries, but does not eliminate them completely. Ukraine exports metals, machinery, chemicals, but mainly agricultural products. The war led to a decrease in exports of these goods and an increase in their prices. Exports of goods and services to Ukraine fell significantly in 2022, according to the World Bank. However, in 2023, Ukraine achieved some stabilization, although exports decreased by about 20% due to lower prices on world markets, not due to lower sales volumes.

Regarding participation in sports and music competitions, there are many examples of countries that sent their teams to various tournaments during armed conflicts. For example, the Syrian team took part in the 2012 Olympics in London, where the civil war continued. In 2016, teams from Iraq and Libya competed at the Rio de Janeiro Olympics. In 2020 (which actually took place in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic), the Tokyo Olympics featured teams from Myanmar and Somalia.

Ukraine is also not the first country to participate in Eurovision during the war. For example, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina - in the first half of the 90s during the wars in Yugoslavia. In 2022, the winner of the competition was the Ukrainian group Kalush Orchestra, but due to the war it was held in Liverpool (UK) in 2023.

Photos of Ukrainians walking the streets of Kyiv are not proof of the absence of war. For example, during World War II, people also continued to go about their business, as archival photographs show.

The war in Ukraine remains a real threat for many people. During the two years of war, more than 10,000 civilian deaths were confirmed as a result of Russian attacks, according to the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine. The heaviest fighting is taking place in the east of the country, but attacks are also taking place in other regions.

Propagandists use this message to create skepticism among Poles about aid and support for Ukraine and its citizens.

Russian media are disseminating information that Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk has confirmed the introduction of NATO into Ukraine. The official allegedly announced this during a conversation with the press in the Sejm (Polish parliament).

StopFake analysts write that during a conversation with the press, Mr. Tusk was asked whether NATO could help Ukraine resist Russian aggression by sending troops into the country? In response, the Prime Minister explained that the Alliance already provides Ukraine with comprehensive military assistance, but does not want to intervene directly in the war and therefore does not send its troops to Ukraine.

At the same time, the Polish prime minister also noted that there is a small technical contingent in Ukraine - these are observers and engineering specialists who remain far from the front line and do not participate in battles. Most often, such specialists oversee the distribution of military aid to allies, guard the embassies of member states, or represent the apparatus of military attaches.

Propagandists are distributing a video on social networks with the symbols of the European news channel Euronews, which states that a refugee from Ukraine allegedly created a beauty salon in Poland with mosquitoes, the bite of which was supposed to relieve clients of cellulite. The video reports that after one of the patients was admitted to a Gdansk hospital with allergies, Polish police allegedly detained Kateryna Ivanchenko, the woman who, according to propagandists, organized this business, for fraud. “The Ukrainian woman earned 1 million zlotys from ordinary mosquitoes, which were believed to suck out fat”, the publications note. In fact, this information is not true.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this. They found that the video distributed online imitates the design of Euronews videos - in particular, the company logo can be seen in the upper right corner of the video. However, there is no such story either on the official website or on the media company’s social networks. The fact that this story is completely fictitious is indicated by the fact that none of the Polish media also reported such cases of fraud on the part of the Ukrainian woman.

To create a fake video, attackers used video clips from free stock videos. To illustrate the fictitious arrest of the owner of a beauty salon, a video clip of the arrest of a suspect in the arson of a shopping center in Gdansk was taken. This incident occurred in July 2020 and has nothing to do with the incident described in the fake video.

The purpose of this fake is to discredit refugees from Ukraine in the eyes of the Poles. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other Russian fakes regarding Ukrainian refugees.

On social networks and Russian public pages, propagandists are actively spreading messages that “a group of Ukrainian refugees, dissatisfied with the policies of the Polish authorities regarding the supply of Ukrainian goods and insufficient military assistance, staged an act of revenge and set fire to the pharmaceutical composition of Farmacol in Katowice on the evening of April 8”. Propagandists are also distributing two short videos from the scene, one of which shows a burning building with the inscription Farmacol. Social networks traditionally use hate speech and accusations against Ukrainian refugees. However, this is another fake of Russian propaganda.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that on the evening of April 8, 2024, in the Polish city of Katowice, a warehouse belonging to the pharmaceutical company Farmacol actually burned, but Ukrainian refugees had nothing to do with this incident. No Polish media or any other reliable source has information about the arson of the train specifically by Ukrainians.

Moreover, the Polish site Fakehunter also denied this fake and quoted the deputy head of the prosecutor's office of the Southern District of Katowice, Slawomir Barnas: “Previous conclusions made at the visual review stage exclude the possibility of arson in this place, not to mention the fact that the culprits were foreigners”. The prosecutor's office does not yet want to comment on the true cause of the fire, since it does not yet have an expert opinion, but it calls the version that Ukrainian citizens were involved in the incident unfounded.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to demonize Ukrainian refugees in Poland and cause a negative attitude towards them. Thus, they also want Poland to stop helping Ukraine and its people. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other Russian lies about Ukrainian refugees.

Russian propagandists are spreading false information that Ukraine is not in fact a sovereign state, since its international passport has “Ukraine” printed on it instead of “Republic of Ukraine”, unlike the passports of European Union countries. However, this is not true.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to this fake. They found out that Ukraine is the full name of the state, and therefore “Ukraine” is marked on the cover of the Ukrainian passport. This practice is standard in many countries around the world, including members of the European Union. For example, a Czech passport says “Czech Republic”, and a Polish passport says “Republic of Poland”.

However, not all EU member states use the word “republic” in the name of their countries, as propagandists claim. This is because not all of them are republics. For example, the Netherlands, Belgium, Denmark, Spain and Sweden are kingdoms and therefore do not have the word “republic” on their passports. Also on the passports of other European republics, such as Hungary, Romania and Ireland, one can only see the name of the country without this word.

On passports of different countries one can see different approaches to indicating the full name of the state. Therefore, the claim that Ukraine is not a state due to the absence of the word “republic” on its passport is baseless.

Propagandists spread such fakes to justify Russia’s aggression towards Ukraine by the fact that Ukraine does not seem to be a real state.

In an interview for the Polish news channel Polsat News, former Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army Raimund Andrzejczak, according to propagandists, expressed the opinion that Ukraine’s losses should be estimated in millions, not hundreds of thousands. However, this information is manipulated.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found that in his speech Andrzejczak mentioned the losses associated with the large flow of refugees and limited resources for mobilization. He spoke of a certain threat, pointing to the shortage of people in Ukraine and the problem with mobilization capacity, claiming “10 million refugees”.

However, Andrzejczak's estimates of losses are not precise. According to the Mykhailo Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Research, more than 9 million Ukrainians are abroad, only some of them are refugees, and the others are labor migrants or those who left the country earlier. According to various estimates, the number of Ukrainian refugees ranges from 4.9 to 6.5 million.

The Center for Economic Strategy study also cites different figures, pointing to fewer Ukrainians abroad due to the war. Estimates of the actual losses of the Ukrainian military also vary, but do not reach millions. Approximate numbers of dead and prisoners are contained in the materials of the “Book of Memory of those who fell for Ukraine”, which has been keeping records of losses as a result of the war since 2014.

Propagandists often take phrases of famous politicians and military personnel out of context in order to dramatize the situation and cause despondency among Ukrainians.

A video is being circulated online showing Poles transporting black soil from the Kherson region in trucks. It consists of three parts: the first part shows the earthworks; the second is how a forklift fills a truck with soil; the third is filming the road by a car driver. The video contains the caption: “How was my week. Kherson region”. According to the authors of numerous publications with him, the land is being taken to the Polish city of Myslowice. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that this video first began to be distributed online by predominantly pro-Russian telegram channels and anonymous accounts back in early March 2023. They note that there is no indication in the video that the footage of the earth being loaded was actually filmed in Ukraine. A reverse image search also did not yield positive results due to the low quality of the recording. Only the last part of the video indicates that its author is probably Polish - Polish music and the Polish language can be heard in the background.

And yet, in the first part of the video, a truck is clearly visible, into which earth is being loaded, and in the second, the logo on the steering wheel of the car from which the road is being filmed is clearly visible. AFP Polska journalists, who also drew attention to this fake back in 2023, were able to identify these two vehicles: in the first part of the video a Shacman truck appears (Shacman F2000 or Shacman F3000), in the second - a Scania. This fact indicates that these two video fragments are not related to each other and were presumably combined into one video for the purpose of falsification.

The export of Ukrainian black soil is also unlikely because it is contrary to Polish and EU legislation. In accordance with Commission Regulation (EU) 2019/2072 of 28 November 2019, the import of soil and fertilizers is prohibited. Consequently, trucks with land simply could not cross the border between Ukraine and Poland. In addition, the refutation from StopFake contains a professional commentary on the deterioration of the quality of Ukrainian black soil, which is why its transportation to other countries also seems unlikely.

Propagandists spread such fakes in order to deepen tension in bilateral relations between Poland and Ukraine against the backdrop of recent events, in particular, protests by Polish farmers against the import of Ukrainian products. Detector Media also wrote how Russia is trying to use and support these protests not only in Poland, but also in other EU countries.

As the US Congress considers military aid to Ukraine, European leaders are expressing concern about how the withdrawal of US financial support in the fight against Russian aggression could affect Ukraine. An Instagram post on February 25 claimed that Poland's foreign minister called the US a “dysfunctional and unreliable” state due to delays in the process. In particular, propagandists disseminated such messages on social networks like Instagram. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the Politifact project drew attention to it. They found that while Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorsky did express concern about a possible end to U.S. military aid to Ukraine in an interview with Bloomberg News on February 22, he called for a democratic process in resolving the issue and urged the Speaker of the House of Representatives to put forward a bill on the aid package to Ukraine to vote.

In his interview, Sikorsky highlighted the potential consequences if the United States does not provide expected assistance to its allies, warning of negative developments for American alliances around the world.

There is no evidence to support that Poland's foreign minister called the US “dysfunctional and unreliable” in his interview with Bloomberg News or elsewhere. Therefore, we evaluate this statement as erroneous.

Russian propagandists take such statements out of context in order to antagonize Western states and cause skepticism about helping Ukraine. Detector Media has already written about how Russian propaganda is trying to influence the policies of the United States and for what purposes.

Russian propagandists are disseminating information in anonymous telegram channels that a mass death of birds was allegedly recorded in Poland after they allegedly ate Ukrainian grain that spilled from freight cars. “The Poles are afraid that they are next, because they are bringing poisoned grain from Ukraine”, they write in their public posts. Some propagandists also say that we are talking about grain that was allegedly grown in the radiative zone around Chornobyl, and that it is now being sold to Europe.

However, there is no factual evidence that somewhere in Poland a mass death of birds was recorded specifically through Ukrainian grain. Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this. They found that the first video being circulated by propagandists as evidence of these claims showed several dead birds, mostly crows, lying next to railway tracks in the Polish city of Zamość. No research has been conducted into the causes of death of these birds. There is no information about what happened even in the local media. There was only a message about this on social networks, where this video was published. Polish fact-checkers from the Demagog project also drew attention to the spread of fake news among Poles and took a comment from an ornithologist who confirmed that without toxicological and veterinary studies it is impossible to say that the birds died due to poisoned grain.

Local bloggers also commented on the situation, noting that there are no freight trains running in the place where the video was filmed. In addition, the birds in the video lie in amazing poses, some with broken wings. It is also surprising that in the video there are only crows, and not pigeons, sparrows or other “urban” birds.

Regarding the quality of Ukrainian grain exported to Europe, it is very carefully checked by buyers. They not only control the quality indicators of the grain, but also make sure that the products have the necessary international certification.

“Each batch is accompanied by an analysis by an independent surveyor nominated by GAFTA”, said Serhii Orlovskyi, founder of the Agrooiltrade trading company, in an interview with Latifundist.com. According to him, any discrepancy in quality could become the basis for lawsuits.

This fake is spreading against the backdrop of protests by Polish farmers against European agricultural policy and the blockade of checkpoints from Ukraine, as well as blockades of roads and highways in some provinces demanding a ban on the import of agricultural products from Ukraine. The protests are accompanied by disinformation campaigns and inciting hostility between allies, which obviously benefits the Kremlin. Detector Media has already written about how Russia is fueling and exploiting farmer protests across Europe.

Russian telegram channels, with reference to Polish border guards, disseminate information that during February 5, 2024, 16,400 people left Ukraine for Poland. The reason for this is the alleged flight of Ukrainians from Zelenskyi.

In fact, Russian propagandists manipulate information. This is written about in the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. So, on February 5, 2024, 16,400 people actually left Ukraine for Poland, but on the same day 17,600 people returned from Poland to Ukraine. In addition, this does not mean that none of those who left will return back. These days, when the skies over Ukraine are closed to civil aircraft, one of the few options to get to any other country is to go through Poland. Ukrainians can visit their relatives abroad, travel or go on their own business, and then return back.

In this case, the Russians resort to one of the propaganda tactics called “selective truth”. Its essence is that a statement may be partially true, may be completely true but not include the whole truth, or may contain several deceptive elements. That is, in the message about the “flight of Ukrainians from Zelenskyi”, the Russians deliberately kept silent about the 17,600 people who returned from Poland to Ukraine on February 5, 2024, thereby providing one-sided information.

• Read also: Ukrainian refugees are caught on the Polish-German border to send them to the front.

Russian telegram channels disseminated information about the study of Polish as a second foreign language in schools in the Poltava region. Propagandists explain this by saying that the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly preparing citizens to surrender their territories to Poland. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that in one of the classes at Lyceum No. 17 “Intelligence” in Poltava, they actually study Polish as a second foreign language (the first is English). But the decision to learn Polish was made not by the authorities, but by the parents of the students. This decision was made at the level of the parent committee and taken at the regional level for study in two schools in the Poltava region, as confirmed by information from the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

The Ministry of Education and Science has developed a program for studying the Polish language for students in grades 5-9 and 10-11, but it is not mandatory for teaching. The director of Lyceum No. 17, Olena Holtvianytsia, emphasizes that the Ministry does not limit the school in the choice of foreign languages to study. The introduction of the Polish language in the lyceum is justified by the fact that many children have experience in Poland, so it becomes a more convenient option for them than other foreign languages. It also gives children more opportunities to practice.

This innovation is due to the joint initiative of parents and schools, and it is completely unrelated to any plans for the return of territories to Poland. In addition, it should be noted that the Polish authorities have already expressed respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine several times. Detector Media has already written about why propagandists are trying to create fake news that Poland will supposedly soon seize Ukraine.

Krzysztof Sokołowski recorded a video message to the Poles and called on them to go to war in Ukraine and kill Russians. At the end of his speech, he exclaimed: “Hit Moscow, hit it to the last bullet, go ahead to Moscow, for Ukraine our homeland! Death to enemies! Glory to Ukraine! Glory to heroes!”. This video was picked up by a Polish pro-Russian politician and distributed on his pages on social networks with the caption: “In one minute, the Ukrainian is warming us up to war with Russia”.

Krzysztof Sokołowski is a Pole, he was born in Warsaw and graduated from the University of Warsaw. Ukrinform journalists write about this. The man began learning Ukrainian in 2022, as evidenced by a message on his Facebook page. Previously, Sokołowski was a lawyer, but lost his license due to numerous frauds. Now he has become a tool in the hands of pro-Russian Polish politicians.

With this fake, Russian propaganda seeks to worsen relations between Ukraine and Poland and to quarrel between the two countries. They say that the Ukrainians are also trying to involve their Polish neighbors in the war. The President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, has repeatedly noted that Ukraine does not need NATO military, but only weapons and money. Previously, Detector Media denied information that Poland would now issue draft notices to Ukrainians.

Russian propaganda resources are disseminating information that there are checkpoints on the Polish-German border where Ukrainian refugees are allegedly detained in order to deport them. It's fake.

This misinformation was processed by the fact-checkers from the StopFake project. They found out that the mentioned checkpoints do exist, but they are not related to Ukraine. The checkpoints are set up for security reasons and are related to the influx of illegal migrants and the activities of smugglers who smuggle people across the border illegally. According to the head of the press and information department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Illarion Pavliuk, the Ministry is not developing any measures to put pressure on Ukrainians liable for military service who have traveled abroad.

After the promulgation of the Bill of December 25, 2023 to improve certain issues of mobilization, military registration and military service, Russian propaganda speculates noticeably more on the topic of mobilization. The bill in the first reading contains, in particular, an invitation to Ukrainians abroad to clarify their credentials. However, this is not a hunt for people, and no forced mobilization outside of Ukraine is planned.

Pro-Russian resources write that Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support employees began handing out draft notices to Ukrainian men in Warsaw. As proof, propagandists are distributing a video in which a man in military uniform allegedly issues a draft notice to a Ukrainian in the Polish capital.

In fact, the video is staged - it was shot by a Ukrainian military man who is undergoing rehabilitation in Warsaw after being seriously wounded in the war. The purpose of this production, according to the military man, is “to fray the nerves of evaders” who left Ukraine illegally. He spoke about this in a new video distributed by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

Russian propaganda systematically speculates on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine, in particular, spreading disinformation. Propagandists fuel their narrative with this fake, saying that the Ukrainian authorities are pursuing a policy of “grabbing” ordinary Ukrainians. Moreover, from now on they will supposedly “catch” Ukrainians abroad. Previously, we worked on the Russian message, according to which paying assistance to Ukrainian male refugees seems to be much more expensive than transferring them to the service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that under the “influence of Ukrainian gangs” money laundering, trafficking in children, drugs, weapons, etc. are flourishing in Poland. The publications refer to materials from Polish media.

The VoxCheck analysts worked on the case and explained that the material was published in a Polish-language media system that systematically disseminates Kremlin propaganda. Consequently, any theses do not claim to provide objective information.

One of the materials that really reveals the topic of crimes committed by foreigners in Poland is the material in the publication Rzeczpospolita, which analyzes what crimes migrants have committed in Poland in 2022. The National Police Headquarters prepared statistics specifically for the publication on crimes committed by foreigners in Poland. Thus, in total in 2022, 15 thousand crimes were committed by representatives of different nationalities; Ukrainians, as the largest group, as well as Belarusians and Georgians, were most often included in the statistics. Analysts add: there are about 1.5 million people with Ukrainian citizenship in Poland. That is, according to relative indicators, the number of Ukrainian offenders is 0.15% of all Ukrainians in Poland. The most common type of crime among foreigners, notes Rzeczpospolita, is driving while intoxicated. The second most popular crime is drug possession.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own investigation.

Detector Media analysts have refuted a number of fakes and manipulations on the topic of Ukrainian refugees in Poland. For example, we analyzed a manipulation to increase thefts in Polish stores by a third, allegedly due to Ukrainian refugees. But they also explained another manipulation, according to which propagandists claimed that the attitude of many Poles towards Ukrainians had worsened.

Pro-Kremlin resources write that the transfer of Polish weapons to Ukraine falls under the definition of treason, since the supposed consequence of such a policy is that Poland remains disarmed. In asserting this, Russian media refer to a report by Przemysław Piasta in the newspaper Myśl Polska.

Journalists of the No Lies project examined this information. As it turns out, the online publication Myśl Polska often publishes Kremlin propaganda, so Przemysław Piasta’s text fits completely into the pro-Russian policy of this media. In reality, Poland is transferring to Ukraine the equipment it replaced with new ones, and is also fulfilling old contracts. That is, the country is actively strengthening its own army and helping Ukrainians.

Russian propaganda is once again trying to weaken military support for Ukraine by Western countries. In addition, by promoting such a message, propagandists seek to cultivate the negative attitude of Poles towards Ukraine and their leadership. Previously, we analyzed the propaganda message that Kyiv is allegedly “preparing a military provocation against Poland” in the event of a critical decline in support from Western countries.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are disseminating information that in Poland, in Wroclaw, which is famous for its street gnomes, their collection has been replenished with a new sculpture - a male refugee with a Ukrainian passport and a suitcase. However, this is fake.

The specialists from the BezBrekhni (No Lies) project investigated this case. They found out that there are no official publications on the establishment of such a figurine in Wroclaw. However, in March 2023, gnomes connected with Ukraine were actually installed there - this is a refugee with a child in her arms and a suitcase, as well as a volunteer. Thus, the Poles expressed gratitude to those who help Ukrainian refugees after February 24, 2022.

Propagandists are trying to create the impression that Ukrainians are not welcome abroad and that no one needs them. That is why the Russians resorted to a fake with such a “shameful monument” in Wroclaw. Previously, we denied information that Poland had canceled payments for Ukrainian refugees from January 1, 2024.

This information is disseminated by pro-Russian resources. They say that a referendum on this matter will take place on January 15, 2024 in Lviv and the region. According to the video that propagandists add, the survey was conducted by CBOS, the Polish Center for Public Opinion Research. Considering the comments, some residents of the Lviv region are allegedly even happy about the opportunity to live in Poland. It's fake.

The experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council examined this information. They found out that the CBOS website does not contain any materials about such a sociological survey. The latest study on Ukraine is dated November 27, 2023, and its topic is the war in Ukraine, and not the so-called referendum. In the end, no referendum on the annexation of the Lviv region to Poland can be held, since this is contrary to the legislation of Ukraine and poses a threat to the territorial integrity of the state and its security.

With the help of such disinformation materials, the Russians are trying to fuel their narrative that Poland is allegedly planning to occupy the Ukrainian event. One can also trace the attempts of propagandists to create an image of an enemy for Ukrainians from Poland. Previously, we refuted the information that during the 1.5 year war against Russia in Ukraine, more than 10,000 Poles allegedly died.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that the Ukrainian authorities seem to have begun to prepare for the surrender of the central and western regions of Ukraine to Poland. This is evidenced by the fact that children began to be taught Polish in schools in the Poltava region. However, this is a fake.

This case was studied by specialists at the Center for Countering Disinformation. They managed to find out that the Polish language in the Poltava region is taught in only two schools, and not in all, as propagandists claim. This was reported by the Poltava City Council. Moreover, at the beginning of the school year, in addition to compulsory English, children in the region were offered to study Polish or German as a second foreign language, which indicates free choice and not coercion.

By claiming that Ukraine is ready to surrender its territories to Poland, Russian propaganda  is trying to demoralize Ukrainian society and assure everyone around that the defeat of the Ukrainian side in the war against Russia is inevitable. Propagandists also aim to create an image of Poland as an enemy among Ukrainians by spreading disinformation, as in this case. As part of the narrative that Poland will supposedly “absorb” Ukraine, we wrote about a conspiracy theory called “Ukrpolin”.

This thesis is promoted by the chairman of the occupation administration of the Kherson region, collaborator Volodymyr Saldo. In addition, according to him, the strike could be carried out “in the near future” by either Western or Ukrainian missiles with Russian markings on the parts.

The Center for Countering Disinformation has reviewed this information. Russian war criminals and their henchmen constantly accuse the criminal “Kyiv regime” of provocations both on the territory of Ukraine and abroad. Taking advantage of the situation that has developed on the Ukrainian-Polish border with the Poles blocking trucks, propagandists are trying to further complicate the political relations between Ukraine and Poland. Another goal of promoting the mentioned message is to reduce Western support for Ukraine.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels and other social networks are spreading fake information that Poland is allegedly canceling payments to Ukrainian refugees from January 1, 2024. They say that Poland was Ukraine’s lawyer in the European Union, but Zelenskyi quickly managed to turn a friend into an enemy. As proof of this decision, users add a screenshot of the news from November 17, 2023, allegedly from the official website of the Polish government.

After disseminating such information, StopFake decided to check whether the Polish government really made a similar decision and reported it on the official website. As it turned out, the information disseminated is not true.

Project specialists went to the corresponding website of the Polish government, from which they allegedly took a screenshot distributed by propagandists. There is a separate page for citizens of Ukraine, containing official information for refugees in Ukrainian. Among the news published there, there is no information that the Polish government has decided to cancel social payments for refugees from January 1. The remaining publications are still relevant, in which you can familiarize yourself with all existing assistance programs. While researching this site, they also found the same picture with which Russian propaganda created a fake screenshot. The news “Living and working in Poland – 2022” uses the same image as in the false reports spread by propagandists. In addition, in the edited “announcement”, Russian propaganda made a mistake: the word “terminates” in Ukrainian should have been written in another way. This error indicates that the information may be incorrect.

The StopFake analysts note that the Polish government has indeed publicly announced a possible reduction in assistance to Ukrainian refugees. In October 2023, a representative of the Polish government, Piotr Müller, in an interview with the PAP agency, said that the decisions determined by the law on assistance to Ukrainians would probably lose force in the first quarter of next year and expressed the hope that “there is simply no need to continue them”. However, as of now, the Polish government has not announced that from January 1 all payments to Ukrainian refugees will be stopped.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to quarrel between Poles and Ukrainians, as well as to arouse mistrust of Ukrainians not only in the Polish government, but also in the Ukrainian one. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other fakes involving Poland. The large number of Russian propaganda fictions about this country is due, among other things, to the high level of support for Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric in the media claim that the Poles allegedly no longer want to see Ukrainians in their country and therefore began to massively support anti-Ukrainian parties. Like, CNN even writes about this, talking about large-scale demonstrations in Polish cities such as Lublin. However, this is manipulation.

This case was brought to the attention of specialists from the StopFake project and the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. They analyzed the publication’s original article, which is called “Poland’s goodwill towards Ukraine is weakening. The far right party is seizing the opportunity”. In fact, it only covers one of the pre-election rallies of the anti-Ukrainian and Eurosceptic Confederation party in Lublin. This explains the rhetoric against Ukrainian refugees among the event participants. At the same time, CNN journalists' interlocutors are confident in Ukraine's victory and the need to continue to support it despite all problems. There are indeed no statements in the article that the Poles “no longer want to see Ukrainians in their country”.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to create a quarrel between Ukrainians and Poles, as well as influence their internal politics, causing a hostile attitude towards Ukrainian refugees. Detector Media has already written about how Russian propaganda manipulated the topics of internal Polish politics before and after the recent parliamentary elections.

This thesis was spread in pro-Kremlin media. Reports say that Poles are increasingly hostile towards Ukrainians, whom they do not want to see on Polish territory. The authors argue that anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Poland has increased and even political parties with such rhetoric are becoming increasingly popular among citizens. To support this position, publications refer to CNN material. This is manipulation.

The StopFake analysts investigated this case and determined that the journalistic material covered the events of the election campaign in Poland, namely the rally of the Confederation party in Lublin on the eve of the elections. It is a far-right political force that proclaims nationalist views, anti-migrant sentiments and radical Euroscepticism. Accordingly, the events and characters covered in the CNN report naturally express their attitude to a particular issue. These are sympathizers of the ultra-right party.

For example, a fifteen-year-old boy told media workers from an American television and radio company that he was helping organize the event because he was against LGBT people, against the European Union and against abortion. Or another hero of a mass event argued that “some Ukrainians feel too much at home”. It is not surprising that supporters of a party that expresses right-wing rhetoric relay it. That is, this is what CNN journalists showed. However, they did not incline or create their own judgments that the Poles “do not want to see” Ukrainian refugees. Media people clearly indicated whose rhetoric this was and whether it generally coincided with the position of the state. At the same time, propagandists did not provide complete information and background of the event. Using the rally of the far-right party, the manipulators legitimized their theses and extended their conclusions to the entire Polish population.

As for the thesis about the ubiquitous popularity of parties with anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, it is untrue. The same “Confederation” received the lowest result among parliamentary elections - 18 seats in the Seimas and 7.16% of the votes.

The Polish Center for Public Opinion Research recently conducted a study of support for Ukrainians. Thus, 65% of Poles are in favor of accepting Ukrainian refugees in Poland. In addition, 64% believe that Russian aggression poses a direct threat to the security of Poland. Consequently, the thesis about the lack of support for Ukrainian refugees among Poles is also untrue.

Russian propaganda is once again trying to show a “decline in support for Ukrainians” in EU countries and others that have accepted Ukrainian refugees. In particular, they often turn to the Poles, one of Ukraine’s closest neighbors and strategic partners. Thus, the authors want to sow discord among Ukrainians and Poles.

Read our latest cases on this topic: allegedly, in Poland they accuse Ukrainians of “manifestations of Nazism”; or an anti-Ukrainian flash mob allegedly took place, initiated by the Poles.

A number of anonymous telegram channels with pro-Russian rhetoric are disseminating information that on Ukraine’s Independence Day, children sang the Ukrainian Anthem in English. They say that this proves that Ukraine has, in fact, already fully become a “puppet” of the West, which means it has lost its independence.

The specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to the manipulation. They found out that the anthem was performed by students of Nadvirnianskyi Lyceum No. 1 in the Ivano-Frankivsk region and this video was posted on the official Facebook page of the institution on March 6, 2017. Accordingly, the children did not complete this version for Independence Day. Project analysts also note that international partners do not stop expressing their support for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, citing numerous speeches by the US President, NATO Secretary General and other officials in Western countries. In addition, they remind that the anthem of Ukraine was also heard in concert halls of other countries, where spectators greeted it standing.

By spreading this message, propagandists want to undermine trust in Western partners and justify Russia’s crimes against Ukrainians. They say that Russia is really helping Ukraine maintain its independence in front of the “collective West” and if Russia loses, Ukraine will finally be occupied by Western countries. Detector Media has already written about how the Russians are scaring Ukrainians with the “occupation” of the western regions of the country by Poland.

Pro-Kremlin media are disseminating information that Germany and France allegedly promised the Ukrainian authorities early accession to the European Union if they help overthrow the Polish government. It seems that accession is impossible without changing the treaties, and it is Poland that is blocking these changes. Russian propaganda refers to Dominika Chosych, a correspondent for Polish television, who wrote about this. It's fake.

As the fact-checkers at the Center for Strategic Communications note, the Ukrainian authorities have not received such proposals from France and Germany. Moreover, the representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ihor Nikolenko, commented on this information on his Facebook page. He confirmed that there was no such proposal, and “[Ukraine] did not and does not have any intentions to interfere in the internal affairs of Poland”.

Nikolenko thanked the Poles who showed solidarity with the Ukrainians and noted that “Ukraine highly appreciates Poland’s support in repelling Russian aggression, support for our path to membership in the EU and NATO.”

Polish journalist Chosych, as determined by investigators of the BezBrekhni (No lies) project, whose words contain hidden Kremlin narratives, is playing along with Russia.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to create a quarrel between Poland and Ukraine, reduce the assistance of the Poles and discredit Western countries, in particular France and Germany. Detector Media reported on the message that Poland was “expelling” Ukrainians from the country to serve in the Ukrainian Defense Forces.

Russian media, broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, are disseminating information that the Ukrainians allegedly included Polish President Andrzej Duda in the Peacemaker database, which publishes information about the enemies of Ukraine and is a center for studying signs of crimes against the national security of Ukraine, peace, human, security and international rights. He got into this database allegedly because of “participation in acts of humanitarian aggression against Ukraine” and “dissemination of Kremlin propaganda”. The media also write that “wheat and apples are to blame for it”. It's fake.

The case was examined by the fact-checkers from the Center for Countering Disinformation. They found that there is no mention of the President of Poland on the website of the Peacemaker base. So, Russian propagandists used a photo editor to create a fake screenshot.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Ukrainians, sow discord between the friendly states of Ukraine and Poland and reduce the help of the Poles. Previously, we refuted the fake that France congratulated Ukraine on Independence Day with a billboard with a map without Crimea.

This information was disseminated by anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports note that Poland has decided to “get rid” of Ukrainian refugees, so they will be mobilized. They say that Ukraine is suffering huge losses in the counteroffensive, so it needs to somehow return people to the country.

This case was analyzed by specialists from the StopFake project, who determined that in fact, the “deportation of men liable for military service” is generally impossible, since there is no legal basis for it. Ukrainian diplomatic institutions cannot deport Ukrainians for mobilization, just as the EU authorities are not authorized to form any units from Ukrainians on their territories. That is, there is no legal mechanism or precedent for the mobilization of Ukrainians by EU members.

Ukrainian law enforcement officers can investigate and prove in court the facts of illegal border crossings under martial law. And for extradition from abroad, it will be necessary to prove the guilt of each person liable for military service according to the laws of the country of his stay in a local court.

The European Union is consolidated in its position that they will not deport anyone against their will. According to EU law, all Ukrainians who arrived in the region after the start of a full-scale invasion are protected by the Temporary Protection Directive.

Propagandists are trying to adapt their messages to audiences in different states. One of the newest attempts at such adaptation is the conspiracy theory about Ukropolin. It is being promoted to a Polish audience.

According to this conspiracy theory, the Polish government is preparing the Poles for the “absorption” of Poland by Ukraine and the emergence of the “Ukropolin” state.

“Ukrpolin” is an evolution of the “Polin” project, a variation of the so-called world Jewish conspiracy. The history of the conspiracy theory about Polina dates back to 1989. Then, in the first after 1945 elections in Poland, supporters of the Solidarity trade union came to power. Conspiracy theorists, however, decided that “Polin” had arisen, a state led by Germany and Israel (Polin is the Jewish name for Poland). Polina conspiracy theorists also believe that the POLIN Jewish History Museum is involved in this process.

In the case of Ukropolin, propagandists scare the Poles with the loss of their statehood. To do this, they take the news out of context or come up with evidence of the gradual absorption of Polish space by Ukrainians. For example, they publish an unknown list of first-year students of a technical school specializing in “automobile technician”, where only two Polish names and surnames are indicated, and all the rest are Ukrainian.

“Two Poles and other Ukrainians in the first year of an automotive technical school? Is it still Poland or Ukropolin?” - note the authors of the message.

Using this conspiracy theory, the Russians are trying to quarrel with the Poles among themselves. They mention “Ukrpolin” in any context. For example, here is how a Polish pro-Russian telegram channel presented a meeting between the leader of the United Left of Poland, Robert Biedron, and the then Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, in April 2023, about free abortions for Poles in Finland:

“Superrrr! We will kill more Poles and do it voluntarily, the most important thing is to kill them as much as possible, send them to war like cannon fodder, then make women disappointed, dress openly and go right and left, and then we will finance their abortions, and in the end we will take their country and make Ukropolin ... 

Probably, the Russians are trying to influence the perception of Ukraine by the Poles with such inventions and reduce the level of assistance to Ukraine from Poland. Currently, the level of support for Ukraine by the Polish society remains the highest among European countries. Therefore, in order to change this, the Poles are trying to cause fear for their country and skepticism towards the Ukrainians. Like, there are already so many Ukrainians in Poland that Poland is gradually turning into another region of Ukraine. This is yet another example of how conspiracy theories can deepen social divisions and fuel hatred against ethnic groups.

Such information was disseminated by anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports note that in Poland they decided to “get rid” of Ukrainian refugees, so they will be mobilized. Like, this applies, first of all, to those evading to mobilize. It looks like they will be deported. The authors refer to the material of the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. This is manipulation.

The material says that Poland forcibly returned those citizens of Ukraine who transported illegal immigrants to Europe. As for the evaders themselves, the material says that the extradition procedure for such persons may begin when Ukraine issues an international arrest warrant for each of them. And it is about possible scenarios from the Polish officials themselves. The authors of the propaganda publication distorted the meaning of the material. Moreover, in order for a person to be recognized as an evader, he needs to be handed over a draft notice. That is, one needs to find a person abroad and personally hand it over to him. From a practical point of view, this is difficult to implement.

And the “deportation of men liable for military service” is not possible at all, since there is no legal basis. Certainly. The Border Service of Ukraine can investigate crimes of illegal border crossing under martial law, and, for example, try to return a man liable for military service to Ukraine if he illegally crossed the border.

The EU is consolidated in its position that they do not deport anyone against their will. According to EU law, all Ukrainians who arrived there after the start of a full-scale invasion fall under the protection of the Temporary Protection Directive.

The Kremlin media, citing the Polish edition of Mysl Polska, disseminated information that over 10,000 Poles died in Ukraine during the 1.5 years of the war against Russia - reservists, military personnel who were sent to war, calling them volunteers. It's fake.

The case was studied by the fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. There are no publications on this topic on the Mysl Polska website, although the publication has repeatedly published Russian fakes, but journalist Mateusz Piskorski denied the information, saying: “I explain to my Russian colleagues: the material they allegedly quote does not exist. It is necessary to check the sources, and not risk the image of those few Polish media that objectively write about the current war and do not join the choir of russophobes”. He also added that they have no information about the losses of the Polish military, moreover, according to him, even the Polish Ministry of Defense does not know them.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to sow panic and despondency among the Poles and Ukrainians, sow discord in relations between the two states. Earlier, we refuted the fake that Poland is asking to open the border with Russia for trade.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric have circulated a photograph of a Wagner fighter allegedly standing on the Polish border. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the VoxCheck fact-checker. They determined that the photo had been edited with a photo editor, adding a Wagner chevron and a Russian flag. In fact, the original photo shows a Polish soldier. This fact was determined by the Google reverse. Also, Stanislav Zharyn, the Commissioner of the Polish government for the security of the information space, said that the photo is not real and can be used to spread panic.

Using the relocation of the Wagner group and leader Pryhozhyn to Belarus after an unsuccessful rebellion in Russia, Russian propaganda is trying to sow panic and create pretexts for an attack on Poland. Earlier, we refuted the fake that Poland is asking to open the border with Russia for trade.

Russian propaganda media are spreading information that Poland is allegedly asking to open the border for trade with Russia. After the cessation of trade, the country was allegedly gripped by unemployment. It's fake.

The case was studied by the fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. In fact, Poland's unemployment rate has fallen to 5.3%, the lowest in 33 years. In Poland, the borders for Russian trucks were closed, but this did not affect the country's economy, because it is focused on trade with Europe. Also, the Polish authorities did not announce the resumption of the passage of trucks from Russia.

Thus, propagandists are trying to ease sanctions against Russia and quarrel Western partners and Ukraine. Earlier, we talked about the message that the Western economy is “destroying” itself as a result of anti-Russian sanctions.

The Polish radio station Radio Zet spread the information that the explosion of one of the grenade launchers that the Poles presented to the head of the Polish police Yaroslav Shymchyk in Ukraine undermined the confidence of Ukraine and the United States in Poland. Allegedly, because of this incident, Volodymyr Zelenskyi traveled through Poland without the knowledge of the Polish special services. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications drew attention to the case. The representative of the Polish special services, Stanislav Zharyn, denied this information and said that such stuffing “is designed to humiliate the structures responsible for the security of Poland”. For spreading a fake, a Polish radio station was fined by the National Council for Television and Radio Broadcasting of Poland.

Such fakes are spread in order to discredit Poland and create the appearance that there is tension between neighboring countries that support each other. Earlier, Detector Media denied the fake that the German edition of Eulenspiegel published a cover with Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Andrzej Duda.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric distribute the cover of an ostensibly German edition of Eulenspiegel, which depicts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Polish President Andrzej Duda and the text of the Volyn tragedy. It's fake.

The case was investigated by fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation. They determined that there was no issue with that cover, and that the barcode on the cover was from another issue.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to spoil relations between Poland and Ukraine and create the appearance that there is tension between the countries supporting each other. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the manipulation that Poland officially demands an apology from Ukraine because of the Volyn tragedy.

This information was disseminated by the propaganda media. Reports say that Poland and Lithuania recently secretly approved a plan to annex the western part of Ukraine. Like, the countries are agreeing to seize part of Ukraine and are preparing for an offensive. It's a lie.

The fact-checkers of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the case, explaining that in January 2023 the presidents of Poland, Lithuania and Ukraine signed a joint statement supporting the independence, sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine. And there is no “approved” annexation plan. This is a propaganda stunt. And the fact-checkers emphasized that all the messages about the “capture” of some part of Ukraine by Western states are conspiracy theories. After all, the authors of the fake do not give specific examples and facts.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists are trying to distort reality and show that Ukraine's strategic partners really want to seize its territories or at least harm the state.

Anonymous Telegram channels that broadcast pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread the information that Poland's supposedly ruling party has made an announcement. It says that Ukraine must transfer Lviv to Poland in exchange for help. It's fake. 

The fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation drew attention to the case. They established that such an announcement does not exist, it is an invention of propaganda. Moreover, the Polish authorities and the Polish people systematically help Ukraine. 

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit Poland and sow discord among the allies. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the manipulation that the office of the President of Ukraine allegedly threatens Poland with a break in relations after the war.

Russian media are actively spreading information that Ukraine threatens Poland with a “complete break in relations” after the end of the war. Like, adviser to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podoliak said that “Ukrainian-Polish friendship is over”. However, this is manipulation.

Analysts of the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that Podoliak did indeed make a statement about competition with Poland, but only in the context of free trade and a market economy. He noted that although Ukraine and Poland take different positions on some economic issues, this does not threaten the relations of both states. In an interview with the FreeDom TV channel, Podoliak stressed that bilateral relations between Ukraine and Poland are at the highest level. He also cited the Polish-Ukrainian negotiations in the field of agriculture as an example, saying that “this discussion will not lead to breaks or anything like that”.

By spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to discredit relations between Ukraine and Poland. In addition, in this way they want to set the Poles to be skeptical towards the Ukrainians and help them. Like, the Ukrainians are really ungrateful and only use Poland in their own interests. However, this is not the case – Ukrainians help develop the Polish economy and make a valuable contribution to the culture of the state. This is evidenced by the level of cooperation between Poles and Ukrainians in a number of industries.

Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that Poland began to reach the eastern borders of 1772. The visit to Ukraine of the State Secretary of the Ministry of Development and Regional Policy, authorized by Poland for Polish-Ukrainian cooperation in the field of development, Jadwiga Emilewicz, testifies to the beginning of economic expansion. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications drew attention to the case. Jadwiga Emilewicz’s visit to Ukraine was connected with a project that attracts Poland to restore Ukraine. She arrived at the seminar “Polish-Ukrainian cooperation and prospects for the restoration of Ukraine”. And this pilot project itself includes the restoration of 8 western and central regions.

Thus, Russian agitprop is systematically spreading messages that Poland wants to take over the western part of Ukraine. All this in order to sow discord between the two states and reduce Poles' support for Ukraine. Earlier, we refuted the fake that Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Andrzej Duda met in Lutsk to implement the first stage of the Warsaw Union.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that in Poland, heavy equipment from Ukraine is being sold at the car market. There one can buy any infantry fighting vehicle (IFV), armored personnel carrier (APC) and other military vehicles that were transferred by Western partners. The authors add a screenshot from the site for the sale of cars. It's a lie.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project investigated this case and determined that on the website of the Polish car market there is no mention that the equipment was brought from Ukraine. The authors did not provide any hard evidence, which means that this is a propaganda stuffing. The car market that sells Ukrainian equipment is called Motodemont and is located in the Polish city of Kazimierz. This is a company specializing in the repair of special vehicles and trucks. They also have their own official website. Fact-checkers noted that they did not find any sign of resale of Ukrainian equipment on any of the published ads.

The site presents old copies of military equipment produced for the Polish Armed Forces. However, this technique was not transferred to Ukraine. For example, Motodemont only sells 1980s tracked military vehicles, 5 armored wheeled vehicles, a machine gun, and a launcher. Fact-checkers emphasize that this technique has nothing to do with the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Let us remind that earlier we refuted the fake that the 92nd brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine resold ambulances.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that Polish President Andrzej Duda and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi met in Lutsk and implemented the first stage of the Warsaw Union. Like, then the Poles will seize part of Ukraine. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of the “Brekhunets” (Liar) project drew attention to the case. Andrzej Duda and Volodymyr Zelenskyi did meet on July 9 and led the events to perpetuate the memory of all the victims of World War II and the 80th anniversary of the Volyn tragedy. The President of Poland wrote on his Facebook page to “demonstrate friendship in the face of a complex history”.

Russian propagandists systematically spread disinformation about Poland to convince Ukrainians that they want to take over Western Ukraine. Russian propaganda is trying to sow discord between Poland and Ukraine. Earlier, Detector Media denied the fake that NATO could agree to send troops to the territory of Ukraine.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports talk about the alleged worsening of relations between Poland and Hungary due to the “future division” of Ukraine. Like, countries are already choosing Ukrainian territories that will be included in their states. And now the two countries are competing and cannot get along. The authors will report that the Polish officials themselves announced the deterioration of relations between the countries.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project took up the case, and found out that Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki really spoke about the relations between the two states. He stated that their relationship with Hungary had changed because of Hungary's position on the Russian-Ukrainian war. The official explained that they cooperated powerfully, but now the level of support has obviously decreased. This is not the first time that Poland has criticized Hungary's position. For example, in April 2022, the chairman of the Bureau of International Policy under the President of Poland, Jakub Kumoch, said that they did not like the position of the Hungarian authorities towards Ukraine.

Propagandists seek to distort reality and convince that relations between Poland and Hungary have changed because the countries allegedly want to cut off Ukrainian territories. In fact, Polish politicians express their clear position on Russian aggression.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric and users of the Russian segment of social networks distribute a photograph of an alleged advertising poster of the head of the Wagner group, Yevhen Pryhozhyn, with the caption: “Poland is the shield of Europe. Protect Poland from the crazy Russian!”. After the Wagner military base moved to Belarus, the Polish Ministry of National Defense allegedly launched an advertising campaign for contract service in the Polish army. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. The image has been edited. At the request of specialists, the press service of the Polish Ministry of Defense reported that none of their departments responsible for recruiting candidates for the Polish Army is the author of this poster. They noted that the logo was “illegally used or tampered with”. Also, the press service added that joining the troops of the Polish Ministry of Defense is only voluntary.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to sow panic among the Poles in front of the “crazy Russian” and his army, as well as to discredit them. Like, the Poles are aggressive and ready to go to war. Earlier, Detector Media denied the manipulation that Poland is preparing for a military coup in Belarus.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular in the Polish segment of Facebook. Reports say unidentified women “desecrated” a Polish monument in Opole. Allegedly, the monument was decorated with the Ukrainian flag. So, the authors came to the conclusion that the women were engaged in profanation and desecrated the monument with a “Ukrainian sign”. The authors add video evidence to the publication. The Polish fact-checkers of the Demagog project investigated this case and found out that the organizers of the event filmed on video were a group of volunteers from Opole. They weave camouflage nets and then hand them over to the Ukrainian military. Moreover, the blue and yellow ribbon on the monument, which is visible on the monument, is not the flag of Ukraine, but the flag of the Opole Voivodeship. And even if the monument has a Ukrainian flag, this is not a profanity.

The Ukrainian banner does not contradict the values of the monument itself. It also symbolizes freedom and victory. The organizer of the rally himself noted on his Facebook that the purpose of the rally was to express solidarity with the victims of the floods in Ukraine. Thus, the authors simply tried to demonize Ukrainians, who allegedly desecrate monuments and propagate their values.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say the Poles provoked a diplomatic row when they prevented the South African President's security service and journalists from getting off the plane in Warsaw. The authors add that such an act is extremely humiliating for Poland, since, first of all, the delegation was sent to Kyiv with a peacekeeping mission. This is manipulation. 

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security notes that members of the delegation violated the rules for entering Poland. Since it was found out at the airport that the guards did not have permits for 12 containers with weapons. At the same time, the Polish Border Service said how the members of the delegation themselves were allowed to leave the plane, but they decided to stay on board. That is, the delegation was not previously detained without reason, but because of the lack of permits for weapons. And even the delegations were allowed to disembark only on the condition that the guards would not take undeclared weapons. Also, the Commissioner for the Security of the Information Space of Poland assured that if the delegation had all the permissions, there would be no problems.

A number of Ukrainian media, citing the Polish edition Rzeczpospolita, disseminate information that Poland is less willing to help refugees from Ukraine. This is manipulation.

The fact-checker of the InfoLight.UA project drew attention to the case. They examined articles from Rzeczpospolita and other Polish publications that contained publications of a “survey of public perception of Ukrainian refugees and migrants, conducted in late May - early June by the Research Laboratory of the University of Warsaw and the Academy of Economics and Humanities in Warsaw”. According to fact-checkers, the study has an unrepresentative sample, because only 584 people took part in it (in Ukraine, more than 1,000 people participate) aged 16-65 years, the survey was conducted using a mixed method. Also, the real number of respondents whose support for Ukraine has decreased is 26%. Only 85% of respondents believe that Poland should help Ukraine in the war with Russia - this is a rather big figure. According to the survey, “5% of respondents oppose the admission of refugees from Ukraine to Poland, and this percentage has not changed significantly since the beginning of the survey”.

Specialists draw attention to the fact that this study is called “Public perception of refugees from Ukraine, migrants and measures taken by the government of Mateusz Morawiecki”, and it has political and pre-election overtones. “Elections in Poland are in the fall and, obviously, this is artillery preparation”, fact-checkers note.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular in the propaganda media. The reports say that in Poland they allegedly announced “the West is preparing for a coup in Belarus”. Like, they are preparing for an armed coup in Belarus and participation in its support by military means. The authors report that the West is planning an invasion of Belarus in order to destroy it. The authors refer to the statement of the Polish General Waldemar Skrzypczak. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case and determined that the Polish general did not say that the West was allegedly preparing a coup in Belarus. The propagandists simply distorted the meaning of the statement. At the same time, the general stressed that the events that recently took place in the Belgorod region are quite likely in Belarus in the event of a successful offensive by the Armed Forces of Ukraine. According to the Polish military, it is the citizens of Belarus who can go against the regime of the self-proclaimed President Lukashenko in the future. At the same time, he also said that Poland should be ready for this and support a democratic uprising in a neighboring country.

By spreading this manipulation, propagandists are trying to demonize the West, which allegedly seeks discord in other states.

The Kremlin propaganda media disseminated information that the Polish general Waldemar Skrzypczak allegedly stated that “Poland is preparing for an armed coup in Belarus and participation in its military support”. He stated this on the air of Polsat. This is manipulation.

General Waldemar Skrzypczak notes that Russian mercenaries fighting on the side of Ukraine conducted a sabotage action in the Belgorod region. He noted that similar events could soon take place on Belarusian territory. “If the Ukrainian counteroffensive is successful, the armed Belarusians, who are part of the military potential of the Ukrainian army, will not lay down their arms”, Skrzypczak said.

Waldemar Skrzypczak did not say that Poland was preparing for a military coup. He noted: “We must be ready to support the troops that will carry out the operation against Lukashenko. We have reasons to help them just as we help Ukrainians”.

By spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to show Poland as an aggressor country ready to unleash a war against Belarus. Earlier, Detector Media denied the fake that the West is militarizing Poland in order to start a war against Russia and Belarus.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that a former adviser to the President of Poland, Jakub Kumoch, announced the future formation of “Ukropol” - a territorial union of Ukraine and Poland. Like, soon there will be no separate countries Ukraine and Poland. The authors attach a video of the official. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the Polish project Demagog investigated this case and found that the Polish politician in the video did not talk about any formation of “Ukropol”. In the video, he talks about the need to intensify military, economic and scientific cooperation between Poland and Ukraine. He says that the purpose of his words is a joint opposition to Russia's imperial desires. At the same time, the propagandists simply distorted the context of the video and started talking about Ukraine's accession to Poland, although it was about cooperation between the two sister countries.

Propagandists spread this manipulation to distort reality, talking about the so-called annexation of Ukraine to Poland. The supposedly sovereign state of Ukraine will soon cease to exist.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular in the Polish segment of Facebook. Reports say that Poland is immediately closing its borders and not letting anyone into the country. The authors of the messages emphasize that this ban is introduced primarily because of the “dangerous” Ukrainian refugees. Like, they can carry deadly diseases, such as dysentery. As evidence, the authors attach a video of a Polish blogger. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the Polish project Demagog analyzed the case and found that such information is not true. The borders of Poland are not closed and people can get into the country. Also, fact-checkers did not find this information on the website of the border service. They are sure that this is just information stuffing.

Anonymous telegram channels, where pro-Russian rhetoric is spread, say that in Poland Ukrainians are allegedly divided into “types”. They say that the first two “privileged” groups are Ukrainians who lived in Poland before the start of a full-scale invasion or who came to stay with relatives already living in Poland. And the third “type” is Ukrainians who had no previous contacts with the Poles. Allegedly, such a division is also taken into account during employment, so residents of Western Ukraine are given priority. It's fake.

In such reports, the propagandists refer to a comment by the Vice-Rector for Research at the University of Warsaw, Professor Maciej Duszczyk. However, his comment had a very different meaning. In particular, he commented on the results of a survey recently commissioned by two major Polish media - the radio station RMF FM and the newspaper Dziennik Prawny. The topic of the survey is assistance to Ukraine and Ukrainians. In particular, Professor Duszczyk mentioned to the aforementioned radio station that at the moment, according to the results of the survey, the two most popular types of assistance among Poles to Ukrainians are humanitarian and military. None of the original (Polish-language) publications on the subject and Duszczyk's comments mention any of the divisions that the propagandists talk about.

Thus, propagandists want to create the illusion that Poland despises Ukrainians, and does not help them. Like, the Poles mock the Ukrainians, so they can't be our friends. In addition, for the use of such fakes, propaganda wants to increase the fear of an “attack” by Poland or the gradual “polonization” of Ukraine, which Detector Media has already written about.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that due to the decrease in the number of able-bodied citizens in Poland, officials will compensate for this with new citizens in the “newly annexed western territories of Ukraine”. Allegedly, Poland is already planning to cut off some part of Ukraine. The authors of the messages refer to the materials of Polish journalists. It’s a lie.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project investigated this case and found that the material cited by the propagandists refers to a decrease in the number of able-bodied people and future problems in the pension system. However, the text does not mention that these problems will be solved with the help of Ukrainians from the annexed territories of Ukraine. That is, the authors of the fake message simply came up with information that was beneficial to them.

By spreading this fake, propagandists once again seek to convince that Poland wants to cut off the territory of Ukraine. Like, this is a partner with bad intentions, from whom one should expect “everything”.

Let us remind you that earlier analysts of Detector Media denied the fake, allegedly Zelenskyi promised Poland the western territories of Ukraine in exchange for “assistance during the counteroffensive”.

Such information was disseminated in Russian propaganda media and the Russian segment of social networks. Like, in Poland they are allegedly creating a special Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian corps (LITPOLUKRCORPS) to send it to Ukraine. Propaganda refers to the “Polish edition” and attached a photo showing the structure of the formation. It's fake.

The case was noticed by specialists from the StopFake project. In the photo, they noticed the sign of this “corps” belonging to the Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian brigade (LITPOLUKRBRIG), created on September 19, 2014 in Warsaw. Its purpose is not related to the Russian-Ukrainian war. According to the official text of the international treaty, the brigade must “be ready to participate in international operations to be carried out on the basis of a mandate from the United Nations Security Council”. There was no talk of protecting the sovereignty of other countries, and now the brigade is not recruiting new people.

On the website of the association, a refutation of this information was published, dated April 18, 2023: “The Lithuanian-Polish-Ukrainian brigade is not completed. We encourage you to use trusted and reliable sources”.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to portray Poland and Lithuania as aggressors, as if these countries could go to war at any moment. Earlier, Detector Media denied the fake that Poland is allegedly changing the law in order to send the military to Ukraine.

Propagandists spread the message in their media that Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is an idiot because he says that Ukraine has the right to strike on Russian territory and openly underestimates Russia. They add that Poland's role in NATO is to become the first victim of a conditional large-scale war using nuclear weapons. Since, in their opinion, Poland will disappear at the first opportunity, the “underdeveloped” Morawiecki has no moral right to make such statements.

Analysts of the EU vs DisInfo project drew attention to the message. They emphasize that the Polish prime minister said that Ukraine really has the right to strike at Russian territory because it protects itself from aggression, and that, in his opinion, the Kremlin understands that Russia would lose the war with NATO. According to Poland's 2020 National Security Strategy, the greatest threat to Poland is the “neo-imperialist policy of the power elites of the Russian Federation” implemented by force. Polish officials in this case refer to Russian aggression against Georgia, Ukraine, as well as the annexation of Crimea.

Thus, propagandists want to present Poland as an aggressive anti-Russian “hermit within NATO”, which allegedly poses a threat to Russian security. In addition, the message is an example of Russian military and nuclear blackmail against NATO countries.

Propagandists spread the message in their media that the revival of militaristic Poland has become the main goal of the current Polish government. It seems that the West has long been pushing the country towards this, and in a few years Poland will receive American tactical nuclear weapons. Poland seems to be preparing to replace France and Germany in the role of “American observer” over Europe. In addition, there are already plans to increase the number of soldiers in the Polish army to 1.5 million and that in this way NATO is preparing the country to start a war against Russia and Belarus.

Analysts of the EU vs DisInfo project drew attention to the message. They note that the current modernization of the Polish army and the purchase of new weapons are Poland's response to Russian aggression against Ukraine. In addition, according to the 2020 National Security Strategy of Poland, the greatest threat to Poland is the “neo-imperialist policy of the power elites of the Russian Federation”, implemented by force. Polish officials in this case refer to Russian aggression against Georgia, Ukraine, as well as the annexation of Crimea.

Thus, the propagandists want to present Poland as an aggressive and militant “anti-Russia”, which is ready to go to war at any moment. In addition, they want not only to shift the responsibility for Russia's actions to third parties, but also to divert attention from the crimes of Russians.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is reportedly calling on Ukraine to send its troops into Russian territory. Like, the Polish leadership wants to continue the war in Ukraine. The authors of the messages refer to a recent interview with Mateusz Morawiecki. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the case, which determined that the authors of the messages distorted the context of the interview. Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki in his interview spoke about the right of Ukraine to conduct military operations on the territory of the aggressor state. That is, he did not call on Ukraine to send troops to Russia, but expresses his opinions. He believes that Ukraine has the right to defend itself against Russia and send troops to Russia, if necessary.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular in the Polish segment of Facebook. Reports say that Ukrainians will be able to vote in the upcoming elections, because they have the corresponding PESEL document. The authors of the messages add that the result of the elections is predetermined, and that “real Poles” should no longer go to the elections. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the Polish project Demagog took up the case, they explained that the presence of PESEL does not give people the right to participate in elections: both to choose and to be elected. Powszechny Elektroniczny System Ewidencji Ludności (PESEL), that is, the Universal Electronic Population Registration System, is an eleven-digit numeric character that identifies an individual. However, the possession of PESEL does not guarantee the citizenship of the country, and the person does not acquire it upon receipt of this document. And only citizens of Poland can vote in parliamentary or presidential elections.

A foreigner can obtain Polish citizenship after fulfilling a number of conditions, in particular, a certain period of continuous residence in Poland. And only under this condition, when a person acquires citizenship, he or she can vote. No other way exists.

Such messages appeared on social networks at the end of March. The reports said that a recent report by one of the Polish TV channels allegedly showed a map according to which Ukraine should be divided between Russia, Poland, Romania and Hungary. The publications claimed that the video was relevant and the map shows that “the entire south and east of Ukraine will belong to Russia”, and the western part will “join” Poland, small parts will go to Romania and Hungary. However, this is fake. The Polish channel did not show such a map in 2023.

As the analysts of the Correctiv project found out, the video is not up-to-date, it shows a report from Polish television in 2014, in which a Russian politician offered Poland to divide Ukraine. The Polish government called the proposal “strange” and one that should not be taken seriously.

Analysts have researched that the logos of the Polish news channel TVP1 can be seen in an online video that is being circulated in the messages, but what is heard is not what the messages claim: the speaker first speaks in Polish about “joining our territory”, and then says: “ […] Hungary and Romania received a similar proposal. There is no information about which regions Russia still wants to consider as its own, but only the central region will remain within the boundaries of modern Ukraine”.

Using the image from the video and the name of the broadcaster, analysts did a reverse image search and came across an original Polish TV report. It is dated March 23, 2014, so it is not relevant, contrary to what they say in social networks.

Russian propaganda regularly spreads messages about the plans of Poland and other countries to annex part of Ukraine. In fact, such statements are always unsubstantiated, but Russia needs it to partially justify itself by illustrating the desire of other states to seize part of Ukraine.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Zelenskyi is asking for help and is ready to give everything, even the territories of Western Ukraine. The authors of the messages refer to the material of the Polish edition Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny. It's a lie.

Specialists of the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council explain that no such statement was made by Zelenskyi. At the same time, the Polish publication Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny is a fake publication that publishes propaganda articles translated into Polish. The portal was created to spread anti-Ukrainian narratives. The authors of the really existing material manipulate Zelenskyi's statement that “there will be no borders between Poland and Ukraine in the future”. However, Volodymyr Zelenskyi did not say that Poland could take the territories of Ukraine, he spoke about the all-encompassing friendship between the two brother states.

By spreading such fakes, the authors seek to portray Poland as an aggressor and level the assistance that Poland provides to Ukraine during the war. Allegedly, in fact, Poland is helping Ukraine not because of good intentions.

The propagandists also spread the thesis about “the appropriation of the western territories of Ukraine by Poland” when Zelenskyi visited Poland. Analysts of Detector Media have already spoken on what pro-Russian telegram channels wrote about Volodymyr Zelenskyi's visit to Poland.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that with the influx of Ukrainian refugees, the crime rate has risen significantly. Like, among the criminals in Poland there are many Ukrainian refugees. The authors of the messages refer to the research of the local analytical center UCE Research, as well as supposedly to the data of the Polish police. The authors argue that free entry into the European Union “became a good opportunity to realize their criminal intentions”. However, this is fake.

The case was noticed by experts from the StopFake project, they studied that from the reports published on the UCE Research platform, there is no information that the increase in crime in the country was due to the appearance of refugees from Ukraine.

Another source allegedly confirming the thesis about the increase in crime in Poland because of the Ukrainians is the police. However, the Polish police do not provide such data. Ukrainian refugees are mentioned in the annual reports only in the context of the fact that the tasks of the police officers were to protect the places where refugees were staying, the Polish police officers “led and helped organize a meeting for Ukrainians, organized numerous meetings with Ukrainians, and some of them provided them with their homes and helped them find themselves in a foreign country and in a new situation”. None of the police reports talk about the fault of Ukrainian refugees in the increase in the number of crimes in 2022.

One of the materials that really reveals the topic of crimes committed by foreigners in Poland is an article in the publication Rzeczpospolita, which analyzes what crimes were committed by migrants in Poland in 2022. The Main Directorate of the National Police has prepared statistics on crimes committed by foreigners in Poland especially for the publication. So, in total, in 2022, 15 thousand crimes were committed by representatives of different nationalities, most often Ukrainians, as the largest group, as well as Belarusians and Georgians, were included in the statistics. The most common type of crime among foreigners, notes Rzeczpospolita, is driving while intoxicated. In second place in popularity is possession of drugs.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU, in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own investigation.

Analysts of Detector Media denied a number of fakes and manipulations on the topic of Ukrainian refugees in Poland. For example, we analyzed the manipulation of increasing thefts in Polish stores by a third allegedly because of Ukrainian refugees. And we also explained another manipulation, using which propagandists claimed that the attitude of many Poles towards Ukrainians had worsened.

Against the backdrop of news about the visit of Volodymyr Zelenskyi to Poland, disinformation messages appeared in the information space, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, with the help of which propaganda is trying to advance its agenda. A team of analysts of Detector Media has identified the most common of them.

1. Zelenskyi dreams of uniting part of the territory of Ukraine with Poland

Pro-Russian telegram channels spread the message that the main purpose of Zelenskyi’s visit to Poland is to “bring together state institutions”, because “Zelenskyi wants to assimilate with Poland”. The authors of the messages convince readers that the Polish leadership “does not cease to be interested in the western part of Ukraine”, and Zelenskyi will gladly help them and give up the territory.

This is not a new message of Russian propaganda as they systematically claims that they want to tear Ukraine apart and cut off its territories. Like, first of all, Poland wants to seize the West of Ukraine, because it is important for the Poles to restore “historical justice”. Russian propaganda spread a number of fakes and manipulations on this topic. For example, about the recruitment of Poles into the Ukrainian army or about Poland building up its military force to seize the territories of Ukraine.

In fact, the head of the international policy bureau at the Office of the Polish President, Marcin Przydacz, said that the negotiations between Zelenskyi and Duda would cover “the entire spectrum of Polish-Ukrainian relations, starting with security policy”. He even assured that historical issues would be raised during the talks.

However, propagandists need such messages in order to expose Poland as an aggressor and level the assistance that Poland provides to Ukraine in the conditions of war. Allegedly, in fact, Poland is helping Ukraine not because of good intentions.

2. Zelenskyi’s arrival in Poland means the formation of an “anti-Russian coalition”

This thesis was propagated by propagandists to feed the narrative of the existence of a “collective West”. Allegedly, all the actions taken by the Ukrainian leadership are aimed at discrediting Russia. According to the authors of the messages, during the meeting with Andrzej Duda, there were “mentions of Russia”.

It is not about any “anti-Russian coalition”. Of course, the leaders of Poland and Ukraine probably gathered to discuss security issues first of all. However, such negotiations are caused by unprovoked Russian aggression. The so-called anti-Russian coalition is a response to Russia's criminal actions against Ukraine and its civilians. Russian propaganda claims that Zelenskyi is only looking for a reason to convince the whole world that Russia and Russians are bad, but in fact “Western countries are sick with Russophobia”. However, global condemnation and sanctions against the aggressor are the consequences of Russia's criminal actions, and not vice versa, as Moscow wants to present it.

3. Zelenskyi's words should be interpreted as “preparation for the surrender of Bakhmut”

Anonymous telegram channels spread the thesis about the so-called “surrender of Bakhmut by Zelenskyi”. Like, Volodymyr Zelenskyi deliberately left for Poland in order to divert the attention of Ukrainians and the rest of the world from the “situation” with Bakhmut. According to propagandists, Zelenskyi does not want to receive a stream of negativity in his direction, so he “runs away to Poland”.

As proof, the propagandists quote Zelenskyi from a joint press conference with the President of Poland that “if there are even hotter events and the danger of personnel losses due to the encircling of the city, the appropriate correct decisions will be made on the spot”. However, these words do not indicate that the President of Ukraine is running away from problems. Volodymyr Zelenskyi assesses all the risks and does not talk about the alleged withdrawal of troops from Bakhmut.

Moreover, the authors do not add any evidence confirming the thesis about the “surrender of Bakhmut” in their publications. Thus, they shift the responsibility for what is happening in the city from the Russian army to the Ukrainian president. It was Russia that attacked Ukraine, and it is precisely because of the actions of the enemy army that the situation in individual Ukrainian cities and villages is difficult. However, Russian propaganda whitewashes itself and demonizes the Ukrainian president, who allegedly is not interested in events in his country.

According to the latest data, as of April 4, the Russian army continues to storm the city and concentrate its main efforts for the offensive, in particular in the Bakhmut direction.

4. Most Western leaders meet with Xi Jinping, while Zelenskyi is “only” going to Poland

In this case, the authors of the messages contrast the meeting between the leaders of China and Russia with today's event. Like, Zelensky’s meeting with Andrzej Duda is “window dressing”, and Xi Jinping “meets only influential politicians”, attributing such a title to Putin in particular. So, Zelenskyi “only took advantage of the possible option”.

China expressed its position on Russia's war against Ukraine when, on February 24, 2023, their Foreign Ministry presented a plan to resolve the war. The document contains 12 points, which, according to Beijing, will contribute to the end of the war. Among them are a ceasefire and hostilities, the start of peace talks, and an end to unilateral sanctions.

At the same time, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg was skeptical about China's plan, arguing that Beijing “does not deserve much credibility” because it “failed to condemn the illegal invasion of Ukraine”.

China formally recognizes the territorial integrity of Ukraine and has never declared Russian recognition of Crimea or other Ukrainian regions that Russia wants to seize. However, for example, China is at the time of voting for the resolutions of the UN General Assembly, which provide for the recognition of the territorial integrity of Ukraine. And on the eve of his visit to Moscow, in an article for “Rossiiskaya Gazeta” (Russian Article), Xi Jinping called the war “a total aggravation of the Ukrainian crisis”. In addition, China can supply Russia with weapons to help it continue the war against Ukraine.

However, by spreading such a message, propagandists want to devalue the role of the President of Ukraine and show who really “leads the agenda”: Xi Jinping and Putin. Allegedly, Zelenskyi is not so “influential” to meet such “politicians”.

On March 18, in the Polish city of Kielce, a conference “Does war threaten us?” (Czy grozi nam wojna?) was held. The event was broadcast live on YouTube, and the speakers were those who have been spreading pro-Russian rhetoric in the Polish information space for a long time. Specialists of the Polish project Demagog highlighted the most important anti-Ukrainian messages from the conference.

1 Yanukovych was stripped of power in an anti-democratic way

One of the speakers noted that allegedly the ex-president of Ukraine Viktor Yanukovych was deprived of power contrary to the principles of democracy, and one should not call him a usurper or a dictator. To prove his thesis, he says that in 2010 Yanukovych was elected in elections that were held “according to all democratic standards”.

Propagandists thus again want to discredit Euromaidan and its influence on Ukrainian society. Like, this is a coup d'etat, which was organized by Washington to bring Ukraine to the brink. However, one of the reasons for the start of Euromaidan was the laws and decisions of Yanukovych, which went against public opinion, and protest is an important element of democratic processes in Europe, especially in Ukraine.

2. Ukraine will no longer return Crimea, and Kyiv started the war in Donbas

At the conference, the opinion was also voiced that the future of Ukraine was supposedly very vague, and the Russians made sure that Crimea remained “in their hands”.

Thus, propagandists want to legitimize and justify the illegal actions of Russia. Like, why does Ukraine need Crimea if it itself is falling apart? However, it was Russia that destabilized the region with its actions and illegally annexed Crimea and other temporarily occupied territories. It was Russia that also started the war in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, hiding behind the “protection of the Russian-speaking population” of these regions.

3. Kyiv regime forbids Ukrainians to speak Russian

The speakers of the event argued that Ukrainians from Donbas are afraid that “they are forced to learn a new language, that children will now speak Ukrainian ... They want a referendum”.

Through this message, propagandists want to demonize the Ukrainian authorities and justify Russia's crimes by “protecting the Russian-speaking population”. However, in addition to the fact that the Ukrainian language has always been the only state language, and Ukrainian legislation does not impose restrictions on the language of everyday communication, Russia arranges air attacks mainly on cities and regions where the use of the Russian language is common.

4. Everyone was silent when Ukraine bombed Donbas for 8 years

At the conference, one could also hear that “for 8 years, people living in the Donbas were often bombed, fired upon, and no one somehow wept over the fate of those children who died in schools…”. They say that this did not bother anyone in Ukraine and Poland, and Kyiv fired at these people.

This message is a classic example of Russian disinformation. Thus, the propagandists want to justify the crimes of the Russians. It seems that a full-scale war against Ukraine is revenge for the suffering of the inhabitants of Donbas. However, it was not Ukraine, but Russia that started hostilities there in 2014 and is ruthlessly destroying the territory of the region.

5. The war against Ukraine is part of a major plan of the world government, and very soon Ukraine and Poland will turn into “Ukropolin”.

The speakers of the event said that the war was started in order for Europe to start building “New Jerusalem, Heavenly Jerusalem, Crimean California, New Khazaria, Ukropolin”. Moreover, as proof of these words, they claim that the President of Poland, Andrzej Duda, has already stated that Poland and Ukraine will allegedly unite into one state.

In this case, the propagandists turn to the now popular conspiracy theories to shift the responsibility for the crimes of the Russians to someone else. Like, these are all the tricks of the world government, and we are all just hostages of political games. In the answer above, one can also see anti-Semitic overtones: according to conspiracy theorists, the world government consists of Jews and in this way they take revenge for all the bad things that happened to them before. However, if to talk about Duda’s speech, which the speakers refer to, it is about the speech of May 3, 2022, where, within the full context, one can understand that the Polish president is talking about the amount of assistance to Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees. Moreover, in this speech, he even emphasizes that Poland will help “the restoration of Ukraine: strong, sovereign, independent”.

Propagandists are allegedly spreading a quote from an American intelligence officer, where he reveals Poland's plan to destroy Ukrainian soldiers. They refer to an interview with retired US Marine Corps intelligence officer Scott Ritter for American journalist Stephen Gardner. Like, Poland deliberately transfers defective planes to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and turns Ukrainian soldiers into an easy target. It's fake.

Analysts of the StopFake project drew attention to the fake. They refuted Ritter's words about the “plan for the destruction of Ukrainian soldiers”: Poland is one of Ukraine's main partners in military assistance. The example with the supply of German Leopard 2 tanks and MiG-29 combat aircraft is a clear confirmation. In addition, analysts found an interview with Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki for Dziennik Gazeta Prawna, in which he said: “We help Ukraine, because our neighbor in the East determines how our future will look like”.

Talking about the personality of Scott Ritter, he is indeed a former US intelligence officer who served in it in the 1980s. Then (from 1991 to 1998) he worked as a UN weapons inspector in Iraq. But he was subsequently accused of pedophilia after trying to arrange a date with underage girls on the Internet (in all cases, the “girls” were police officers). On these charges, he was sentenced to two and a half years in prison. In 2014, he was released, but his “analytics” was in demand only from the Russian propaganda media. In particular, Ritter accused Ukraine of killings in Bucha, called Joe Biden a war criminal and claimed that Poland was trying to occupy the western regions of Ukraine.

Thus, propagandists use beneficial “experts” without due attention to their reputation. They nourish the narrative of the West, which wants “to destroy” Ukraine and Poland, which wants to take western Ukrainian lands for itself. Detector Media has already investigated this narrative and explained why it is dangerous for Ukrainians.

Such a message was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say the Poles are trying to poison the Ukrainians. Allegedly, chicken with salmonellosis was brought from Poland to Ukraine. This is manipulation.

The experts of the VoxCheck project investigated the case and found out that the State Consumer Service did receive reports of the export of hazardous products from other countries, in particular Poland. Products were exported from Egypt through Poland to Ukraine. So, the Polish company acted only as an intermediary between companies from Egypt and Ukraine. However, as fact-checkers explain, there is no question of a deliberate attempt at poisoning since, in general, the Egyptian producer supplied meat not only to Ukraine, but also to Latvia, Angola, Equatorial Guinea, Liberia and the Comoros. All recipient countries received a notification asking them to withdraw the received product from the market.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to sow panic among Ukrainians and discredit the export of goods and products to Ukraine. They say that Ukrainians are treated with disdain, and therefore they supply low-quality goods.

We recall that earlier Detector Media analyzed a manipulation that Kharkiv residents were being poisoned with foreign cookies, and explained a case about the importation of “rejected” rice from Italy.

Propagandists are spreading the news that the Polish government is forcing Ukrainian refugees to return previously provided support payments. Like, the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita published an article about this. This is manipulation.

Analysts of the Georgian project MythDetector drew attention to it. They found out that the publication cited by the propagandists really says that the Polish Social Security Service is trying to return funds paid “without legal grounds” to Ukrainian refugees. This applies to those who left the territory of Poland immediately after receiving public funds. Also, this practice only applies to payments under the programs “500+”, which is cash support for children, and “300+”, which is paid to cover the cost of school goods.

On January 28, 2023, an amendment to the Polish Law “On the Support of Ukrainian Citizens” was adopted, according to which payments stop being paid when the guardian or child leaves the territory of Poland and does not return to it within 30 days. Service Speaker Pavel Zhebrovsky notes that payments do not stop if these persons return to Poland within a certain time.

Thus, propagandists want to show that even the closest allies are tired of helping ungrateful Ukrainians. In addition, such messages are created to cause distrust of the Polish government and support the narrative about the seizure of Western Ukrainian lands by Poland. Like, today they help, tomorrow they take the money, and the day after tomorrow they are already in your house. Detector Media has already explored this narrative, which is present in a number of propaganda materials.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the level of shoplifting has increased significantly in Poland. Like, it's all because of the Ukrainian refugees, who “neglect all the laws”. The authors of the messages refer to the material of the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita, in which they allegedly investigated the issues of thefts involving Ukrainian refugees. This is manipulation.

The propagandists distorted the context of the entire material, because it was about the general trend of thefts in Poland. According to the data of the Police Headquarters, published by the Rzeczpospolita newspaper, in 2022 the number of shoplifting increased by 31.1%. Journalists explain that people steal mainly basic food products from small shops. They also stressed that organized crime groups are predominantly responsible for these thefts. At the same time, there was no mention of “Ukrainian refugees”. Although the material itself is titled “Poles are stealing goods from shops more and more”, the journalists investigated the general issue of thefts without appealing to specific people or age groups.

Russian propaganda systematically manipulates the issue of Ukrainian refugees abroad. Thus, they are trying to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, which is a cultural and economic threat to the EU in order to reduce support for Ukraine and Ukrainians. We wrote about this in our own investigation.

We recall that Detector Media previously also analyzed a manipulation in which propagandists claimed that, allegedly because of the Russian language, the attitude of many Poles towards Ukrainians worsened.

The propagandists distribute images that allegedly show an ad on OLX for renting out an apartment. According to it, “in case of the transfer of the city's territories to the jurisdiction of another state, the tenant is obliged to fulfill his obligations in full in accordance with the current lease agreement. A unique opportunity to move to Europe in one day without leaving your apartment!” The authors of messages with images in social networks add that they say that this indicates the imminent occupation of the western lands of Ukraine by Poland. It's fake.

VoxCheck analysts drew attention to it. They found the ads through the Internet Archive. The author posted it on the announcement platform on January 30 this year. At the moment, it is no longer on OLX, as well as on other platforms for finding rental properties. There are many inaccuracies in the ad itself, which is also a sign of its fakeness, in particular, the eighth floor is indicated in its text, and the second in the categories from OLX. The poster's author registered on the site in January and probably did so in order to place it, since there are no other publications in his profile. It is also impossible to find an image from an ad in an Internet search.

Thus, propagandists want to intimidate Ukrainians in the West and transfer the role of the aggressor to Western countries. They are trying to justify their aggression by “the actions of the West”. Like, today the West helps you, and tomorrow it takes your lands. Detector Media explained how Russians use this narrative in the context of Poland.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, in telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that upon Joe Biden's arrival in Warsaw, when getting off the plane, he caught on the stairs and fell down. The authors of the messages add that “this is the president's foreign policy”. A video is added to the publication, where you can see that Joe Biden is rolling down the stairs. It is not true.

Analysts of the MythDetector project investigated this case and found that Joe Biden is not depicted on the distributed shot. In a video broadcast by the Polish TV channel TVN24, one can see that it was actually one of the members of the US delegation who fell while trying to go down. Analysts explain that this shot was cut from a TVN24 special, but the full version is freely available. Therefore, one can watch it and make sure that a member of the delegation fell, leaving the back of the plane, and Joe Biden got out of the front without any incidents.

Propagandists systematically spread fakes about Ukrainian partners in order to discredit them. Thus, Russian propaganda uses the tactics of ridicule and tries to create the illusion that Ukrainian partners are despised. Drawing parallels with the so-called fall and the results of “foreign policy”, the authors of the messages want to emphasize that the decisions of the West on Russia are “meaningless and unworthy of attention”.

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.

Information is spreading on social networks and on Russian resources that US President Joseph Biden promised Ukraine “difficult times” during his speech in Poland. Like, Biden's speechwriters tried to build his speech in Warsaw as a winner's speech, but they only succeeded in fixing the intermediate results of the “conflict” between the West and Russia, in which Ukraine was assigned the role of a tool. This is manipulation.

The propagandists took the words of the American president out of context. During a speech in Poland, Joseph Biden said that the next five years are likely to be decisive for the world and the world's democracies. He expressed the same thesis during a speech in Kyiv the day before. Moreover, Biden stressed that Ukraine will never be Putin's victory and he will lose. At the same time, propagandists ignored the part of the speech in which Biden spoke about the plight of Russia.

Thus, Russian propaganda nourishes narratives about “external control” in Ukraine and “Russia’s war with the West on the territory of Ukraine”. Russian propaganda systematically uses quotes from politicians, distorted or taken out of context, to publish wishful thinking. Detector Media highlighted the key disinformation messages about the visit of the American president to Kyiv. More details.

Such a fake was spread on social networks, including the Georgian segment of Facebook. The report says that a rally was held in Poland, where Ukrainians asked Putin for help. The authors of the message add to the publication a photo where people are holding a poster with the inscription: “Putin, give us back common sense”. It is not true.

Analysts of the Myth Detector project investigated this case and found that the photo was taken using a graphic editor, the inscription was superimposed on the original photo. The real photo was taken in Warsaw during the Euromaidan protests in Ukraine in 2014. The rally was organized by the public movement “Euromaidan” in Warsaw. The participants went to the Embassy of Ukraine in Warsaw and honored the memory of those who died during the events of the Revolution of Dignity. Deputies of the Polish Seimas, in particular, joined the action.

The real photos show posters with the following slogans: “Support of the Poles’ hearts is the result of the Ukrainians’s gratitude” and “Let us unite in the fight against the aggression of a common enemy - Putin”.

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.

Russian propagandists spread information that in Poland, namely in the Warsaw metro, you can allegedly see public service announcements with a call to “protect the original Polish lands in Ukraine”. The authors of the messages claim that in this way Poland is preparing to seize the western regions of Ukraine. It's fake.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project came to the conclusion that the posters are not real. This is indicated by the link posted on the poster. It is not valid because instead of the referenced WKU, according to the updated Polish law, it should be WCR. The reason for this is that the Military Commander's Offices (WKU) in Poland have been replaced by Military Recruiting Centers (WCRs) that recruit volunteers for military service. In addition, in a commentary for Ukrinform, Grzegorz Popielaž, director of the rental and advertising office for the Warsaw metro, said that the metro does not have such advertisements. The propagandists took the old 2018 announcement for the recruitment of volunteers for the Polish army as the basis for fake posters.

Russian propaganda often frightens with the “imminent attack” of Poland on the western lands, diverting attention from their own crimes with baseless accusations. Detector Media has already investigated disinformation related to this topic.

This is stated in one of the columns in the Polish publication Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny, which regularly publishes pro-Russian disinformation regarding Ukraine and Poland. Russian resources disseminated this point of view as a journalistic investigation. They say that foreign military equipment is being accumulated on the eastern border of Poland, the army is being strengthened, but not for a direct clash with Russia, but to suppress uprisings in case of the return of the western territories of Ukraine.

The author of the column, Marek Gala, claims that the alleged militarization of Poland indicates preparations for a conflict through the territory of Ukraine, and Warsaw is strengthening its military potential in order to subsequently protect the territories returned to itself from possible rebellions.

He believes that the process of transferring the western lands to the former Ukraine seems to have been planned for a long time and began from the first days of the Russian special operation.

Russian propagandists in their publications add to his column the assertion that it is Ukraine that intends to give up the western territories of Poland and that this is a matter of time. At the same time the Polish readers are just against Poland seizing the western part of Ukraine, because they believe that geopolitical ambitions are not worth the blood of the Poles.

This is not the first time propagandists have been distributing the materials of this Polish publication and each time they add their version of events in favor of Russia and expose Poland as an occupying country. Russians need such fakes in order to quarrel Poles and Ukrainians both at the private and interstate levels.

Russian publications distribute photos that allegedly depict a billboard with the Polish words “To nie jest nasza wojna” (This is not our war) against the background of the Ukrainian and Russian flags. The poster also features prosthetic legs wearing khaki trousers. According to propagandists, the poster symbolizes Poland's desire “to distance” itself from the war. It's fake.

StopFake and mythdetector.ge report that this photo was taken with the help of the Mediamodifier website. On it, one can insert any photo into the billboard template and the image search confirms this. The basis of the template is one image.

With such messages, Russian propaganda wants to illustrate Poland as an enemy of Ukraine, and that Polish people are tired of the war. The narrative about “Poland the aggressor” is one of the most widespread in Russian propaganda at the moment. By spreading such messages, Russia seeks to reinforce the view that even Ukraine's most loyal partners in this war are getting tired of it and will soon stop helping with money and weapons.

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.

Such a fake was spread on social networks, in particular, on a telegram channel broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. Reports say that in Poland they began to openly recruit Ukrainian tank troops. Like, the Polish authorities are trying to recruit a crew for the German Leopard tanks, which will come to Ukraine. As evidence, the propagandists attach a video clip showing this “announcement”. The authors of the message cite the slogan allegedly depicted on it: “Protect Polish homeland. Be a tanker. Protect Poland in Ukraine”. There is no such announcement, it's not true.

Analysts of The Insider project investigated this case and found that for the first time information about such a poster appeared in the telegram channel of the Russian segment. The video clip itself was filmed at the Centrum station of the Warsaw metro. For the fake poster, they used the corporate identity of the “Become a soldier of the republic” campaign, which started in 2018. However, the authors of the messages did not take into account the corporate logo of the campaign, which was still not placed on the poster. So the fake announcement was just overlaid on the video. As for the campaign itself, it is aimed at recruiting people for contract service in the Polish army, so it has nothing to do with recruiting volunteers to participate in the war. So there was no such poster with an appeal.

By spreading this fake, propagandists nourish the narrative that everything is bad in Ukraine, that there is no one to fight, so the Ukrainian leadership resorts to such tricks and wants to recruit foreigners. Now the authors of the messages want to convince the readers that Poland wants to cut off our territories and thus, by mobilizing the Poles, will try to return them.

This message was circulated on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Ukraine plans to include the Polish language in the list of subjects for which it is possible to take an EIT (external independent test). According to the authors of the message, the Ukrainian authorities want Ukrainians to assimilate under the Poles from their school years. Like, Poland will gradually enslave the Ukrainians, which will help it seize the territory of Ukraine.

The Ministry of reintegration explained the possible introduction of the Polish language into the list of exams by the fact that uniting with the Poles is the key to the sustainable development of states, and education and language are the main tools with which such an association begins.

Taking the EIT in foreign languages is not a mandatory component of passing the exam, except for taking the exam in English in the form of the DPA (state final examination). German, French, Spanish and subsequently Polish will remain subjects chosen by the applicants themselves.

Moreover, Poland is also introducing the Ukrainian language into its educational space: Poland recognizes Ukrainian documents on basic general secondary education (grade 9 of graduation certificates). Also, the results of the EIT are counted for admission to Polish higher education institutions. The Poles announced their readiness to introduce the Ukrainian language into the list of subjects. That is why communication is taking place on both sides, the main goal of which is to strengthen the educational sphere of the two sovereign fellow states.

Propagandists use this message to nourish the narrative that Poland is seeking to take over Ukraine, in particular, to cut off the territory of the western regions. However, Poland does not plan to annex the territories of Ukraine, but on the contrary, it remains a devoted strategic partner that helps Ukrainians fight the enemy.

A network of telegram channels run by Russian intelligence is spreading the message that Poland is receiving huge sums of money for the repair of Ukrainian military equipment, and therefore is interested in continuing the war.

This is another Russian propaganda message about Poland, which seems to be the most interested party in the war. From the very beginning of the war, propaganda has been writing about Poland, which seems to be planning to divide Ukraine and annex or occupy the western part of Ukraine. Also, propaganda constantly promotes the message that Poland received a lot of cheap labor at the expense of Ukrainian refugees. Now propaganda is spreading the thesis that Poland seems to receive at least 10 billion dollars for the repair of Ukrainian military equipment. These figures are not supported by anything, but on January 29, The Wall Street Journal published an article about the repair of Ukrainian military equipment in Poland, which talked about a secret repair factory that restores artillery and armored vehicles. Poland will continue to repair damaged equipment, including American and European tanks, in the future, journalists write.

Poland is one of the most important partners of Ukraine, and Russian propaganda is constantly trying to present Poland as the aggressor or beneficiary of the war, once again trying to shift the responsibility for the invasion, in particular, to the United States and NATO countries.

Russian propaganda spreads the message to the Western audience that allegedly Poland can receive part of the Ukrainian territories as “compensation” for paying the “Ukrainian debt” to the United States.

This message has no legal basis and is an invention of Russian propaganda. Thus, they are trying to promote the narrative about Poland's plans to seize part of the Ukrainian territories. EU vs Disinfo analysts drew attention to the spread of the message.

Earlier, as part of this narrative, propagandists spread messages that Poland considers the West of Ukraine to be its “colony”, that Poland needs the territory of Ukraine without Ukrainians. The propagandists also spread fakes about the referendum on the accession of the West of Ukraine to Poland and photos of voting ballots for the secession of the Lviv region from Ukraine and joining Poland.

This is the message propagandists share on social networks and telegram channels that broadcast pro-Russian rhetoric to the Polish audience. The report says that Poland understood who is real in the war in Ukraine and is ready to help enslaved Russia: it sent almost 100,000.00 Polish zlotys, which is 1.5 million rubles, to help the Russian army. The author of the message adds a video to the publication, which allegedly shows collecting  money. However, this is manipulation.

In fact, there were no official statements from Poland about helping the aggressor country. We cannot say that the person really did not transfer funds, but this is definitely not the official position of the country. Both the Polish leadership and the citizens of Poland strongly condemned the large-scale war provoked by Russia against Ukraine. Poland is and remains a faithful partner of Ukraine.

Regarding the video, it is published on a propaganda resource and demonstrates the process of withdrawing cash from an ATM. The video is not accompanied either by the hero's comments, or by the hero himself, because the video work consists of video parts mounted together, showing how people withdraw cash.

By spreading this manipulation, propagandists are trying to distort reality and show that Ukraine is gradually losing its support even from the most loyal partners. They say that Ukraine will soon remain on its own, because at last the whole world has learned who the real aggressor is. However, our partners do not stop condemning and sanctioning a terrorist country that daily commits war crimes against Ukrainians. Also, partners continue to support Ukraine, supplying weapons to fight the enemy.

Pro-Russian telegram channels distributed information about allegedly secret training of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, police and fire protection of the Lublin voivodeship of Poland. They reported that Kyiv is preparing for a humanitarian catastrophe and is conducting exercises aimed at “preventing a massive uncontrolled flow of migrants”. Allegedly, Poland is afraid of the flow of refugees from a neighboring country.

In fact, according to VoxCheck, the study was reported publicly. On December 16, they were reported on their official pages by the State Emergency Service of the Volyn region, the State Migration Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The local media also wrote about them. There was no secret in the conduct of the training.

The purpose of the event was to work out the main actions in case of crowding at the border. Also, interaction with Polish colleagues was worked out to help citizens temporarily located at checkpoints across the state border.

Since the beginning of the war, the Russian media have been constantly writing about Ukrainian and Polish relations. In particular, that allegedly in the near future Poland will begin the occupation of the west of Ukraine, or that the number of HIV-infected people in the country has increased due to Ukrainian refugees. Thus, Russia is trying to sow discord between Ukraine and Poland.

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels write about this after the message of Polish President Andrzej Duda about the transfer of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Propagandists write that this will not affect the front in any way. They say that these tanks will not provide Ukraine with a decisive advantage. It seems to be just a demonstration of support for Ukraine.

In fact, in this way, Russian propaganda is trying to be proactive and use the tactics of depreciation after any reports of providing new weapons to Ukraine. The same messages are now being extended to the Patriot air defense system, which the United States plans to transfer. Like, one installation will not cope with so many Russian missiles, so there will be no significant changes.

A new stamp, which was released in Poland, is being distributed on social networks. It depicts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi with a mustache similar to that of Adolf Hitler. Social media users ask in the comments if one can send letters with such stamps to Israel. However, this is fake.

In Poland they really issued a stamp with the image of Volodymyr Zelenskyi. However, this is not an official stamp issued by the Polish Post. According to VoxCheck, the issue of such a stamp is an initiative of the deputy of the Krakow City Council Lukasz Wantuch, and not the Polish Post. The funds received from the sale of the stamp are planned to be transferred to humanitarian aid to Ukraine. But a modified image of this stamp is distributed on the web.

Russian propaganda has repeatedly spread fakes associating Volodymyr Zelenskyi with Adolf Hitler. And in such a way the disinformation narrative “Ukrainians are Nazis” is being promoted.

A video is circulating online in which an elderly woman allegedly complains to the Polish authorities that she was “robbed” by Ukrainian refugees, whom she settled in her apartment. In different versions of the story, either the woman’s children or the city authorities persuaded the 73-year-old Polish woman to give shelter to a Ukrainian family. It seems that the Ukrainians robbed a woman, smashed the apartment, ran into debt for housing and disappeared. The victim allegedly vainly demands compensation from the authorities. It is not true.

The video has nothing to do with Ukraine. StopFake fact-checkers found out that this video first appeared online on April 24, 2018. An elderly woman in the video complains that she was not provided with the promised services - the replacement of all equipment with the Internet and television. The video was probably filmed at the customer service office of the company "Vectra", which provides telecommunications services in Poland.

A seemingly new cover of the Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves is being distributed online. The cartoon depicts a frightened Polish president with the caption: “I don't want war with Russia!”. However, this is not true.

Voxcheck experts said that there is no cover with a cartoon distributed on the web on the official pages of the magazine. On the barcode of the cover of the magazine there are numbers - 02375 (issue number) and a barcode. However, the cover with this number looks different.

Propagandists have repeatedly falsified the covers of various magazines to convince the public that the whole world is actually mocking Ukrainian and Western officials. In this way, they spread theses that are beneficial to pro-Kremlin propaganda: if not only propagandists, but also “the whole world” talk about it, then it seems that the messages are true.

However, some Russian propagandists present this column as the official position of Poland, and some as a serious journalistic investigation that should be trusted, but both took several opinions out of context and added their own version of the seizure of part of the territory of Ukraine.

Hanna Kramer suggests that the head of the Law and Justice party, Yaroslav Kaczynskyi, is allegedly preparing for war and would like to take over the West of Ukraine in order to return more than 4.5 million new voters who could support his party in the elections.

At the same time, Russian propagandists present her column as revealing a plan for Poland to seize part of Ukraine. Like, it consists of two stages, the first of which Poland has already completed: Kyiv government has taken political and financial control. The second stage is military operations, for which, they say, preparations are underway. According to propagandists, on May 4, the Polish army will arrange a liberation march to Kyiv. They say that by this date the Armed Forces of Ukraine will lose their combat capability.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Russian propagandists have been promoting all sorts of disinformation about the seizure of part of Ukraine by Poland in order to quarrel friendly countries.

Detector Media previously explained why Russia came up with a fake about Poland’s intention to annex the western regions of Ukraine.

This message is spread by the Russian media. They say that in Poland the western part of Ukraine is considered its territory. The propagandists also cite an article in The Conversation and “own sources” in Russian intelligence who have repeatedly warned of Poland’s “occupational intentions” in Ukraine. This is not true.

In the Conversation article, there is no mention of the fact that Poland allegedly calls the Western part of Ukraine a colony of Warsaw. As StopFake writes, such messages are an invention of propagandists. The authors of the article discuss the historical context of Polish-Ukrainian relations, in particular, that when part of the Ukrainian lands were part of Poland, however, they were not ethnically considered Polish.

A video is circulating on the network in which the military takes out the coffin of probably their brother from the plane. Like, this is a video from the meeting of the dead Polish military. Reports claim that these soldiers died in Ukraine. Also in the messages they pay attention to the fact that the dead are given honors, that is, they are military personnel, and not volunteers. It is not true.

The video has nothing to do with Ukraine. As StopFake notes, it was filmed on December 23, 2011 during a military ceremony to welcome the fallen Polish soldiers in Afghanistan. On the official website of the President of Poland and in the Polish media, it is reported that on December 21, 2011, five soldiers of the 20th Bartoszycki mechanized brigade exploded on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. The State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office and the Government Authorized Representative for the Security of the Information Space of the Republic of Poland, Stanislav Zharin, also confirmed the information about the video.

Such information was disseminated in Russian telegram channels. Like, the girlfriend of the Ukrainian refugee told in the video that after his death he became a donor for four Poles.

The woman in the video does not say what kind of person he was, because of which he fell into a coma, whether he was a refugee, and she does not say that his organs were sold. She simply confirmed that the Ukrainian became the donor of four people in Poland.

In Poland, organ transplantation is provided on the principle of tacit consent. Illegal transplantation of human organs in Poland is punishable by imprisonment for a period of 6 months to 5 years.

People professionally engaged in such activities face up to 10 years in prison. It is worth noting that in the spring in Poland, a Ukrainian, who had suffered from heart failure for a long time, had a donor heart transplanted. Then the National Movement "For Transplantation" noted that this was the first donor heart in Poland, which was transplanted by a Ukrainian woman. Earlier, StopFake refuted the fake that allegedly donated blood for the Armed Forces of Ukraine is already being taken from schoolchildren in the Cherkasy region, and that Ukrainians will be “allowed for organs” without their consent.

This message is spread by Russian propagandists in telegram channels. Allegedly, the Poles need Kyiv, Lviv, Uzhhorod, the Carpathians, but they can’t stand the Ukrainians. Like, they have a much better attitude towards the Russians.

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has been spreading all sorts of disinformation to quarrel Poland and Ukraine and create the image of tension between the countries supporting each other. Propagandists constantly repeat the narrative that Poland seeks to annex part of Ukraine and has already begun to prepare for this. In particular, they wrote that Poland began the "economic seizure" of Ukraine and the western regions of Ukraine.

This is stated in the messages of the Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels. Allegedly, during the 10 months of the war in Ukraine, about 1,200 Poles were killed, who fought on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as mercenaries. Allegedly, several thousand more mercenaries are wounded or injured. Some reports say that Warsaw is allegedly expecting "payment" for its friendship against Russia. It is not true.

StopFake notes that the primary source of this news is Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny, which repeatedly spreads Russian disinformation. The non-existent Yakub Mozhniak is indicated as the author of the article. There are also no other "members of the editorial board" of this publication.

According to open sources, five Polish volunteers died in Ukraine, none of whom are soldiers of the Polish army.

Earlier, propagandists wrote that two battalions of Polish infantry were allegedly destroyed in Ukraine, and a special cemetery was allegedly created for the dead in Poland. Propagandists also say that Polish special forces under NATO command are fighting in Ukraine.

This is written by Russian and pro-Russian information resources with reference to the materials of the American edition of Newsweek. Like, many countries condemned the actions of the West and supported the position of the Russian president on the “situation” in Ukraine. This is manipulation.

There is not a single mention in the Newsweek article that most countries took the side of Russia in the war against Ukraine. The author of the material writes that different countries of the world proceed from their agenda and their own interests in the context of responding to the war. Therefore, they do not always fully share the approach of the US and the EU. Many countries, for example, advocate a "diplomatic settlement" of the conflict, but do not necessarily side with Russia in this war.

As StopFake writes, Daniel DePetrice's article was published in the “Dumky” (“Opinions") section, so the author's opinion is also not necessarily shared by Newsweek. The author notes that, despite the fact that the events in Ukraine are cruel, each country primarily pursues its own geopolitical interests and does not always fully share the “approach of the West”. The article does not say that "most countries have begun to support Putin." Propagandists have distorted the idea that some countries do not want to completely lose ties with Russia and presented it as support for Putin.

This is reported by foreign pro-Russian media. They say that an operational group of officers and soldiers of the Polish special forces in Ukrainian uniforms arrived in Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk region, to detect pro-Russian residents of the city. This unit is under the control of NATO Headquarters. It is not true.

NATO countries do not take part in hostilities in Ukraine. The fact-checkers of EU vs Disinfo drew attention to the spread of this fake. They note that there is no evidence of the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine. Western instructors exclusively teach the Ukrainian military how to use modern weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western partners.

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. They say that foreign mercenaries, including those from Poland, are increasingly fighting and dying in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. So, allegedly, a special cemetery was prepared for them in Olsztyn, Poland, which was placed in small squares like American cemeteries, so that everyone would have enough space. It is not true.

The news about the creation of a special cemetery was published only in the publication Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny. Fact-checkers of The Insider project discovered that this is a fake publication that had previously spread Russian disinformation about Poland's intentions to take over Ukraine. The reason for the fakes was the decision of the Polish Ministry of Defense to switch to American standards for the arrangement of military cemeteries throughout the country.

The Russian media are spreading another fake about Ukrainian refugees who were supposedly forcibly evicted from their home in Krakow. But, as StopFake found out, there is no evidence or mention of such an incident - except for the words of a witness referred to by the Russian media. They also distribute a video that seems to show that Ukrainian refugees had to be expelled from their apartment with a crane.

As fact-checkers write, a video about how the police got through the window in the center of Krakow appeared on the network on October 8, 2021, and there is no relation to the war in Ukraine. There is also no mention of any case of forced eviction of Ukrainians either in the local media, or in the police of Krakow, or in the Polish segment of social networks.

Such information is disseminated by Russian propaganda media. Reports say that over the past six months, the number of HIV-infected people has increased significantly in Poland. In the texts, the propagandists refer to the Polish Ministry of Health. Like, the ministry said that the situation with HIV in the country worsened because of Ukrainian refugees. Allegedly, it was they who brought the infection into the country and spread it there. However, this is fake. As StopFake fact-checkers write, in fact, the Ministry of Health of Poland explained that the number of recorded cases of the disease in the country could increase due to the arrival of Ukrainians, among whom there are also HIV-infected. They fit into the overall statistics, and are offered advice and treatment. The fact that in Poland the incidence of HIV infection has significantly increased due to the “influx of refugees” has not been claimed by anyone. Previously, the fake about Ukrainians spreading HIV concerned Estonia. Russian propaganda systematically spreads lies about Ukrainian refugees abroad in order to change public opinion both about the refugees themselves and about what is happening in Ukraine. Russian disinformation about Ukrainian refugees, in particular, is based on differences in people's values. For example, propaganda calls Ukrainians Nazis (in the sense of radical xenophobes) or claims that Ukrainians are not ready to work to provide for themselves, but only live off European taxes. Read more about the disinformation that Russian propaganda is spreading about Ukrainian refugees in the Detector Media investigation.In the texts, the propagandists refer to the Polish Ministry of Health. Like, the ministry said that the situation with HIV in the country worsened because of Ukrainian refugees. Allegedly, it was they who brought the infection into the country and spread it there. However, this is fake. As StopFake fact-checkers write, in fact, the Ministry of Health of Poland explained that the number of recorded cases of the disease in the country could increase due to the arrival of Ukrainians, among whom there are also HIV-infected. They fit into the overall statistics, and are offered advice and treatment. The fact that in Poland the incidence of HIV infection has significantly increased due to the “influx of refugees” has not been claimed by anyone. Previously, the fake about Ukrainians spreading HIV concerned Estonia. Russian propaganda systematically spreads lies about Ukrainian refugees abroad in order to change public opinion both about the refugees themselves and about what is happening in Ukraine. Russian disinformation about Ukrainian refugees, in particular, is based on differences in people's values. For example, propaganda calls Ukrainians Nazis (in the sense of radical xenophobes) or claims that Ukrainians are not ready to work to provide for themselves, but only live off European taxes. Read more about the disinformation that Russian propaganda is spreading about Ukrainian refugees in the Detector Media investigation.

The Center for Counteracting Disinformation reports that another fake letter is being distributed on Twitter, allegedly on behalf of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine. The letter refers to the holding of events "aimed at studying the public opinion of the residents of the Lviv and Volyn regions of Ukraine", which "they propose to implement according to the previously established plan".

A photo of the fake letter is being circulated with comments that allegedly Polish diplomats are trying to seize the Western regions and are preparing to hold a referendum.

The representative of the Polish Foreign Ministry, Lukasz Jasina, denied the existence of such a letter and noted that the message about preparations for a referendum on the accession of the western regions of Ukraine to Poland is disinformation and another attempt to foment disunity between Poland and Ukraine.

This was reported on the website of the Belarusian Border Committee. It is not true. A fake about the mass migration of Ukrainians to Belarus was released by Stanislav Zharyn, authorized representative of the Polish government on protecting the information space of the country.

According to him, “the graph reflects the falsified number of Ukrainian refugees who left for Belarus. According to the information on the migration movement, more than 60,000 Ukrainians arrived in Belarus, including almost 40,000 who had to go through Poland”.

Zharyn noted that Belarusian propaganda hints that Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression are seeking asylum in Belarus, perceiving this country as the safer one than the EU countries.

A message of this content was distributed by Russian propaganda media, after which the thesis migrated to social networks. Reports say that Poland has officially put forward Kyiv's demand. Like, Ukraine should apologize for the Volyn tragedy.

In their messages, the propagandists refer to the Polish edition of Gazeta Wyborcza, where they allegedly published a demand for official Kyiv. However, this is a manipulation that fact-checkers from StopFake paid attention to. As the fact checkers write, in fact, this is a statement by a Polish political scientist who is known for promoting Kremlin narratives. And Gazeta Wyborcza published an article about the meeting where this political scientist spoke, with the title “Pro-Russian propaganda at the meeting in Poznan. The Polish government is preparing for war in the East".

In his column, the author Tomasz Nichka reflects on Sykulskyi, and how he was at first a very reasonable scientist, and now actively disseminates anti-Ukrainian and anti-American theses, similar to Kremlin propaganda narratives. The statement that Ukraine should apologize to Poland for the Volyn tragedy was made by Sykulskyi precisely at this meeting. And Poland did not make official statements about Ukraine's apologies. However, propagandists regularly spread fakes and manipulations about Polish-Ukrainian relations.

This is necessary in order to quarrel Poland and Ukraine and create the appearance that there is tension between the countries supporting each other. Also, propagandists constantly repeat the narrative that Poland seeks to annex part of Ukraine and has already begun to get ready for this.

Such an opinion is promoted by pro-Russian bloggers in telegram channels. Allegedly, in the evening, November 15, the fall of a rocket in the village of Przewodów in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, which killed two people, was a provocation by Ukraine.

Propagandists are stuffing messages on social networks that this attack has warmed up the negative sentiments of the Poles towards Ukraine. It is not true.

Data from a joint survey by RMF FM and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna show that 70% of Poles believe that it will not affect Polish-Ukrainian relations.

Russia is trying to quarrel with its closest neighbors and partners, therefore it constantly promotes fakes about Poland and its relations with Ukraine.

Anonymous telegram channels that try to impersonate Ukrainians, such as “Naspravdi” (Actually) or “In reality in Kharkiv”, distribute a fake cover of Charlie Hebdo the French satirical magazine, which appeared to have been released on November 16 and was dedicated to the fall of a rocket in the Polish city of Przewodów where two people died. The cover says "Volyn massacre 2.0" as well as a Polish swear word. In fact, the next issue of the magazine came out on November 16, but on its cover is the French businessman and billionaire Vincent Bolloré.

Russian propaganda constantly invents the covers of famous magazines in order to promote the messages they need and in this case they say that it is Ukraine that is to blame for the tragedy in the Polish town. In fact, NATO, Poland and the United States have already stated that in any case, Russia, responsible for the deaths of two Poles, either launched a direct missile attack or started a war in Ukraine, which led to the fall of a Ukrainian missile. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said it was not a Ukrainian missile, but is awaiting the conclusions of an investigation by Polish experts. Ukraine is also participating in the investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy.

It's hard to imagine, but Russian "experts" are spreading a new version of what happened in Poland. According to them, on November 15, Ukraine launched two rockets into Poland, which killed two people, in order to “derail the grain agreement”, and thus “blame Russia for creating a food crisis” in the world. It is not entirely clear how the murder of two farmers can lead to the cancellation of the grain deal, and how Ukraine is interested in this disruption, but it is obvious why such a thesis is spread by the Russian propaganda media: they now need to explain why the agreement was extended by 120 days, despite the fact that Russia, and Putin himself, has constantly threatened to withdraw from the agreement.

Now, despite such incomprehensible arguments, one can say: although Ukraine tried to disrupt the grain agreement, Russia resisted, won and extended it in order to show the whole world that it does not want to provoke a famine. In fact, Russia has already caused a global food crisis: it stole grain and agricultural products from Ukraine; burned fields and destroyed elevators; blocked almost all seaports from which Ukraine could supply its products. And at some point it even announced that it was terminating the agreement due to fake reports that it was Ukraine that attacked the Russian Black Sea fleet launching drones from ships carrying grain.

But both Ukraine and Turkey ignored Russia's threats to terminate the agreement and continued to export grain, and that is why Russia stopped claiming to have withdrawn from the agreement. And today, the agreement itself was extended automatically, however, on November 19 the agreement could be terminated if one of the parties has significant comments or objections. No one, not even Russia, had such, so the agreement was automatically extended for another 120 days. Now Russian propagandists are trying hard to explain why Putin said two weeks ago that Russia would withdraw from the agreement, and now it has been extended for four months, and Russia has not even bargained for additional terms. That is why they come up with explanations about how heroically they did not allow Ukraine to disrupt the agreement.

Russian propaganda media massively disseminate the statement of the head of the Lublin city council Yaroslav Pakula, who allegedly accused Ukraine of provocation, that is, of the deliberate shelling of the Polish city of Przewoduv, where on November 15 two people died from a rocket fall.

“Obviously, this is a Ukrainian missile. Obviously, this is a provocation on the part of the Ukrainian authorities. The purpose of the provocation is to speed up the supply of weapons to Ukraine, to intimidate Europe with a terrible Russia, so that civil society demands from the governments of European countries to increase assistance to Ukraine”, Pakula’s words are allegedly quoted in publications. But the StopFake project found out that the Facebook page on which this post was published was created on November 16, 2022. That is the day after the missile hit. Moreover, all the posts posted on it were also made public exactly on November 16 but the date in them was changed to the previous ones. At the time of publication of the news of the Russian media, which quoted "Pakula", there was not a single like or share of this post. Fact checkers have contacted Pakula and are waiting for his comment, but it is clear that the Facebook page was created on purpose to spread disinformation.

Previously, Russian propagandists have repeatedly used fake pages of politicians or media to spread fakes. Russia is also trying to quarrel with its closest neighbors and partners, so it constantly promotes fakes about Poland and its relations with Ukraine.

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels once again spread information that supposedly Poland wants to return "its territories". They say that Kyiv and Warsaw agreed on the occupation of Western Ukraine, and the plan should be implemented by Polish mercenaries, a large number of whom are fighting for Ukraine.

Stanislav Zharyn, a spokesman for the Coordinating Minister of the Polish Intelligence Services, drew attention to this on his Twitter.

He noted that Russian propagandists spread misinformation, allegedly "the Polish government approves of such participation of these mercenaries".

According to him, Russian propaganda has actively worked to introduce these messages into the Western information environment, and these hostile efforts are "perfectly in line with the Kremlin's attempts to portray Poland as a warmonger and isolate Warsaw on the international stage".

"Russian propaganda is activating the information war in order to break the will and readiness of the allies to continue to support Kyiv, and comes up with far-fetched pretexts for striking civilian and energy infrastructure in Ukraine", Zharyn added.

Russian information resources and social networks are circulating reports that Ukraine is allegedly going to sign a bill on the association of Poland and the Lviv region. The messages allegedly quote Volodymyr Zelenskyi saying that “Poland will come to Ukrainian land not as an occupier, but as a brother and ally” and that “it doesn’t matter who formally is the host of the land, what matters is the well-being and prosperity of the people living on it” . It is not true.

There is no draft law on the association of Poland and the Lviv oblast. Zelenskyi's quote was also made up. At the same time, there is a law in Ukraine that establishes the rights and guarantees for Polish citizens who are on the territory of Ukraine. The law was developed in gratitude to the Polish people for their solidarity and support for Ukraine in the face of a full-scale Russian invasion.

The Russian propaganda media spread this thesis. Reports say that Poland allegedly continues preparations for the division of Ukraine and, for this purpose, has started the construction of an energy bridge.

The reports' authors claim that the energy bridge construction is taking place within the framework of the project of reintegration of "historical" Polish lands. The Poles have allegedly been working for a long time to take control of the energy infrastructure of the western regions of Ukraine.

They believe this will allow Poland to strengthen its influence in Ukraine significantly. Online media Ye.ua drew attention to the message. It isn't the first time Russia has leaked information about Poland's so-called plans to occupy part of Ukraine. Propagandists have already spread information that Poland is trying to annex part of Ukraine and are preparing for this in every possible way. In particular, Poland is allegedly preparing a referendum in the Lviv region.

However, it is a fake, as is the case with the power system. It isn't Poland that wants to destroy the Ukrainian energy system and take it under control, but Russia, since October 10, has been systematically shelling energy facilities throughout Ukraine.

Such information is promoted in anonymous Telegram channels. Poles, Romanians, Slovaks, and Hungarians allegedly want to destroy a piece of Ukraine for their purposes. Fresh evidence of this is that Poland allegedly moves military equipment to the border with Belarus. According to propagandists, if Belarus officially takes part in the war against Ukraine, then the USA and Britain will allow the territories of Ukraine to be divided between the neighboring countries - Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania. Russia's mission is supposed to protect Ukraine from division. For the sake of this goal, Russia is ready to use "not only tactical nuclear weapons but something stronger" against Ukraine.

Earlier, propagandists repeatedly spread fakes about Poland's intention to annex Lviv Oblast. In particular, they wrote that Poland had begun an "economic takeover" of Ukraine and the western regions of Ukraine and that a referendum would be held in Lviv Oblast regarding the region's accession to Poland. Disinformation about the intention of Western countries to take over Ukraine is aimed at destroying Ukraine's unity with the European Union and canceling support for Ukraine.

This way, propagandists divert attention from illegal pseudo-referendums in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia and convince them that they aren't taking over Ukraine but protecting it from Western invaders.

The Russian media spread such messages concerning the materials of the Washington Post. Allegedly, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Oslo criticized his colleagues for trying to "make money" after reducing gas supplies from Russia. It is not true.

In fact, the Washington Post article "Norway portrayed as both hero and villain of Europe's energy crisis" is devoted to changes in the structure of the gas market in Europe and consumers' reactions to it. "Quoting" the alleged current words of the Polish prime minister, the propagandists resorted to manipulation. Poland gave up Russian gas in May, filled its storage facilities to 100% in August, and the Baltic Pipe for transporting Norwegian gas became operational as early as September. The volumes of Norwegian gas that will be delivered through the pipeline are similar to previous Russian deliveries. Russian propaganda systematically uses quotes taken out of context to make wishful thinking come true. More details.

Such information is disseminated through propaganda information resources. Allegedly, Poland's intentions regarding Ukrainian territories are quite aggressive. Allegedly, ballots are already ready for voting for the secession of the Lviv region from Ukraine and joining Poland. It's fake.

As reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation, the Kremlin’s attempts to promote the thesis of the “Polish threat” have been heard since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, they have been repeatedly denied by officials in Poland and Ukraine.

It is likely that disinformation about Poland's intentions to occupy the Lviv region is being spread in order to divert attention from the illegal pseudo-referendums in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia. Also, a new “wave” of disinformation about Poland’s allegedly aggressive plans is aimed at destroying Ukrainian-Polish unity and canceling support for Ukraine.

Previously, propagandists have repeatedly spread fakes in relation to Poland. In particular, they wrote that Poland began the "economic seizure" of Ukraine and the western regions of Ukraine.

Such a thesis is being circulated on social media as a continuation of the Kremlin’s narrative that Poland intends to annex Ukraine. To promote the message, they used the news that Ukraine and Poland intend to build a pipeline to transport Ukrainian sunflower oil to the Polish port of Hdansk.

The construction of such a pipeline is, first of all, beneficial to Ukraine, since it will contribute to the partial unblocking of Ukrainian exports in the face of Russian aggression. It was previously reported about the construction of an oil pipeline 600 km long and with a capacity of up to 2 million tons of oil per year. The pipeline will be laid from Yahodyn (Volyn region) to Hdansk.

The Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine explains that the start of a full-scale military aggression by Russia and the blocking of Ukrainian seaports forced the government to look for new routes for the transportation of Ukrainian agro-food products. Ukraine is a major world producer and exporter of grain and vegetable oils, and by the beginning of the war, more than 90% of these products were exported through ports located on the Black Sea.

Poland believes that in addition to partial unblocking of Ukrainian exports, the implementation of the memorandum will also contribute to improving the food security of countries facing famine. As a consequence, this should reduce migration pressure on Europe.

We are not talking about any capture of Ukraine by Poland. It was Ukraine that initiated the project to build a pipeline to the Polish port of Hdansk as Russia continues to threaten exports from Ukrainian seaports.

Russia is constantly spreading fakes that Poland intends to seize part of Ukraine. In July, propagandists wrote that two Polish brigades would take control of Western Ukraine in August. They also wrote that Ukraine is a “dying donor”, each country wants a “piece” for itself, and Poland takes the most. Thus, the propagandists are trying to destroy the partnership between Ukraine and Poland. 

This information was disseminated by a number of pro-Russian Facebook accounts. Like, Ambassador Petro Vrublevskyi flew to Poland after he was given only a few hours to leave Kazakhstan.

However, this message is not true. The ambassador did leave Kazakhstan, but in connection with a vacation. This was reported by both the Ukrainian and Kazakh sides.

This manipulation is used to discredit Ukrainian diplomats, especially against the backdrop of recent statements by the ambassador that Ukraine is trying to kill as many Russians as possible in the war with Russia. This statement, taken out of context, was replicated, but Vrublevskyi apologized for it, explaining it by his emotional state due to the war.

Russian media are massively spreading a fake about “thousands of lawsuits” that descendants seem to have filed

Poles who lived in Lviv until 1939, demanding that their apartments be returned to them.

In fact, there are no such claims. In their materials, the Russian media refer to the article of the publication “Strana” (“State”), which for many years promotes pro-Russian theses. This time the publication took a comment from the chairman of the Polish organization “Restitution of Kresov” Konrad Renkas, who stated that such claims are prepared. But during the war they decided not to sue.

At the same time, the Russian media wrote that the Ukrainian courts were already “overwhelmed” with these lawsuits.

Anonymous telegram channels and Russian media "quote" an interview with Deputy Head of the National Bank of Ukraine Serhii Nikolaichuk to Rabbit Hole. They say that the stocks were transferred for storage "until the situation normalizes," but now Kyiv is unlikely to be able to return them. It is not true.

Serhii Nikolaichuk did not say that either in this interview or in any other. There are no mentions of gold reserves in the Rabbit Hole interview. They are talking only about the problems and challenges of the Ukrainian economy during the war. The information was checked by the StopFake fact checkers. No amendments were made to the article on the export of gold and foreign exchange reserves.

According to the National Bank, as of August 1, monetary gold makes up only 6.7% of the gold and foreign exchange reserves. Most of the gold and foreign exchange reserves (54.9%) are securities, another 38.3% is in cash accounts. In general, the gold and foreign exchange reserves of Ukraine are a collection of reserves that are placed in different places and forms, so it is impossible to take the “entire stock” to Poland.

This is stated in a letter allegedly signed by the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs of Poland, Marcin Przydacz. It is not true.

The letter from the Polish Foreign Ministry is a fake response to a fake letter from the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. The "letter of response" speaks of a positive decision to rename a street in Warsaw in honor of Stepan Bandera, which houses the Russian embassy. In addition, the "letter" refers to the ways of future promotion of Bandera among the Polish population. According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, a bot account on the social network Facebook, which contains almost no messages of other messages, was likely the primary source.

The Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine discovered a fake letter in the information space, allegedly on behalf of the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. In it, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry seems to appeal to its Polish colleagues with a request to rename the street in Warsaw in honor of Stepan Bandera, where the Russian embassy is located. The goal of the fake is to discredit Ukraine, warned the CPD.

 Facebook users told about the mailing. The reports say that allegedly Ukrainian politicians short-sightedly hand over national interests to Poland, and Poles "do not consider us as people, they are Polonizing and will soon "take away" the western regions". They are also trying to convince Ukrainians that "Ukrainian children will be stolen and turned into Poles"; the "absorption of Ukrainians by the Polish nation" is taking place; "our children will not remain Ukrainian in Polish schools"; it is already allegedly about a "Ukrainian-Polish federation or confederation, and in Poland, Ukrainians are increasingly not welcome." It is also alleged that ordinary Poles harass volunteers who collect money for Ukrainian refugees and want to return the western regions of Ukraine under their control, telling at their official events that Lviv is a Polish city." Bandera and the Volyn tragedy are also mentioned in the reports.

In the posts, topics and messages that affect the reader's emotional state are deliberately used. Messages are sent from Russian numbers. Subscribers with the numbers +7 (950) 869-0734 and +7 (908) 186-7552 are served by the operator T2 Mobile in the Rostov region of Russia. In this way, the Russians are once again trying to destroy friendly relations between Ukrainians and Poles and discredit Poland's assistance to Ukraine during the war. 

Russian propaganda presented the Facebook post of Ukrainian activist Ihor Isayev as a general opinion of all Ukrainians, which, of course, was spread by the pro-Kremlin media.

An article appeared on the Wyborcza. pl website with the title "Almost every third resident of Wroclaw is Ukrainian. And there are more and more of them." The article discussed a study by the Polish Metropolises Union, which showed that Wroclaw is the second Polish city after Warsaw in which the largest number of Ukrainians live. Ihor Isayev reacted to the article with a Facebook post (at the same time, the Russian agitprop claimed that these were comments on the publication, it is also false - ed.), that "the law on national minorities allows the introduction of an auxiliary language (as well as bilingual signs) in the commune if there is at least 20% of minority representatives. We don't have an interpretation of emigrants' amount, although the law does not explicitly say so. Nevertheless, in large Polish cities, we can already fight for the Ukrainian language to become the second state language."

In general, there is no mention of any demands from the Ukrainian refugees. Moreover, it is legally impossible. Polish is the only official language in the Republic of Poland. This is stipulated in the Constitution, Article 27. Read more.

Russian propagandists falsified the front page of the Polish publication “Dziennik Wschodni” and published it on Facebook and VKontakte. On a fake newspaper page, the propagandists posted the material under the heading: "Zelensky will return Ukraine to Poland." This is, of course, a fake, which shows quite well how Russia works on social networks.

The thesis that the western part of Ukraine should allegedly become part of Poland was actively promoted by Russian propagandists from the beginning of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine. The fiction was "reinforced" with fake maps that seem to demonstrate Poland's intentions to seize the western regions of Ukraine; then forged documents with seemingly orders to attack these territories; then about the alleged battalions of Poles in Ukraine; then about the "Poles legalization"; then about the alleged plans of Poland "to go over to the Russian side and then capture the western regions of Ukraine", etc.

In this way, the Russians want to provoke enmity between Poles and Ukrainians.

Photos of price tags from stores in the Ternopil and Lviv regions for basic products (buckwheat, eggs, and cabbage) on which the prices are indicated not only in hryvnias but also in zlotys are allegedly being distributed on the network. Because of this, residents allegedly are afraid of joining the regions of Poland, especially because of the draft law on a special status for Polish citizens. It is a fake. These photos have been edited, and the prices are not correct. More details. As for the law on the special status of Polish citizens in Ukraine, the president introduced the relevant draft law to the Verkhovna Rada on July 11 in compliance with the principle of reciprocity of international law. It is a response to the law on assistance to citizens of Ukraine, adopted by Poland in March. There are no provisions of law that would provide for the accession of Ukraine to Poland.

Such information is spread on social networks, adding an alleged fight video. In the messages to the video, they add that Polish women recently fought with Ukrainian refugees. However, it is not true. According to VoxCheck, a reverse TinEye search shows that the video appeared online in 2016 on the Polish website wykop.pl.

According to several Polish media, the fight took place at the beginning of July in the Polish resort town of Władysławowo and gained wide publicity. It recorded the participation of three girls and several men who tried to separate them. The exact cause of the fight is unknown. In the comments under the video, it is noted that such cases are often associated with excessive alcohol consumption and frequently occur at summer parties.

There is no mention of the nationality of the participants, so there is no reason to talk about a conflict between Poles and refugees from Ukraine either. It is not the first time Russian propaganda has spread fakes about refugees from Ukraine in various states that accepted them because of the war. In this way, the propaganda seeks to discredit the refugees from Ukraine themselves and to create the appearance that the attitude towards Ukrainians is deteriorating in the countries that receive them.

Russian media spread information that two battalions of the Polish army allegedly arrived in Ukraine and were sent to Pavlograd (Dnipropetrovsk region). Reports say that these Polish battalions were destroyed on the territory of Ukraine. However, it is not true.

Polish regular troops do not take part in Russia's war against Ukraine. In a comment to the Polish publication Konkret24, the General Staff of the Polish Army denied information about the participation of Polish battalions in the war on the territory of Ukraine, calling such reports another fake of systematic Russian propaganda. Poles can fight in Ukraine as part of the International Legion, which is subordinate to the Armed Forces. Therefore, Poles or any military personnel with foreign citizenship who fight in this legion are Ukrainian military personnel. More details. 

Another continuation of the message that Poland will attack Ukraine in the west was voiced by Kremlin propagandist Yaakov Kedmi. He noted that he relies on the data received from Polish intelligence. Stanislav Zharin, a representative of the Polish special services, denied the information on Twitter. He noted that it is part of the Kremlin's disinformation campaign against Poland.

It will be recalled that the message about Poland's attack appeared as early as March 2022 after the visit to Ukraine of Polish Deputy Prime Minister Yaroslav Kaczyński. In May, it was activated with new fakes. At the same time, the thesis about the division of Ukraine between Poland and Russia and the preservation of the "neutral" third of Ukraine with its center in Kyiv has been promoted by Russian propaganda since at least 2014.

MythDetector adds that political scientist Yaakov Kedmi appears in the "Putin List" created by "Free Russia" as a person who cooperates with the Putin regime and is involved in the propaganda of Russian TV channels. Since the 2010s, he has been a frequent guest of the TV channels "Russia 1" and ITON.TV. Kedmi regularly criticizes Ukraine, accusing it of anti-Semitism and Nazism. More about the propagandist.

Telegram channels spread the news allegedly about the call of the youth group of the "Polish Crown Confederation" party to tear down Ukrainian flags around the city with the slogans "we do not want to make Ukropoliya out of Poland," "Ukrainians go to Ukraine," "there is no common future with Ukraine in Poland." Reports say that this protest allegedly spread to Warsaw and border cities. It is not true.

In fact, in Wroclaw, four guys organized a press conference at the "City Transport Company" headquarters due to dissatisfaction with the Ukrainian flags that the company displayed on Wroclaw's buses and trams and offered to submit a petition to replace them with Polish flags. Young people talked about Ukrpolia, but in the context of the party rhetoric of the Confederation of the Polish Crown, a Eurosceptic party that advocates for a "traditional" Poland. "We want a Polish, not a rainbow, left or serf Poland under the dictates of Brussels Eurocrats. We also do not want to turn Poland into Ukropolia, and we will not allow those in power to do so," the message reads.

According to the fact-checkers of "On the other side of the news," the company president, Krzysztof Balawejder, came to the young people and informed them that the mayor of Wrocław had agreed upon the initiative. He added that the blue-yellow flag is a meaningful gesture of solidarity, and the Polish flag is a reason for pride. The company's office also has the flags of Ukraine and the European Union. After that, the "rally" ended. There is no information about similar protests in Warsaw or other cities. Reporting protests over Ukrainian flags in Poland is a manipulation of pro-Russian Telegram channels to worsen Ukrainian-Polish relations.