Russian media reports that "specialists of the Center for Special Information and Psychological Operations of the Armed Forces" conducted another "operation." They allegedly took out the grain and blew up an empty granary in Zelenodolsk, Dnipropetrovsk region, to accuse the Russian army of destroying civilian infrastructure. It is not true.

The local authorities denied the information. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk RMA, Valentin Reznichenko, said that on June 30, the Russians shelled the Kryvorizka district and targeted the agricultural enterprise of the Zelenodol community. As a result, a warehouse containing 40 tons of grain was destroyed. The local authorities provided photo and video evidence of the events. The occupiers called the evidence "another fake" that "is being replicated by Ukraine with the help of the West."    

This manipulative thesis, spread by the Russian media, is part of the fakes about the supposed "ineffectiveness of Western sanctions against the Russian Federation" and that "anti-Russian sanctions hit Europe more painfully than the Russian Federation." This time, Russian propagandists used the New York Times article as "proof" that "Russia was almost unaffected by the sanctions." However, this thesis is not there.

"News" under this title was published by Russian and Belarusian publications concerning the mayor of Riga, Martins Stakis. Allegedly, he stated that the hotels in the capital may soon stop accepting Ukrainian refugees for free and that on July 1, the agreement between the Latvian government and representatives of the hotel business may terminate. On June 15, Martins Stakis gave an interview to Latvian Television (LTV) and spoke about Ukrainian refugees.

He said the state should provide more compensation for hosting refugees in hotels. Otherwise, they will no longer provide these services, and refugees will have to find new accommodation.

The Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine denied the fakes about receiving a Ukrainian pension abroad.

Pensions are accrued to all retirees! The bodies of the Pension Fund of Ukraine and the social protection of the population carry out monthly accrual of pensions and social benefits for both internally displaced persons and citizens who went abroad due to the war in Ukraine.

The funds of those who received a pension from Ukrposhta will not be lost. If you still want to receive payments abroad, you need to change the method of receiving funds and transfer the charges to the card.

Russian media are actively spreading the news that the Americans have accused the United States and Ukraine of stealing $ 40 billion in military aid. In particular, RIA-Novosti wrote about it. Do reports say that under the news of allocating a new tranche of aid, Americans ask the authorities where the previously given money went? Also, Americans under this post seem to be concerned about the use of taxpayers' funds and financial responsibility for government actions. Russian propaganda turned the comments of anonymous users into loud headlines such as: "Where did the money go?", "Ukrainians spent the previous 40 billion too quickly!" etc. However, all this is manipulation. According to StopFake, the news was made based on the comments of seven anonymous users of the social network Twitter. Their authors are not opinion leaders, experts, or analysts. In addition, comments were added almost simultaneously, which is a sign of the activity of bots. Therefore, it is evident that such an opinion cannot reliably reflect Americans' views. Russian media often use this technique to create news and mislead readers artificially. It is not the first time Russian propaganda has tried to discredit US aid to Ukraine. Earlier, we wrote about how similar attempts were made based on extracted citations from an article published in The Wall Street Journal. Similarly, during the week, propaganda used comments from individual social media users from France and Germany to spread the idea that citizens of these countries did not support and "dislike" Ukraine.

Fake accounts spread on social networks that, despite the situation in Ukraine, the hotel administration wants to give guests a happy summer vacation. "Payment can be made both in rubles and in hryvnias. Our position is neutral; we do not choose either side. We are for peace and summer vacation by the sea," the swindlers wrote online. Earlier, similar ads could be found for the Crimean hotels of this chain.

Russian propagandists spread such information. In particular, she appeared in pro-Russian telegram channels. Such reports say that Ukraine has stopped paying salaries to public sector employees in the occupied territories and has stopped paying pensions and other social benefits. The authors of such reports claim that there will be no more payments from Ukraine for Energodar residents. However, this is a fake. It was refuted by the mayor of Energodar, Dmytro Orlov. "Dear citizen of Energodar, all this information is not true! The rashists and their collaborating henchmen in the occupied territories are increasing the number of fakes, the main purpose of which is to "stimulate" people to obtain Russian passports. After all, they saw that fewer people were willing to receive this dubious paper in Energodar and other territories than they had expected. That's why they use almost everything: persuasion, blackmail, intimidation, and artificially created feelings of hopelessness. Do not succumb to provocations! We understand that with limited access to the Internet, it is difficult to obtain timely information. But you should know: Ukraine will never voluntarily give up its citizens and is doing everything to bring the day of your liberation closer," the mayor of Energodar wrote.

This message was spread by the Russian media and social networks concerning an article in The Wall Street Journal (WSJ), published on June 13. Russian propaganda has traditionally exaggerated information and speaks of "ordinary sawing" and "expected theft." However, the quotes announced by the Russian media are taken out of context and distort the opinion expressed in the original source. The fact-checkers from StopFake drew attention to the manipulation. The WSJ published an article about how much money the United States spends daily on military aid to Ukraine under the headline: "Since billions go to Ukraine, officials are concerned about the possibility of fraud and waste." It reports that the United States sends about $ 130 million a day in aid to Ukraine (including the cost of weapons, not just money as such). The US Congress has also allocated nearly $ 54 billion to Ukraine, exceeding annual aid to any other country, including aid sent to Afghanistan at the peak of US military involvement there. The article's authors, referring to the opinion of American politicians, draw attention to the need to establish an effective mechanism for controlling the allocated funds, which did not happen at the beginning of the war due to the need to respond quickly to challenges. That is, Americans want to be sure that the money allocated goes to their goals. And this is natural, given the amount of funding.

On Facebook, the attackers launched an old fraudulent scheme of alleged "compensation for VAT paid," which now was combined with "assistance from EU countries." This advertisement is promoted on Facebook, using the Ukraine 24 TV channel logo. The message is illustrated by a photo of Volodymyr Zelensky with the "signed decree" captions and "urgent check of cards for payments to each citizen from UAH 9,800" to draw attention to the information in it. The post's description states that "Ukrainians will receive financial assistance from EU countries" and about "VAT refunds for the last three years." To receive "compensation," social network users are offered to go to a third-party site, where they are asked to provide all the card data, they say "for verification." With this card information, attackers will appropriate all the money in the account. A similar scheme was distributed in 2021 when photos of the host of "1 + 1" Alla Mazur were used.

This manipulative thesis is spread on Facebook to foreign audiences. German-language reports claim that while "at home [German] pensioners are starving," the government has provided 22 billion euros to Ukraine and plans to pay even more.

Fact-checkers discovered this manipulation from the German publication Correctiv. According to a government spokesman, Germany has allocated about 1.83 billion euros to Ukraine since 2014, about 1.6 billion euros for various aid programs since February 2022, and about a billion euros for military purposes. Chancellor Olaf Scholz said that since 2014, Germany had supported Ukraine for more than two billion euros. "Comparing assistance to Ukraine or refugees with the situation of pensioners in Germany, as they are presented in a Facebook post, is not new. It has only recently been rumored that Ukrainian refugees can receive a pension ten years earlier than Germans, which is not true," Correctiv added.

Information was spread on social networks that Kyiv was allegedly calling for the abandonment of the metro because it was a legacy of the Soviet Union. To such posts are added photos with stickers that contain this appeal and are allegedly pasted in the subway.

Georgian lawyer Irakli Zakareishvili published a post on Facebook claiming that "US President Joe Biden deceived Europe and forced it to give up Russian oil, while the United States buys twice as much oil from Russia as before the start of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict." The claim that the US doubled its oil purchases from Russia after the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine is fake. Fact-checkers from Myth Detector refuted Zakareishvili's words. In fact, due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the US imposed an embargo on Russian oil, natural gas, and coal on March 8. Canada, Great Britain, and Australia joined the initiative. On May 30, the European Union banned seaborne imports of Russian oil with a six-month phase-in period for crude oil, accounting for 90% of the country's oil purchases. The volume of Russian oil sold in Europe in April increased significantly compared to March. According to The Wall Street Journal, Russia can sell increased volumes of oil by resorting to fraud — tankers loaded with Russian oil indicate in official documents: "Destination unknown." The oil is then loaded onto large ships in the middle of the sea, and as a result, its origin is concealed.

As for the USA, we can talk about the increased demand for Russian oil from Indian companies that process Russian crude oil into gasoline and diesel fuel, mixing it with products purchased in other countries. The US does buy some oil products from India, but it is impossible to determine which ones contain Russian oil. Experts claim that even in the case of Russian fraud, the volume of oil products of Russian origin on the market in the United States is insignificant.

The Russian media is constantly speculating on the food crisis, which all international organizations warn about. Most often, they write that Ukraine itself blocks ports and therefore does not export grain to countries that usually buy Ukrainian agricultural products. Are they claiming that Ukraine is selling its grain in exchange for weapons, or is it exporting grain to Europe to create an artificial famine in Ukraine itself? But there is a new thesis - there is not enough Ukrainian wheat at all, so the lack of exports can not affect most people worldwide.

For example, Soloviev and other propagandists write about it on telegram channels. In fact, it is a manipulation. First, the 16 million tons Russian propagandists write about is only an approximate level of wheat exports. But Ukraine does not only export wheat - in 2020/2021, the state exported almost 60 million tons of grain. And among them - barley, beans, corn, flour, and oil. And Ukraine cannot export all these products to Asia and Africa due to Russia's blockade of ports.

Secondly, Ukraine had convenient transport links with the countries it supplied grain, making it cheaper. Now, due to the impossibility of delivering them there from Ukraine, they are becoming more expensive - and therefore, countries are forced to buy less. Several countries, including Egypt and Lebanon, are a quarter dependent on grain supplies from Ukraine. The figures are as follows: 25 million tons of corn and wheat are equivalent to the annual consumption of all the world's least developed economies. And it was Ukraine that met the grain needs of these countries. In addition, recent years have been dry in many countries, so grain production has declined altogether - and this could lead to famine in the world's poorer countries. Ukrainian grain is now in dire need of Ukrainian grain.

  Information about this is spreading on social networks. Allegedly, all pensions and social benefits received or stored on the bank cards of Mariupol will be directed in favor of the Armed Forces if they are not urgently withdrawn from the accounts. However, this is a fake. According to Mariupol Mayor's Adviser Petro Andryushchenko, all money in the bank accounts of Ukrainian citizens is kept and not transferred without their consent, either to the Armed Forces or anywhere else. "The property right of Ukrainians is unconditional and protected by the state. The purpose of the fake is to form anti-Ukrainian sentiments, encourage Mariupol residents to refuse to evacuate, and provoke the use of conversion centers run by the occupation administration, ” Andryushchenko wrote. 

Such information was disseminated on social networks during May. In particular, such messages were published by Kherson activist Viktor Totsky, the lead of the housing cooperative, candidate for Kherson City Council in 2020, and candidate for People's Deputies in 2019. The messages claim that the occupiers control the Kherson budget, and private individuals must pay taxes to them. However, this is not true. According to the fact-checking project Bez Brekhni, if the Kherson business can and wants to pay taxes and contributions, it may well do so on the accounts published by the State Tax Service. In addition, the Kherson budget is fully controlled by the legitimate city authorities - the executive committee of the Kherson City Council. "Relevant expenditures in the form of salaries, contributions, etc., are carried out regularly, but if there are funds in the budget. A significant problem is a lack of funds in the Kherson budget due to reduced revenues (this is due to the occupation). However, still, it is completely under the control of the Ukrainian authorities, "the fact-checkers write.

Pro-Kremlin media are spreading lies, according to The Guardian economist Larry Elliott. In a May 3 report, Elliott expressed concern about the humanitarian catastrophe and suggested that sooner or later, an agreement should be reached between Russia and Ukraine. At the same time, the journalist added that it is difficult to compromise with the Kremlin due to the terrible atrocities committed by Russian troops. There is no support for the Putin regime in the text. The author believes that negotiations could be the best option for the world.

Based on the assumptions and reflections of an individual journalist, Russian propaganda created dozens of materials about the alleged recognition of power and invincibility of Russia by Britains.

The Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine reminds us that the Kremlin's use of experts who express a personal opinion is manipulation. In this way, Russia is trying to impose its point of view on the world.

After the ambassadors of the European Union approved the sixth package of sanctions against Russia on June 2, the pro-Kremlin media intensified the thesis that it would not affect Russia as much as the West. Russian propagandists write that the European Union has analyzed who is harmed by anti-Russian sanctions and decided to reconcile with Russia. Due to specific sanctions against Russia in the EU, inflation has been breaking all records recently, with grain and vegetable oil prices rising significantly. Therefore, the sanctions imposed by the European Union under the sixth package could lead to a "price shock," an increase in interest rates, and a decline in the population's purchasing power.

One of the sources of the manipulative idea of ​​reconciliation was a column by scholar William Moloney in the American publication The Hill entitled "Can Russia win a PR war against the West?". A writer citing the New York Times suggests that the United States and its allies are no longer staunch supporters of "victory" for Ukraine and harsh "punishment" for Russia as they were at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. And that now they are trying to find an acceptable way to compromise to end the war. But nowhere in the column does the author claim that the European Union has decided to reconcile with Russia. Even though the European Union has approved the sixth package of sanctions against Russia and Belarus in connection with Russia's unprovoked aggression against Ukraine. In particular, the EU has decided to ban the purchase, import, or transit of crude oil and certain petroleum products from Russia. Excluding the use of Russian oil will take six months for crude oil and up to 8 months for other refined products.

If restrictive political and economic measures against Russia had not destroyed its economy, Putin would not have had to repeat as a mantra that "sanctions against Russia are largely provoking a global crisis." He has recently blackmailed the EU and the US by unblocking Ukrainian ports for grain exports after anti-Russian sanctions are lifted. And on June 4, he came up with another option, if Ukraine wants to export grain, it can do it, but not through ports, but through Belarus, and for this, the EU will need to lift sanctions from Minsk.

And if in Russia, an analog of McDonald's was invented, Russian companies have already faced a technological crisis due to Western sanctions. According to the Financial Times, they can not replace their electrical and computer equipment from global manufacturers who have completely stopped doing business in Russia.

In fact, Russia's real place is a lot of noise out of nowhere. All of Russia has less GDP than one state of California or Texas. The only valuable contribution of modern Russia to the world economy is oil and gas. 

Russian State Duma Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin has spread fake information that Ukraine will receive only 15% of the $ 40 billion allocated by the United States to help Ukraine. Most of the money will go to the United States and other countries - but Ukrainians will have to return all 40 billion US dollars.

In fact, it is not the case: indeed, $ 6 billion - or 15% of the total - will go directly to the Ukrainian army. And, for example, more than 8 billion - to restore weapons stockpiles for the US Army itself, which has already handed over a lot of equipment to Ukraine. But other programs for which the United States allocates 40 billion are humanitarian aid, including refugees from Ukraine to the United States and other European countries; these are funds for stabilizing inflation, economic recovery, etc. You can read in detail what the funds will be allocated for this assistance here. And all these programs, in different ways, help Ukraine and Ukrainians - both in the country and abroad. Another part will go to strengthening NATO troops in Europe.

Volodin's manipulation was spread by many Russian media simultaneously, claiming that this assistance would need to be returned. However, this is an aid, not a lend-lease - a program of a simplified system of purchasing weapons for Ukraine in the United States. It means that you will need to return the money - just later, not at the time of purchase and delivery.

Russian Telegram channels and the media controlled by the occupiers write that the Ukrainian government plans to refuse social benefits to residents of the occupied region. It is a lie that StopFake has refuted.

All social benefits continue to be paid in the oblast, but in some cases, the payments have been blocked due to technical conditions. Local authorities have repeatedly reported these delays.

Deputy Chairman of the Kherson Regional Council Yury Sobolevsky previously said that social benefits in the region would not be canceled. Besides, the deputy of the Kherson regional council, Serhiy Khlan, noted on May 19 that all social payments across the Kherson region, which were blocked till today, managed to be unblocked. And by May 22, all-region residents must receive social benefits.

It will be recalled that the Minister of Social Policy of Ukraine, Maryna Lazebna, stated that all pensions and social benefits to those Ukrainians who find themselves in temporary occupation zones are accrued properly.

Facebook users are sharing a video claiming that Zelenskyy is working for the United States and Russia at the same time. The video is based on various Russian propaganda theses, such as "Ukraine is ruled by America," "Ukraine will soon cease to exist," "Zelenskyy received billions of dollars from the United States," and others. For example, the video claims that "Zelenskyy disarmed NATO, united the Russians around Putin, and expelled foreign companies from Russia to do Russian work."

It is another attempt by Russian propagandists to discredit the truth and disrupt plans to seize Ukraine in 72 hours - victory: NATO is not disarmed, Putin's support is important only to Putin and the Russians, Zelenskyy did not receive billions from the West, Russia in isolation, and so on. The war started by Russia is destroying Ukraine, but it is also reducing the economic performance of the aggressor country itself.

You can read more about the facts that contradict the allegations in the video in the Delphi article.

Pro-Russian online publication in Ukraine "Strana.ua" regarding the words of the First Deputy Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on Energy and Housing Oleksiy Kucherenko scared Ukrainians that "Naftogaz" raised natural gas prices and now for heating, a two-room apartment will have to pay up to 10000 hryvnias. Several other media outlets have spread this manipulation.

On May 10, 2022, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine approved the draft Law of Ukraine "On the peculiarities of regulating relations in the natural gas market and the field of heat supply during martial law and subsequent recovery." The bill provides a moratorium on rising natural gas prices and tariffs for heat and related services.

However, the gas supply company Naftogaz of Ukraine reassured: "It will not affect the payments of Ukrainians." The company keeps the gas price within the annual tariff plan "Fiksovanyy." This decision was made due to martial law. The gas price is UAH 7.96 per cubic meter with VAT, without the cost of distribution (supply). Contracts between 2.2 million Ukrainian households and the company will be automatically renewed.

Russian propagandists are spreading a fake story about "small arms depots" that were allegedly sold during the war, and it was because of this sale that Artemsil was shut down. Fake was analyzed in detail by StopFake.

The only thing that is true in the report of Russian propagandists is that warehouses in the mines where salt was mined in Bakhmut (former Artemivsk) existed. Weapons from the First and Second World Wars during the Soviet era and then, already during independence, kept some guns from the disbanded Ukrainian units.

But back in 2014, 95% of these weapons from warehouses were transported to Western Ukraine when there were fierce battles around Bakhmut. First of all, modern weapons were exported, but old ones were also moved - for example, Maxim machine guns and other historical weapons. For instance, Yuri Biryukov, an adviser to President Petro Poroshenko, wrote about this in 2015 and inspected warehouses. From a military point of view, warehouse values ​​don't matter. And one of the largest producers of salt in Europe - the company "Artemsil" can not work due to constant shelling. That is why salt has become so expensive in Ukraine, and there are interruptions in the supply of salt in Europe. "The company is not working, idle, according to the order, indefinitely. The shelling is constant; the administrative building is partially destroyed. There were direct hits in the mine, in the warehouse. The production process is impossible. We will not endanger people. Moreover, most of the residents of Soledar and employees of Artemsil have already been evacuated. Most of the employees of the administration, engineering, and technical workers are not on-site, " acting director of the enterprise Viktor Yurin told Radio Svoboda. That is why the "salt crisis artificially created by the Kyiv regime," which the propagandists write about. The sale of the "shooting failure to sell it to Africa" ​​is a fiction of former Verkhovna Rada deputy Ilya Kiva, who was the first to spread this lie.

With the start of the war, Ukrainian anti-vaccination groups in Viber decreased Kremlin propaganda, but over time it returned. Texty.org.ua writes about this in their research.

Information, that the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power station captured by Russian troops held 30,000 kilograms of plutonium and 40,000 kilograms of enriched uranium, was first spread by a Wall Street Journal journalist on social networks; from where it was picked up and disseminated by the Russian media. Russia can use this fake to spread the message that Ukraine is allegedly preparing to "resume nuclear weapons production" because enriched uranium and plutonium could potentially be used as raw materials for nuclear weapons.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine warned about attempts by scammers to get rich at the expense of relatives of the Ukrainian military. "Relatives of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have started receiving suspicious phone calls and messages," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said. - Using the emotional state of relatives and friends, the attackers call from hidden numbers and offer to "provide information" about the military and "facilitate the release from captivity" for a monetary reward. The scammers are also trying to find out the personal data of Ukrainian defenders, allegedly as clarification. "