Information about a new fraud scheme with an international scope under the guise of an American foundation and the name of the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany is spreading on the net. As factcheckers from "On the Other Side of the News" write, a fake fundraiser was announced to save poor children in Ukraine.

According to the reports, on March 26 Andrii Melnyk, Ukraine's ambassador to Germany, posted a profile on Facebook and on the 28th he started obsessively asking for money to support Ukrainian refugee children. The messages use emotional triggers like "urgency," "hunger," "disease," "human trafficking," etc., and there is also a link to a "rescue fund" page." It's all a scam, however. ""There is only an official page of the Ukrainian embassy in Germany on Facebook. The ambassador's account is actually only on Twitter. Through his profile Mr. Melnyk mostly appeals to world leaders, sanctions, embargoes and military support for Ukraine, but he does not collect donations from users of social networks and does not advertise any foundations.

As for the fund itself, it, like the ambassador's page, looks real, but in fact is fake. If the con artists used the ambassador from Germany for the deal, the foundation was stolen in the United States. The foundation page is carefully copied from the Save the Children organization. The logo, tabs, addresses, photos - everything imitates the real organization, which is now engaged in, among other things, helping children affected by war in Ukraine, Afghanistan and other countries where military conflicts are ongoing or may arise," the fact checkers report.

After pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk was detained, anonymous telegram channels controlled by the Russian special services launched a series of manipulative messages designed to undermine Ukrainians' trust in the authorities. For the most part, these messages and theories are built on assumptions, such as "Medvedchuk is wearing a new uniform, which means that his things are not suitable for photographing. In fact, the new uniforms can't prove that Medvedchuk's things are "unsuitable for photographing. Moreover, there is no evidence that he was dressed up on purpose. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Medvedchuk tried to disguise himself as a Ukrainian military man by wearing a uniform and crossing the Ukrainian border. It is noteworthy that the telegram channels avoid affirmative sentences and build messages on assumptions: "Zelenskyy knew about the start time of the attack on February 24, so the SBU could calmly take Medvedchuk to a safe place."

In addition, the telegram channels use the prefix "gossip" for their manipulations, after which one can write anything and retract his words if necessary. For example, "weaved in that the Russians knew that Medvedchuk was in the SBU, and negotiations on his exchange were unsuccessful. If Russia really did not plan to exchange Putin's cousin for Ukrainian defenders, it would mean that the Kremlin is not interested in Medvedchuk's future fate. If so, Russia, which keeps trying to discredit the Ukrainian authorities, would benefit from publicly stating that Medvedchuk is being held by Ukrainian law enforcers, as opposed to fleeing Ukraine's official statements. Medvedchuk's wife, host Oksana Marchenko, who recorded an April 13 address to Vladimir Zelensky, may also have previously claimed that her husband had disappeared. She, like the pro-Russian TV channels, says that Medvedchuk is allegedly "illegally detained by the SBU." Recall that Medvedchuk was announced suspicions and the court selected preventive measures in the criminal proceedings on oil and gas extraction in the Black Sea and on aiding the activities of a terrorist organization through the supply of coal from the occupied territories of Donbass. He should be under house arrest, but escaped from his estate, thereby violating the obligations under the preventive measure.

This manipulative thesis was spread by former MP Oleh Tsarev, who fled to Russia and pro-Russian telegram channels. In fact, back in February 2021, it was Victor Medvedchuk and his wife Oksana Marchenko who were sanctioned for financing terrorism. Medvedchuk is not a hostage - he was announced suspicions and the court selected preventive measures in criminal proceedings for oil and gas extraction in the Black Sea and for facilitating the activities of a terrorist organization through the supply of coal from the occupied territories of Donbass. He should be under house arrest, but Medvedchuk fled his estate at the beginning of Russia's large-scale aggression against Ukraine. In addition, Tsaryov tries to present the proposal to exchange Medvedchuk for Ukrainian defenders captured by Russia as "proof" that "there is a civil war going on in Ukraine. This is refuted even by the Russian government, which, although it still calls the war in Ukraine a "special operation," confirms the presence of Russian troops on Ukrainian territory.

Russian media are spreading reports that EU chief diplomat Josep Borrel allegedly "wished for a military solution to the conflict. StopFake writes that Russian propagandists spread part of his tweet about the results of his trip to Ukraine: "This war must be won on the battlefield. In fact, the full version of the quote is: "This war will be won on the battlefield. We will allocate an additional 500 million euros. Weapons supplies will be tailored to Ukraine's needs." In the following tweet, Borrell explains that the reason for the increased support for Ukraine is Russia's war crimes, in particular the shelling of Kramatorsk by Russian troops. Borrel sees sanctions as the main means of "pressure on Russia." "We need to continue to increase the pressure on Russia. We have already imposed large-scale sanctions, but we need to do more in the energy sector, particularly oil."

The message spread by anonymous wiretaps after the UN reported a record 12.6 percent increase in food prices in Europe, especially for grain and oil. The price spike is clear, as Ukraine and the Russian Federation provided about a third of the world's exports of wheat, 20% of corn, and nearly 80% of sunflower oil. Trade was mainly through the Black Sea, now blocked. So the price increase is true, but the cause is not the Ukrainians, but the war started by Russia.

Russian media disseminated a quote from EU High Representative Josep Borrel that the Russian ruble allegedly "resists sanctions well. на своей специализированной радио COPE." Это , Borrel did не express a passion для российской экономики," Center explained.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, such information cannot be considered true, because Russia is not "withdrawing" troops: the Kafirs are fleeing because they received stiff resistance from the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainians. "In addition, the enemy is overturning its forces to the Donbass and is preparing to deliver a crushing blow to the territory of our country from there. Secondly, no agreements have been reached between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. All the stories about the alleged end of the "special operation" are just an attempt to avoid further implementation of sanctions against the aggressor country. In fact, the Kafirs are trying to organize incomprehensible structures on the temporarily seized territories and introduce the ruble into circulation there," the Center said in a statement.

Such messages circulated en masse in social networks during the air raid in the evening of March 31. People spread information like explosions and shelling. However, there was no shelling, said the head of the Regional Military Administration (OVA) of Lviv region Maxim Kozitsky.

"As it turned out, in one of the localities of the region workers of a gas extraction tower produced a controlled release of adjacent gases. During the release, a sound similar to an explosion was heard. There was also a partial fire. These events coincided with the announcement of an air alert," the Center for Strategic Communications reports with reference to the head of the Lviv OVA."

According to the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Russia continues to use recruited foreign politicians to form a mistaken public opinion about its own power. According to the report, experts record the promotion of the thesis that a new world order is now being formed, which, according to experts, will be led by Russia, China and India.

"The foreign experts include former Brazilian President Lula da Silva as well as Kremlin mouthpiece political analyst Rafael Ordukhanian. Putin's media rhetoric indicates that Russia expects sanctions to ease in the near future. This is probably why the Kremlin is making statements about the partial withdrawal of Russian troops in the Kyiv and Chernihiv regions," the Center says. They add that all these statements are manipulation and because none of the previous Kremlin ultimatums have been executed, the enemy is trying to mislead the international community. That is why they talk about the completion of the offensive operation in the north of Ukraine.

Chechnya Leader Ramzan Kadyrov told that he is in Mariupol. However, on March 28, pro-russian groups shared a photo where Kadyrov, surrounded by numerous guards, is praying at Pulsar gas station that belongs to Rosnafta. There are no such gas stations in Ukraine.

Russian propaganda spreads these narratives in different languages, trying to sow panic among Ukrainians and convince them that the world can change its mind about Russia because of its dependence on Russian oil and gas. The Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine refuted these reports and reminded that the world already has experience overcoming the oil crisis. In 1973, Europe and the United States successfully abandoned Arab energy. The Center also noted that Germany, Poland, the Norwegian company Equinor, the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the German company Uniper have decided to stop financing the construction of Russia's Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

Russian politicians and the media are spreading this statement, trying to further turn citizens in Russia and abroad, especially in Germany and France, against the "collective West".

НIn fact, this statement is manipulative, as most of the sanctions imposed on Russia are aimed at the country's political leadership, elites, defense and financial sectors, etc. And the purpose of these economic measures is not to undermine the so-called potential of Russia and Belarus, it is a response to aggression and full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This statement is spread in the Kremlin media with the emphasis that Ukraine is blackmailing the EU by cutting the transit of gas in order to obtain new arms supplies and air defense. According to StopFake, this is not true.

"Officially, representatives of the Ukrainian government say that any restrictions on gas supplies should be a part of a package of sanctions against Russia due to the invasion of Ukraine," the fact-checkers said.

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The telegram channels administered by the Russian services are widely spreading the message that Western countries will gradually abandon the sanctions imposed on Russia due to the attack on Ukraine. In particular, the Gossip Girl writes channel that while NATO "refuses to provide weapons and close the skies over Ukraine, the West does not even want to give EU candidate status. That's all you need to know about Europe's support!" There is a similar message about Great Britain.

There are no official grounds to say that Western countries refuse to help Ukraine and lift sanctions en masse. On the contrary, such a message is beneficial to propagandists to give the impression that "everything is gone" Ukraine was left without support in the fight against Russia.

Russian media outlets are spreading the information that the entire volume of gas, pumped to underground storage back in the summer, was taken away. This information is published with a reference to Gazprom and allegedly data from Gas Infrastructure Europe.

However, StopFake denies this information. "Europe's underground storage is indeed lower than usual. But the information that all the gas was taken is not true. The latest data on storage shows that in various European countries as of February 25, the volume of gas fluctuates within 20%," the statement says.

In Uzhhorod's city council this information was denied: "Infromation on suspension of delivery of chlorine for Uzhhorod's Vodokanal, due to what the dosage of chlorine is reduced and, accordingly, the quality of drinking water spoils, and therefore even brushing your teeth is safe only with boiled water - fake. Administration of the utility company assures: "There are enough reagent stocks for disinfection of water, in accordance with the requirements of the state sanitary norms for drinking water (DSanPIN) ", - was said in the message.