An English-language fake is spreading on Facebook - President Volodymyr Zelensky allegedly bought a residence in Florida for $ 35 million, which the United States has allocated to help Ukraine in the war with Russia. Check Your Fact denied this information, noting that there was no evidence that Zelensky had bought the property and that the house was still up for sale. "A reverse image search shows that the house presented in the publication is up for sale at Sotheby's International Realty for $ 11.5 million. There are no signs that he has been sold, " the fact-checkers said, recalling that Zelensky had rejected a US proposal to evacuate the capital Kyiv after a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine.

This fake is aimed at American users because it contains manipulation and lies about buying property: they say that the Ukrainian president paid for the villa from "their taxes." It is not the first time Russian propaganda has tried to discredit Zelensky in the eyes of the foreign community. These are attempts to undermine the trust in the Ukrainian government among ordinary citizens of other countries, including the United States, further influence the support of Ukraine by international partners. Earlier, Zelensky gained popularity among English-language Twitter, Ticket, and Reddit users. Read more about how the world discovered Zelensky in MediaSapiens.

The pro-Kremlin media spread this manipulative thesis, noting that training plans for protection against chemical weapons for 2019 were found at the Red Cross base in Mariupol. At the same time, Russian propaganda "reminds us" that pro-Russian militants then allegedly "reported the preparation of a provocation with chemical weapons in Mariupol." Thus, Russia is trying to convince that the Red Cross and the Ukrainian authorities allegedly "prepared a chemical attack." Such messages should operate on the principle of "information alibi." The Russian media is preparing an information background so that the Russian authorities can shift responsibility for the crimes committed in Ukraine.

The Red Cross, like the United Nations, the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, and others, is studying the effects of chemical weapons and trying to prevent their use. This is not the first time Russian propagandists have spread fakes and manipulations about the alleged "preparation of provocations with the use of chemical weapons by Ukraine." The propaganda also manipulates the fact that Ukrainians are provided with means of protection against chemical weapons - this allegedly proves Ukraine's intention to use them. In reality, it is protected in the event of a chemical attack by the Russian Federation.

Posts with this statement are distributed on Facebook and other social networks in Russian. They claim that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz recently said that the genocide of Russians in Donbas was ridiculous. Against the background of a special military operation in Ukraine, Germans now have a moral right to forget what their ancestors did during World War II. The video adds excerpts from a Russian-language interview with Scholz, in which he says NATO is not an aggressive organization, noting that Putin's allegations of genocide in the Donbas are ridiculous. In fact, according to Myth Detector checkers, the widespread claim that Olaf Scholz says that in light of the current Russian aggression, Germans have the right to forget the crimes of their ancestors during World War II is untrue. An excerpt from Scholz's video shared on social media was taken from the Munich Security Conference, where he spoke about security issues, including Russian aggression. Scholz did call Putin's arguments about the genocide in Donbas ridiculous, but he never said anything about forgetting the crimes of Nazism.

The video of the US ambassador in Georgia, Kelly C. Degnan, broadcast in Georgian, has spread on social networks. In this video, she allegedly says that Georgia needs to open a so-called second front against Russia. The video quotes Degnan as saying: "To make sure that the armed forces are on high alert and that the United States is supporting Georgia in its steps towards NATO membership. It is an incredible opportunity for Georgia, and time cannot be wasted. " These words are followed by footage of the explosion, which gives the impression that Degnan talked about hostilities.

Russian media have spread a distorted quote from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who allegedly said that Turkey did not want to get involved in the "show about Ukraine," saying that Ankara would not join sanctions against Moscow, and Russian companies could do business in the country.

StopFake writes that the quote of the President of Turkey was distorted, and words about the show were taken out of context. In fact, Erdogan said that Turkey opposes encroachments on Ukraine's territorial integrity and is trying to do everything possible to bring the parties to a peace agreement. Regarding the "show", according to the Turkish leader aa.com.tr: "President Erdogan emphasized that instead of participating in shows that do not contribute to resolving the crisis, Turkey is making every effort to cease fire in the region and then sign a permanent peace agreement, maintaining political and humanitarian relations with Russia. "

Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels reported that two battalions of Poles had allegedly arrived in Ukraine and would soon be sent to fight in the Donbas. This fake began to spread against President Volodymyr Zelensky's statement about the bill on the special legal status of Polish citizens in Ukraine, which should become a "mirror respect" for Poland, which passed a law on support for Ukrainian citizens. It came into force on March 13 and regulated the legality of Ukrainians' stay in Poland and provided them with comprehensive support.

Despite this, StopFake writes, Russian propaganda spreads the thesis that the Ukrainian bill aims to " legalize Poles who want to take part in hostilities against Russia." In fact, for this purpose, the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine was created in Ukraine, where citizens of other countries serve. It includes Poles and volunteers from the Netherlands, USA, Sweden, Denmark, Great Britain, Latvia, Lithuania, and other countries. But there are no separate Polish battalions in Ukraine. Only Belarusians have their battalion named after Kastus Kalinowski, recently enlarged to the regiment. The Polish Government Security Center also denied allegations that Polish troops had arrived in Ukraine.

Such a statement by the chairman of the State Duma of Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin, was spread by the Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels. According to him, 35 percent of the 40 billion will be used to finance the US military, 45.2 percent will be spent on other countries, 4.8 percent will be used to help refugees, reopen the USA embassy in Ukraine, and additional diplomatic support.

On Saturday, May 21, 2022, USA President Joe Biden signed a law providing $ 40 billion in aid to Ukraine. According to the document, the funds should be used for military and humanitarian aid. $ 20 billion of these funds will go to armaments, and the rest is direct budget and humanitarian aid.

Russian propagandists are spreading this message, the Center for Disinformation Protection said.

According to Russian propagandists, "neutral Finland has decided to exchange available Russian gas for NATO membership. Residents of Finland refused to pay for Russian gas in rubles. Finland will buy more gas from the United States at an inflated price to cover the deficit. "

A Russian propaganda channel called Channel One aired a story about alleged "foreign journalists" who visited the occupied Kherson region. In fact, it turned out that these "journalists" are bloggers - fans of Putin, who have been living in Russia for many years. Ilya Shepelin, a former journalist for the Dozhd TV channel, drew attention to this. He wrote about it on his Twitter page - “Thomas Roper and John Dugan, whom they described as "foreign journalists," did not work for any media outlet.”

"Channel One showed a story about how enthusiastic" foreign journalists "visited the occupied Kherson region. In fact, these "journalists" were Putin's bloggers, who have lived in Russia for many years - Thomas Roper and John Dugan, who do not work in any media, " Shepelin wrote.

Before that, the propagandists made headlines about Roeper as a "journalist for Anti Spiegel from Germany." However, in reality, it is his blog, which was also created on a domain registered in Russia. In this blog "loyal to Putin," Roper rebroadcasts all the Kremlin's methods written on the Telegram channel "Trukha Ukraine."

This is reported by the Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

The National Interest has published material by USA intelligence veteran Paul R. Pillar. He states that "humiliating" Russia with sanctions and removing Putin from power "will harm the whole world."

Serbian political scientist George Vukadinovic, interviewed by Kremlin media abroad this week, also spoke about Russia's greatness. Vukadinovic claims that NATO "should be held responsible for the war" in Ukraine. In a Politico article, scientists Patrick Portman, Justin Logan, and Benjamin M. Friedman suggested that Ukraine should return to "negotiations with Russia" because the West was giving Ukraine "false hopes of victory" in this war, hiding that it could not help money and weapons for so long.

The fake about Poland's alleged plans to take control of the western regions of Ukraine has spread on media. Earlier, Russian propagandists imagined that Poland wanted to send troops to Western Ukraine or take control of Western Ukraine with the help of NATO peacekeepers. This time, pro-Kremlin blogger Yuriy Podolyaka is spreading the message that Poland plans to move to the side of Russia and then seize the western regions of Ukraine. In the video, he claimed that after the occupation of western Ukraine, Poland would begin the denazification of the Ukrainian population. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine reminds us that the message that Poland is preparing to annex the western part of Ukraine remains one of the central narratives of Russia's hybrid war against Ukraine, which aims to split good relationships between Poland and Ukraine. All news with such a message is based only on the author's personal opinion and is confirmed in advance by falsified "facts". On May 20, Polish President Andrzej Duda stated that the victory of Ukraine as the complete restoration of territorial integrity would be the best end to Russia's war against Ukraine. It once again confirms the good neighborly relationships between Poland and Ukraine. Read more.

The Russian media widely spread such information regarding the American publication Bloomberg. The source of this manipulation was a column by Indian writer Pankaj Mishra, "Ukraine should beware of the British who give it gifts." First, the writer's opinion does not reflect the opinion of Bloomberg L. P. and its owners. Secondly, in his column, the writer assumed that Prime Minister of the United Kingdom Boris Johnson, Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth, and Development Affairs Elizabeth Mary Truss, and Secretary of State for Defence Ben Wallace were seeking to improve their political careers during the war in Ukraine. And that removing Johnson from the office will not solve the issue of British support for Ukraine. In November 2021, Boris Johnson said that the United Kingdom supports Ukraine because it was committed to democracy and freedom, not because of its hostility to Russia. On March 2, 2022, at an extraordinary session of the United Nations General Assembly, 141 countries condemned the Russian invasion of Ukraine. And 39 countries, coordinated by Britain, have filed the largest number of war crimes in the history of the International Criminal Court.

Third, according to the writer, one of the British representatives' demands is to oust Russia from Crimea.

On February 24, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. On February 28, the first meeting between the Ukrainian and Russian delegations took place on the Ukrainian-Belarusian border in the Gomel region. Several meetings have taken place since then. While negotiating, Russia has continued to kill civilians, shell and occupy Ukrainian territories, particularly in the east and south, to have a land route to the occupied Crimea and Transnistria. The Crimean issue was discussed on March 29 in Istanbul. Then the Ukrainian delegation, on its initiative and not under the influence of Britain, suggested that Russia fix in a separate clause of the agreement that the status of Crimea and Sevastopol would be resolved within 15 years in bilateral talks during peacetime.

Social networks publish a screenshot of the Financial Times publication about Russian military losses in the war in Ukraine and draw attention to the phrase "The statements of the Ukrainian and Russian military cannot be independently verified. Allegedly, this explains that Ukrainian statements are considered false in the West as well. In fact, the statement about the loss of a third of the Russian army, in addition to the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, was made by the British Defense Ministry, referring to its intelligence data. The Financial Times refers to the report of the British ministry. The mentioned phrase is rather used to emphasize the sides of the conflict, the Stop Fake checkers admitted the fact. Read more.

Anonymous telegram channels devalue the ability of small countries to help Ukraine. Using the example of the statement of the Estonian authorities about their assistance to Zhytomyr region, the propagandists ironize about the area of the country and describe the schemes of redistribution of funds to create funds, whose work will not be felt by an ordinary Ukrainian. We are also talking about a "scheme" under which, in return for assistance in reconstruction, Estonian companies will receive access to the resources and profitable economic cases of the region. Please note that the message is not based on a single fact, refers to an anonymous source, and probably aims to devalue the partnership with European countries in the eyes of Ukrainians and representatives of local authorities.

This fake was spread by Russian media and telegram channels referring to the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service. This is not the first time Russia has claimed that it is fighting in Ukraine against third parties. Earlier, for example, Russian propaganda convinced that it was fighting NATO in Ukraine. Also, the Kremlin media already spread a fake that the U.S. would send former Afghan National Army soldiers to Ukraine. In particular, in this way Russia is trying to justify its defeats in Ukraine, saying that mercenaries have better training, so it is more difficult to fight them - here plays the psychological factor that there is no shame in losing to conditionally stronger mercenaries. Or vice versa, to report on the "destruction of a group" that does not actually exist.

In fact, the U.S. is not going to send American troops to Ukraine at all, as President Joe Biden has repeatedly pointed out. Throughout Russia's war against Ukraine, the U.S. has been providing various kinds of military and medical aid to Ukraine. At the same time, it is Russia that has copied ISIS' methods and tactics for introducing war. Read more about this in the article "European Truth".

A video of Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg with Russian voiceover is circulating in social networks, in which he allegedly says Facebook is closing down and leaving Russia. This video, in particular, was published by the Facebook page of Mytworld. Factcheckers from Mythdetector reported that they used a video from Zuckerberg's interview with American writer Tim Ferris for the fake. In it, the Meta founder talked about the company's long-term strategy, technical challenges, operating principles, etc. So the Russian-language voice-over is fake.

In fact, Roskomnadzor blocked Facebook and Instagram in March, and declared Meta "extremist. Despite the fact that it was Russia that decided to block the social networks, Russian bloggers demanded a billion dollars in "compensation" from Meta for blocking instagram, because they "lost their main source of income. So this video could be part of a narrative about alleged "Russophobia" in the world. The U.S. State Department has previously said that claims of "Russophobia" are seen in a number of topics and are used whenever the Russian government wants to portray itself as a victim while it is the aggressor.

 In early May, a video showing the opening ceremony of the Jewish Center in Ukraine appeared in the Georgian-language segment of Facebook. The video's description stated that Jews want to turn Ukraine into a political center for world governance. The message also said that the main goal of the Jews is to rid Ukraine of Orthodox Christians. As the My Thdetector project factchecker writes, the video is published along with an excerpt from an interview with Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine. "There is an inscription on the video, according to which Jewish Freemasons have long been preparing for the settlement of Jews on Ukrainian lands, which the Ukrainian authorities have already openly spoken about. The inscription is followed by Arestovich's phrase: "Those who are not ready for this are shouting today - how can this be, how can you live and bring up your children this way. You need another state; this is the new Israel," the fact checkers write. They explain that Alexei Arestovich's quote is used in the video, taken from an interview he gave to the Feigin LIVE channel on April 11. "Then, speaking about the future of Ukraine, the advisor to the Office of the President of Ukraine recalls how Israel and the Arab states survived several wars before realizing that this path was ineffective. He added that this may be the case in Ukraine until 2032-35. He added that only the most resilient people will survive in such conditions, and those who are not ready for this will have to look for another country, as Ukraine becomes the new Israel. Arestovich later clarified this comment, saying that the dispute between Russia and Ukraine is similar to the Israeli-Palestinian issue in that it concerns historical heritage and there is no easy way to resolve it. So Arestovich used Israel only for comparison," the project fact checkers wrote. The photos they add to the publications date back to December 2019 and illustrate the construction of the Jewish center "Beit Mashaya" in Dnepr. With this photo, the authors of the posts wanted to illustrate supposedly that Jewish influence in Ukraine is constantly growing. However, the purpose of the Jewish center is to provide housing for poor Jewish families, not to drive Orthodox Christians out of Ukraine. In addition, the Beit Mashai will house administrative and educational institutions. Read more.  

Such a thesis is actively spread by Russian propagandists. In particular, one of the mouthpieces of the Kremlin, Vladimir Solovyov. "Ukraine will most likely never join the EU, the European "partners" have once again abandoned this country. Even if Ukraine becomes a candidate for EU membership, its chances of actually becoming a member of the union are very small. European leaders do not need Ukraine as part of the European Union," Solovyov stated. In these kinds of appeals, he quotes French President Macron at the conference on the future of Europe at the European Parliament in Strasbourg on May 9. Then Macron said that Ukraine's accession to the EU may take dozens of years, and therefore he suggested creating some new format of cooperation with the countries that are close to the European Union in spirit, but not part of it. As the fact checker of the Brekhunets project writes, Macron did make such a statement, but he also added that "by its struggle and its courage, Ukraine is already a member of Europe and the Union". And he sees the prospect of creating a new "European political community", including welcoming Ukraine, in particular in parallel with the procedure of accession to the EU, which could last "dozens of years". These words do not say that Ukraine is not wanted in the EU and will never get there, but Russian propaganda benefits from spreading this thesis once again, indicating that no one needs Ukraine except Russia, which seeks to "liberate" it from the awful. influence of the United States and European Union countries, which only use it.

Propagandist Solovyov published such "news", referring to Bloomberg. Recall the performances of the artists from 25 countries were evaluated by the jury and the audience of 40 countries. The national jury evaluated the performances even before the final concert, after the last rehearsal of the artists. The maximum 12 points were given to Ukraine by the jury of only 5 countries and spectators from 28 countries. Among them, there are countries that are not members of the EU or NATO, such as Australia and Azerbaijan. The TV audience vote takes place after all the artists' performances; each committed vote costs the viewer money. Ukraine scored a record 439 viewer points, according to Bloomberg. And the publication referred to by the propagandist is not on the pages of the publication. Which countries voted for Ukraine you can read here.

The government emergency response team of Ukraine CERT-UA, which operates under the State Special Communications Agency, warns of a new fraudulent scheme. A fraudulent page was found in Facebook, which imitates the resource of the TV channel "TSN". On the page offers to take part in a survey. To do this, you have to click on the link and allegedly receive "monetary aid as part of the UN social program". Later the user will be asked to provide personal information and make an additional payment.

As a result, the payment card data will be compromised.

The State Special Communications Agency cautions:

1. Never enter payment card details on unfamiliar and suspicious websites. Set control over movements of funds (activate SMS-informing, set transaction limits).

2. If the data of payment card were entered erroneously on the fraudulent website, block the payment card immediately using mobile application, bank hotline (the phone number is indicated on the back of the card) or via internet-banking.

3. Remember to always follow the basic rules of cyber hygiene.

In April, fraudsters used a similar scheme. Then they pretended to be the popular TV channel Ukraine 24 and used the theme of financial aid from EU countries.

The narrative of a "weak" or "non-existent" state under foreign control has been used by Russian propagandists for many years, but these theses have been disseminated en masse since 2014. The same theses are also promoted during the war, but not only in the Russian media - they also penetrate the Western press. The VoxCheck project collected and refuted the most common theses in Italian and German publications.

Since the end of 2013, of the many messages about "external governance," there continue to be statements in the information space about a "coup d'état" in Ukraine, which the West, namely Victoria Nuland and the US State Department, has financed and artificially created. Also, conspiracy theories about "Pentagon biolaboratories" and "secret NATO bases" are promoted in the Western press, and it is constantly noted that the West is trying to "destroy the economy of Ukraine" - seemingly to prevent Ukraine from becoming a competitive state.

All of these fakes are easy to refute - for example, no one will "destroy" a competitor through its financial support, which the West constantly provides to Ukraine, and the non-existent NATO bases in Ukraine have still not been found, even by Russian propagandists who daily report on the "destruction of Ukrainian military infrastructure" while destroying schools, housing and hospitals. Read more about these fakes in VoxCheck and Detector's Mediabreakdown.

Russian propaganda has taken the narrative about "European politicians with Nazi descendants" out of the closet and is actively promoting it on social networks, mostly in European languages. Recent publications referred only to the grandfather of Polish President Andrzej Duda Michal, who was supposedly a friend and associate of Stepan Bandera (which would prove the Nazi connections of Duda) - but it is a ridiculous fake: propagandists could not even find the real name of the Polish president's grandfather - in fact his name was Aloise.

Now the same fakes are spread about the grandfathers of three key German politicians - but German fact-checkers from the Correctiv project proved, that all these claims are false: the grandfather of Chancellor Olaf Scholz was not Fritz von Scholz, Wehrmacht General Gerhard Lindner is not the grandfather of Finance Minister Christian Lind Obergruppenführer SS Hartmann Lauterbacher is not the grandfather of Health Minister Karl Lauterbach. As the investigators write, the source of these fakes is a single person - "Putin's cook" Yevgeny Prigozhin, whose fictions were quoted by the press service of his company Concord.

All these fakes are part of a propaganda campaign against Ukraine and Europe to prove to Russians that the Russian army is liberating the world from Nazism.

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Once again, Russian propaganda media and telegram channels spread fakes about the "artificial creation of hunger" in Ukraine because of the actions of the West. This time they are using a fake spread by Ilya Kiva, a former Verkhovna Rada deputy: he claims that "Ukraine is exporting state grain reserves to Poland" supposedly because "Ukraine has been written off as a state.

In fact, about 25 million tons of grain to be sold for export are blocked at Ukrainian ports because of Russian aggression in the Black Sea. This is as much as Ukraine sold grain during 4 months of last year. The Europeans suggested a way out: to export grain by rail to Poland and transport it by ships from the Baltic Sea. So now the grain is simply exported for sale - no treason and "writing off the country". Strategic grain reserves remain in the country and the government of Ukraine has repeatedly stated that it is enough to meet the needs of Ukrainians.

Read more about the grain and export situation in Ukraine here.

Telegram channels controlled by Russian intelligence are spreading the thesis that Kentucky Senator Paul Rand blocked a bill to allocate $40 billion to Ukraine, ostensibly because the West "sawed off" humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The thesis is also spreading that the West is tired of the war in Ukraine, so it has only started to pay lip service to the country - but will in fact block real aid to the Ukrainians.

This is manipulation. First, there is no doubt, that $40 billion will be allocated to Ukraine – Senator Rand did not block, but only delayed the vote for the bill. The U.S. media is confident, it will be voted on next week.

Secondly, Rand's proposal to amend the bill to create additional control over how that money is spent in Ukraine will not be accepted, political analysts and politicians in the US are sure: in general they consider such a mechanism useful, but it will take more time to develop, and Ukraine needs help as soon as possible. And one last thing: Rand has many times slowed down the adoption of any decisions in the Senate, adding his own amendments to the bills at the time. This has involved not only Ukraine, but also bills on sanctions against Russia, preventing a federal government shutdown, the U.S. defense budget, and enhancing the security of judges and their families. His position is related solely to the internal political struggle in the U.S.

As reported by the government response team to computer emergency events in Ukraine CERT-UA, a grouping associated with the Russian Federal Security Service UAC-0010 (Armageddon ) carries out a new cyber attack As stated in the message, the hackers are sending dangerous emails with the theme "About the action of revenge in Kherson!", which contain attachments in the form of a file "Plan Kherson.htm".

If a person opens the file, a new file is created on the victim's computer - "Herson.rar" with the shortcut "Plan of approach and laying explosives on critical infrastructure facilities in Kherson.lnk". And as an end result, the GammaLoad.PS1v2 malware is downloaded. The UAC-0010 (Armageddon) hacker group is among those that have been actively attacking our country's critical information infrastructure since the beginning of Russia's full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. During cyber attacks, hackers use topics that are painful for Ukrainians. There have also been cases of cyber attacks by this group against EU countries," the State Security Service reported.