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.

The other day the propaganda publication "Komsomolskaya Pravda" published an article with the title "What is the secret of the Ukrainian army". In the text the author Sergey Markov allegedly tries to analyze why the Ukrainian army gives a decent fight to the Russian - "one of the strongest in the world". That is, the Russian propaganda already admits that the Ukrainian military is able to resist Russia and tries to look for various explanations for this "phenomenon". In particular, calling the Ukrainian army an amazing and very strong combination of a Russian soldier, a fascist officer and an American general and claiming that almost the entire leadership of the Ukrainian army during 8 years of war was trained by Americans. American, British passports, as well as individual salaries that they receive there," the author of the text claims.

In fact, Ukrainian generals do not have dual citizenship and do not work for the Pentagon. In particular, General Valery Zaluzhny, the commander-in-chief of the AFU, a Ukrainian military officer who studied and served in Ukraine specifically, was Commander of Troops of Operational Command "North" (2019-2021), Chief of the Joint Operational Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - First Deputy Commander of the Joint Forces (2018), Chief of Staff - First Deputy Commander of Troops of Operational Command "West" (2017). Commander of the 51st separate mechanized brigade (2009-2012). In addition, the Ukrainian army has servicemen from different cities and regions of Ukraine, and they communicate both in Ukrainian and Russian. There is no reason to claim that Russian is the main language in the Ukrainian army. Thus, by claiming that Ukrainian generals are people trained and paid by the U.S., Russia tries to justify the defeat of its troops, saying that the Ukrainian army is strong only because of this.

According to StopFake, Russian media on the day of the signing of the historic decision to provide large-scale U.S. economic aid to Ukraine under the "Lend-Lease," produced only a few dry publications. Slightly more was expressed by pro-Kremlin telegram channels.

"For Russian propaganda, the very fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces received additional weapons is almost the biggest irritant. But the Kremlin does not want to talk much about the lend-lease for Ukraine. Many Russian media practically ignored this event on the day the law was signed. RBC, TASS, RT, and other propaganda media mentioned only formally, without revealing details, that Joe Biden had granted the lend-lease to Ukraine on May 9, and Vladimir Zelensky called this decision "historic." But some Russian information resources, apart from drawing historical parallels with 1941, still decided to remind their audience of the disastrous economic and even military consequences of this decision for Ukraine and its army," the fact checkers write. Earlier, Russian propaganda had already spread the idea that many future generations of Ukrainians would pay for the weapons the U.S. would bring to Ukraine under lend-lease. More details

The Russian and pro-Kremlin media have spread an old fake about Polish President Andrzej Duda, whose grandfather was allegedly Michail Duda, a friend of Stepan Banedra. These reports are, expectedly, accompanied by accusations of Nazism against the Polish leader. Mythdetector fact checkers reminded us, that Duda himself refuted this fake back in 2015. Then he said that his grandfather's name was Alojz Duda. He was a fur expert who died in 1992.

The Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels circulated a statement from the Russian Embassy in the United States stating that Russia "was not engaged in cyber aggression. With this statement, the Russian institution tried to argue that Russian hackers attacked the KA-SAT satellite network. Recall that the kink was known back in March 2022. In fact, EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Josep Borrel reported, that Russia carried out a cyberattack on the KA-SAT satellite network operated by Viasat on February 24, an hour before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The attack, he said, caused disruptions in communications between several government agencies, businesses and users in Ukraine, as well as affecting several EU member states.

The Russian embassy's claims that Russia allegedly uses "information and communication technologies exclusively for the benefit of the development of the world community" are blatant lies. Just before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine by Russian troops, according to Microsoft, at least six hacker groups affiliated with the Russian Federation carried out 237 cyber attacks against Ukrainian businesses and government institutions. And in the first month and a half since the full-scale war began, Ukraine has experienced 362 cyber attacks. The Security Service of Ukraine, in its turn, reported, that the Russian special services planned to destroy the entire cyber defense of Ukraine: the night of February 24 saw the largest number of hacker attacks on Ukrainian systems.

Russia's attempts to shift responsibility to the United States, saying that it is America that is "one of the main sources of global cyberthreats" is also a manipulation. After all, Canada's Communications Security Center previously reported, that Russia, China and Iran are responsible for the majority of cyber threats against democratic processes around the world.

According to the Anti-Disinformation Center, the Russian propaganda actively spreads this thesis. The messages also say that Pekin is a fierce critic of the sanctions against Russia and does not condemn Moscow. "Indeed, the Kremlin only dreams of such a partnership as the basis of a new anti-Nazi bloc against the U.S. and NATO. There is no alliance between the countries. Since the early 1980s China has followed a diplomatic policy of independent self-sufficiency and lack of alliances. Reluctance to condemn the "special operation" Russia has strained relations between China and the United States, its allies. This disrupted the supply of goods from the PRC and led to the cancellation of export orders from Chinese companies. The underlying principle of the China-Ukraine Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation states that China supports Ukraine's policy aimed at the unity of the state and its territorial integrity", the Center's statement reads.

Back in March this year, almost at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Bloomberg agency wrote that China will rely on Russia's attempts to involve it in the war against Ukraine and will not provide substantial military and material assistance. At the same time, the Chinese government does not want to pressure Russia to end the war. But there is no reason to call China an ally of Russia in this war.

At the beginning of May, the Conservative Movement group, in particular, published information on Facebook that the United States allegedly refused to accept Ukrainian refugees and queues of Ukrainians were already gathering at the borders, whom Washington did not care about. The reports also added that Zelensky does not respond to such actions by the U.S. However, as Myth Detector Project fact checkers write, the claim that the United States has refused to accept Ukrainian refugees is false, and the manipulation is reinforced by the fact that since April 25, the United States changed the rules for accepting refugees from Ukraine, which caused a temporary delay at the border. "Ukrainian refugees need to fill out a special application, considered on a case-by-case basis, and find a sponsor to fund their stay," the fact checkers wrote. However, this is not a refusal to accept refugees from Ukraine. As a reminder, Russia has already repeatedly spread a similar thesis that Ukrainian refugees are refused to be accepted in EU countries. In particular, in Poland and Germany. Propagandists also spread fakes about Ukrainian refugees allegedly committing crimes in those countries. Thus, by reporting that the U.S. and other countries are refusing refugees from Ukraine, Russian propaganda seeks to discredit allies in the Russia-Ukraine war. Read more.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, this is the thesis spread by Russian propagandists in the media. In particular, reports say that the U.S. and its allies are trying to prolong the war in Ukraine in order to dispose of obsolete weapons and try out modern weapons in real combat conditions. "With the start of the war, 14 partner countries are providing Ukraine with the latest weapons and equipment, past armed conflicts in Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. The supply of Western weapons has significantly changed the situation on the front: the occupiers have gone on the defensive in almost all positions, and in some directions the AFU has gone on the counteroffensive. Ukraine achieved a decisive advantage over the Russians thanks to the combat capability of the army and the courage of the people," the Center reported. In fact, the war in Ukraine is being dragged on not by NATO or the US, but by Russia, which does not stop fighting and destroys Ukrainian cities, kills civilians, and hits infrastructure and residential buildings every day. Previously, Russian propaganda has repeatedly stated in various terms that Ukraine is ruled by the West and is at war with Russia because of pressure from NATO and the United States.

Russian propaganda media once again manipulated the topic of Victory Day, which was celebrated there yesterday, May 9. According to StopFake, Russian propaganda media have once again spread a series of manipulative materials saying that the Ukrainian authorities "finally banned people from celebrating May 9," and in some regions "deliberately" imposed a curfew because of "fear" that "many people will get. May to honor the feat of the Soviet soldiers who defeated fascism." Such reports add that the Ukrainian authorities allegedly "officially cancel Victory Day and drive people home." In fact, there were no mass events in 2022 due to Russia's large-scale invasion and heightened danger of missile attacks in Ukraine. However, we are not talking about "banning Victory Day." Previously, the thesis of the abolition of May 9 was dispersed by Russian propagandists. In particular, Vladimir Solovyov reported in his telegram channel that in Ukraine they decided to cancel May 9, and in confirmation of this fact he added that the Verkhovna Rada allegedly registered a bill according to which May 8 is Memorial and Victory over Nazism Day, and May 9 is a working day. Apparently, we are talking about the bill "On amendments to some laws of Ukraine on the commemoration of the victory over Nazism in World War II," which MPs registered on April 18. The bill indeed proposes to commemorate the Day of Remembrance of all victims of Nazism during the Second World War on May 8, and to celebrate Europe Day on May 9 together with other EU countries. In fact, Ukraine is not cancelling May 9. However, this time in Ukraine, as in the past few years, they did not celebrate Victory Day, choosing to celebrate May 8 - Memorial Day.

Russian propaganda media and telegram channels reported that many in Poland, and according to propagandists, over 50%, allegedly support the introduction of troops into Ukraine. However, only 33% are against this scenario. "It seems that Warsaw has finally decided on its intention to occupy the western part of Ukraine," the propagandists claim. However, such claims are manipulative, because the Russian media write about the introduction of troops to invade Ukraine, not about the possible participation of the Polish military in a NATO, UN or EU peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, as in fact, if, of course, such a decision is any. ever made. As StopFake writes, Polish officials have repeatedly stated that they respect Ukraine's sovereignty and support its integrity. Read more.

This is not the first time Russia has tried to engage NATO to "justify" its aggression against Ukraine, including civilians. This time the fake was spread by Russian President Vladimir Putin during the May 9 parade. He explained the war against Ukraine, which Russia still calls a "special operation," by saying that allegedly "NATO and Ukraine were preparing for a punitive operation in Donbass, for an invasion of Russian historical lands, including Crimea," and he mentioned "possible nuclear weapons. Ukraine." Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the Office of the President, refuted these statements: "The NATO countries were not planning to attack Russia. Ukraine was not planning to attack Crimea. The Russian military is dying, not defending its own country, but trying to occupy another. There were no rational reasons for this war other than the painful imperial ambitions of the Russian Federation."

It is noteworthy that Putin said nothing new in his speech, nor did he mention "denazification and demilitarization." Except for the parallels with World War II. The Ukrainian media recently wrote that according to Russian sociologists, most Russians do not understand the meaning of the word "denazification. According to TSN, this information is confirmed by the broadcasts of propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov: in the first program, after the start of the full-scale war, he spent about seven minutes explaining the meaning of "denazification," but in the April broadcasts Kiselyov either did not use the term at all or did it once during the program.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Security Service of Ukraine was preparing provocations using chemical weapons. Another Russian fake is reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council in Telegram.

"The Russian Defense Ministry said that "according to available information, the SBU is planning chemical weapons provocations in a number of settlements in the Kherson and Dnepropetrovsk regions for further accusations from Russia. We warn you: this is a fake!", the report reads.

The Center specifies that the Russian Defense Ministry's statement that "on the instructions of the US and UK handlers, units of the AFU and the National Security Forces are setting up fortifications at the Luhansk chemical enterprises is yet another fake. At the same time, neo-Nazis were replacing chemical tanks to destroy them when leaving their positions.

This is not the first Russian lie about the use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian security service. In April, the Russian Ministry of Defense already reported that "the SBU is planning chemical agent provocations near the Yuzhny port in Odessa to accuse Russia of allegedly targeting civilian infrastructure.

In March, Russia spread a fake that the SBU was allegedly "preparing, with the support of Western countries, a provocation using toxic substances against civilians."

Officially noted: The SBU cannot even in theory prepare any provocations with poisonous substances. Because we do not act by the methods of kafirs! Our task is to protect Ukraine. And we carry it out successfully together with all the people. And the invaders and kafirs will surely answer for their atrocities!", - stated in the SBU.

The Ukrainian service pointed out that theses about "SBU provocation" appeared in March after the Russians shelled a peaceful convoy near Mariupol and dropped a bomb on the building of the city drama theater, where hundreds of women and children were hiding. The SBU notes that such statements are only an attempt to distract attention from yet another war crime committed by the Russians.

According to the Center to Counter Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Russian propaganda spreads this thesis, confirming it by saying that Hungary will veto the embargo on the import of Russian oil, which the European Union plans to include in the sixth package of sanctions against Russia. The veto of the embargo was announced by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on May 3. Since 65% of Hungary's oil consumption comes through the Druzhba pipeline, and there are no alternative lines to the country, the draft sixth sanctions package includes exceptions for Hungary and Slovakia, which are allowed to extend imports until the end of 2023. ""But due to the prohibition of transit through the Hungarian territory of military aid to Ukraine, the EU has launched a legal process, the result of which could be the termination of Euro-donations for Hungary. The reaction of EU countries prompts the Hungarian leadership to withdraw its veto of the EU oil embargo against Russia," the Center said in a statement.

Russian propaganda media and anonymous telegram channels occasionally report that the weapons that Ukraine receives from allied countries are outdated and bad and do not meet modern characteristics: this thesis benefits Russia, because by showing that Ukraine allegedly has old weapons that were provided to it by EU countries and the US, propagandists seek to discredit Ukraine's allies and devalue their support and assistance to Ukraine in this war.

Also in this way Russia wants to create the appearance that even with weapons from allies Ukraine will be weak, because the equipment is supposedly not suitable for fighting in modern warfare, however, according to the Center to Counteract Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, there are samples of artillery transferred by Ukrainian allies. As an example, experts of the Center compare characteristics of two howitzers - Soviet-Russian Msta-B and American M777, which are transferred according to the lend-lease from the USA. "Msta-B versus M777: caliber 152 mm versus 155 mm; barrel length - 47 caliber versus 39 caliber (52 newest); range - 3VOF45/ERFB shell: 24.7 km versus 30 km (40 km with 52 caliber barrel)," the Center reports. On the basis of these characteristics it is clear that the new American howitzer hits 5 km further than the Soviet-Russian one. Consequently, this weapon is not obsolete and unsuitable for military operations, on the contrary, it will have a counter-battery advantage. The M777 also has a digital fire control system for M982 Excalibur ammunition with GPS targeting.

This is the thesis spread by the Russian propagandist media allegedly referring to The Washington Post. The reports claim that most Americans are "dissatisfied with Biden's policy toward Ukraine." As fact checkers at StopFake write, for example, propaganda resources presented the results of a poll conducted among Americans in late April 2022. The propagandists claim that Americans are dissatisfied with both the sanctions imposed against Russia and the amount of military aid to Ukraine. According to StopFake poll by The Washington Post-ABC News, the number of Americans who support Biden's activities related to the war in Ukraine has increased. The percentage of those who do not support the policy, however, has not changed. "This survey showed that a majority of Americans, despite concerns about the war, agree that Ukraine needs even more help. Other surveys conducted at different times and by other organizations also show broad support for Ukraine among Americans and assistance," - the fact checkers write.

This is not the first time that the Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels have spread a fake story about Poland's alleged plans to "seize the western regions of Ukraine". This time, Russian propagandists along with this thesis disseminated a document with the alleged order of the commander general of the Polish Armed Forces, General Jarosław Mika, which allegedly implied that "information about the readiness to take control of strategic facilities in two regions - Lviv and Volyn - should be communicated to the personnel of certain units".

Project BezBrekhni writes that the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine immediately stated that this was a fabrication. Factcheckers note that the document refers to the existing 6th airborne brigade named after Brigadier General Stanislaw Frantisek Sosabowski. "The falsified document lists all three combat units of the brigade - 6, 16, 18 battalion. That is, the document wants to assure us that the entire brigade will be involved in the deal. But there's a but here! The brigade has two more units - the 6th Management Battalion, and the 6th Support Battalion. We understand that the Moscal army fights as a horde without supplies and feeds on what they steal from the occupied territory. Yes, and management is a superfluous element for them. However, in modern Western armies and in modern warfare, supply and control are among the key elements of successful combat operations. "In the falsified order the control and support units were 'forgotten,'" reported BezBrekhni.

The narrative about the division between Poland and Russia of Ukraine has been actively promoted by Russian propaganda since at least 2014. In particular, in 2022, Russian propagandists replicated the statement of Sergey Naryshkin, head of Russian foreign intelligence, that "Poland is preparing to introduce peacekeepers into Ukraine to seize part of Ukrainian territories," and that "the western regions of Ukraine may fall back to Poland, Romania, Slovakia or Hungary."

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Social networks are spreading data that the Russian ruble has become the second fastest-growing currency among developing countries, and the reason for this strengthening is exports. Mesegee - sanctions are inactive or working in the opposite direction.

Since late March, the ruble has really begun to recover from the collapse caused by the outbreak of war and sanctions, says Yurii Haidai, senior economist at the Center for Economic Strategy, in a commentary for the DM. Although now its official exchange rate for world currencies corresponds to the pre-war values, and the rate on the black market is somewhat lower, in the long term artificial holding of the exchange rate will harm the Russian economy, the expert added. "The first reason for the paradoxical persistence of the ruble is the trade balance. 60% of Russia's foreign exchange earnings come from oil and gas exports, which have largely persisted. The EU cannot quickly bring these purchases down to zero, and the decrease in demand from the EU is offset by high prices and attempts to redirect some exports to other countries.

In the first two months of the war, Russia received 62 billion euros in energy exports alone, of which 44 billion came from EU countries. At the same time, against the backdrop of sanctions and declining consumption, imports to Russia collapsed, which means that Russia spends much less currency than before the war. The trade surplus in the first quarter of 2022 was 55 billion euros, twice as much as in the past.

Combined with other steps, such as the obligation for exporters to sell 80% of foreign currency earnings, a sharp increase in the discount rate of the Central Bank of Russia, and a de facto ban on foreign investors exiting assets in Russia, this has created a significant demand for the ruble, leading to its appreciation.

Artificial keeping of the ruble exchange rate on the medium and long term will additionally damage the budget revenues and the economy of Russia, as it was admitted publicly by Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Central Bank of Russia. But until the Western countries introduce a full-fledged oil embargo, one should not expect a significant depreciation of the ruble," explained Yurii Haidai.