Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that a special evacuation flight to Germany for children from Okhmatdyt was planned even before the attack on the hospital. This was reported by the Russian-language service of Deutsche Welle, citing the words of the German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach. Propagandists claim that this statement proves that Ukraine itself attacked the Okhmatdyt building as a provocation on the eve of the NATO summit in Washington.

However, this news is a manipulation, write StopFake. Yes, the screenshot from the Deutsche Welle account is real, but the publication’s journalists incorrectly conveyed the essence of the German Health Minister’s statement.

In fact, on his page on the social network X (Twitter), Lauterbach wrote that he promised the Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko to accept sick children in need at any time, and that an evacuation flight with Okhmatdyt patients would depart on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 . He also emphasized that the targeted attack on a children's hospital once again proves that Putin is a war criminal.

Accordingly, Lauterbach’s statement did not say that the parties had agreed in advance to export specifically Okhmatdyt patients—they meant any Ukrainian children in need of medical treatment abroad.

The evacuation itself takes place within the framework of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). Under this program, Germany has already received more than 1,100 patients, including children - this figure is the highest among EU states. Three German medical institutions agreed to accept patients from Okhmatdyt: university hospitals in Greifswald and Rostock, as well as the Berlin Charité clinic.

With this manipulation, Russia is trying to assure its own citizens and the world community that Ukraine itself launched a missile attack on the country’s largest children’s hospital. Previously, we explained why the information about the Okhmatdyt building being hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense is a lie.

Propagandists are spreading information about the alleged appearance of offensive graffiti in Munich after the defeat of the Ukrainian national team at the European Football Championship. It is alleged that the graffiti allegedly depicts a player of the Ukrainian national team, being led by the hands of “joyful Territorial center of recruitment and social support employees”. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that in fact there is no reliable information that such graffiti appeared in Munich after the defeat of the Ukrainian team. Checking this image on websites for verification indicates that it was computer generated or altered.

Using the Forensically service, we were able to discover that many details in the image were changed or added to the original photo, which indicates that the picture is not real. Forensically works like a microscope, helping one see those changes in pictures that the eyes would not notice. To detect modified blocks in a published photograph, they used the ELA (error level analysis) section. In this case, the photo consists almost entirely of modified parts: the bicycle, the figures of three men in the graffiti, the frame on the wall and the paving stones clearly stand out in the photo when analyzing the data.

It is also worth noting that the Ukraine-Belgium match, after which the blue-yellows left the tournament, took place on June 26, 2024 in Stuttgart, Germany, and not in Munich. This creates a certain inconsistency and it is not clear why such graffiti should appear in the capital of Bavaria. Previously, the Ukrainian national team was defeated in a match with Romania, which took place on June 17 at the Allianz Arena in Munich, but after this match Ukraine continued to participate in Euro 2024, fighting to leave the group.

All this indicates that the photo is fake and was specially produced by Russian propaganda to discredit Ukraine and undermine the mobilization campaign in the country.

Propagandists are spreading information in the media and social networks that Ukrainian refugees allegedly desecrated a mosque in Berlin. Russian propaganda claims that the Ukrainians planted a pig's head wrapped in a Palestinian flag with the inscription “Ukraine supports Israel”. Such “news” refers to the German-language “news resource” Berliner-wochenzeitung, which published fake photographs of the “incident”.

After the dissemination of such information, StopFake checked whether a similar incident involving Ukrainian refugees had occurred in Germany. However, it turned out that the propagandists simply made up this news.

The “newest resource” of the Berliner-wochenzeitung, which acted as the primary source of fake news, has nothing to do with the media. There are only about 50 materials on it (as of July 5), the first of which appeared just a few weeks before the publication about the incident in the mosque - on June 18. On the page of this media it is also impossible to find any information about its editorial office, location and contact information, as real media usually indicate.

StopFake contacted the Berlin mosque (Die Berliner Moschee), which was allegedly desecrated, to find out the details of the incident. The imam of the mosque, Amir Aziz, said that there was no such incident.

The Center for Countering Disinformation, which also checked the propaganda news, verified the information at the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. They reported that the Berlin police had not received any complaints regarding such an “incident”.

Propagandists spread such fake news to discredit Ukrainian refugees and reduce the level of trust among Europeans. Like, they don’t need to be supported if they behave badly.

A video allegedly created by Deutsche Welle is being circulated online. It says that Berlin police are warning citizens about the dangers of using open Wi-Fi networks in public places, because in this way the Ukrainian hacker group “31337 nice” is stealing user data.

VoxCheck analysts determined that this story was fake. There is no specified video on the DW website or social networks. This news was not written about in any international media. Berlin police also did not indicate the detention of Ukrainian hackers.

Moreover, there is no information at all in open sources about the existence of the “31337 nice” hacker group.

Russian propagandists claim that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz allegedly said that Ukraine may not become a NATO member in the next 30 years. “You know the solution, this will not happen in the near future. Perhaps not even in the next 30 years”, Scholz said during a meeting with Berlin residents. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that in fact Scholz noted at this meeting in Berlin that before the full-scale invasion, discussing Ukraine's entry into NATO, he assured Putin: “This is not being considered for the next 30 years”. Scholz also accused Putin of attacking Ukraine for “absolutely absurd” reasons, since “NATO has never posed a threat to Russia”.

After the old quote was again picked up by Russian propaganda, the German government commented on the information being disseminated. According to government spokesman Steffen Gebestreit, the situation “has completely changed, and therefore, no, 30 years are no longer relevant”.

During the decade of war in Ukraine, Russian propaganda regularly spread manipulations and fake news that Ukraine would not be accepted into NATO or the EU. Thus, they want to cause skepticism and panic among Ukrainians regarding the actions of their Western partners.

A photo of a man showing a Nazi greeting is being circulated on anonymous telegram channels. In the post, propagandists claim that the man allegedly made a similar gesture during the celebration of Ukrainian Embroidery Day on the main square of the German city of Rostock.

VoxCheck analysts explained that the photo of the man was taken back in 2015 in the German city of Freital. The Nazi gesture was addressed to a group of demonstrators.

This man, a former miner who grew up and worked in the German Democratic Republic under socialism, in an interview with the German publication Welt called his action a “complete failure” and assured that he gets along well with foreigners and has nothing against them.

Social media users are sharing a video saying, “We need to protect ourselves from this” and “Should they work until they are 67 when they can retire at 57 without investing anything?” The point is that Ukrainian refugees in Germany can retire earlier as early as June: men aged 60 years and older, and women another two and a half years earlier, and that Germany will pay for their pension. However, this is fake.

Fact-checkers of the German project Correctiv drew attention to it. They found out that this fake has been circulating in Germany since 2022. In fact, Ukrainians cannot retire before the Germans. The retirement age ranges from 63 to 67 years.

The fact-checkers also found out whether any rules on pensions for Ukrainians have changed. Katja Braubach from the German Pension Insurance Service (DRV) objected: “For citizens of Ukraine, no special conditions are provided for in the pension legislation”. The German Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) also confirmed that “the current legislation applies when receiving a German pension”.

Ukrainians can receive a pension in Germany in the same way as Germans. Persons from abroad must have at least five years of statutory pension insurance contributions to be entitled to pension benefits in Germany. Periods of work abroad only count if it is an EU member state or if the country has a social security agreement with Germany - neither of which applies to Ukraine.

Although EU accession negotiations have been ongoing since December 2023, Ukraine is not a member of the EU. Germany signed a social security agreement in 2018 and ratified it in 2020, but the ratification process in Ukraine has stalled.

For Ukrainians, the “regular retirement age” applies. Excluded from this regulation are a “very small group” of Ukrainian refugees who - like other persons recognized under the Emigrants Act who come from ethnic German families - have acquired working hours recognized as German insurance periods, as stated on the DRV website . However, according to DRV, “normal pension age restrictions” apply here too.

This information can be disseminated by propagandists in order to arouse skepticism and hostility towards Ukrainian refugees among the population. They say that they are taking away the pensions of Europeans, which means that Ukrainians need to stop helping. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other Russian provocations against Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

Propagandists, through pro-Russian telegram channels and accounts on the social network X (formerly Twitter), are distributing a video in which Catherine Himmler, the granddaughter of the brother of one of the most influential leaders of Nazi Germany, Heinrich Himmler, allegedly calls on Ukrainian young people not to return to Ukraine. Like, she advises “not to hand over Ukrainians to the bloody dictator Zelenskyi”. But this is not true.

In fact, Himmler made no such statement. The video was edited using archival chronicles from the time of the Third Reich, echoing footage of a meeting with the participation of the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Germany Dmytro Kuleba and Annalena Berbock, as well as other German politicians. Katherine Himmler responded to the Agency's editor by email, confirming that she had not said what propagandists had attributed to her.

On April 16, the President of Ukraine signed the law on mobilization and military service, which talks about strengthening sanctions against military service evaders, as well as some changes in military registration. On April 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced a decision to limit the provision of consular services abroad to Ukrainians of military age. Commenting on this decision on the social network X, he noted that “soon the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide updated explanations on the procedure for obtaining consular services within the framework of the law for men of mobilization age in foreign diplomatic institutions”. Taking advantage of this situation, Russian propaganda is trying to spread panic and discredit the government. Detector Media also refuted other Russian stories on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine.

Propagandists, citing the Australian edition of the Daily Telegraph, are disseminating information that German police allegedly announced the neutralization of “the largest network of shoplifters in the last 10 years”. According to these reports, a group of fraudsters who stole goods from shops in 12 cities in Germany included Ukrainian refugees and stole €2.7 million in six months. To confirm this information, propagandists are distributing corresponding screenshots and a video report from the Daily Telegraph. However, this is fake.

StopFake specialists drew attention to it. They found that the Daily Telegraph never posted the video on its social media and there is no corresponding news on their website. The latest mentions of Ukraine and Ukrainians, which can be found on the Daily Telegraph website, concern regular shelling by Russian civilian forces in Ukraine.

Although the attackers used the Daily Telegraph logo in the video, the media company's actual videos look different: they do not have the publication's logo, the inscriptions are made on a white or black background, and the entire video is accompanied by the voice of a journalist, while the video distributed online only has musical accompaniment. The attackers tried to imitate the Daily Telegraph's corporate style, using the publication's collage style, which they publish on their social networks. However, this attempt was unsuccessful as the font in the fake video was significantly different from the one used by the Daily Telegraph.

The news about the neutralization of a group of Ukrainian refugees who allegedly committed shoplifting in Germany is also fiction. None of the important German media reported such an incident. Fake messages are distributed exclusively on Russian news sites and anonymous telegram channels.

Propagandists spread such messages to discredit Ukrainian refugees abroad and make foreigners dislike them. Detector Media has already repeatedly refuted other Russian fabrications against Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

Anonymous claims that German police have allegedly exposed “the largest network of shoplifters in the last 10 years”. The group of fraudsters who stole goods from stores in 12 cities in Germany allegedly included refugees from Ukraine - in 6 months they allegedly stole 2.7 million euros. The messages refer to the Daily Telegraph material and an alleged story made by the publication’s media workers. It is not true.

StopFake fact-checkers investigated the case and found that there was no such story on the website and social networks of the Daily Telegraph. Russian propaganda used the Daily Telegraph's corporate style to create a story and fake news to create false confirmation of a non-existent news about the detention of a “gang of Ukrainian refugees”.

That is, both the news itself and the “plot” are fiction.

Pro-Kremlin resources are distributing online photos of leaflets depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who holds out his hands and asks for money in different languages of the world. According to propagandists, such leaflets began to appear in European countries.

In fact, these postcards were posted by the Russian community in Germany. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council after contacting the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany and the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. They were posted solely to create propaganda content, after which the leaflets were torn off by the Russians themselves.

Thus, Russia continues to portray Zelenskyi as a “beggar”. Finally, the goal of such actions is to influence the reduction of international financial support for Ukraine. Previously, we refuted the information that graffiti with Zelenskyi was created in Munich, where Elon Musk beats him and forces him to “not whine for money anymore”.

Propagandists are distributing on social networks a photo of a young woman wearing a vest worn by social workers and volunteers, laughing against the backdrop of a large fire that occurred in Berlin on March 12 in the Tegel refugee camp, where Ukrainian refugees are also staying. “The strange reaction of a volunteer of a Berlin camp for Ukrainian refugees after a large fire started on the territory”, write Russian anonymous telegram channels. However, this photo is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that the fakeness of the photo is primarily indicated by the fact that it began to be disseminated by Russian anonymous telegram channels, which were repeatedly seen publishing disinformation. The picture is being circulated everywhere along with the video as “proof” that it was taken from it, but upon detailed analysis of the video of the fire, StopFake discovered that this particular frame was not in it.

Fact-checkers also examined many videos on social networks that appeared after the fire in the refugee camp set up on the territory of the former Tegel Airport in Berlin, but did not find this footage of a volunteer. In addition, if one carefully analyzes the image, they can see traces of the photo editor’s intervention. Thus, there is a stripe between the girl’s head and the smoke, and the structure of the image against the background of the hands is also blurred, which indicates poor-quality insertion of other elements into the photograph.

Analyzing a photo using tools that detect the use of a photo editor is quite difficult, since it has been stored and watermarked multiple times, but even then, the photo shows different layers indicating tampering.

Such a fake is spreading in the context of a popular Russian disinformation narrative that the West is supposedly tired of Ukrainian refugees and is no longer ready to help them. However, in reality, countries continue to provide asylum to Ukrainian refugees, social protection and education to Ukrainian children. Detector Media refuted a number of Russian fakes about refugees from Ukraine in the West.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that NATO has decided to move on to terrorist attacks and sabotage in the Russian rear using long-range Taurus cruise missiles. In asserting this, the propaganda media refers to the Russian “expert” Ivannikov.

In fact, this information is distorted. This is written about in the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Germany is not transferring Taurus missiles to Ukraine due to fears that it will use them to attack Russia.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz explained that in order to prevent missiles from hitting the wrong targets, it was necessary to involve German specialists in programming the missiles. “A Taurus with a range of 500 kilometers, if used incorrectly, can reach a specific target somewhere in Moscow. I initially clearly said: there will be no German or NATO soldiers in Ukraine... And my position remains unchanged”, Scholz said.

With such rhetoric, Russia seeks to create an image of a victim, saying that “the provoking West is to blame for everything”, so it is forced to “defend itself”. Previously, we analyzed information that Germany allegedly transferred 1,000 laptops to Ukraine instead of long-range Taurus missiles.

Russian telegram channels are distributing a screenshot seemingly from the Instagram page of the German publication Deutsche Welle (DW) with an image of Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Chairman Valerii Zaluzhnyi. The screenshot shows provocative graffiti allegedly created by a group of Berlin artists of Sonice Development.

The Center for Countering Disinformation verified this “news” at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and found out that it was a fake. Also, the relevant information is not available on the official pages of the DW newspaper, including on the website. In addition, Sonice Development creates its drawings in a different style, and there have been no mentions of this group of artists in the news since 2014.

By spreading this fake news, propagandists are pursuing the goal of discrediting Zelenskyi, as well as providing even greater publicity to the topic of the conflict that may exist between the current President of Ukraine and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Previously, Detector Media denied information that Ukrainian schools were allegedly campaigning for Zaluzhnyi as President of Ukraine.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing photos of a letter allegedly from the SBU to the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany with a demand to provide information about all adult men participating in the rallies for further sending their data to the ​​Territorial centers of recruitment and social support.

After verifying the letter at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, the Center for Countering Disinformation reported that this “document” was fake. The text of the letter contains signs of Photoshop; there is no electronic signature on the “document”, as well as errors in the formatting of the letter. In addition, the letter allegedly from the SBU was written on the letterhead of the Ukrainian Embassy in Germany, and this does not comply with the rules for organizing office work.

By spreading such fakes, Russian propagandists are trying to sow panic among Ukrainians abroad, in particular in Germany. It should be noted that this spread of misinformation occurred against the backdrop of a new version of the Mobilization Bill.

• Read also: In Ukraine they allegedly call on people to mobilize into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with their entire families.

On social networks in the Russian segment, they are allegedly distributing data based on infographics on the Eurostat website (this is the EU statistical office), which notes that the majority of German citizens surveyed support the forced extradition of Ukrainian refugees. It is not true.

The VoxCheck analysts investigated the case and found out that there are simply no such statistics on the Eurostat website, which the propagandists refer to. Moreover, no German media mentioned such a survey. Therefore, this is simply a fiction of Russian propagandists. Experts also cite as an example another survey by the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, the results of which determined that 62% of German residents agree that the country should accept refugees from Ukraine. The study was conducted in September 2023.

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

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

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

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

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that the results of a survey from the statistical service of the European Union showed that the majority of German citizens are in favor of Ukrainian refugees being forcibly extradited. However, this is fake.

There are no such statistics on the Eurostat website, which the propagandists refer to. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. That is, information about the Germans’ support for the extradition of Ukrainian refugees is yet another propaganda fake. Another proof of the falsehood of the information is that this “survey” was not mentioned in any of the leading German media.

The goal of propagandists is to create the illusion that the world is tired of Ukrainians and Ukraine as a whole. Thus, Russian propaganda also seeks to demoralize Ukrainian refugees abroad, claiming that no one needs them and only creates problems where they come.

Read also: Ukrainians in Ireland are allegedly extradited to serve in the Ukrainian Armed Forces

Such information was disseminated on social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The report says that the head of the German Ministry of Defense, Boris Pistorius, said that Germany is ready to start a “war”  against Russia. The publications refer to the German tabloid newspaper Bild. It's a lie.

The StopFake analysts investigated this case and found that on December 10, 2023, Bild actually published material about Germany’s defense capabilities. The primary source of this material is the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung newspaper. That is, the editors reprinted material from another newspaper. However, in both publications there is no mention that Germany is “preparing to attack” Russia. On the contrary, they write there that it is Russian aggression against Ukraine that forces the Bundeswehr to put the country on a war footing. The point is that the country's defense capability must increase; the country must learn to respond to systemic challenges; be, for example, prepared for military aggression from others. At the same time, the German Defense Minister did not make any statements about an “attack” on Russia.

The Kremlin's minions manipulated the wording - German authors used the word “kriegstüchtig” to indicate the state that a country should deal with its defense potential. What does it mean for a country to be able to operate reliably in war conditions? On anonymous telegram channels this was presented as Germany’s readiness to enter the war against Russia although it is more about defense than attack.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing a video allegedly from Euronews, which depicts “graffiti” with Volodymyr Zelenskyi in the image of a maniac from the film “The Shining”, in the interpretation of the creators of street art demanding money. The reports also refer to material from the publication Der Tagesspiegel, which allegedly cites this graffiti as evidence of the growth of anti-Ukrainian sentiment. It is not true.

The VoxCheck analysts investigated this case and found out that Euronews did not publish the video on its social media pages. This means that the probable plot is compiled. In addition, there is no material about the caricature and the growth of so-called “anti-Ukrainian sentiments” in Germany on the Der Tagesspiegel website or on the publication’s social networks.

We have repeatedly documented hoaxes involving fake graffiti or covers on foreign magazines, newspaper columns or advertisements. Thus, propagandists seek to show that their rhetoric (for example, that Zelenskyi is hated by the whole world) is also repeated in the West. So it may seem to readers that the public is really dissatisfied with Ukraine. And especially when the authors use elements of popular culture, hinting that people are laughing at the situation in Ukraine, and that the Ukrainian agenda for Europe is a reason to laugh.

Propaganda resources are disseminating information that supposedly Ukrainian refugees in Dresden (Germany) are being given canned cockroaches as humanitarian aid. As proof of their assertion, the Russians provide a video with such canned food in the hands of a “Ukrainian refugee”. However, this is a fake.

Journalists from the StopFake project drew attention to this case. They found that there was no information confirming the fact that Ukrainian refugees in Dresden or any other city received such canned food as humanitarian aid. Moreover, canned goods with the name like in the video are not available for sale in German or Austrian online stores at all. Such canned food can indeed be bought on large marketplaces, but not as a food product, but only as an “entertaining gift for Halloween”. Considering this, it can be argued that the video distributed by the network is fake.

Previously, some Kremlin-controlled media have already used the topic of eating insects as food in some Western countries for their own propaganda purposes, building a narrative about the decline of the West and the harm of anti-Russian sanctions. Detector Media denied the information that the alleged invasion of bedbugs in France is a consequence of anti-Russian sanctions.

This information was disseminated by pro-Russian resources. They say that Berlin sent the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine a thousand laptops as a gift to remove the issue of transferring Taurus long-range missiles to Ukraine. This is manipulation.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security undertook to analyze this case. They investigated that the very fact of a gift of thousands of laptops for the needs of the Verkhovna Rada was confirmed by the German Embassy in Ukraine, but emphasized that they were transferred “as a sign of solidarity and support”. The issue of supplying Taurus missiles has been discussed over the past months, but so far Ukraine and Germany have not reached a consensus on this matter. That is, the gift of a thousand laptops is exclusively humanitarian assistance, and not a payoff for missiles, as some pro-Kremlin resources tried to provide.

Thus, Russian propaganda wants to discredit international support for Ukraine and assure everyone around that Western countries are already tired of the Russian-Ukrainian war and therefore strive to end it as quickly as possible by any means. Previously, we refuted information that the Russians allegedly destroyed a Leopard tank with a German crew.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric in the media claim that allegedly Ukrainian female refugees in Germany began to give birth to children from the Turks, without waiting for their men from the front to receive German citizenship. Like, an article about this was published on the Deutsche Welle website. However, this is fake.

Analysts from the Georgian project MythDetector drew attention to it. They found out that the original material for the publication by the author Olena Diuzhyna mentioned the demographic situation in Germany, where the proportion of children has increased significantly. Ukrainian refugees are also mentioned in this article, but in a different context. In particular, Germany has accepted more than a million Ukrainian refugees since February 24, 2022, most of whom are Ukrainian children.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to discredit Ukrainian refugees. Like, none of them wants to return home. However, this is not so - according to the material of the portal Word and Deed, 62% of Ukrainian refugees stated their desire to return to Ukraine in the future. Detector Media has already talked about the ways in which Russia is trying to humiliate Ukrainian refugees abroad.

A story allegedly from the European media Euronews is being spread on social networks in the Russian segment. It talks about the so-called 34-year-old Ukrainian refugee Petro Bondarenko, who was recently detained in Germany for committing a crime. He, according to the conclusions of the authors of the fake message, added the number 8 to houses with numbers 148. And then he divided the resulting number with the symbol / - thus forming the Nazi slogan 14/88. It is not true.

The VoxCheck project analysts investigated this case and found out that the news story about the Ukrainian refugee was compiled. At the same time, this news was also not found on the official Euronews website or on their pages on social networks. German media also did not come out with similar news.

In addition, the probable plot consists of numerous cuts of various videos that are not related to each other. For example, fakers used fragments of videos from different seasons, and this can be seen in the changes in natural phenomena: in one fragment, the leaves of the trees are green, and people are walking in light clothes while another part of the video depicts a completely different time of year, where people are dressed in warm clothes, and the leaves are no longer there, although, hypothetically, journalists cover events for one period of time, namely the moment of the “detention” of a Ukrainian refugee. The story also showed a law regulating the ban on the display of Nazi symbols in Germany, although in fact the propagandists illustrated the Australian law.

The image of the so-called Ukrainian refugee was used from the website “We face painting”, which published the photo back in 2011. Obviously, this photo has nothing to do with Ukraine.

Finally, propagandists are trying to show that Ukrainian refugees are supposedly a total threat to the sovereignty and security of EU countries. Russian propaganda, first of all, seeks to demoralize Ukrainian refugees in the eyes of Europeans and pass them off as supporters of Nazi ideology who are ready to resort to vandalism and violation of laws for their own purposes. All this contributes to a decrease in assistance to Ukraine from EU countries; and also leads to the victimization of Ukrainian refugees - when they are the only ones to blame for all the troubles.

We recommend reading our previous cases on this topic as the Kremlin systematically speculates on this:

- the Poles allegedly declared that they “don’t want to see” Ukrainian refugees in their country; 

- how a Ukrainian refugee barista “showed off his Nazi inclinations” by seeming to paint Nazi symbols on his coffee. 

And in our weekly review of disinformation, we talked on how propagandists lied about the mobilization of Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the German concern (an association of several enterprises, in this case in the field of defense) Rheinmetall is canceling the construction of a tank factory in Ukraine through Russia. We are talking about constant shelling of infrastructure, so German representatives are supposedly afraid of the power of the occupying army. The authors refer to news from the Reuters news agency. This is manipulation.

The VoxCheck fact-checkers analyzed the case and came to the conclusion that the news indicated: Germany did approve the creation of a joint venture between the main German Rheinmetall and the Ukrainian Ukroboronprom. Further, the journalists wrote that Rheinmetall will be involved in technical maintenance of the equipment. But on the official website of the German defense concern it is indicated that its specialists will be engaged in the maintenance and repair of combat vehicles, and in the future they will produce equipment together with Ukraine.

Actually, the fact-checkers write that this format of work was assumed from the very beginning of the conclusion of the strategic partnership agreement in May 2023. According to the agreement, the enterprise was supposed to begin its work in July, but the project implementation deadlines were delayed. In mid-August, the general director of Rheinmetall explained that tanks within the united concern would begin to be repaired “before the end of the month”.

That is, we are not talking about any canceled construction projects or agreements. According to Reuters, the German defense company, on the contrary, approved the decision to create a joint organization. During the implementation of the construction plan, there were no reports of cancellation of such a plan. Propagandists distorted the context of the material and wrote that even the NATO representative country allegedly fears Russia and curtails any companies on the territory of Ukraine.

This is how the authors try to dispel the thesis about their “irresistible technology”, which is ready to destroy everyone, and as confirmation of this they give the example of the “cancellation” of construction.

In our Newspeak section we described the Russian phenomenon of “irresistible technology”. In short, this is how the Russians try to convince the domestic audience of constant victories.