Pro-Russian sources are disseminating information that the United States is allegedly using hallucinogenic drugs, in particular ketamine, on Ukrainian military personnel. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the corresponding article by The Economist.

However, this information is untrue, write experts on the VoxCheck project. Thus, The Economist did publish an article about the use of ketamine therapy by Ukrainian fighters. However, it was primarily about military personnel with neurological or psychological problems caused by injuries or experiences in war. At the same time, there is no mention in the material that the United States is promoting the spread of ketamine therapy in Ukraine or elsewhere. That is, neither in this article nor in other reliable sources there is information that Ukrainian clinics, at the direction of the United States, are testing ketamine or other psychedelic drugs on Ukrainians.

The Economist story cites the story of Ihor Kholodylo, a military psychologist and medic who, as a result of being wounded, began to stutter and was unable to speak clearly, and also had increased anxiety and nightmares. According to him, ketamine therapy was the only remedy that helped him cope with the trauma and get rid of the mentioned problems.

Also, according to Ukrainian legislation, ketamine is a psychotropic substance whose circulation is limited. In this case, the drug can be used as a medicine. Now in Ukraine one can get services using ketamine therapy in a number of clinics, but in none of the cases are we talking about testing the drug on patients. One can check information about clinical trials on the website of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The list of clinical trials conducted or ongoing in Ukraine does not include ketamine.

Previously, we analyzed a similar fake of Russian propagandists, which consisted in the fact that Time magazine allegedly published an article in which it was said that the Ukrainian military was “pumped up” with ketamine before the battle.

Social networks are spreading information that there are almost no doctors left in Poltava. According to users publishing this information, the specialists were mobilized or went abroad. The messages depict the work schedule of doctors, where only three of the full staff are supposedly working. However, this is fake.

VoxCheck disinformation experts took note of this case. According to information received from the administration of the establishment, this photo does not correspond to reality. Hospital representatives provided a valid work schedule, which did not include any absences. Information from open sources confirms that the institution did not report any shortage of personnel and the medical institution has a staff of 42 doctors.

It should also be recalled that hospitals and other medical institutions are critical infrastructure and 50% of their workers may be “protected” from mobilization.

Such fakes are aimed at undermining trust in government, mobilization and discrediting the healthcare system. Decreasing trust in government organizations is an established repertoire in propaganda against Ukraine.

Propagandists are distributing reviews of supposedly a woman from Ukraine on foreign and Ukrainian medicine on anonymous telegram channels. In it, this refugee claims that Ukraine is adopting “sloppy” European experience in the field of obstetrics and gynecology. In particular, in her words:

In Europe, early pregnancy diagnosis is not carried out, vitamin intake and iron levels in the blood of pregnant women are not monitored.

Childbirth in hospitals is artificially induced, and there is no postpartum examination.

Doctors do not recommend following a diet while breastfeeding.

However, these statements are false. Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to them. They found that both in Ukraine and in Europe, early diagnosis of pregnancy, as well as support for the mother before, during and after childbirth, are included in the standards of medical care. According to Ukrainian legislation, medical institutions are required to comply with these standards.

In Europe, there are European Standards for the Care of Newborn Health (ESCNH), which are recommended to be adapted to local conditions when developing laws, guidelines and protocols. These standards cover various aspects of maternal and child health care, including childbirth, postpartum care, intensive care, nutrition, hygiene, moral decision-making, palliative care, safety and data collection.

Early diagnosis of pregnancy and postnatal examination of mother and child (with the participation of a pediatrician) are part of European medical standards. The basis of medical practice is patient awareness and provision of counseling support. The patient is offered, rather than ordered, to undergo additional examinations or courses of vitamins.

In Ukraine, since August 2022, the Standards of Medical Care Normal Pregnancy have been in force, according to which early observation of pregnant women (up to 12 weeks) is an indicator of the quality of medical care. Postpartum care is regulated by the “Physiological Childbirth” clinical protocol, which provides for observation in the first 2 hours after birth, monitoring the well-being of mother and child, maintaining early breastfeeding and informing the mother.

Artificial induction of labor is indeed practiced and only for certain indications, such as delay in labor after 41 weeks, premature breaking of water or health problems in the mother or child.

Regarding diet, European doctors really do not advise limiting yourself in food during breastfeeding, noting a complete and balanced diet. In Ukraine, a hypoallergenic diet may be recommended if it is discovered that some foods in the mother’s diet provoke colic in the child.

Propagandists spread such disinformation to create the impression that the European way of life and Ukraine’s European integration in general are wrong. In particular, one of their narratives is that the healthcare system in Europe is terrible, and therefore it is not worth collaborating with it.

Russian telegram channels, citing unnamed Ukrainian media, disseminate information that the risk of epidemics in Ukraine is increasing due to interruptions in electricity, water supply, increasing unsanitary conditions, and a decline in the quality of medicine.

Fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project investigated this message and explained that these statements are not true. The fact-checkers were unable to find publications in Ukrainian media that discussed significant risks of the spread of infectious diseases due to temporary power outages. Such messages have only been recorded in the Russian sector of social networks.

And in June 2024, Chief State Sanitary Doctor Ihor Kuzin, in an interview with Ukrinform, noted that there are no outbreaks of measles, polio, diphtheria, tetanus, influenza, ARVI or COVID-19 in Ukraine. In addition, Ukraine has enough vaccines against the listed diseases.

Propagandists are again spreading fake news about the Ukrainian healthcare system, in particular about organ transplantation. They claim that former CIA agent Larry Johnson, in an interview on the YouTube channel Judging Freedom, said that in Ukraine children are sold for organs or given into sexual slavery. However, his statement is not true.

This was found out by specialists from the VoxCheck project. They found an interview with Larry Johnson, where he said that the West is selling Ukrainian children to remove their organs or use them in sexual slavery. However, Larry Johnson is not a reliable source of information. He systematically discredits Ukraine by spreading fake news about the destruction of air defense systems, so-called mercenaries, and support for Russian conditions to end the war. The host of the Judge Napolitano - Judging Freedom channel, Andrew Napolitano, also supports the Kremlin propaganda, in particular accusing the United States of “direct war with Russia”.

Previously, the Commissioner for Human Rights in Ukraine noted isolated cases of illegal removal of children from Ukraine, but there were no reports of their sale in Western countries. There is no evidence of child trafficking for organ removal.

The European Group of Experts on Action against Trafficking in Human Beings (GRETA) said in its 2023 report that two Ukrainian women were likely victims of sexual exploitation in the Netherlands in 2022, but it is unknown whether any of them were minors. In Poland, 5 cases of human trafficking were investigated, where two 17-year-old Ukrainian women were forced to provide sexual services. One case has been confirmed. The report contains no information about children being sold for organs in the EU, and Larry Johnson did not provide any evidence for his claims.

Propagandists spread such disinformation statements from media figures to create “false confirmation” of their messages. Allegedly, if a foreigner said it, it’s true.

Russian clinical psychologist Svitlana Kolobova stated that according to official data from the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, currently 30% of military personnel at the front suffer from various mental illnesses. She also noted that such estimates may be underestimated, and Ukrainian experts allegedly do not disclose how they identified these psychological problems in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Russian propagandist Volodymyr Soloviov conveyed these statements to himself. However, these statements are unreliable.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to them. There are no data or studies confirming such statistics on the official websites of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and on social networks. The Public Health Center or the National Health Service of Ukraine have also not released any information on this matter.

So far, only statistics are available on the number of military personnel who may face mental disorders in the future, but these data were not made public by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, but by foreign and Ukrainian specialists. For example, in the report “Scars on their souls: PTSD and veterans of Ukraine”, experts from the international analytical center Globsec noted that during the ATO and Joint Forces Operation, about 25% of cases of combat stress turned into PTSD of varying severity, and from 20 to 30% of military personnel. those who received psychological trauma during hostilities were unable to solve them without the help of a specialist. According to these data, the real number of cases of PTSD in Ukraine may be more than 20%.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They say they don’t pay attention to this problem, which is becoming increasingly widespread. Russian propaganda stigmatizes the issue of mental health and tries to intimidate the local population.

In the Russian segment of social networks they add that in Ukraine they do not sell medicines without a reference from Territorial centers of procurement and social support. In their publications, the authors refer to the so-called new norms of the law on mobilization. It's a lie.

VoxCheck analysts write that the law signed on April 16, 2024 does not refer to restrictions on the purchase of goods, including medicines, without presenting military registration documents or updating data at Territorial centers of procurement and social support.

That is, in the law on mobilization there is no information that men will not be able to purchase medications at a pharmacy without a reference from the Territorial centers of procurement and social support. VoxCheck specialists asked the largest pharmacies in Ukraine whether they really do not sell medicines without such a certificate. The Podorozhnyk pharmacy chain responded that they act in accordance with current legislation, that is, they provide medicines to everyone in need. So the Russians’ statements are just part of the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign to intimidate Ukrainians and discredit the healthcare system in Ukraine.

An alleged quote from Zbigniew Brzezinski, a former adviser to several American presidents, is being circulated on social networks. According to a Facebook post, he allegedly said that global elites are preparing to cause wars, famines and epidemics around the world with the help of vaccines and chips. Fact-checkers of the Czech project Demagog.cz established that this quote was invented by Russian users of social networks, and then supplemented by Slovak ones.

“Our ultimate goal is a one world government. We will do terrible things: wars, famines and epidemics around the world. After the first, the second, third, fourth, fifth will come, until you yourself ask us for vaccines, and in the end, for chips. If only all this would finally end”, says the quote, which is distributed in Slovak.

The fictitious quote from Zbigniew Brzezinski was first distributed on the Internet in a somewhat abbreviated form - without mention of vaccines and chips, only about a “one world government” and “wars, famines and epidemics”, Demagog.cz reported. Myth Detector, a fact-checking organization, has previously refuted the authenticity of these words and found that the false quote began to spread from Russian sources back in 2012. It was first published in August 2012 by Russian publicist Mykola Kofyrin in his conspiracy blog post, and the next day the fake quote began to spread on the Russian blogging platform LiveJournal.

A post with an invitation to a protest march containing this fake quote began spreading in Facebook groups on April 6, 2024. They used the full version of the quote from vaccines and chips. A similar version first appeared on social networks in October 2020. It was mentioned without specifying a source in an interview for the Extra Plus website by Slovak entrepreneur Jan Semaniak.

Semaniak, who died in January 2024 in Slovakia, was involved in book publishing. His publishing house, Torden, has published books by Volodymyr Putin's advisers and defenders of Russian imperial ambitions. “The publishing company did not stop selling books with pro-Kremlin propaganda even after the start of Russian aggression against Ukraine. Semaniak himself also openly held pro-Russian views in life and liked to spread unfounded conspiracy theories”, Demagog.cz reports.

More refutations of propaganda theses and conspiracy theories can be found in the sections “Messages”, “Tactics and tools”, “Newspeak” and “Conspiracy Theories” of the Detector Media “Disinformation Chronicles”.

Kremlin telegram channels claim that HIV and hepatitis B and C are spreading massively among the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and due to the lack of medical care and even its ban, the situation is only getting worse. Therefore, the government allegedly decided to take “extraordinary measures” - free testing for these infections for the military.

As VoXCheck analysts explain, the Facts article cited by propagandists is not talking about the “massive” spread of HIV and hepatitis B and C among the military. And it is about a pilot project created on the basis of the Main Military Clinical Hospital in Kyiv, where military personnel can undergo rapid testing for these infections and receive the necessary treatment.

According to the Center for Public Health, cited by fact-checkers, in 2023, more than 11.6 thousand cases of HIV were recorded among all Ukrainians. The incidence rate even decreased by 5% compared to 2022. There is no official data on HIV infection among military personnel, so allegations about the “massive rate” of infection among soldiers are unfounded.

The number of cases of hepatitis B and C is also relatively small - 759 and 439 cases respectively for 2023. Information about the military is also unknown.

Military personnel were able to undergo free testing for HIV, hepatitis B and C before. In particular, HIV-infected people can contact the HIV/AIDS hotline.

The medical guarantee program operating in Ukraine includes a package of services for HIV-infected people, which provides free testing, treatment, medical supervision, etc. As of the beginning of 2024, more than 118 thousand people are receiving antiretroviral therapy.

Thus, statements about the “massive” spread of HIV and hepatitis B and C among the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the lack of medical care are untrue. This is yet another piece of Russian propaganda disinformation.

At the end of March, propagandists intimidated people that Ukrainian military personnel studying in France were allegedly diagnosed with tuberculosis, and also that in the Poltava region there was no one to treat populated areas against ticks due to the “mass mobilization” of relevant specialists.

More rebuttals to healthcare misinformation are available in the Disinformation Chronicles Healthcare section.

The Russian Foundation "Anti-repression Fund"  published a pseudo-investigation that talks about the so-called secret program that Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly developed in April 2023. The goal of the program is to increase the birth rate in Ukraine due to forced insemination of women. For this purpose, the Nation of Heroes project seems to have been specially launched in Ukraine. It's a lie.

VoxCheck project specialists analyzed the case and found that the so-called Anti-repression Fund is an organization founded by Yevhenii Pryhozhyn and which, according to the Russians, should fight human rights violations in Western countries and support social activists. At the same time, the organization promotes fakes and discredits Ukraine and Western countries.

The material published by the Russians actually contains false information, fake evidence and a collection of anonymous sources.

Pro-Kremlin mass media spread information that France is allegedly threatened by an epidemic of tuberculosis, because it “was detected in Ukrainian military personnel sent to France for treatment”. According to propagandists, the infection was found in 85% of military personnel and at least 35 doctors who came into contact with them. In asserting this, Russian propaganda refers to the French radio station RFI.

In fact, this “news” is fake, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council. Radio France Internationale itself has already denied the information about “tuberculosis in the Ukrainian military”. They emphasized that their editorial office was subject to a coordinated information attack.

With this fake, Russian propaganda seeks to discredit the Ukrainian military and make the French hostile to them, to Ukrainian refugees, and to Ukraine in general. By the way, propagandists systematically spread misinformation about Ukrainian refugees in their host countries. So, for example, we have already refuted the information about “Ukrainian refugee women in Germany who started giving birth to children by Turks in order to obtain citizenship”. Another case is the refutation of the “news” that allegedly “a Ukrainian refugee in Germany painted Nazi symbols on residential buildings - 14/88”.

Such information is spread by propaganda telegram channels. For example, first the metro was completely flooded in the capital, then the city was flooded with sewage “on Zelenskyi's birthday”, and this time the waste spilled onto Verkhovna Rada Boulevard.

However, this information is not true, writes the Center for Strategic Communications at the National Security and Defence Council. In fact, on the night of March 26, a water main with a diameter of 600 mm was damaged on the capital's Verkhovna Rada boulevard, as reported by the Kyiv City State Administration. Water spilled onto the carriageway of the boulevard. Then specialists of “Kyivvodokanal” immediately arrived at the scene. As of noon on March 28, the Kyiv City State Administration reported that the repair of the pipeline on Verkhovna Rada Boulevard was completed, so full water supply was restored to all residential buildings on the left bank.

The purpose of spreading misinformation about the alleged total communal collapse in Ukraine and the capital in particular is to advance the narrative of a “failed state”. He said, “Russia will come and bring order”. Earlier, we refuted the information that more than 70 churches of the canonical UOC may be destroyed in Kyiv.

Propagandists are spreading information that ticks are not exterminated in the Poltava region because most of the workers have been mobilized to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There is also allegedly a problem with the provision of medical care - tick tests and treatment of Lyme disease (borreliosis) are practically not carried out in the region. However, this is a fake.

Specialists of the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that there is no reason to claim that the increase in morbidity is related to the mobilization of workers. The problem with the treatment of parks and squares depends on the local authorities and can be solved through agreements with contracting organizations. Even in conditions of full-scale war, tests and treatment of Lyme disease, which is one of the infectious diseases transmitted by ticks, are carried out.

In the Poltava region, there is indeed an increase in cases of Lyme disease, but this is an all-Ukrainian trend. In 2023, almost 5,000 cases of Lyme disease were registered in Ukraine - approximately 12 cases per 100,000 population. Incidence in the Poltava region (36.97 per 100,000 population) is the highest in Ukraine. In 2023, 497 cases of Lyme disease were reported in the region, compared to 367 cases in 2022. In 2022, 3,875 cases were recorded in the country (9.3 cases per 100,000 population).

Also, in the Poltava region, areas where there are natural foci of diseases transmitted by ticks have been identified. Insects that carry the causative agent of Lyme disease are found in every district of the region. Tick-borne viral encephalitis is less common. Myrhorod and Poltava districts, as well as the city of Poltava, are risk areas. Ticks can also transmit other diseases, but not all of them are carriers of pathogens.

It is important to see the doctor and take a prophylactic course of antibiotics if you develop symptoms of Lyme disease. Vaccination is the best protection, especially for those who are often outdoors.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine. Detector Media wrote what other fakes Russian propaganda invented for this.

Propagandists are disseminating information that Western pharmaceutical companies allegedly conducted dangerous experiments with drugs for rheumatoid arthritis on patients in the psychiatric ward of Hospital No. 7 in Mariupol. It is noted that the drug “could contribute to the occurrence of cancers of the lymphatic and hematopoietic systems”, but the “research subjects” were not informed about this. “Documents” have emerged that, according to propagandists, indicate the “criminal activities” of these pharmaceutical companies. Among them is a brochure that supposedly confirms the risk of lymphoma, leukemia and other diseases of the hematopoietic system. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that this study was not conducted at the psychiatric ward of Hospital No. 7 in Mariupol, as propagandists claim. Claims regarding the use of children and the mentally ill in experiments are false. According to Ukrainian legislation, participants in clinical trials must be fully informed about the risks and possible side effects of the drugs being tested.

Propagandists spread fake news to discredit Ukraine’s Western partners and cause panic among the population. They say that Ukrainians are testing biological weapons, and Russia is saving them from precisely this. However, this fake does not correspond to the legislation of Ukraine and reality.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels claim that the Ukrainian military is given the drug ketamine so that they will not be afraid of battle. They write that “Time magazine, citing neuroscientists from the United States, stated that the Ukrainian command uses ketamine “at zero front line”; it is a specific hallucinogenic drug”. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that propagandists distorted the content of the article, which actually talked about the use of ketamine in the treatment of veterans and military personnel in Ukraine.

The Time article noted that “psychedelic drugs may help troops overcome trauma” in war and that “some (Ukraine) military personnel have already received legal ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic with some hallucinogenic effects, in private clinics”. This applies to the treatment of military personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or having a traumatic brain injury. However, the massive use of ketamine in therapy has not yet been considered in Ukraine.

Regarding the use of drugs by military personnel in combat, Time mentions in its article a report alleging that Russian soldiers in Ukraine are given amphetamines before combat.

In Ukraine, there is still an ongoing debate about this method of treatment, as StopFake notes. In particular, previously the initiator of the introduction of psychedelic-assisted therapy, a doctor at the State Center for Psychological Health and Rehabilitation of Veterans “Lisova Haliavyna” of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Kseniia Voznytska, explained that this topic is very stigmatized in Ukraine and that most people do not even know what psychedelic-assisted therapy is. This is an inpatient type of treatment under the supervision of psychotherapists.

Propagandists from time to time spread misinformation that Ukrainian military personnel are drug addicts and alcoholics because they cannot withstand the horrors of the front. These false reports are intended to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces, hinder mobilization in the country and demoralize Ukrainian society as a whole. Detector Media has already refuted such a fake before.

Information is being spread online that the United States supplies the Ukrainian Armed Forces with large quantities of the painkiller Nalbuphine. The authors of the “news” write that the substance is used to extend the “shelf life” of organs, for their further transportation and sale on the black market. The Ukrainian military man is allegedly first injected with the drug, and then the active substance “preserves the organs for their further removal”. However, this is fake.

There are no studies that prove that Nalbuphine can be used for the preservation of donor organs. Specialists from the VoxCheck project write about this. In addition, it is not clear what propagandists mean by “preservation” of organs in the human body and why they should be preserved in humans at all. After all, in Ukraine, transplantation operations are performed after brain death is declared (in the case of posthumous donation). At the same time, the heart continues to function and support the vital functions of the organs, so in this case “preservation” is not necessary.

This drug is not new; it was approved in the USA back in 1979. And in Ukraine, it has been in the first aid kits of the Ukrainian military since 2014. In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it can most likely be used to reduce pain in the pre- and postoperative period or as an addition to anesthesia, but certainly not for organ preservation.

In general, the Russians have been spreading the message about black transplantology in Ukraine, in particular in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since 2014. This fake propaganda echoes others like it about the “functioning of American biological laboratories in Ukraine” or about “combat mosquitoes”, for example. The purpose of such information dumps is to demonize the West, including the United States in our case, and Ukraine. More details about the propaganda campaign of information influence “Black Transplantology” can be found in the study of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council.

We also previously refuted information about the activities of black transplantologists in Sieverodonetsk. Then all the evidence presented in the propaganda video was fabricated.

Information is being spread online that Ukrainian doctors are allegedly en masse demanding a bribe from the mobilized for recording diseases at the Military Medical Commission. This was apparently stated by the head of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Viktor Liashko.

In reality, Viktor Liashko did not say this, according to experts on the VoxCheck project. The information disseminated online contains a frame from the minister’s interview on the “We are Ukraine” YouTube channel back on June 29, 2023. This interview concerned protection from radiation, the situation in the territories flooded after the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station and the medical system. However, there was no talk about the work of the Ukrainian military medical commissions.

On March 4, 2024, Liashko announced that an inspection of the Ukrainian military medical commissions in the city of Kyiv began. “This decision is due to the increase in the number of complaints we have been receiving recently. The main ones concern basic things that can be quickly corrected if desired. This includes non-compliance with the electronic queue and the lack of basic conditions for comfortable passage of the Ukrainian military medical commissions, and unoptimized routes”, said the minister. He also noted that the corruption component does not go unnoticed, however, he did not give quantitative estimates and did not call corruption “massive”.

Moreover, back on January 10, 2024, Viktor Liashko answered questions from journalists, in particular, regarding corruption during the Ukrainian military medical commissions. There was no mention of any widespread corruption cases.

Viktor Liashko announced a change in the approach to conducting commissions to optimize the procedure and prevent the emergence of corruption. Thus, a separate package has been developed within the framework of the Medical Guarantee Program, which makes it possible to assign a separate health care institution to each Territorial center for recruitment and social support. All visits are recorded in the electronic healthcare system, which should reduce corruption risks when passing a medical commission.

If a suspicion of a violation arises, for example, a medical examination of a person liable for military service is carried out for more than 4 days, then the data is additionally transmitted to the health departments. They work with the chairmen of the Ukrainian military medical commissions for a specific institution. To combat corruption during medical examinations, the Ministry of Health also cooperates with law enforcement agencies.

To summarize, there really is a problem of corruption, but there is no way to assess how widespread it is. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine is focused on organizational issues that can be resolved quickly enough and ensure a clear process for passing a medical examination. Then, according to the minister, each request received by the hotline of the Ministry of Health and the National Health Service on the quality of medical examinations will be examined in more detail. “We have the ability and competence to check what is happening in each commission. Based on the results, we will make management decisions”, the minister emphasized on March 6, 2024, on the air of the United News telethon.

Previously, we refuted information that drugs were allegedly tested on Mariupol residents in the interests of Western companies.

Propagandists are spreading information according to which Ukraine is allegedly facing a catastrophe due to the spread of tularemia and leptospirosis. According to them, in northern Ukraine, these diseases began to spread due to the large number of rats living in landfills in the vicinity of cities. Another report on this topic states that a garbage truck driver discovered a corpse at a landfill in the Rivne region. Propagandists say that this event allegedly caused shock among Rivne police officers, who were conducting “educational conversations” with local residents. They say that several more corpses were found at the landfill, around which there were a bunch of rats. The reports cite law enforcement officers who allegedly claim that “the landfill will come close to the city, and with it a bunch of rats that carry all kinds of diseases”. However, this information is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to this. At the time of writing the original refutation material, there was not a single case of tularemia in Ukraine, and there was not a single case of leptospirosis. An article about the spread of these diseases in the Volyn region was published in 2018.

A reverse photo search revealed a message published by the Rivne region police on March 1st. This message states that on February 29 in the city of Dubno, a utility worker died as a result of a traffic accident at a local landfill. It was not possible to confirm other information contained in the message, namely about the discovery of other corpses and the number of rats in the landfill.

Tularemia and leptospirosis are serious infectious diseases and their spread can have serious health consequences. For prevention, it is important to follow the rules of personal hygiene and avoid contact with the causative agents of these diseases.

Propagandists spread such fake news to discredit Ukrainian local authorities and cause panic among the population.

Propagandists on anonymous telegram channels, where they spread pro-Russian rhetoric, are distributing a screenshot of a message from an individual who is allegedly a volunteer of the 110th territorial defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and is surprised that wounded military personnel are being taken for treatment to Zaporizhzhia, and not to Kharkiv. They say that it was this brigade that the Russians “destroyed” in Avdiivka, so it would be more logical to take the wounded to Kharkiv, and not halfway across the country to Zaporizhzhia. Russian media indicate that the command chose this strategy due to the fact that Kharkiv doctors allegedly help the military desert and hide in the big city. However, all this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that these statements are part of the Kremlin's disinformation campaign. For example, a person who is called a volunteer of the 110th territorial defense forces brigade is actually a journalist from Zaporizhzhia. Russian media also mixed up the brigade that served in Avdiivka.

In light of this, VoxCheck notes that the medical evacuation of Ukrainian military personnel is under threat due to constant Russian shelling, often aimed at medical facilities. This creates very difficult conditions for providing care to the wounded. Russians use such methods, in particular, to discredit the Ukrainian healthcare system.

A fake is being spread on Georgian social networks and the American edition of The Chicago Chronicle, which was refuted in Ukraine two weeks ago. Fact-checkers of the Georgian project Myth Detector told about its appearance.

In the first week of February, Ukrainian social media users circulated a video about the alleged death of 40 children in Ukraine as a result of vaccination with the Pfizer vaccine. In the video, a woman who introduced herself as an employee of the Kyiv office of Pfizer claimed that children in Ukraine were being administered an experimental vaccine under the guise of a flu vaccine. The fact-checkers contacted the pharmaceutical company Pfizer, where they objected that the heroine of the video works for them, and also did not confirm the information from social networks.

An employee of the Kyiv office of Pfizer, Anna Sakhno, claimed that children in Ukraine are being administered an experimental vaccine as an immunization against influenza without the knowledge of parents and medical personnel. In the video, the woman shows documents that show that during the second stage of trials, the mortality rate among vaccinated people was 4-5%. Considering that more than 1,000 children were vaccinated, the number of deaths must be at least 40-50 children.

However, Pfizer, at the request of StopFake, denied that Anna Sakhno works for them. In addition, Pfizer reported that it does not conduct clinical trials in Ukraine that could lead to the death of children. The main source of the allegation about the death of 40 children in Ukraine due to experimental Pfizer vaccination is a video on TikTok, where a woman in medical clothing and with a mask on her face claims that the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and even President Zelenskyi personally closely cooperate with Pfizer know about this, providing the company all necessary data on electronic registers of Kyiv hospitals.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security of Ukraine also denied this information as false.

The dissemination of such information is part of an information war aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian authorities and misleading the public.

Propagandists are spreading information on social networks that Pfizer, together with the Ukrainian government, is conducting research on Ukrainian children. Like, an employee of the Kyiv office of Pfizer reported this in her TikTok. According to her, a vaccine has been developed in Germany, which is being tested on Ukrainians as a flu shot, and more than 40 children have already died from it. Such tests are carried out in violation of moral and medical standards. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that the video with such information was posted on a private channel in TikTok, so it was impossible to view it. However, a recording of Anna Sakhno’s story can be found on YouTube. It was posted by an anonymous user registered online in early February 2024. This is his first and only video. Anonymity and the absence of other content may indicate that the account is fake and specifically created to spread false information.

An appeal from an alleged “Ukrainian Pfizer employee” is also being spread in the English-language segment. The source there is, in particular, an article from the Chicago Chronicle. However, this resource is also fake, as evidenced by a number of signs. The Chicago Chronicle is a well-known local newspaper in Chicago, but it was published from 1895-1907. The site, it claims, has been around since 2021, but the first news appeared on it just two weeks ago. One can also see news categories on the site, but there are publications in only three of them: Business, Politics and Health, the other categories are empty.

There are other signs that a site is fake. For example, the “About Us” section is written in Latin, and the translation of the description shows that it is a set of individual sentences. All links below the page are inactive. Additionally, the study used an outdated Pfizer logo. If this was a current publication, it would use the organization's new logo, introduced in 2021.

So far, no clinical studies are being conducted at the Kyiv representative office of Pfizer. According to the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, not a single company in Ukraine is testing vaccines to prevent influenza.

Propagandists spread such fake news to intimidate society and cause panic. In addition, in this way they justify Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Russian media write that rheumatological drugs for large Western pharmacological companies were tested on patients at Hospital No. 7 in Mariupol. Everything happened between 2008 and 2016. In asserting this, propagandists refer to “documents that were found at the site of the reconstruction of the hospital”.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Security analyzed this information. As it turned out, Russian propaganda did not provide any real evidence to support this news. The reference to the mythical “workers who found the test documents” cannot be an official source. The documents themselves have not been made public, so we can conclude that they simply do not exist.

In addition, a search for information about “drug research on patients in Mariupol hospitals” in open sources also did not yield results. It should be noted that in Ukraine no one has conducted or is conducting experiments on people. In particular, such cases were not recorded either in the Luhansk region or in the Donetsk region.

This fake propaganda piece echoes others like it about “the functioning of American biological laboratories in Ukraine”, “black transplantology”, “combat mosquitoes”, etc. The purpose of such information dumps is to demonize the West and Ukraine. On the other hand, propagandists are trying to once again assure everyone that “Ukraine is a puppet state”, so Western countries supposedly allow themselves to do whatever they want on its territory.

Anonymous Telegram channels are distributing screenshots of correspondence allegedly in which a doctor at Kharkiv Hospital No. 3 talks about how the surgical department provides medical care to wounded foreign military personnel, in particular Poles. The authors of the fake publications conclude that the facility is “isolated” for civilian patients.

The VoxCheck specialists contacted the hospital department, where they were told that the information about the treatment of Polish or military personnel of other nationalities was not true. Moreover, there is no surgical department in this hospital, the propagandists simply made it up.

And the screenshot of the “correspondence” is extremely dubious. It does not include the user's name or photo to potentially identify the likely identity of the doctor. The Kremlin’s minions could easily simulate and invent this dialogue, just like the fake itself.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are spreading a story about allegedly black transplantation in temporarily occupied Sievierodonetsk, when it was under the control of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Propagandists claim to have found consent forms for the removal of organs and body tissues, allegedly filled out on behalf of Ukrainian army soldiers in 2022. The plot also features witnesses to black transplantation who seem to talk about how it all happened.

In fact, this plot has been staged. It contains fake heroes and evidence. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation. In general, Russians have been spreading the message about black transplantology in Ukraine, in particular in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since 2014. The goal is to discredit the military-political leadership of Ukraine and create a negative image of the state in the eyes of the international community.

To promote its lies, Russian propaganda systematically uses staged stories, fake articles and news distributed by Kremlin-controlled resources. More information about the propaganda campaign of information influence “Black Transplantology” can be found in the study of the Center for Countering Disinformation.

• Read also: The medical mission of FRIDA Ukraine is allegedly engaged in the transfer of organs

Users of social networks are disseminating information that allegedly Greek Catholics of Ukraine were exempted from mobilization. They say that proof of this is that the Kyiv Three Hierarchs Theological Seminary received a license from the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to conduct higher education in the Theology specialty. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that indeed, by order of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine dated January 15, 2024, the Kyiv Three Hierarchs Theological Seminary of the Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church (UGCC) received a state license and was registered in the Unified State Electronic Database of Education. However, this does not mean that members of the Greek Catholic Church are exempt from the obligation to serve in the army according to constitutional requirements.

Lawyer of the Miller law firm Andrii Novak notes in a commentary to Ukrainska Pravda that, according to the legislation of Ukraine, religious beliefs do not exempt an individual from the obligation to defend the state. The country's constitution guarantees the equality of all citizens before the law and prohibits discrimination on religious grounds. The current version of the laws on mobilization preparation and mobilization does not provide for any exceptions for believers. The obligation to serve in the army is the same for both believers and non-believers.

At the same time, Article 35 of the Constitution of Ukraine provides for the possibility of replacing military service with alternative (non-military) service if the performance of military duty contradicts the religious beliefs of a citizen. There is a list of religious organizations whose supporters are prohibited not only from using, but even picking up weapons. The Greek Catholic Church is not included in this list. However, this rule applies only to conscript service in peacetime.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to arouse public distrust in government decisions and discredit the mobilization process in the country. Detector Media has already refuted other Russian fakes on mobilization.