On October 14, 2024, the Russian propaganda media school RT (Russia Today. - Ed.) Academy launched its first educational course for African journalists. The training is conducted by media experts, in particular employees of the RT and Ruptly channels. According to RT, representatives of 35 African countries are participating in the project.

In turn, the Center for Countering Disinformation writes that in fact, through such media projects, Russia is trying to expand its connections and influence in African countries. It is also about recruiting African journalists who, after training, can spread pro-Russian narratives in their countries.

This is not the only project aimed at strengthening Russian influence in the region, the CPI adds. Russia is also increasing so-called cultural cooperation with African states, opening “Russian houses” that are in fact a cover for conducting information operations and promoting Kremlin propaganda.

In addition, RT signed a memorandum with the Egyptian TV channel Sada El Balad, which broadcasts statements by Russian officials and manipulative materials about Ukraine.

Read also: What the Global South media writes about Ukraine

Russian propaganda anonymous Telegram channels are distributing photos with lists of “debtors”, claiming that children are allegedly suspended from classes due to failure to pay a fee for the purchase of a generator, the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security writes.

Its specialists found out that the distributed image is a fake. Firstly, portraits of presidents are not hung above the boards in Ukrainian schools, with the exception of the offices of the school administration. Secondly, the names on the list in the photo look implausible - they are all exclusively of Ukrainian origin, although in the classrooms one can usually find children with surnames of different origins. Also, in the surnames Lisenko, Petrichenko and Sidorenko there are mistakes typical for the Russian language - instead of the Ukrainian letter “и” “i” is used. According to the response of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to a request from hromadske, more than 80% of schools in Ukraine are already provided with generators, and local governments continue to purchase them.

Propagandists are trying to create a negative image of schools in Ukraine, showing them as institutions that force children and their parents to bear additional financial burdens. This is aimed at undermining trust in the school system and the government. Russian propaganda is trying to sow hostility and mistrust among Ukrainians by portraying schools as corrupt structures that unfairly put pressure on children and their families. Such a fake can contribute to the demoralization of the population, especially in the conditions of war, when there are already energy difficulties due to attacks on infrastructure. The goal is to create a sense of hopelessness among citizens. These fakes can also be aimed at an international audience to portray Ukraine as a country that cannot provide for the basic needs of its citizens and thus reduce the level of support from the international community. Thus, this fake is another attempt by Russian propaganda to manipulate public opinion and undermine the unity of Ukrainian society and its international support.

Pro-Kremlin media are distributing a photo from a student's school diary, in which the teacher allegedly drew the parents' attention to the fact that the child had failed to donate money to the Armed Forces of Ukraine for the third time — and as a result, wrote comments in the diary. The teacher then threatens to contact the SBU if the parents do not pay attention to the lack of donations.

In fact, the Russians forged a photo of the diary and the inscription in it. Several errors indicate forgery. In particular, the propagandists write “native language” in the list of school subjects. While the correct name of the subject is “Ukrainian language”, the subject “Native language” simply does not exist in Ukrainian schools.

At the same time, the fakers write that if the parents ignore the “problem”, the teacher will contact the SBU. But all donations to the army in Ukraine are voluntary. Law enforcement officers can accept the application, but most likely will not consider it, because refusing to donate does not violate any law.

Read on Censor.NET: Refutation of the fake that children in Ukraine are forced to donate blood for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, photo evidence

Against the backdrop of the start of the school year in Ukrainian schools, propagandists have claimed that first-graders from families with military personnel were given pencils with the inscription “death to Russians”. As “proof”, the Russians are adding a photo of such a pencil.

However, the inscription on the pencil was edited. In the Ukrainian segment of social networks or media, they did not report that students were given similar pencils. Using the Forensically tool, it was possible to detect that the photo has signs of editing. For example, the ELA (Error Level Analysis) tool highlights in a brighter color the elements of the picture that could have been edited. On the pencil, the photo of which is being distributed by users, one can see the blue leaves and the inscription itself. Therefore, most likely, the fakers added these marks in a photo editor.

The mistake in the word “Russians” also points to the forgery. In fact, it would be correct to use the letter i and not e. In most cases, when creating a fake, Russians incorrectly translate words into Ukrainian, which is what gives away the forgery.

We have documented fakes many times, whether they involve fake graffiti, foreign magazine covers/newspaper columns, or advertising videos. In this way, propagandists aim to show that their rhetoric (for example, that Zelenskyi is hated by the whole world) is also repeated in the West. This may make readers think that the public is really unhappy with Ukraine. And especially when the authors use elements of popular culture, implying that people are laughing at the situation in Ukraine and that the Ukrainian agenda is a reason for Europe to laugh.

Russia presents Russophobia as a separate type of Nazism that originated in Ukraine and is spreading en masse around the world. Anyone who criticizes Russia is a Russophobe, and therefore a Nazi. At first, the disinformation message about “Russophobia” was aimed mainly at the Ukrainian audience, but after the world community supported Ukraine in the war, it spread to European countries. It even went as far as accusing Israel of Nazism.

It is reported in the Russian segment of social networks that the National Corps party is planning to create an educational center for young people in Kherson. The authors of the message indicate that they want to create in Ukraine an “analog of the Nazi youth organization Hitlerjugend, where they will conduct ideological education and pre-conscription training courses for high school students and students.

However, there is no information about the opening of the so-called “educational center for youth” aimed at supporting patriotic education in the Kherson region. Let us recall that the “National Corps” is a political party created in 2016 by former members of the Azov unit led by Andrii Biletskyi. In an interview in October 2023, Beletsky said that the party ceased its activities because after the full-scale invasion, most of its representatives joined the ranks of the Defense Forces.

Russian propagandists impose the opinion that the Azov fighters support ideas that the modern world sharply rejects: anti-Semitism, Nazism, and other types of xenophobia. The Azov fighters are shown as those who devalue people based on their origins. In Moscow’s vision, Azov is ready to kill for “Ukrainian blood”. This is not the first time that the Kremlin has presented Ukrainians in this way — as aggressive, ultra-nationalistic, and valuing only “Ukrainian blood”. For example, Russian propaganda has already spread fakes about Ukrainian fighters’ wives complaining that their men transfuse them with “Russian blood”; or that Ukrainians prohibit foreign citizens from becoming blood donors.

So Putin literally has his own “Hitler Youth”. It was the youth organization “Yunarmiya” (Youth Army), created in 2016 on the basis of the accompanying structures of the Russian army and serving to militarize the youth and prepare “cannon fodder” for Putin's wars of conquest. Structures of this movement began to be created in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine in 2022. In 2023, it became known that the Russian regime was forming so-called Student Labor Brigades for propaganda in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Most youth propaganda projects in Russia are guided by a special government agency - the Federal Agency for Youth Affairs (Russian Youth), created back in 2008.

Russian Telegram channels and pro-Russian users of the social network X are distributing a video allegedly published by the BBC. The material says that Polish schoolchildren allegedly do not want to study together with Ukrainian children because of the latter’s “low academic performance and bad behavior”. In turn, Polish parents are even allegedly ready to bribe the directors of local schools just to protect their children from studying in mixed classes. However, this is fake.

The video clip being distributed online has nothing to do with the BBC, Ukrinform journalists report. There is no corresponding clip on the British Broadcasting Corporation's website or on its official social media pages.

Additionally, all BBC videos on YouTube Shorts recently contain information about when they were released. However, the fake video does not have a publication date.

Russian propaganda faked the video using photos and videos found on the Internet. Some of them do not even concern Ukraine. For example, the frame with which the video begins appeared online back in 2021 - it can be found on foreign websites.

It should also be noted that earlier the Russians distributed a fake video on behalf of the BBC, which concerned the “mass use of Nazi symbols” by the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. The audio track in that video matches the audio track present in the video about the negative attitude towards Ukrainian schoolchildren in Poland.

With this fake, propagandists are trying to sow discord between Ukrainians and Poles, as well as weaken relations between Ukraine and Poland. Earlier, we refuted the information that the Volyn tragedy will not be studied in Polish schools where Ukrainian children study.

Russian invaders continue to carry out large-scale deportation of Ukrainian children to Russian territory under the pretext of so-called recreation in children's camps. As reported by the Center for National Resistance, this is also about propaganda “re-education” of the younger generation.

Thus, 430 children from occupied Donetsk are being sent by local collaborators to Taganrog (Russia) for preventive rest. There, Ukrainian students will undergo a two-week course of “re-education”. That is, we are talking primarily about the militarization and Russification of children.

The CNS adds that there are known cases where parents, having sent their children to such camps, are subsequently unable to return them due to bureaucratic or physical obstacles, which threatens family reunification.

Information about occupiers and collaborators can be sent to the anonymous telegram bot CNS. Also there, after reading the instructions, one can learn how to bring the time of deoccupation of Ukrainian lands closer.

Information is being spread online that in one of Lviv's lyceums, first-graders are being forced to kneel and honor the memory of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. As evidence, the Russian propagandists add a photo of a complaint addressed to the lyceum's director, allegedly written by the mother of one of the 1-B class students. It states that the woman is against her daughter ‘honoring the memory of fallen Ukrainian soldiers by kneeling before the start of classes’.

The StopFake project checked this information and found out that the propagandists simply made up this news by fabricating a complaint.

In the photograph distributed by pro-Russian sources, it is noticeable that the complaint was allegedly written by “Halyna Ivanytska”, the mother of the student “Olena Ivanytska”, to the director of Lviv Lyceum No. 17, Iryna Luniova. And such a lyceum with such a director really does exist.

Therefore, StopFake journalists asked the director to confirm or deny the complaint and to tell whether the said practice really exists in this educational institution. But she replied that this information is completely fictitious. “No such complaints have been received by the director of Lyceum No. 17 of the Lviv City Council! And we do not do such things (getting on our knees – Ed.). There is no 1-C class in the Lyceum, we only have two of them. In addition, student Olena Ivanytska does not study and has never studied in our educational institution”, said Iryna Luniova.

StopFake also verified the information from the parents of first-graders. The head of the parents' committee of first-graders, Anastasiia Lysenko, confirmed that there is no practice of ‘getting on one's knees’ in the school, and there is no 1-C class with a student named “Olena Ivanytska”.

Previously, we recorded disinformation that children in Ukraine were forced to donate blood for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Propagandists are spreading information in the Polish segment of social networks about possible job cuts for Polish teachers in favor of educators from Ukraine. Specialists from Demagog decided to contact the Polish Ministry of Education to verify these statements.

In its response, it stated that the admission of Ukrainian children to schools “does not result in Polish teachers losing their jobs”. Current regulations do not envisage Ukrainian teachers teaching children in Polish schools. According to the Ministry of Education, 3 million people have come to Poland since the start of the war in Ukraine, 43% of whom are children and young people. It is not known exactly how many of them have stayed permanently. The ministry notes that these children may in the future help rebuild Ukraine or become part of Polish society if they decide to stay. The ministry emphasizes that all students, including Ukrainians, must study according to the Polish curriculum, which means that teachers must know Polish at a sufficient level to teach lessons.

Spreading false information that Ukrainian teachers may displace Polish teachers from their jobs is aimed at inciting social conflicts and tensions between the two nations. This may cause fear and discontent among Poles, especially in the professional sphere. Such fakes are also aimed at reducing public support for Ukrainian refugees and aid to Ukraine in general. Creating the impression that Ukrainians are “taking” jobs or influencing the budget may push people to believe that supporting Ukraine is harmful to Polish society. Propagandists may use these fakes to create an impression of incompetence or betrayal on the part of the government, which allegedly puts the interests of Ukrainians above those of Poles. This may undermine trust in state institutions and the current authorities.

Russian resources are spreading information that the Volyn tragedy will not be taught in Polish schools in classes where Polish children study together with Ukrainian schoolchildren. The reason for the decision was the reluctance to create tension and interethnic conflicts among students. The corresponding “news” is being spread by propagandists, citing the English-language media about Ukraine United24.

However, this is a fake, StopFake journalists claim. There is no such story on the website, as well as on the Facebook and Instagram accounts of the United24 resource. The “news” was also not published in Polish media or on the website of the Ministry of National Education of Poland. That is, no one actually made such a decision.

The Volyn tragedy (in Polish historiography - the Volyn massacre) occurred in the summer of 1943 and is still a subject of debate among historians. At the same time, after the full-scale invasion, Ukraine and Poland leaned towards a policy of reconciliation and memory. “We are pursuing a calm policy. Not a policy of running around with pitchforks, but a policy of calmly seeking agreement on historically complex issues, decades-old, very complex, extremely painful for a significant group of our compatriots”, said Polish President Andrzej Duda in June 2023. In July of the same year, on the 80th anniversary of the tragedy, he arrived in Lutsk together with Volodymyr Zelenskyi to honor the memory of the victims of the tragedy.

Russia regularly speculates on the Volyn tragedy. For example, a little earlier we recorded a Russian fake about Babel publishing a quote from a Ukrainian director with the idea for the film “Volyn Chainsaw Massacre”.

Pro-Kremlin media are distributing a screenshot of news allegedly from Ukrainska Pravda about the cancellation of school certificates and higher education diplomas for men who have not updated their data in the Territorial centers of procurement and social support. These changes allegedly occurred in accordance with a Cabinet of Ministers resolution. 

But VoxCheck fact-checkers took up this case and found out that it was a fake photo. The Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine did not issue a resolution with such content. The fakers forged a screenshot of the Ukrainska Pravda article, replacing the title and illustration of the original material.

There is no corresponding article on the website or in social networks of Ukrainska Pravda. At the same time, the screenshot indicates the time and date of publication of the “news” - August 14, 15:11. Currently, the publication has published an article by the author Valentyna Romanenko under the title “The General Staff called on Ukrainians and foreigners not to enter combat zones without permission”. It did not talk about the cancellation of certificates.

Propagandists have recently started to fake stories and materials from well-known media outlets, using their design elements to create the effect of recognition and trust in one of the quality media outlets. For example, we recently reported that anonymous people were spreading a fake story from the supposedly French publication Le Figaro, which spoke about a “Ukrainian refugee-murderer”.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels are spreading information that from September 1, Moldovan schools will allegedly hold Russophobia lessons, where schoolchildren will be taught hatred of Russia under the guise of solidarity with Ukraine. The propagandists claim that this is part of a manual developed by the Council of Europe, which the Moldovan Ministry of Education allegedly rewrote and made mandatory for all schools. However, this is manipulation.

In fact, the lesson “Together for Peace” aims to educate solidarity, compassion and peaceful coexistence, not to incite hatred. It will be held only once – on September 1 – as the first lesson of the school year. The Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Moldova noted in its document about the lesson that the topic was chosen on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Council of Europe, as well as the beginning of the process of Moldova’s accession to the EU. Propagandists also call any education of young people in the spirit of European values and support for Ukraine “brainwashing”, although in fact, the same document of the Ministry notes that teachers can adapt and change the educational objectives of the lesson and its activities in accordance with the needs and pace of learning of students, and should also encourage students to draw their own conclusions, not impose their views on them. Propagandists present this lesson as an attempt to set children against Russia, whereas the purpose of the lesson is to educate peace and solidarity among young people. There is no evidence that the lessons are about preparing for war or teaching hatred.

Propagandists are trying to turn Moldovan society against European values and institutions such as the Council of Europe, portraying their initiatives as aggressive and hostile. They are also trying to sow fear among the Moldovan population that their children are being taught to hate Russia, which could lead to increased social tensions and a loss of trust in their own government. The propagandists’ message also claims that Ukraine and its allies are using educational programs for military training of children, which is an absurd and completely baseless claim. This is aimed at discrediting support for Ukraine in the international community.

Propagandists are distributing a photo of an “order” allegedly issued by the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine on reducing the number of budget places for men of draft age on anonymous Telegram channels with pro-Russian rhetoric. They claim that the reason for this decision is the need to replenish the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, this document is fake.

It was brought to the attention of specialists from the BAHMUT.IN.UA page and the Center for Counteracting Disinformation. They found out that on the official website of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine there is not a single order providing for a reduction in the number of budget places for military-liable men aged 18 to 25 years. As of August 19, there is only a regulatory legal act “On the conditions and procedure for holding the all-Ukrainian competition Teacher of the Year - 2025”. In addition, order No. 498 was already issued on May 5, 2021 and concerns issues of holding the External Independent Evaluation in 2022.

The Decree of the President of Ukraine on general mobilization for 2022 cannot be the basis for reducing the number of budget places for men of draft age. When entering any university in Ukraine, budget places are not distributed by gender or age. In 2024, anyone who scored more than 130 points (or 150 points for some specialties) of The national multi-subject test could apply for education at public expense. Also, applicants to art and sports specialties passed a creative competition, which had a greater influence on the competition score than The national multi-subject test - 60%.

Given the high demand among military-liable men for admission to universities, the Ministry of Education and Science has taken a different approach. In particular, for those entering postgraduate studies, the Ministry of Education and Science has increased the number of budget places, canceling the contractual full-time form of study, which previously provided a deferment from mobilization.

By spreading a fake order, Russian propaganda is once again trying to arouse feelings of indignation and injustice among Ukrainians. Studying at public expense is the right of every Ukrainian man and woman who has fulfilled all the conditions for joining and passed the rating list. Propagandists also want to disrupt mobilization in the country and discredit this process.

Russians in the temporarily occupied territories continue to train teachers in schools, which are today cells of Russian propaganda, for the school year 2024-2025. The Center for National Resistance reports this.

Future and current teachers are instructed by Russian “teachers” from the “Knowledge” group. One of the tasks of this propaganda structure, which has existed since the times of the USSR, is to promote propaganda among educators and students in the temporarily occupied territories. Accordingly, the lectures focus on the importance of changing children’s self-identification and cultivating “patriotism” in them for Russia.

The CNS adds that according to international law, a deliberate policy of changing the self-identification of an ethnic group is a sign of genocide.

We previously wrote that Ukrainian students in the occupied territories are taught a subject about “Russian values”.

The Kremlin continues to pour a lot of resources into propaganda aimed at children in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Thus, one of the tools for promoting Russian propaganda is the so-called “youth forums”, in which Russians and collaborators try to attract as many young people as possible, promising children great career prospects and obtaining “competencies for self-realization in Russia”. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

These days, in the temporarily occupied Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region, preparations are underway for the second “Young South” forum, where the organizers intend to bring children from all temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. According to the occupiers’ estimates, 800 participants should attend the “forum” in Berdiansk, writes the Center for National Resistance. Russian propagandists from actors, bloggers and other Kremlin figures should also come there.

The real purpose of such measures is:

– ideologically indoctrinate children in the TOT, promoting hatred of Ukraine among them;

– strengthen control over teenagers and young people through a network of youth organizations;

– promote loyalty due to promises of illusory “prospects”;

– strengthen the influence of the occupation administrations on all spheres of life in the TOT.

Russia continues to implement policies aimed at changing the national self-identification of Ukrainian youth. For example, in February 2024, the Russians took Ukrainian children from the TOT of Ukraine to the so-called World Youth Festival, where, in particular, they promoted the idea of joining Russian youth organizations “on a voluntary-compulsory basis”.

The occupation administration of Luhansk, under the guise of “educating the younger generation”, is militarizing Ukrainian children and teenagers, preparing them to participate in the war on the side of Russia. Specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council drew attention to this.

They found out that for ideological influence, the occupiers are attracting Chechen fighters of the Akhmat battalion, who created a military camp in the Luhansk region called the Akhmat Academy of Friendship of Peoples. This camp is personally run by Ramzan Kadyrov and his close circle. The goal is not only education using “patriotic” values, but also training future fighters for the Russian army.

At the camp, children are indoctrinated and trained in military affairs, in particular, combat tactics, using weapons and assisting the wounded. The program includes intensive training, physical conditioning and special exercises aimed at developing other skills necessary to participate in military operations. In addition to physical and military training, much attention is paid to propaganda and ideological education in order to form a distorted perception of reality in children and subordinate their consciousness to the ideas of Russian aggression. This approach violates international standards for the protection of children's rights and makes them a tool for political and military purposes.

The purpose of such camps is to prepare Ukrainian teenagers for service in the Russian army and participation in hostilities against Ukraine. With the help of this camp, Russia seeks to create a new generation of “Kadyrov” — loyal adherents of the regime, ready to carry out orders unconditionally.

Information is being spread online that at one of the Kyiv universities, instead of practical training, students are sent to “dig trenches in Irpin”. This is evidenced by a notice on the wall of the university.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project explained that the announcement is fake, because there is no announcement about the relevant practice on the website of the educational institution or on social networks.

According to the information on the “announcement”, it is about the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture. After all, the facade of the educational institution and the university’s coat of arms were depicted on the leaflet.

However, the student groups listed in the announcement do not exist. Moreover, on the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture website in the section “Agreements with practice bases” there are no military units. In addition, the contracts indicate that the party receiving students undertakes not to use the labor of education seekers in jobs and positions that “do not correspond to the practice program and future specialty”.

On social networks, pro-Russian resources are spreading information that students of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture will build fortifications for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As “proof” of this, propagandists add a photo of an advertisement that allegedly appeared within the walls of the university and claim that these are the results of the “unsuccessful” Global Peace Summit, which took place on June 15-16, 2024 in Switzerland. However, this is fake.

Ukrinform specialists report that the ad was fabricated in a graphic editor and written with grammatical errors without a specified date. To create the fake, propagandists used a photograph that first appeared in 2012 on the social network VKontakte, which is banned in Ukraine. In a comment to Ukrinform, representatives of KNUCA noted that the unreliability of the publications also confirms that the student groups indicated in the “announcement” really do not exist in the educational institution.

This fake is aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian education system, including in the eyes of future applicants from the temporarily occupied territories who would like to receive an education in the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture. Previously, we analyzed a fake report about the mobilization of 1000 students of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv. 

On social networks, pro-Russian resources are spreading information that students of the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture will build fortifications for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As “proof” of this, propagandists add a photo of an advertisement that allegedly appeared within the walls of the university and claim that these are the results of the “unsuccessful” Global Peace Summit, which took place on June 15-16, 2024 in Switzerland. However, this is fake.

Ukrinform specialists report that the ad was fabricated in a graphic editor and written with grammatical errors without a specified date. To create the fake, propagandists used a photograph that first appeared in 2012 on the social network VKontakte, which is banned in Ukraine. In a comment to Ukrinform, representatives of KNUCA noted that the unreliability of the publications also confirms that the student groups indicated in the “announcement” really do not exist in the educational institution.

This fake is aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian education system, including in the eyes of future applicants from the temporarily occupied territories who would like to receive an education in the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture. Previously, we analyzed a fake report about the mobilization of 1000 students of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that 41 schools will be closed in the Sumy region in 2025, allegedly due to lack of funding. Propagandists also claim that in the region, by order of the head of the Sumy Regional State Administration, the administration staff was increased by seven people to carry out mobilization.

This is actually fake. In the case of schools, it is not about closing, but about reorganizing educational institutions with fewer than 45 students. This will happen in accordance with the resolution of the Cabinet of Ministers, which was approved in March 2024 - from September 1, 2025, the state educational subvention will not be allocated to schools with fewer than 45 students.

In the Sumy region today, 41 institutions have less than 45 students, and many of these institutions have 37, 36 and 30 students, that is, there are 1-3 children in a class. This was announced by the director of the Department of Education and Science of the Sumy Regional State Administration Victoria Hrobova.

The staff of the Regional State Administration was increased in order to improve its structure. This has nothing to do with the organization of mobilization. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

Read also: Ukraine is allegedly preparing to mobilize school teachers

Propagandists on anonymous telegram channels that spread pro-Russian rhetoric are publishing a video that in the United States a student was allegedly expelled from the University of Florida because he publicly sang a song about Volodymyr Putin in Russian. A deduction letter is included with the video. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. Based on the phrase “Did a brave thing at Campus Square today”, which is shown in the video, they found the original video on Tiktok. In it, the man sings a different song, not in Russian, and the video does not contain any mention of expulsion from the university.

In the tags for the video, the singer indicated that there is a South African singer, University of Johannesburg and UJ student, which indicates that he is likely a student at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

In addition, in the video, the man noted that he performed the song near Campus Square. A Google Maps search revealed that there is a shopping center with the same name in the city of Johannesburg. The image of the location on Google Maps matches the location in the video - this is indicated by blue and black signs and inscriptions on them, a black iron fence and the presence of sand on the street.

Therefore, there is no talk at all about the University of Florida or expulsion from it because of the performance of the song. To forge the expulsion letter, Russian propagandists used a real university admission letter, which can be found in open sources. This is confirmed by identical signatures on both documents.

Propagandists spread such fake news to discredit Ukraine’s Western partners and create a false impression of a better situation in Russia. They say America is a hypocrite because it censors its students.

Russian telegram channels disseminated information about the study of Polish as a second foreign language in schools in the Poltava region. Propagandists explain this by saying that the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly preparing citizens to surrender their territories to Poland. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that in one of the classes at Lyceum No. 17 “Intelligence” in Poltava, they actually study Polish as a second foreign language (the first is English). But the decision to learn Polish was made not by the authorities, but by the parents of the students. This decision was made at the level of the parent committee and taken at the regional level for study in two schools in the Poltava region, as confirmed by information from the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

The Ministry of Education and Science has developed a program for studying the Polish language for students in grades 5-9 and 10-11, but it is not mandatory for teaching. The director of Lyceum No. 17, Olena Holtvianytsia, emphasizes that the Ministry does not limit the school in the choice of foreign languages to study. The introduction of the Polish language in the lyceum is justified by the fact that many children have experience in Poland, so it becomes a more convenient option for them than other foreign languages. It also gives children more opportunities to practice.

This innovation is due to the joint initiative of parents and schools, and it is completely unrelated to any plans for the return of territories to Poland. In addition, it should be noted that the Polish authorities have already expressed respect for the territorial integrity of Ukraine several times. Detector Media has already written about why propagandists are trying to create fake news that Poland will supposedly soon seize Ukraine.

Pro-Kremlin resources are disseminating information that the Kharkiv authorities intend to begin construction of an underground school solely in their own interests - “for the sake of a beautiful picture and PR”. They say that initiatives of this kind are being made only in order to once again steal the budget, while schoolchildren in regular schools seem to be in no danger. However, this is a fake.

In the StopFake project, the fact-checkers drew attention to this information. They noted that propaganda resources “forgot” to say that Ukrainian schoolchildren are forced to study not in the classrooms of their schools, but in underground shelters due to constant Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure, including educational institutions. According to the Ministry of Education of Ukraine and UNICEF, as of November 2023, more than 4,100 Ukrainian schools were destroyed or damaged by Russians throughout the country. Of these, in the Kharkiv region, 51 educational institutions were completely destroyed, and 579 schools, kindergartens, educational institutions were partially damaged. Experts from the UN Children's Fund note that due to Russian aggression, Ukrainian children are left without access to basic rights - education and healthcare, which puts their lives and well-being at risk.

When schools and kindergartens are closed due to Russian attacks, children lose the opportunity to communicate with their peers, which is important for their development. In this regard, in Kharkiv, as in a number of other Ukrainian settlements, blended learning is practiced - online and offline in safe places. In Kharkiv it is the metro. At five Kharkiv metro stations, 19 classrooms are equipped that meet wartime safety standards, as well as educational standards. The classrooms are equipped with sound insulation and climate control, the rooms are isolated from the platforms on which the trains move. In the metro, 105 classes and 2,087 children study in several shifts. These are mainly primary and secondary schoolchildren.

Given the demand among parents of Kharkiv schoolchildren for offline education of their children in safe places, city authorities in October 2023 announced their intention to begin construction of the first underground school. The cost of construction is 58 million hryvnia. The school will be able to accommodate 450 schoolchildren, that is, 900 children in two shifts. Preparatory work has already begun.

Propagandists claim that their “high-precision weapons” only hit strategically important military targets, and that Russians shelling schools, kindergartens, cultural institutions, etc. – these are all inventions of Ukrainians. That is, the Russian army in no case supposedly attacks the civilian population of Ukraine, and therefore there is no need to worry while Ukrainian children are alive. Ultimately, this case of disinformation aims to nourish the Russian propaganda narrative about a mediocre Ukrainian government that steals everything and engages in self-promotion, instead of raising the standard of living of ordinary Ukrainians.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks claim that the National Defense University of Ukraine is asking the Porsche Ukraine car dealership to transfer a 2022 AUDI A8 Long car to complete a military unit. Like, it needs a luxury car to interact with foreign delegations. As proof, they are distributing an image of a “letter” with a request. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that the National Defense University of Ukraine denied the existence of such a “letter”. In addition, the “document” has errors; there is no seal, date or signature, which indicates that it is false. TSN journalists called the number indicated in the letter and confirmed that the person indicated in it did not make any relevant requests.

According to representatives of the National Defense University of Ukraine, propagandists created this fake news to discredit their activities. Since the educational institution is directly related to the training of personnel for the Ukrainian army, in this way propagandists are also trying to discredit the Ukrainian army as a whole. They say that it is corrupt, and therefore it is not worth risking one’s life in it.

This thesis was spread by pro-Kremlin media. The reports write that children in Ukraine “do not want” to learn the Ukrainian language through the so-called “total Ukrainization” of society. That is, the authors hint that teachers deliberately force schoolchildren to study Ukrainian, and they resist. In the publications, the authors provide figures (allegedly for how much the percentage of the study of the Ukrainian language has decreased). And they conclude: “Ukrainians are forced to immerse themselves in culture, but they don’t need it”. In support of this thesis, propagandists cite material from the French newspaper Le Monde.

The VoxCheck fact-checkers worked on the case and found out that in the Le Monde material, media professionals actually write about the deterioration of the general level of knowledge among Ukrainian children. They cited Russian aggression, a full-scale invasion and attacks on civilian infrastructure, including shelling of schools, as the reason for this. Using a reverse search on Google, experts found the material and analyzed it further. It states that 57% of teachers observe a deterioration in students’ knowledge of the Ukrainian language, up to 45% - a decrease in mathematical skills, and up to 52% - in foreign languages. Preschool education is also experiencing problems: about ⅔ of preschool children do not attend kindergartens. In frontline zones this figure is ¾. The material refers to a UNICEF press release in which these data are presented.

However, neither UNICEF nor the journalists of the French newspaper were accused of the so-called “total, forced and violent Ukrainization”. This is simply an invention of Russian propaganda who decided to manipulate the data and supposedly explain that children resist learning the language, although this is absolutely not the case. Such figures are the result of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the daily shelling of peaceful Ukrainian cities, critical and civilian infrastructure. The point is that Ukrainian children do not deny studying subjects, do not express widespread dissatisfaction - in fact, Russia hinders quality education, and a study from UNICEF is proof of this.

Read the case, when propagandists lied that they fired at an alleged Ukrainian Armed Forces base in Romny. In fact, it turned out to be a secondary school. And as a result of the Shahed drone attack, four people were killed: the school principal, deputy director, secretary and librarian. At the time the drone hit, there were 19 teachers at the school.

How Russia justifies deportation and other war crimes in Ukraine against Ukrainian children - read in our investigation as well.