A video is circulating online in which an elderly woman allegedly complains to the Polish authorities that she was “robbed” by Ukrainian refugees, whom she settled in her apartment. In different versions of the story, either the woman’s children or the city authorities persuaded the 73-year-old Polish woman to give shelter to a Ukrainian family. It seems that the Ukrainians robbed a woman, smashed the apartment, ran into debt for housing and disappeared. The victim allegedly vainly demands compensation from the authorities. It is not true.

The video has nothing to do with Ukraine. StopFake fact-checkers found out that this video first appeared online on April 24, 2018. An elderly woman in the video complains that she was not provided with the promised services - the replacement of all equipment with the Internet and television. The video was probably filmed at the customer service office of the company "Vectra", which provides telecommunications services in Poland.

A seemingly new cover of the Spanish satirical magazine El Jueves is being distributed online. The cartoon depicts a frightened Polish president with the caption: “I don't want war with Russia!”. However, this is not true.

Voxcheck experts said that there is no cover with a cartoon distributed on the web on the official pages of the magazine. On the barcode of the cover of the magazine there are numbers - 02375 (issue number) and a barcode. However, the cover with this number looks different.

Propagandists have repeatedly falsified the covers of various magazines to convince the public that the whole world is actually mocking Ukrainian and Western officials. In this way, they spread theses that are beneficial to pro-Kremlin propaganda: if not only propagandists, but also “the whole world” talk about it, then it seems that the messages are true.

However, some Russian propagandists present this column as the official position of Poland, and some as a serious journalistic investigation that should be trusted, but both took several opinions out of context and added their own version of the seizure of part of the territory of Ukraine.

Hanna Kramer suggests that the head of the Law and Justice party, Yaroslav Kaczynskyi, is allegedly preparing for war and would like to take over the West of Ukraine in order to return more than 4.5 million new voters who could support his party in the elections.

At the same time, Russian propagandists present her column as revealing a plan for Poland to seize part of Ukraine. Like, it consists of two stages, the first of which Poland has already completed: Kyiv government has taken political and financial control. The second stage is military operations, for which, they say, preparations are underway. According to propagandists, on May 4, the Polish army will arrange a liberation march to Kyiv. They say that by this date the Armed Forces of Ukraine will lose their combat capability.

Since the beginning of the full-scale war, Russian propagandists have been promoting all sorts of disinformation about the seizure of part of Ukraine by Poland in order to quarrel friendly countries.

Detector Media previously explained why Russia came up with a fake about Poland’s intention to annex the western regions of Ukraine.

This message is spread by the Russian media. They say that in Poland the western part of Ukraine is considered its territory. The propagandists also cite an article in The Conversation and “own sources” in Russian intelligence who have repeatedly warned of Poland’s “occupational intentions” in Ukraine. This is not true.

In the Conversation article, there is no mention of the fact that Poland allegedly calls the Western part of Ukraine a colony of Warsaw. As StopFake writes, such messages are an invention of propagandists. The authors of the article discuss the historical context of Polish-Ukrainian relations, in particular, that when part of the Ukrainian lands were part of Poland, however, they were not ethnically considered Polish.

A video is circulating on the network in which the military takes out the coffin of probably their brother from the plane. Like, this is a video from the meeting of the dead Polish military. Reports claim that these soldiers died in Ukraine. Also in the messages they pay attention to the fact that the dead are given honors, that is, they are military personnel, and not volunteers. It is not true.

The video has nothing to do with Ukraine. As StopFake notes, it was filmed on December 23, 2011 during a military ceremony to welcome the fallen Polish soldiers in Afghanistan. On the official website of the President of Poland and in the Polish media, it is reported that on December 21, 2011, five soldiers of the 20th Bartoszycki mechanized brigade exploded on the road between Kabul and Kandahar. The State Secretary of the Prime Minister's Office and the Government Authorized Representative for the Security of the Information Space of the Republic of Poland, Stanislav Zharin, also confirmed the information about the video.

Such information was disseminated in Russian telegram channels. Like, the girlfriend of the Ukrainian refugee told in the video that after his death he became a donor for four Poles.

The woman in the video does not say what kind of person he was, because of which he fell into a coma, whether he was a refugee, and she does not say that his organs were sold. She simply confirmed that the Ukrainian became the donor of four people in Poland.

In Poland, organ transplantation is provided on the principle of tacit consent. Illegal transplantation of human organs in Poland is punishable by imprisonment for a period of 6 months to 5 years.

People professionally engaged in such activities face up to 10 years in prison. It is worth noting that in the spring in Poland, a Ukrainian, who had suffered from heart failure for a long time, had a donor heart transplanted. Then the National Movement "For Transplantation" noted that this was the first donor heart in Poland, which was transplanted by a Ukrainian woman. Earlier, StopFake refuted the fake that allegedly donated blood for the Armed Forces of Ukraine is already being taken from schoolchildren in the Cherkasy region, and that Ukrainians will be “allowed for organs” without their consent.

This message is spread by Russian propagandists in telegram channels. Allegedly, the Poles need Kyiv, Lviv, Uzhhorod, the Carpathians, but they can’t stand the Ukrainians. Like, they have a much better attitude towards the Russians.

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has been spreading all sorts of disinformation to quarrel Poland and Ukraine and create the image of tension between the countries supporting each other. Propagandists constantly repeat the narrative that Poland seeks to annex part of Ukraine and has already begun to prepare for this. In particular, they wrote that Poland began the "economic seizure" of Ukraine and the western regions of Ukraine.

This is stated in the messages of the Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels. Allegedly, during the 10 months of the war in Ukraine, about 1,200 Poles were killed, who fought on the side of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as mercenaries. Allegedly, several thousand more mercenaries are wounded or injured. Some reports say that Warsaw is allegedly expecting "payment" for its friendship against Russia. It is not true.

StopFake notes that the primary source of this news is Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny, which repeatedly spreads Russian disinformation. The non-existent Yakub Mozhniak is indicated as the author of the article. There are also no other "members of the editorial board" of this publication.

According to open sources, five Polish volunteers died in Ukraine, none of whom are soldiers of the Polish army.

Earlier, propagandists wrote that two battalions of Polish infantry were allegedly destroyed in Ukraine, and a special cemetery was allegedly created for the dead in Poland. Propagandists also say that Polish special forces under NATO command are fighting in Ukraine.

This is written by Russian and pro-Russian information resources with reference to the materials of the American edition of Newsweek. Like, many countries condemned the actions of the West and supported the position of the Russian president on the “situation” in Ukraine. This is manipulation.

There is not a single mention in the Newsweek article that most countries took the side of Russia in the war against Ukraine. The author of the material writes that different countries of the world proceed from their agenda and their own interests in the context of responding to the war. Therefore, they do not always fully share the approach of the US and the EU. Many countries, for example, advocate a "diplomatic settlement" of the conflict, but do not necessarily side with Russia in this war.

As StopFake writes, Daniel DePetrice's article was published in the “Dumky” (“Opinions") section, so the author's opinion is also not necessarily shared by Newsweek. The author notes that, despite the fact that the events in Ukraine are cruel, each country primarily pursues its own geopolitical interests and does not always fully share the “approach of the West”. The article does not say that "most countries have begun to support Putin." Propagandists have distorted the idea that some countries do not want to completely lose ties with Russia and presented it as support for Putin.

This is reported by foreign pro-Russian media. They say that an operational group of officers and soldiers of the Polish special forces in Ukrainian uniforms arrived in Marhanets, Dnipropetrovsk region, to detect pro-Russian residents of the city. This unit is under the control of NATO Headquarters. It is not true.

NATO countries do not take part in hostilities in Ukraine. The fact-checkers of EU vs Disinfo drew attention to the spread of this fake. They note that there is no evidence of the presence of NATO troops in Ukraine. Western instructors exclusively teach the Ukrainian military how to use modern weapons supplied to Ukraine by Western partners.

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. They say that foreign mercenaries, including those from Poland, are increasingly fighting and dying in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. So, allegedly, a special cemetery was prepared for them in Olsztyn, Poland, which was placed in small squares like American cemeteries, so that everyone would have enough space. It is not true.

The news about the creation of a special cemetery was published only in the publication Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny. Fact-checkers of The Insider project discovered that this is a fake publication that had previously spread Russian disinformation about Poland's intentions to take over Ukraine. The reason for the fakes was the decision of the Polish Ministry of Defense to switch to American standards for the arrangement of military cemeteries throughout the country.

The Russian media are spreading another fake about Ukrainian refugees who were supposedly forcibly evicted from their home in Krakow. But, as StopFake found out, there is no evidence or mention of such an incident - except for the words of a witness referred to by the Russian media. They also distribute a video that seems to show that Ukrainian refugees had to be expelled from their apartment with a crane.

As fact-checkers write, a video about how the police got through the window in the center of Krakow appeared on the network on October 8, 2021, and there is no relation to the war in Ukraine. There is also no mention of any case of forced eviction of Ukrainians either in the local media, or in the police of Krakow, or in the Polish segment of social networks.

Such information is disseminated by Russian propaganda media. Reports say that over the past six months, the number of HIV-infected people has increased significantly in Poland. In the texts, the propagandists refer to the Polish Ministry of Health. Like, the ministry said that the situation with HIV in the country worsened because of Ukrainian refugees. Allegedly, it was they who brought the infection into the country and spread it there. However, this is fake. As StopFake fact-checkers write, in fact, the Ministry of Health of Poland explained that the number of recorded cases of the disease in the country could increase due to the arrival of Ukrainians, among whom there are also HIV-infected. They fit into the overall statistics, and are offered advice and treatment. The fact that in Poland the incidence of HIV infection has significantly increased due to the “influx of refugees” has not been claimed by anyone. Previously, the fake about Ukrainians spreading HIV concerned Estonia. Russian propaganda systematically spreads lies about Ukrainian refugees abroad in order to change public opinion both about the refugees themselves and about what is happening in Ukraine. Russian disinformation about Ukrainian refugees, in particular, is based on differences in people's values. For example, propaganda calls Ukrainians Nazis (in the sense of radical xenophobes) or claims that Ukrainians are not ready to work to provide for themselves, but only live off European taxes. Read more about the disinformation that Russian propaganda is spreading about Ukrainian refugees in the Detector Media investigation.In the texts, the propagandists refer to the Polish Ministry of Health. Like, the ministry said that the situation with HIV in the country worsened because of Ukrainian refugees. Allegedly, it was they who brought the infection into the country and spread it there. However, this is fake. As StopFake fact-checkers write, in fact, the Ministry of Health of Poland explained that the number of recorded cases of the disease in the country could increase due to the arrival of Ukrainians, among whom there are also HIV-infected. They fit into the overall statistics, and are offered advice and treatment. The fact that in Poland the incidence of HIV infection has significantly increased due to the “influx of refugees” has not been claimed by anyone. Previously, the fake about Ukrainians spreading HIV concerned Estonia. Russian propaganda systematically spreads lies about Ukrainian refugees abroad in order to change public opinion both about the refugees themselves and about what is happening in Ukraine. Russian disinformation about Ukrainian refugees, in particular, is based on differences in people's values. For example, propaganda calls Ukrainians Nazis (in the sense of radical xenophobes) or claims that Ukrainians are not ready to work to provide for themselves, but only live off European taxes. Read more about the disinformation that Russian propaganda is spreading about Ukrainian refugees in the Detector Media investigation.

The Center for Counteracting Disinformation reports that another fake letter is being distributed on Twitter, allegedly on behalf of the Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Ukraine. The letter refers to the holding of events "aimed at studying the public opinion of the residents of the Lviv and Volyn regions of Ukraine", which "they propose to implement according to the previously established plan".

A photo of the fake letter is being circulated with comments that allegedly Polish diplomats are trying to seize the Western regions and are preparing to hold a referendum.

The representative of the Polish Foreign Ministry, Lukasz Jasina, denied the existence of such a letter and noted that the message about preparations for a referendum on the accession of the western regions of Ukraine to Poland is disinformation and another attempt to foment disunity between Poland and Ukraine.

This was reported on the website of the Belarusian Border Committee. It is not true. A fake about the mass migration of Ukrainians to Belarus was released by Stanislav Zharyn, authorized representative of the Polish government on protecting the information space of the country.

According to him, “the graph reflects the falsified number of Ukrainian refugees who left for Belarus. According to the information on the migration movement, more than 60,000 Ukrainians arrived in Belarus, including almost 40,000 who had to go through Poland”.

Zharyn noted that Belarusian propaganda hints that Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression are seeking asylum in Belarus, perceiving this country as the safer one than the EU countries.

A message of this content was distributed by Russian propaganda media, after which the thesis migrated to social networks. Reports say that Poland has officially put forward Kyiv's demand. Like, Ukraine should apologize for the Volyn tragedy.

In their messages, the propagandists refer to the Polish edition of Gazeta Wyborcza, where they allegedly published a demand for official Kyiv. However, this is a manipulation that fact-checkers from StopFake paid attention to. As the fact checkers write, in fact, this is a statement by a Polish political scientist who is known for promoting Kremlin narratives. And Gazeta Wyborcza published an article about the meeting where this political scientist spoke, with the title “Pro-Russian propaganda at the meeting in Poznan. The Polish government is preparing for war in the East".

In his column, the author Tomasz Nichka reflects on Sykulskyi, and how he was at first a very reasonable scientist, and now actively disseminates anti-Ukrainian and anti-American theses, similar to Kremlin propaganda narratives. The statement that Ukraine should apologize to Poland for the Volyn tragedy was made by Sykulskyi precisely at this meeting. And Poland did not make official statements about Ukraine's apologies. However, propagandists regularly spread fakes and manipulations about Polish-Ukrainian relations.

This is necessary in order to quarrel Poland and Ukraine and create the appearance that there is tension between the countries supporting each other. Also, propagandists constantly repeat the narrative that Poland seeks to annex part of Ukraine and has already begun to get ready for this.

Such an opinion is promoted by pro-Russian bloggers in telegram channels. Allegedly, in the evening, November 15, the fall of a rocket in the village of Przewodów in eastern Poland near the border with Ukraine, which killed two people, was a provocation by Ukraine.

Propagandists are stuffing messages on social networks that this attack has warmed up the negative sentiments of the Poles towards Ukraine. It is not true.

Data from a joint survey by RMF FM and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna show that 70% of Poles believe that it will not affect Polish-Ukrainian relations.

Russia is trying to quarrel with its closest neighbors and partners, therefore it constantly promotes fakes about Poland and its relations with Ukraine.

Anonymous telegram channels that try to impersonate Ukrainians, such as “Naspravdi” (Actually) or “In reality in Kharkiv”, distribute a fake cover of Charlie Hebdo the French satirical magazine, which appeared to have been released on November 16 and was dedicated to the fall of a rocket in the Polish city of Przewodów where two people died. The cover says "Volyn massacre 2.0" as well as a Polish swear word. In fact, the next issue of the magazine came out on November 16, but on its cover is the French businessman and billionaire Vincent Bolloré.

Russian propaganda constantly invents the covers of famous magazines in order to promote the messages they need and in this case they say that it is Ukraine that is to blame for the tragedy in the Polish town. In fact, NATO, Poland and the United States have already stated that in any case, Russia, responsible for the deaths of two Poles, either launched a direct missile attack or started a war in Ukraine, which led to the fall of a Ukrainian missile. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said it was not a Ukrainian missile, but is awaiting the conclusions of an investigation by Polish experts. Ukraine is also participating in the investigation into the circumstances of the tragedy.

It's hard to imagine, but Russian "experts" are spreading a new version of what happened in Poland. According to them, on November 15, Ukraine launched two rockets into Poland, which killed two people, in order to “derail the grain agreement”, and thus “blame Russia for creating a food crisis” in the world. It is not entirely clear how the murder of two farmers can lead to the cancellation of the grain deal, and how Ukraine is interested in this disruption, but it is obvious why such a thesis is spread by the Russian propaganda media: they now need to explain why the agreement was extended by 120 days, despite the fact that Russia, and Putin himself, has constantly threatened to withdraw from the agreement.

Now, despite such incomprehensible arguments, one can say: although Ukraine tried to disrupt the grain agreement, Russia resisted, won and extended it in order to show the whole world that it does not want to provoke a famine. In fact, Russia has already caused a global food crisis: it stole grain and agricultural products from Ukraine; burned fields and destroyed elevators; blocked almost all seaports from which Ukraine could supply its products. And at some point it even announced that it was terminating the agreement due to fake reports that it was Ukraine that attacked the Russian Black Sea fleet launching drones from ships carrying grain.

But both Ukraine and Turkey ignored Russia's threats to terminate the agreement and continued to export grain, and that is why Russia stopped claiming to have withdrawn from the agreement. And today, the agreement itself was extended automatically, however, on November 19 the agreement could be terminated if one of the parties has significant comments or objections. No one, not even Russia, had such, so the agreement was automatically extended for another 120 days. Now Russian propagandists are trying hard to explain why Putin said two weeks ago that Russia would withdraw from the agreement, and now it has been extended for four months, and Russia has not even bargained for additional terms. That is why they come up with explanations about how heroically they did not allow Ukraine to disrupt the agreement.

Russian propaganda media massively disseminate the statement of the head of the Lublin city council Yaroslav Pakula, who allegedly accused Ukraine of provocation, that is, of the deliberate shelling of the Polish city of Przewoduv, where on November 15 two people died from a rocket fall.

“Obviously, this is a Ukrainian missile. Obviously, this is a provocation on the part of the Ukrainian authorities. The purpose of the provocation is to speed up the supply of weapons to Ukraine, to intimidate Europe with a terrible Russia, so that civil society demands from the governments of European countries to increase assistance to Ukraine”, Pakula’s words are allegedly quoted in publications. But the StopFake project found out that the Facebook page on which this post was published was created on November 16, 2022. That is the day after the missile hit. Moreover, all the posts posted on it were also made public exactly on November 16 but the date in them was changed to the previous ones. At the time of publication of the news of the Russian media, which quoted "Pakula", there was not a single like or share of this post. Fact checkers have contacted Pakula and are waiting for his comment, but it is clear that the Facebook page was created on purpose to spread disinformation.

Previously, Russian propagandists have repeatedly used fake pages of politicians or media to spread fakes. Russia is also trying to quarrel with its closest neighbors and partners, so it constantly promotes fakes about Poland and its relations with Ukraine.

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels once again spread information that supposedly Poland wants to return "its territories". They say that Kyiv and Warsaw agreed on the occupation of Western Ukraine, and the plan should be implemented by Polish mercenaries, a large number of whom are fighting for Ukraine.

Stanislav Zharyn, a spokesman for the Coordinating Minister of the Polish Intelligence Services, drew attention to this on his Twitter.

He noted that Russian propagandists spread misinformation, allegedly "the Polish government approves of such participation of these mercenaries".

According to him, Russian propaganda has actively worked to introduce these messages into the Western information environment, and these hostile efforts are "perfectly in line with the Kremlin's attempts to portray Poland as a warmonger and isolate Warsaw on the international stage".

"Russian propaganda is activating the information war in order to break the will and readiness of the allies to continue to support Kyiv, and comes up with far-fetched pretexts for striking civilian and energy infrastructure in Ukraine", Zharyn added.

Russian information resources and social networks are circulating reports that Ukraine is allegedly going to sign a bill on the association of Poland and the Lviv region. The messages allegedly quote Volodymyr Zelenskyi saying that “Poland will come to Ukrainian land not as an occupier, but as a brother and ally” and that “it doesn’t matter who formally is the host of the land, what matters is the well-being and prosperity of the people living on it” . It is not true.

There is no draft law on the association of Poland and the Lviv oblast. Zelenskyi's quote was also made up. At the same time, there is a law in Ukraine that establishes the rights and guarantees for Polish citizens who are on the territory of Ukraine. The law was developed in gratitude to the Polish people for their solidarity and support for Ukraine in the face of a full-scale Russian invasion.

The Russian propaganda media spread this thesis. Reports say that Poland allegedly continues preparations for the division of Ukraine and, for this purpose, has started the construction of an energy bridge.

The reports' authors claim that the energy bridge construction is taking place within the framework of the project of reintegration of "historical" Polish lands. The Poles have allegedly been working for a long time to take control of the energy infrastructure of the western regions of Ukraine.

They believe this will allow Poland to strengthen its influence in Ukraine significantly. Online media Ye.ua drew attention to the message. It isn't the first time Russia has leaked information about Poland's so-called plans to occupy part of Ukraine. Propagandists have already spread information that Poland is trying to annex part of Ukraine and are preparing for this in every possible way. In particular, Poland is allegedly preparing a referendum in the Lviv region.

However, it is a fake, as is the case with the power system. It isn't Poland that wants to destroy the Ukrainian energy system and take it under control, but Russia, since October 10, has been systematically shelling energy facilities throughout Ukraine.

Such information is promoted in anonymous Telegram channels. Poles, Romanians, Slovaks, and Hungarians allegedly want to destroy a piece of Ukraine for their purposes. Fresh evidence of this is that Poland allegedly moves military equipment to the border with Belarus. According to propagandists, if Belarus officially takes part in the war against Ukraine, then the USA and Britain will allow the territories of Ukraine to be divided between the neighboring countries - Poland, Hungary, Slovakia, and Romania. Russia's mission is supposed to protect Ukraine from division. For the sake of this goal, Russia is ready to use "not only tactical nuclear weapons but something stronger" against Ukraine.

Earlier, propagandists repeatedly spread fakes about Poland's intention to annex Lviv Oblast. In particular, they wrote that Poland had begun an "economic takeover" of Ukraine and the western regions of Ukraine and that a referendum would be held in Lviv Oblast regarding the region's accession to Poland. Disinformation about the intention of Western countries to take over Ukraine is aimed at destroying Ukraine's unity with the European Union and canceling support for Ukraine.

This way, propagandists divert attention from illegal pseudo-referendums in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia and convince them that they aren't taking over Ukraine but protecting it from Western invaders.

The Russian media spread such messages concerning the materials of the Washington Post. Allegedly, Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki in Oslo criticized his colleagues for trying to "make money" after reducing gas supplies from Russia. It is not true.

In fact, the Washington Post article "Norway portrayed as both hero and villain of Europe's energy crisis" is devoted to changes in the structure of the gas market in Europe and consumers' reactions to it. "Quoting" the alleged current words of the Polish prime minister, the propagandists resorted to manipulation. Poland gave up Russian gas in May, filled its storage facilities to 100% in August, and the Baltic Pipe for transporting Norwegian gas became operational as early as September. The volumes of Norwegian gas that will be delivered through the pipeline are similar to previous Russian deliveries. Russian propaganda systematically uses quotes taken out of context to make wishful thinking come true. More details.