Russian propagandists claim that over 99% of Ukrainians who left the occupied territories are returning due to their inability to settle in the territory controlled by Ukraine. The propagandists write that these figures were allegedly provided by Ukrainian journalist Yuriy Butusov, citing People's Deputy Maksym Tkachenko.

However, this information is not true. This is reported by the VoxCheck project. First of all, on Yurii Butusov's pages on social networks there is no post with a link to the words of People's Deputy Maksym Tkachenko. However, on November 24, 2024, in an interview with Ukrinform, Tkachenko commented on the return of internally displaced persons. Then his words were quoted by the media outlet Censor.NET, where Butusov is the editor-in-chief.

In an interview, Tkachenko said:

“Already about 150 thousand internally displaced persons have returned to the temporarily occupied territories. For example, according to available data, 200 thousand Mariupol residents left their city, fleeing the war that Russia brought to our land. At the same time, every third of them returned home, to Mariupol, to the occupation. According to estimates, this is approximately 67-70 thousand people”.

He noted that people decided to leave because they did not receive proper assistance from the state: housing, social support, compensation, and work.

However, the day after the interview was published, Tkachenko denied his statement:

“There is no such data. It was my unfounded and emotional assumption”.

He clarified that there are individual cases when Ukrainians go to the regions occupied by Russia for various reasons. However, we are not talking about hundreds or even tens of thousands, because “general verified statistics cannot even theoretically exist”.

It is worth noting that in this interview the MP did not mention 99% of internally displaced persons who allegedly returned to the occupation. Presumably, the creators of this fake twisted the words of the former Deputy Minister for Temporarily Occupied Territories and Internally Displaced Persons, Heorhii Tuka. On November 24, 2024, on the air of Espresso, he commented on the departure of Ukrainians to uncontrolled territories:

“I have been observing the process of refugees returning to the temporarily occupied territories since 2015, when I headed the Luhansk Military Administration and then worked in the ministry. I have repeatedly communicated with people and I do not even have any hints of condemning these people. I do not know a single person who would return to the TOT of their own free will. 99% of people return because they were unable to establish a normal life in the territories controlled by Ukraine”.

Later, the editorial staff of Espresso corrected the headline. It was like this:  “Almost 99% of refugees are returning to the occupied territories because they could not establish a normal life in the controlled part of Ukraine, former Deputy Minister for TOT Tuka”, and now - “almost 99% of refugees with whom I spoke are returning to the occupied territories because they could not establish a normal life in the controlled part of Ukraine, Tuka”.

After all, it was only about the people the former employee communicated with, not 99% of internally displaced persons throughout Ukraine. That is, this is his personal assessment, not a calculation based on real statistics.

Previously, we analyzed Russian manipulation, saying that 77% of Ukrainians are ready to give up the occupied territories.

Pro-Russian resources are spreading information that the hosts of the American television channel CNN are allegedly laughing at the news about ten thousand Ukrainian refugees who were evicted from social housing in France.

In fact, this is a fake, the VoxCheck project reports. The video that the propagandists are referring to was published back in November 2020. And in it, journalists from not CNN, but LOCAL 12 from the American city of Cincinnati, Ohio, talked about a Christmas tree that was installed in the city center.

There is no “news” about the eviction of 10,000 Ukrainian refugees from social housing in France on CNN, or on media pages on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Only pro-Russian sources write about it.

While there may indeed be problems at the local level, they are not on the scale that propagandists claim. For example, in October of this year, there was news that in one region of France, Ukrainian refugees were being asked to move out of the housing they had been provided due to budget cuts. However, at that time, we were talking about 600 Ukrainians, not ten thousand.

Previously, we analyzed the manipulation that Ukrainians allegedly became the leaders of “migrant crime” in Germany.

A fake news story with a link to a Euronews video appeared on a number of pro-Russian platforms, claiming that Ukrainians in Europe are illegally connecting to power grids in order to get (earn) cryptocurrency. According to the claim, these activities were motivated by the rising value of Bitcoin. The report alleges that over 400 Ukrainians were arrested last month alone and that their actions even caused energy shortages across the continent.

However, this is fake news: the video with such content was not published on the official Euronews website or its social media platforms. Many other details betray the falsity of this story: in particular, it is suspicious that this report did not even name the country where these attackers allegedly operated, but used the abstract wording “Europe”. Moreover, an online search for news about similar incidents did not yield any results either.

This fake news is part of a broader propaganda effort aimed at portraying Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, both a cultural and economic threat to European society, attempting to reduce support for Ukraine. As noted in our prior findings, Russian propaganda has consistently sought to discredit Ukrainian refugees since the start of the large-scale war in Ukraine.

Propagandists regularly spread fakes about them—they call refugees dependents, claim that these Ukrainians went abroad not for safety, but for profit, that they spread various diseases, and so on. Propagandists find these means necessary to perpetuate the idea that Ukrainians are bad people who do not appreciate the help that residents of other countries provide them and that they take advantage of the kindness of people from other countries.

For example, we recently reported that people online spread a fake story allegedly from the French publication Le Figaro, which talked about a Ukrainian refugee accused of murder.

Russian propaganda sources are spreading manipulative information that Ukrainians made up 33.1% of criminals in Germany, citing data from the 2023 report of the Federal Criminal Police Office of Germany (BKA).

“The country’s authorities are alarmed by the number of rapes or harassment. The number of thefts has also increased by 34.6%, and the number of intentional and unintentional murders has increased similarly”, the propagandists write.

But the data was manipulated, and this is reported by StopFake. In fact, this percentage (33.1%) was used in the report to indicate the share of Ukrainians among all migrants living in Germany. Instead, 11.6% of Ukrainian refugees were suspected of committing crimes. For comparison, the figures for immigrants from Syria are 21.4% and 19.2%, respectively. Moreover, according to the report, they are the leaders in migrant crime.

With the beginning of a full-scale invasion, agitprop is spreading theses that Ukrainian refugees are allegedly organizing pogroms, behaving impudently, not wanting to work, etc. And therefore they will soon “start being expelled from Europe”.

After all, propagandists are trying to show that Ukrainian refugees are supposedly a total threat to the sovereignty and security of EU countries. Propaganda primarily seeks to discredit Ukrainian refugees in the eyes of Europeans and present them as supporters of Nazi ideology, who are ready to resort to vandalism, violation of the law for their own purposes. All this contributes to a decrease in aid to Ukraine from EU countries.

We recommend reading our previous cases on this topic, because the Kremlin systematically speculates on this: allegedly the Poles declared that they “do not want to see” Ukrainian refugees in their country; allegedly a refugee barista from Ukraine “demonstrated his Nazi tendencies” by drawing Nazi symbols on coffee. And in our weekly review of disinformation, we told how propagandists lied about the mobilization of Ukrainian refugees in Europe.

Russian propaganda Telegram channels are distributing a video story allegedly created by the German WELT, which says that in the city of Dresden (Germany), the police allegedly found more than 400 gold dental crowns in the house of a morgue attendant, a Ukrainian refugee Mykyta Tereshchuk. He allegedly took them out of the mouths of corpses in the Dresden morgue. In turn, the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Oleksii  Makieiev, allegedly publicly apologized for his compatriot and promised to send him to the front.

In fact, this information is not true. WELT did not create or distribute such a video story,  it cannot be found either on their official website or on their social media pages. In addition, the style of WELT videos differs from the style of the story distributed by propagandists. One can verify this by watching any video of this format on the WELT Instagram page. Also, WELT creates all such videos in German, not English, as in the fake version.

The “news” about the alleged discovery of “more than 400 gold dental crowns” on a Ukrainian refugee in Germany was not disseminated by any other reliable Western or Ukrainian media.

In the end, there is no information on the forgiveness of the Ukrainian ambassador to Germany, Oleksii Makieiev, and his promises to “send to the front” a Ukrainian refugee, because this supposedly “outrageous case” is a primitive fake.

With this disinformation, propagandists are trying to discredit Ukrainian refugees in the eyes of citizens of those countries that have accepted Ukrainians. Thus, with this specific case, Russian propaganda wants to show the “true nature” of Ukrainians, resorting to the typical tactics of Russian propaganda of “thoughts of the enemy”.

Earlier, we analyzed a Russian fake about a refugee from Ukraine shooting at a church icon in Zurich.

Propagandists are spreading information on anonymous Telegram channels that American actress Milla Jovovich allegedly fired her Ukrainian housekeeper because of her ‘Russophobia’. They claim that the Ukrainian refused to speak Russian with the actress’s 16-year-old daughter, Ever Anderson, thereby allegedly violating her duties. It is reported that the housekeeper’s name is allegedly Svitlana Chornykh, and she is a refugee from Ukraine. However, this is fake.

It was noticed by experts from the StopFake project. When checking this story, they found several suspicious moments. Firstly, not a single authoritative foreign publication reported on this incident. English-language mentions appear only from anonymous users of the X (former Twitter) and Odysee platforms. Secondly, all publications, both in Russian and English-language media, have the same text.

StopFake has established that the message about the departure of the Ukrainian Jovovich appeared on September 28 on the satirical Russian Telegram channel The Empire is Very Evil, which publishes fictitious news. In its description, the channel directly warns that the published materials may be fakes or satire. Like other publications on this channel, the “news” that Milla Jovovich fired the Ukrainian because she refused to speak Russian is fiction. In the comments under the corresponding message, users come up with further fictitious details and mock the Russian media, which took this satire for reality and spread it on their social networks.

The purpose of spreading this fake is to discredit Ukrainians and reinforce the narrative of alleged “Russophobia” among Ukrainians, which portrays them in a negative light. Such fictional stories are used to spread hostility between nations, manipulate public opinion and justify Russia’s aggressive policy towards Ukraine amid the war.

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.

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 Telegram channels have spread the news that a Ukrainian refugee shot at a church icon in Zurich. The publications are accompanied by a screenshot from the woman's Instagram profile, where she shared a photo in yellow and blue colors with the hashtag #standwithukraine.

But the person pictured is Sania Ameti, a Swiss politician of Bosnian origin with no ties to Ukraine. She is a member of parliament for the Green Liberals and heads the political movement Operation Libero.

Amethi shared a photo on her Instagram in which she was shooting at an image with Christian iconographic motifs online. Following a flurry of outrage, Sania Amethi deleted the post and apologized.

As a result, the Green Liberals leadership determined that the politician's actions did not cause a reputational blow to the entire organization, and will continue to ask Ameta to leave the party.

Kremlin media is spreading information that more than 50% of workers in brothels in Germany are Ukrainians. This is reported by the German publication Die Welt, which allegedly interviewed a sex worker.

“There are about 400,000 registered sex workers in Germany, so there are 200,000 Ukrainian women officially working for the European economy? And how many more are unofficial? This is the result of the war and Zelenskyi's policies”, the propagandists add.

However, the Die Welt article does not cover all of Germany, but only the capital, Berlin. The text cites the words of a social worker who hides her name.

She notes that in Berlin brothels, about half of the workers, according to her own feelings, are Ukrainian. That is, the information provided is not even official data, but is based only on the words of an unnamed social worker.

The title of the article from Die Welt is called “There are about 50% Ukrainian women in brothels now”, but it is based on anonymous comments and no official statistics are provided. That is, such a title can be considered manipulative and created to attract the attention of readers. After all, even the article itself is about Berlin, and not the entire Federal Republic geographically.

The interview also raised the issue that some of the Ukrainian women who were invited to live for free in German apartments at the beginning of the full-scale invasion were later forced to “pay for housing with sexual services” and even engage in prostitution. At the same time, those who lured them with false offers of housing blackmailed women from Ukraine and exploited their vulnerable social status in an unfamiliar country. That is, the material also points out the problems due to which many Ukrainian women were forced to engage in prostitution in Berlin, often against their will.

Thus, propaganda tries to diminish the role of Ukrainian women in society as a whole; to hint that they can only work as sex workers. And this is caused by the fact that, supposedly, a Ukrainian refugee is lazy and worthless. She can only dress “daringly” and “wander” around Europe.

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”.

Anonymous Telegram channels, in particular the propaganda channel Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny, are spreading so-called graffiti, which was allegedly drawn by Ukrainian refugees in one of the Polish cities. In the picture, you can see a red and black flag and the inscription “Our Father Bandera”. In another photo, there is the text: “... children, do not learn Polish, only Ukrainian”. The messages claim that the photos were taken in one place.

However, using reverse Google search, it was possible to establish that the graffiti photos were published only in pro-Russian segments of social networks. Moreover, the photos were first published 5 days ago as of September 2, 2024. Before that, no important Polish media, including local organizations, had published such news. So, it is most likely that the photos were faked with the help of special editors.

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.

Thus, Russian propaganda tries to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own research. Since the beginning of the great war in Ukraine, Russian propaganda has been trying to discredit refugees who were forced to leave Ukraine to save their lives.

Propagandists regularly spread fakes about them; they call refugees dependents; they claim that they went abroad not for safety, but for profit; they spread various diseases, etc. Propagandists need this to stake out the opinion that Ukrainians are pagans who do not appreciate the help that residents of other countries give them; they take advantage of the kindness of residents of other countries.

For example, we recently reported that anonymous people were spreading a fake story from the supposedly French publication Le Figaro, which spoke of a “Ukrainian refugee killer”.

Kremlin telegram channels are spreading information that the number of measles cases in Switzerland has increased due to Ukrainian refugees. The Swiss Federal Office of Public Health (FOPH) assumes that the pathogen was brought to Switzerland from abroad. And propagandists have concluded that it was Ukrainians who brought this virus, since measles is allegedly actively spreading in Ukraine.

VoxCheck specialists explained that the Federal Office of Public Health of Switzerland responded to a request that the increase in measles cases was not related to Ukrainian refugees. In fact, it is unknown whether there were Ukrainians among the sick. This was not reported on the Federal Office of Public Health's social media pages or website.

According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, 152 cases of measles were recorded in Ukraine in the first 7 months of 2024. While in 2023, there were only 30 patients during the same period. That is, the number of patients has indeed increased, but we are not talking about a large-scale outbreak measured in thousands. The last time there was a measles outbreak in Ukraine was in 2017-2019, when more than 110 thousand people fell ill with measles.

Thus, Russian propaganda tries to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own research. Since the beginning of the great war in Ukraine, Russian propaganda has been trying to discredit refugees who were forced to leave Ukraine to save their lives.

Propagandists regularly spread fakes about them; they call refugees dependents; they claim that they went abroad not for safety, but for profit; they spread various diseases, etc. Propagandists need this to stake out the opinion that Ukrainians are pagans who do not appreciate the help that residents of other countries give them; they take advantage of the kindness of residents of other countries.

Anonymous telegram channels are distributing a video story supposedly from the French publication Le Figaro, which tells about the murder of a twenty-year-old woman on the closing day of the Olympic Games at the “hands of a Ukrainian refugee”. A screenshot of news material from the publication’s website is added to the publications.

However, this video is fake. In the original story there is no insertion that the suspect for committing the crime is a “Ukrainian refugee”. In general, the nationality of the accused is not indicated in the video material. There is only information that this is a forty-nine-year-old man who does not speak French. No additional information was added in the interests of the investigation.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own research. Since the beginning of the big war in Ukraine, Russian propaganda has been trying to discredit refugees who were forced to leave Ukraine in order to save their lives. Propagandists regularly spread fake news about them; call refugees dependents; they claim that they went abroad not for safety, but for profit; they convince that residents of countries that have accepted Ukrainian refugees are dissatisfied with the behavior of Ukrainians. Propagandists need this in order to stake out the opinion that Ukrainians are pagans who do not value the help that residents of other countries provide them; take advantage of the kindness of people in other countries.

Anonymous telegram channels are spreading information that Ukrainian refugees planted a pig's head in one of the mosques in Germany. The post claims that employees of the Berlin mosque found a pig's head inside the temple, wrapped in a Palestinian flag with the inscription: “Ukraine supports Israel”.

VoxCheck analysts explained that Berliner-wochenzeitung is a fake site created by the Russians. For example, a German police spokesman and a mosque representative reported that this was fake news.

Using a reverse search on Google, it was possible to establish that the site has only 10 pages with publications - the first news was added on June 18. After July 5, the news on the site was not updated. The publication does not contain any information about the team of authors and editors, owners, as well as contact information, in particular mail and social networks.

In its own materials, the Berliner-wochenzeitung disseminates anti-Ukrainian narratives, in particular, creating the image of Russia as a victim, allegedly Ukraine is striking at civilians, and not at Russian military targets.

They write on social networks that Ukrainian refugees are allegedly stealing crops from German farmers en masse. In such publications, fake makers only attach a photograph with German police officers. At the same time, who exactly reports about the so-called involvement of Ukrainians in crimes is not noted.

“German farmers sound the alarm: refugees from Ukraine are raiding their fields and gardens. They carry everything: cherries, strawberries, apples, grapes, potatoes and even pumpkins. Moreover, they refuse to work in the fields”, users comment.

StopFake analysts investigated this case and determined that a number of news stories about theft from local farmers actually appeared in the German information space. In particular, this is stated in the material of the German publication Bild “The fruit mafia is stealing our fields!”

In it, the publication raised the topic of theft, collecting such cases recently. It was in this article that a photograph of German police was used, which was picked up by propaganda.

However, in the Bild article there is not a single mention of the fact that German farmers are being robbed by Ukrainian refugees. Journalists talked to several farmers who told us exactly who, under what circumstances, and how much of their harvest was stolen. It is noteworthy that not a single interlocutor raised the topic of the nationality of the criminals.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own research. Since the beginning of the big war in Ukraine, Russian propaganda has been trying to discredit refugees who were forced to leave Ukraine in order to save their lives. Propagandists regularly spread fake news about them; call refugees dependents; they claim that they went abroad not for safety, but for profit; they convince that residents of countries that have accepted Ukrainian refugees are dissatisfied with the behavior of Ukrainians. Propagandists need this in order to stake out the opinion that Ukrainians are pagans who do not value the help that residents of other countries provide them; take advantage of the kindness of people in other countries.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are spreading information that Ukrainians will be forced out of the countries of the European Union and sent to fight. In reporting this, propagandists refer to an allegedly corresponding statement by Polish Foreign Minister Radosław Sikorski on the air of the Polish radio RMF24.

In fact, Sikorsky's words were manipulated. He stated that conversations about the extradition to Ukraine of those evading their duty to serve are being conducted at the level of the European Union. Thus, it is not about all Ukrainian refugees, but about men of military age who are evading military service. In addition, no decision has been made on them, at least not yet, because this issue is still debatable.

The Polish Foreign Minister also stated that “it is possible to set such conditions for the stay of Ukrainians in the EU that will encourage them to fulfill their responsibilities to protect the Motherland”. However, it was not said here that all Ukrainian refugees would be sent to war as Sikorski spoke exclusively about men liable for military service.

With this stuffing, propagandists seek to fuel the narrative about the alleged “war until the last Ukrainian”. Previously, we analyzed such fakes and manipulations. For example, they recorded lies about the alleged mobilization of all childless Ukrainian women and about the alleged call for entire families to mobilize into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anonymous telegram channels are spreading information that French cosmetics companies - Chanel, Lancôme, L'Oréal, Vichy, Cacharel, Garnier - are testing products on Ukrainian refugees. In the video provided by the propagandists, they claim that thanks to this, companies saved more than 30 million euros in six months, because Ukrainian women are paid several times less than French women.

VoxCheck analysts explained that the French media did not publish such a story, because it was simply a fiction of propagandists. For example, this news is not available on the BFM TV website or social networks.

Moreover, these brands - Lancôme, Vichy, Cacharel, Garnier - belong to L'Oréal. The company’s website notes that in order to evaluate the effect of products on the skin, the corporation created a prototype of human skin - reconstructed skin, which makes it possible not to involve either animals or people in testing.

There were reports on social networks about a knife attack in Krakow, as well as speculation that the attacker was allegedly Ukrainian. This information was quickly picked up by propagandists, but it is not true.

Polish fact-checkers from Demagog drew attention to it. They found out that on June 27, a recording was published on Facebook showing two men in a fight, one of whom was holding a knife.

The incident occurred when a cyclist hit a dog. After an argument with the animal's owner, the cyclist stabbed him several times and fled. The police quickly identified the criminal who had barricaded himself in his house. Thanks to the actions of negotiators and counter-terrorists, the attacker was detained while trying to escape through a window. The perpetrator turned out to be a 24-year-old resident of Krakow, previously known to the police.

To find out the nationality of the criminal, fact-checkers contacted the Voivodeship Police Commandant's Office in Krakow. Speaker-sub-inspector Katarzyna Czyslo denied the information that the attacker was Ukrainian:

“From the materials we have, it is clear that the perpetrator is of Polish nationality”.

They remind that in the case of sensational reports of attacks, special attention should be paid to the reliability of such information. Propagandists seize on such information to discredit Ukrainian refugees and create skepticism towards them.

The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council analyzed the information space and identified Russian information influence campaigns against Ukrainian refugees. Despite the fact that most of the analyzed messages are neutral in nature, a significant part of them are manipulations and disinformation aimed at discrediting Ukraine and its citizens abroad, as well as the governments and populations of European countries that have received Ukrainians.

Based on the results of the analysis, the Center identified three areas of information influence that Russia uses in the context of Ukrainian refugees:

1. Demonization of Ukrainian refugees aimed at a European audience

As part of this direction, the Russian Federation seeks to distort the perception of European citizens about Ukrainians and create the image of a Ukrainian refugee as an “ungrateful vandal-criminal”. In general, the Kremlin has made a lot of efforts to “demonize” Ukrainian refugees in the eyes of European audiences. To achieve the above goal, the Russians created and distributed a number of fake materials regarding Ukrainian refugees, which were then distributed in the English, Polish, French, German and Spanish segments of the information space. For example, a fake about Ukrainian refugees who allegedly set fire to a pharmaceutical compound in Poland.

2. Demonization of EU countries in the issue of supporting Ukrainian refugees, aimed at Russian and Ukrainian audiences

Along with the demonization of Ukrainian refugees aimed at a European audience, the Russian Federation also uses the topic of Ukrainian refugees to discredit the countries and citizens of the European Union in the eyes of Russian and Ukrainian audiences. The main goal is to “demonize” EU countries and citizens by creating an image of “unreliable” and “self-serving adherents of immoral values”. In particular, within the framework of this direction, among others, a fake was documented that the EU Council decided to deport 830 thousand Ukrainians.

3. “Russia’s position as the best refuge for Ukrainian refugees”

In addition to “demonizing” Ukrainians abroad and influencing the policies of European countries, the Kremlin is actively using the topic of Ukrainian refugees to justify the goals of the so-called SVO (military operation), demonstrating the desire of Ukrainian citizens to combine their lives with the Russian Federation. The main task is to discredit the military-political leadership of Ukraine and justify the war crimes of the Russian army on Ukrainian lands. Thus, within the framework of this narrative, for example, they spread the message that “in Europe, no one needs Ukrainian refugees, but Russia accepts them and gives them citizenship”.

Also, as part of a large-scale campaign by the Russian Federation to discredit Ukrainian refugees, the Center noticed similarities in common narratives with what the Kremlin promoted during the active phase of the civil war in Syria.

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 propagandists are spreading information that Ukrainians allegedly set fire to the Spektrum Tower skyscraper in Warsaw. They say that Western countries are silent about the participation of Ukrainians and justify this by faulty electrical wiring. The Ukrainians themselves, according to propagandists, are taking revenge in this way for the fact that Poland and the Baltic countries are deporting them back to the war. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that on May 8, 2024, a fire occurred in the Spektrum Tower office building in Warsaw. However, the State Fire Marshal's Office did not then release the cause of the fire or the names or nationalities of those who may have been involved. The Polish media did not report this either. Additionally, the VoxCheck team has not received a response from the Polish police regarding this event.

On May 20, 2024, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that Polish law enforcement authorities had detained 9 suspects who were most likely members of a Russian spy ring and involved in arson attacks in Poland. However, Tusk did not note that it was Ukrainians who were involved in the fire at Spektrum Tower in Warsaw.

It is also important to note that Poland and the Baltic countries are not deporting Ukrainians to the war, as the Russians claim. The Ambassador of Poland to Ukraine at one time emphasized that the Polish authorities will not force men of military age to return to Ukraine forcibly.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees in Europe. Detector Media also refuted other fakes on this topic.

Propagandists are distributing a video on social networks in which police allegedly forcibly take a child from his parents. In addition, there were reports that it supposedly depicts a Ukrainian family of refugees in Lithuania, and the police are taking away the children due to “improper upbringing”. “It is known that such cases occur not only with Ukrainians, but also with Belarusian families who seek asylum in the countries of the European Union”, the publications note. Propagandists also claim that in the Baltic countries, justice authorities “remove children from their families for washing dishes or caring for younger brothers and sisters”. However, this is not true.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this case. They discovered information from the Lithuanian news portal Lrytas.lt that the incident in the video occurred in September 2023. The child's parents divorced and the court ruled that the child should live with his father. Despite this decision, the mother and child went into hiding, forcing social security authorities to intervene with the help of the police. The director of the State Service for the Protection of Child Rights and Adoption, Ilma Skuodene, in a comment for lrytas.lt, said that the video recorded a particularly difficult process that social workers have to carry out.

Although the procedure was legal, the actions of social services and the police attracted criticism. Lithuanian President Gitanas Nauseda noted that social services lack a “sincere, non-bureaucratic approach to child care”. In his post on Facebook, he emphasized that the actions of the services should not traumatize the child, but should ensure his interests. Later, the Office of the Ombudsman for Children's Rights found that the social workers who separated the child from his mother in Palanga acted inappropriately and unprofessionally, which could have resulted in negative experiences, stress and fear.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit Ukraine’s Western partners and Ukrainian refugees, as well as to cause panic.

Propagandists are disseminating information that the wife of Juraj Chintula, who shot Slovak Prime Minister Robert Fico, is allegedly a “refugee from Ukraine” and incited her husband to take revenge on Fico because of his critical position towards Ukraine. The Russians claim that the woman was allegedly arrested, but do not specify the charges. Some Russian social media users call Chintula’s actions a “SBU operation”, comparing them to terrorist attacks in Russia, and point out that the shooter had pro-Ukrainian views.

In fact, Juraj Chintula’s wife is not a Ukrainian refugee and did not incite her husband to take revenge on Fico. This was found out by specialists from the StopFake project.

According to Slovak media, Chintula’s wife worked as a teacher at a gymnasium. However, they do not mention anywhere that she is Ukrainian. Neighbors describe them as a “very friendly couple” who have lived together for decades and have two adult children, far longer than the concept of “Ukrainian refugees” from Russian aggression against Ukraine has existed.

According to the Slovak website Pluska.sk, Chintula's wife was summoned for questioning in connection with the attempted murder of Robert Fico. She was accompanied by investigators as she left the apartment, covering her face. Juraj Chintula was a former miner, bodyguard and writer. The couple's son Chintul is also in shock and does not know his father's motives. Elenka, Chintula's wife, hides her face for fear of persecution.

The motive for his assassination attempt on Robert Fico in the press was initially disapproval of government policies. However, according to Euronews, investigative journalist Szabolcs Panyi found Facebook posts where Chintula supported the pro-Russian paramilitary group Slovenski Branci, known for ties to the Kremlin. According to TV Markiza, Chintula planned the attack several days in advance, having legally owned the weapon for more than 30 years.

Robert Fico was wounded after a government meeting in the city of Handlove. He is now in hospital in Banska Bystrica, his condition is serious. Police charged 71-year-old Chintul with attempted revenge murder.

The fakes about the “Ukrainian trace” in the assassination attempt on Fico are an attempt by Russian propaganda to discredit Ukraine in the international arena and deprive it of support.