Propagandists began disseminating information on social networks and the media that Ukraine intends to mobilize Russians and Belarusians who are in the country with the status of political refugees. In such “news” they attach a fake “document” in which, as they claim, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi addresses the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umierov with a corresponding initiative. “It says that the Ukrainian command initiated the conscription of citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus with the status of political refugees to serve in a special unit formed from foreigners”, propagandists write. This “document” was allegedly signed personally by Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrskyi. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that, despite the fact that neither Russian media nor social media users provide any additional information about who published the “document”, Russian propaganda began discussing it with various “experts” in propaganda programs.

StopFake submitted an information request to the Public Relations Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They asked whether such an initiative and such a document really existed. They were told that this information was not true.

In addition, the fact of forgery of the “document” is confirmed by the presence of a number of gross errors, which were probably made by a person who does not speak Ukrainian. For example, propaganda uses the word “we care” in a sentence where we should have written “we urge.” It is likely that the propagandists mistranslated the Russian word “boy” (to try to help someone), which would have been more appropriate in a Russian document. Another example is with the phrase “the issue of conscripting foreigners”. The word “call” (call, invite) is incorrectly used in the context of the appeal “about mobilization”. Propaganda should have written “the issue of conscription (mobilization) of foreigners”.

They are spreading such manipulations to disrupt the mobilization process in Ukraine.  Detector Media also refuted other fabrications of Russian propaganda on this issue.

Propagandists are distributing a video on social networks with the symbols of the European news channel Euronews, which states that a refugee from Ukraine allegedly created a beauty salon in Poland with mosquitoes, the bite of which was supposed to relieve clients of cellulite. The video reports that after one of the patients was admitted to a Gdansk hospital with allergies, Polish police allegedly detained Kateryna Ivanchenko, the woman who, according to propagandists, organized this business, for fraud. “The Ukrainian woman earned 1 million zlotys from ordinary mosquitoes, which were believed to suck out fat”, the publications note. In fact, this information is not true.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this. They found that the video distributed online imitates the design of Euronews videos - in particular, the company logo can be seen in the upper right corner of the video. However, there is no such story either on the official website or on the media company’s social networks. The fact that this story is completely fictitious is indicated by the fact that none of the Polish media also reported such cases of fraud on the part of the Ukrainian woman.

To create a fake video, attackers used video clips from free stock videos. To illustrate the fictitious arrest of the owner of a beauty salon, a video clip of the arrest of a suspect in the arson of a shopping center in Gdansk was taken. This incident occurred in July 2020 and has nothing to do with the incident described in the fake video.

The purpose of this fake is to discredit refugees from Ukraine in the eyes of the Poles. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other Russian fakes regarding Ukrainian refugees.

On social networks and Russian public pages, propagandists are actively spreading messages that “a group of Ukrainian refugees, dissatisfied with the policies of the Polish authorities regarding the supply of Ukrainian goods and insufficient military assistance, staged an act of revenge and set fire to the pharmaceutical composition of Farmacol in Katowice on the evening of April 8”. Propagandists are also distributing two short videos from the scene, one of which shows a burning building with the inscription Farmacol. Social networks traditionally use hate speech and accusations against Ukrainian refugees. However, this is another fake of Russian propaganda.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that on the evening of April 8, 2024, in the Polish city of Katowice, a warehouse belonging to the pharmaceutical company Farmacol actually burned, but Ukrainian refugees had nothing to do with this incident. No Polish media or any other reliable source has information about the arson of the train specifically by Ukrainians.

Moreover, the Polish site Fakehunter also denied this fake and quoted the deputy head of the prosecutor's office of the Southern District of Katowice, Slawomir Barnas: “Previous conclusions made at the visual review stage exclude the possibility of arson in this place, not to mention the fact that the culprits were foreigners”. The prosecutor's office does not yet want to comment on the true cause of the fire, since it does not yet have an expert opinion, but it calls the version that Ukrainian citizens were involved in the incident unfounded.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to demonize Ukrainian refugees in Poland and cause a negative attitude towards them. Thus, they also want Poland to stop helping Ukraine and its people. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other Russian lies about Ukrainian refugees.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

A screenshot from the supposedly official website of the EU Delegation to Ukraine is being circulated online, containing information about the “deportation of 830,000 Ukrainians to resolve the conflict”. The authors of the “news” report that lists of citizens subject to deportation have already been compiled, so they invite you to go to the telegram bot to familiarize yourself with them.

In fact, this information is fake, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council. There is no publication of similar content on the official website of the EU Delegation to Ukraine.

Probably, such content is distributed to increase the reach of anonymous telegram channels to which links lead. In addition, the creators of the fake seek to destabilize the situation in Europe and make Ukrainian refugees object to their future in EU countries. Previously, we denied information that German citizens allegedly advocate the forced extradition of Ukrainian refugees from the country.

In an interview for the Polish news channel Polsat News, former Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army Raimund Andrzejczak, according to propagandists, expressed the opinion that Ukraine’s losses should be estimated in millions, not hundreds of thousands. However, this information is manipulated.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found that in his speech Andrzejczak mentioned the losses associated with the large flow of refugees and limited resources for mobilization. He spoke of a certain threat, pointing to the shortage of people in Ukraine and the problem with mobilization capacity, claiming “10 million refugees”.

However, Andrzejczak's estimates of losses are not precise. According to the Mykhailo Ptukha Institute of Demography and Social Research, more than 9 million Ukrainians are abroad, only some of them are refugees, and the others are labor migrants or those who left the country earlier. According to various estimates, the number of Ukrainian refugees ranges from 4.9 to 6.5 million.

The Center for Economic Strategy study also cites different figures, pointing to fewer Ukrainians abroad due to the war. Estimates of the actual losses of the Ukrainian military also vary, but do not reach millions. Approximate numbers of dead and prisoners are contained in the materials of the “Book of Memory of those who fell for Ukraine”, which has been keeping records of losses as a result of the war since 2014.

Propagandists often take phrases of famous politicians and military personnel out of context in order to dramatize the situation and cause despondency among Ukrainians.

Russian telegram channels, with reference to Polish border guards, disseminate information that during February 5, 2024, 16,400 people left Ukraine for Poland. The reason for this is the alleged flight of Ukrainians from Zelenskyi.

In fact, Russian propagandists manipulate information. This is written about in the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. So, on February 5, 2024, 16,400 people actually left Ukraine for Poland, but on the same day 17,600 people returned from Poland to Ukraine. In addition, this does not mean that none of those who left will return back. These days, when the skies over Ukraine are closed to civil aircraft, one of the few options to get to any other country is to go through Poland. Ukrainians can visit their relatives abroad, travel or go on their own business, and then return back.

In this case, the Russians resort to one of the propaganda tactics called “selective truth”. Its essence is that a statement may be partially true, may be completely true but not include the whole truth, or may contain several deceptive elements. That is, in the message about the “flight of Ukrainians from Zelenskyi”, the Russians deliberately kept silent about the 17,600 people who returned from Poland to Ukraine on February 5, 2024, thereby providing one-sided information.

• Read also: Ukrainian refugees are caught on the Polish-German border to send them to the front.

Anonymous telegram channels are distributing a video allegedly from the European media Euronews, which states that a Ukrainian refugee in a Paris museum broke the statue of the Swedish artist Anna Uddenberg “Journey to Self-Discovery”, imitating sexual intercourse with it. It's a lie.

The case was investigated by VoxCheck analysts, who determined that Euronews did not create such a story, and the video was simply assembled from different photos and videos that were not related to each other. For example, no information about such an incident could be found on the official media pages on social networks: on the media website, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube.

Using a reverse search on Google, it turned out that all the footage was used in the so-called story - can be found in the public domain. In addition, according to the information presented in the video, the statue was damaged and its limbs (arm and leg) were broken off. However, this was not shown on the video. No additional information about the destruction of the sculpture was found in other media.

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.

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

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

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

Social media users spreading pro-Russian rhetoric are distributing an image that is described as the cover of the new issue of the Indian edition of Rodip Reb dated December 30. On one side of the cover one sees Ukrainian refugees, and on the other - rodents. It is accompanied by an English inscription: “BATTLE FOR EUROPE. Moles and refugees: the situation in Europe is becoming increasingly tense”. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the MythDetector project drew attention to it. They found out that it was a photomontage. Indian edition called Rodip Reb. None of the search engines, including Google and Bing, have results for this edition. The image being circulated contains the website address www.rodipreb.in, but the said site cannot be accessed. After publishing the cover of the same non-existent publication, MythDetector verified its authenticity with the Indian fact-checking organization FACTLY MEDIA & RESEARCH. It confirmed that an Indian publication called Rodip Reb does not exist. The image is also impossible to find on the Internet outside of the telegram channels and Facebook communities where it was distributed.

Propagandists regularly resort to spreading “fairy covers” to create the false impression that the world is gradually ceasing to support Ukraine. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other publications with false covers from various world publications.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that the head of the Chernihiv state military administration, Viacheslav Chaus, at a press conference following the results of 2023, said that more than 50 thousand mobilized from the Chernihiv region have already died in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

In fact, this information is not true, reports the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. At the press conference, Chaus reported on the demographic situation in the region and noted that the decrease in indicators by 50 thousand residents is due to displaced persons since the beginning of active hostilities in other regions of Ukraine or abroad. That is, the information about the alleged disclosure by the head of the Chernihiv state military administration of the number of people mobilized in the region is a fiction of Russian propaganda, since Chaus did not make any statements on this topic.

In addition, exact data on the distribution of those mobilized by region is not published in open sources, as well as information on the number of killed and wounded defenders of Ukraine. The last is a state secret that will be disclosed only after the end of the great war.

Russian propaganda continues to speculate on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine, which has become sensitive for Ukrainians, since this topic concerns almost every family. The purpose of spreading this disinformation is to intimidate the Ukrainian people, saying that compared to the Chernivtsi region, the numbers throughout Ukraine should be tens of times higher. More exposures of fakes and manipulations by Russians on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine can be found here.

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

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

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

Pro-Russian resources write that Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support employees began handing out draft notices to Ukrainian men in Warsaw. As proof, propagandists are distributing a video in which a man in military uniform allegedly issues a draft notice to a Ukrainian in the Polish capital.

In fact, the video is staged - it was shot by a Ukrainian military man who is undergoing rehabilitation in Warsaw after being seriously wounded in the war. The purpose of this production, according to the military man, is “to fray the nerves of evaders” who left Ukraine illegally. He spoke about this in a new video distributed by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

Russian propaganda systematically speculates on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine, in particular, spreading disinformation. Propagandists fuel their narrative with this fake, saying that the Ukrainian authorities are pursuing a policy of “grabbing” ordinary Ukrainians. Moreover, from now on they will supposedly “catch” Ukrainians abroad. Previously, we worked on the Russian message, according to which paying assistance to Ukrainian male refugees seems to be much more expensive than transferring them to the service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Pro-Russian online publications and users of social networks are spreading a call to expel Ukrainian refugees from Germany to Ukraine in order to relieve the burden on the German budget to pay assistance to Ukrainian men and cover the “large losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine” with recruits. By spreading this thesis, they distort an article by Peter Carstens, a journalist for the German publication Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung to liaise with and match Russian propaganda. It was analyzed by the fact-checker of the StopFake project.

The FAZ article does not call for the deportation of refugees. At the same time, the author compares the costs of social assistance to refugees who have received asylum in Germany with military support from Ukraine. From February 24, 2022 to September 2023, Germany has allocated approximately 24 billion euros to support Ukraine. Of this amount, more than 15 billion euros were allocated to help Ukrainian refugees. Data from the German Federal Government shows that military support to the Ukrainian army by the end of December 2023 amounted to only 5.4 billion euros. Carstens argues that this ratio of spending is ineffective in the context of the confrontation between Russia and Ukraine and it is necessary to increase the share of spending on military support for Kyiv.

Peter Carstens also presented the positions that exist in German society regarding Ukraine and Ukrainian refugees. In particular, he wrote that there are not enough workers in Ukraine not only at the front, but also for civil defense or for extinguishing fires. Carstens also quoted Bundestag member Roderich Kiesewetter: “It would be very helpful if the government could make an agreement so that these young people or older people can return without having to go to the front if they don’t want to”.

In early January, the topic of deportation of Ukrainian men from Europe appeared in fake news about the establishment of checkpoints to “filtrate” Ukrainian men with subsequent mobilization into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. And also in conspiracy theories about the existence of a secret order for the return of men aged 18 to 60 years from abroad, otherwise their passports and Ukrainian citizenship will be revoked.

With such messages, propagandists try to incite distrust in the governments of states hosting Ukrainians. They are also manipulating the topic of developing a bill that could change the rules for registering those liable for military servicemen and performing military service.

One of the propaganda telegram channels disseminated information that due to “numerous violations” of visa-free rules by Ukrainian refugees, sanctions would be applied to them in the form of a ban on free movement between EU countries.

In fact, there were no “statements” about restricting the right of refugees from Ukraine to move freely throughout the EU countries either from officials or from the relevant EU bodies. Also, the propaganda message on the telegram does not contain any specific information about “numerous violations” by Ukrainians in Europe, note investigators from the “No Lies” project. To make the message “plausible”, the creators of the fake placed in its text the names of several countries with a link, which supposedly should show what restrictions were introduced in these countries. However, there is no such information there.

By spreading this misinformation, propagandists are trying to create a picture that Ukrainian refugees have already fed everyone up and that they are the cause of all the troubles and problems in Europe. Previously, we denied information that German citizens support the forced extradition of Ukrainian refugees.

Propagandists are distributing an allegedly official letter, which states that Ukrainian men born between 1960 and 2006 who have submitted documents to obtain a passport at the foreign representative offices of the Document State Enterprise will receive temporary travel documents to return to Ukraine. Data about them will supposedly be entered into the register of persons liable for military service and will be provided for verification to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Territorial centers of recruitment and social support. Those who are wanted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Territorial centers of recruitment and social support will allegedly have their passport revoked.

In fact, this information is not true. The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security wrote about this.

Firstly, the Document State Enterprise does not have the authority to issue “temporary travel documents for returning to Ukraine” - this is handled by diplomatic missions or consular offices.

Secondly, men born in 1960 are now 63-64 years old, in 2006 - 17-18 years old. Only men from 27 to 60 years old are eligible for the prize. Here is another proof of the falsity of the information.

Thirdly, the mentioned letter was allegedly signed by Volodymyr Shvachko, but he was suspended from exercising his powers as general director for the duration of the internal investigation from December 26, 2023 to January 19, 2024. That is, he could not do this. If this “document” were real, it would not have been signed by Shvachko, but by a temporary acting official.

Fourthly, the “letter” contains a number of errors, including spelling errors. For example, “as received” is a tracing-paper from Russian. The text of the “letter” itself begins with the words “At your request”, but does not first contain the name of the person who made this request - this is unacceptable in official business correspondence.

By distributing this fake document online, Russian propaganda is trying to intimidate Ukrainian men abroad, saying that “the authorities have taken them seriously: they will all be found and mobilized”. This release of information took place against the backdrop of a sensational bill dated December 25, 2023 to improve certain issues of mobilization, military registration and military service. In particular, it proposes to introduce verification of men who are abroad. In addition, it spells out the negative consequences of violating the law if it is adopted in its original form.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that under the “influence of Ukrainian gangs” money laundering, trafficking in children, drugs, weapons, etc. are flourishing in Poland. The publications refer to materials from Polish media.

The VoxCheck analysts worked on the case and explained that the material was published in a Polish-language media system that systematically disseminates Kremlin propaganda. Consequently, any theses do not claim to provide objective information.

One of the materials that really reveals the topic of crimes committed by foreigners in Poland is the material in the publication Rzeczpospolita, which analyzes what crimes migrants have committed in Poland in 2022. The National Police Headquarters prepared statistics specifically for the publication on crimes committed by foreigners in Poland. Thus, in total in 2022, 15 thousand crimes were committed by representatives of different nationalities; Ukrainians, as the largest group, as well as Belarusians and Georgians, were most often included in the statistics. Analysts add: there are about 1.5 million people with Ukrainian citizenship in Poland. That is, according to relative indicators, the number of Ukrainian offenders is 0.15% of all Ukrainians in Poland. The most common type of crime among foreigners, notes Rzeczpospolita, is driving while intoxicated. The second most popular crime is drug possession.

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

Detector Media analysts have refuted a number of fakes and manipulations on the topic of Ukrainian refugees in Poland. For example, we analyzed a manipulation to increase thefts in Polish stores by a third, allegedly due to Ukrainian refugees. But they also explained another manipulation, according to which propagandists claimed that the attitude of many Poles towards Ukrainians had worsened.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that the man who carried out the shooting at Charles University (Prague, Czech Republic) allegedly turned out to be an ethnic Galician, an emigrant from Ukraine. According to propagandists, the Czech media are trying not to voice this fact, since it seems that too many serious crimes have already been committed by Ukrainians in the country. It's fake.

Experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council worked on this case. They found out that the information about the shooter’s connection with Ukraine had already been denied by the head of the Czech Ministry of Internal Affairs, Vit Rakušan, who said at one of his briefings that “the shooter, Davyd Kozak, was a Czech from birth, who grew up in a Czech family... had no relations with Ukraine”.

Russian propagandists are trying to cultivate a biased attitude among foreigners towards Ukrainian refugees abroad by spreading fake information on this topic online. Like, “Ukrainians are to blame for all the world’s ills”. Previously, we refuted information that a shameful monument to Ukrainian refugees in the form of a gnome was allegedly erected in Wroclaw.

Propagandists say a German charity allegedly ran an advertisement comparing the cost of a Leopard tank sent to Ukraine with the cost of operations for 10 sick children. Like, they wrote about it in Reuters. Some people also claim that after the publication of this information, “defenders of Ukrainian refugees” criticized the philanthropists and called them Nazis due to the fact that German children were more important than Ukrainian ones. However, this is a fake video.

The VoxCheck analysts drew attention to it. They found out that the photos and videos distributed by propagandists were edited. The charitable organization Bunter Kreis Rheinland, against which the fake was created, stated that it did not place such advertising. It was also debunked by a reverse search of video frames via Google Images, which showed that the photos were only being distributed by Russian-language resources or users spreading pro-Russian rhetoric. The subtitles on the video also look like they were added during editing, as they contain errors in how words are related, and in some frames there are additional spaces between words.

Deutsche Welle contacted the charity Bunter Kreis Rheinland, which is listed as the author of the ad, and received confirmation from finance director Ralf Orth that the organization had no connection with the ad as their finances are based on donations and they cannot fund such things in Berlin .

The fake posters featured the logos of Paritätische Wohlfahrtsverband and Aktion Mensch; both organizations denied any involvement in the advertising and said their logos were used without their permission.

The blue inscription on the billboard belongs to the company Wall GmbH, whose representatives stated that they did not produce such billboards at all.

Propagandists spread such fake news to create skepticism among European audiences about the war in Ukraine. Like, why should Europeans waste their resources on other people’s children when they have problems with their own? However, such comparisons are inappropriate, since the life of every child is priceless.

Ukrainians in Europe began to receive messages inviting them to gather for protests in European cities and take up posters with the inscriptions: “Give people peace”, “We want peace in Europe”, “Important people”, “Ukraine is the most tired of all”, “We demand peace!” and things like that. The senders of such messages claim that the demonstration itself will last only 5-10 minutes, and during this time it will also be necessary to shoot a video. In addition, there is a prepared text for the rally, after reading which presumably on camera the performer will receive as much as 100 euros. All other protesters are promised 50 euros each or “payment for the road and delicious coffee”.

The text, which is supposed to be read by one of the protesters, contains unusual constructions for the Ukrainian language. For example, “in Ukraine” or “the Hungarian branch of a public association of Ukrainians”. In addition, this text mentions the “voice of reason” of Arestovych, who allegedly “suffers attacks” from Zelenskyi. However, it is worth noting that the former adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine was distinguished by his defense of “good Russians” and destructive statements about Ukraine, its authorities and the Armed Forces of Ukraine, therefore, as a result, the SBU began to deal with him.

Among other messages of planned rallies, the following should be heard: “war for them (ed. – the military-political leadership of Ukraine) is unlimited power, and for the common people it is a deep demographic catastrophe, daily horrors and impoverishment in a foreign land” or “if it’s difficult now to talk about peace, first we will discuss a ceasefire!”.

Unknown people expect to gather 30-35 Ukrainians for such rallies. We urge one not to fall for such messages and to respect the Ukrainian military, who at the cost of their own lives are protecting the citizens of Ukraine from the Russian invasion. Previously, we analyzed disinformation about alleged payments to all Ukrainians in the amount of 6,600 hryvnia.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are disseminating information that in Poland, in Wroclaw, which is famous for its street gnomes, their collection has been replenished with a new sculpture - a male refugee with a Ukrainian passport and a suitcase. However, this is fake.

The specialists from the BezBrekhni (No Lies) project investigated this case. They found out that there are no official publications on the establishment of such a figurine in Wroclaw. However, in March 2023, gnomes connected with Ukraine were actually installed there - this is a refugee with a child in her arms and a suitcase, as well as a volunteer. Thus, the Poles expressed gratitude to those who help Ukrainian refugees after February 24, 2022.

Propagandists are trying to create the impression that Ukrainians are not welcome abroad and that no one needs them. That is why the Russians resorted to a fake with such a “shameful monument” in Wroclaw. Previously, we denied information that Poland had canceled payments for Ukrainian refugees from January 1, 2024.

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

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

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