On anonymous telegram channels they write that the photos from the sites of the shelled children’s hospital “Okhmatdyt” on July 8, 2024 are staged. In particular, they claim that the Ukrainian authorities deliberately smeared the blood of one of the surgeons in order to achieve a “better effect” among the media. As “evidence”, propagandists will add a video that shows that a police officer allegedly deliberately pours blood on the clothes of a medical worker.

“Ukrainian channels published a video filmed in the center of Kyiv. In the video, a Ukrainian police officer pours blood from a bag onto a man in a doctor's coat. The doctor is an employee of the Okhmatdyt hospital, whose photographs were published by the world’s largest media”, the propaganda publication adds.

However, StopFake analysts investigated the case and found out that the video was fake. This is indicated by some differences between the hero of the fake video and the real doctor. For example, a real surgeon's shirt clearly shows an expired stripe on the back.

The production hero is wearing a shirt without such a stripe. The situation is similar with trousers as they are also different. A real surgeon has a pocket, but an actor does not.

Russian propaganda is actively working on the theme of the shelling of Okhmatdyt, trying to convince its audience that in fact the perpetrators of the crime are Ukrainians, or, at least, this is just a staged act. However, as part of our Disinformation Chronicles, we have repeatedly refuted such messages and proved that Russia simply wants to object to the shelling of civilian infrared weapons from its side.

Read also: It is not children who are treated at Chronicle, but Ukrainian military personnel, which is why the attack on the hospital is “justified”

Russian telegram channels add that it was not children who were treated at Okhmatdyt, but Ukrainian military personnel. This supposedly proves that the hospital was a “legitimate target” for Russia.

VoxCheck analysts explain: in fact, there were no reports of military personnel injured or killed as a result of rocket attacks on July 8 in Kyiv. There are many photos and videos online of wounded civilians, including doctors and children. In total, at the time of the hit, there were 627 children in Okhmatdyt.

During a series of attacks, the Okhmatdyt children's hospital was damaged - the Russians destroyed some of the buildings of the medical facility. Health Minister Viktor Liashko said that intensive care, operating rooms and oncology departments were damaged as a result of the attack. And he added that the hit was in the toxicology building, where children received dialysis.

That is, the thesis of Russian propaganda about the presence of military personnel who were allegedly treated at Okhmatdyt is a fiction.

Russian propagandists, taking advantage of the anniversary of the downing of flight MH-17 over Donbas, continue to try to blame Ukraine for this tragedy. They are actively disseminating reports that Ukraine allegedly “intentionally did not close the airspace” and that the plane was allegedly shot down “according to the SBU plan”, which provided for the introduction of NATO troops into Ukrainian territory after this terrorist attack. All these statements by Russian propagandists are unreliable.

Specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council drew attention to them. They explained that responsibility for the downing of flight MH-17 lies entirely with Russia. An international investigation has found that the plane was shot down by a missile from a Buk anti-aircraft missile system delivered from Russia to territory controlled by pro-Russian militants in eastern Ukraine. Russia’s hypocrisy is also evidenced by the fact that it is hiding three people on its territory; a court in the Netherlands in 2022 found them guilty of involvement in the downing of the plane.

This behavior demonstrates Russia's systematic strategy of avoiding responsibility for its actions, aimed at disinformation and manipulation of public opinion. Despite all efforts, Russia is, however, on the side of Ukraine, and the international community continues to support Ukraine in its quest for justice for the victims of this terrible terrorist attack.

Pro-Russian sources disseminated information about the alleged fakeness of photographs of the State Emergency Service from the scene of the tragedy that occurred as a result of the Russian shelling of the Okhmatdyt children's hospital on July 8, 2024. In particular, on his page in X, American blogger Jackson Hinkle published one of the photographs of the State Emergency Service, which depicts children's toys in the ruins of a hospital, and wrote: “The Ukrainian government inserted fake children's toys into the image of the hospital it destroyed in Kyiv”.

In fact, no one inserted toys into the photo, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council. You can verify this by checking the photo using the InVID & WeVerify tool to see if it has been altered.

Thus, deep learning approaches for detecting manipulations and fakes Mantra-Net and Fusion found traces of editing in the upper right and left corners - logos were superimposed. However, there are no changes in the toy area of ​​the image, which indicates the authenticity of the photographs.

In the end, it is these children’s toys that can be seen in other photo and video materials from the scene of the tragedy, which indicates their originality.

This is not Hinkle’s first fake about a missile attack on Okhmatdyt. Thus, an American blogger, known for his commitment to Russia, claimed on his page on the social network X that Okhmatdyt seemed to have been hit by an American Patriot air defense missile, which was allegedly fired by Ukraine. However, SBU investigators determined that the attack was carried out by a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile.

By spreading such lies, the blogger is trying to discredit the Ukrainian government and divert the attention of the world community from yet another Russian war crime.

Because of its propagandists, Russia informally admits responsibility for the missile attack on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital on July 8, 2024 and tries to convince its citizens of the “correctness” of such attacks. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

For example, one of the Russian publications, known for its “radical Orthodox” rhetoric, published an article by propagandist Perley, who states that the attack on a children’s hospital in Kyiv was not an accident. The author calls not to spare Ukrainian children and uses as justification the manipulation of the topic of “children of Donbas”, which Russia has been widely exploiting for 10 years to cover up its crimes against Ukraine. The propagandist also emphasizes that there is “no civilian population” in Ukraine, because absolutely all Ukrainians are enemies for the Russians.

So, Russian propaganda has once again shown its cannibalistic nature. Propagandists who incite hatred against Ukrainians and actually encourage genocide should be brought before an international court as accomplices in Russia's crimes against Ukraine. We wrote earlier that another Russian propagandist, Krasovskyi, has repeatedly called for the killing of Ukrainian children.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that a special evacuation flight to Germany for children from Okhmatdyt was planned even before the attack on the hospital. This was reported by the Russian-language service of Deutsche Welle, citing the words of the German Minister of Health Karl Lauterbach. Propagandists claim that this statement proves that Ukraine itself attacked the Okhmatdyt building as a provocation on the eve of the NATO summit in Washington.

However, this news is a manipulation, write StopFake. Yes, the screenshot from the Deutsche Welle account is real, but the publication’s journalists incorrectly conveyed the essence of the German Health Minister’s statement.

In fact, on his page on the social network X (Twitter), Lauterbach wrote that he promised the Minister of Health of Ukraine Viktor Liashko to accept sick children in need at any time, and that an evacuation flight with Okhmatdyt patients would depart on Wednesday, July 10, 2024 . He also emphasized that the targeted attack on a children's hospital once again proves that Putin is a war criminal.

Accordingly, Lauterbach’s statement did not say that the parties had agreed in advance to export specifically Okhmatdyt patients—they meant any Ukrainian children in need of medical treatment abroad.

The evacuation itself takes place within the framework of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). Under this program, Germany has already received more than 1,100 patients, including children - this figure is the highest among EU states. Three German medical institutions agreed to accept patients from Okhmatdyt: university hospitals in Greifswald and Rostock, as well as the Berlin Charité clinic.

With this manipulation, Russia is trying to assure its own citizens and the world community that Ukraine itself launched a missile attack on the country’s largest children’s hospital. Previously, we explained why the information about the Okhmatdyt building being hit as a result of Ukrainian air defense is a lie.

Russian media are actively spreading disinformation about the cholera “epidemic” in Kherson, which the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly trying to hide. “The infection broke out in Kherson, controlled by Kyiv, because the Ukrainian authorities did not carry out sanitary treatment after the destruction of the Kakhovka hydroelectric station”, claim pro-Kremlin media. This fake news began to be promoted by Russian media and bots on social networks on the first anniversary of the Russian terrorist attack when the Kakhovska hydroelectric power station was blown up.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this. They found that as of July 2024, the Ministry of Health of Ukraine had not recorded a single case of cholera. According to WHO data published on June 19, in the first half of 2024, 105 cases of cholera were registered in the European Region - all of them were on the island of Mayotte (an overseas region of France). In Ukraine, no cholera outbreaks were recorded in 2024.

Cholera is an acute diarrheal disease caused by an infection of the intestines by harmful bacteria. Clean drinking water and proper sanitation can prevent a cholera outbreak, but due to Russian aggression and a significant deterioration in quality of life, frontline communities do face an increased risk of infectious diseases. That is why the Russian media have been methodically spreading this fake news since the beginning of the large-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The purposeful destruction by the Russian army of Ukrainian critical infrastructure, including water supply and sanitation systems, creates ideal conditions for the emergence of infectious epidemics in Ukrainian territories. However, Ukraine is effectively overcoming these challenges by strengthening monitoring of the epidemiological situation in the country. Since June 2024, seasonal enhanced cholera surveillance has been in effect in Ukraine - patients with acute intestinal infections are additionally screened for cholera. Active research of environmental samples is also carried out: monitoring of wastewater, fresh and seawater samples.

The beginning of the season of enhanced surveillance of intestinal infections in Ukraine became the basis for the spread of the Russian fake, although continuous surveillance of cholera in the country is carried out throughout the year, and in the period from June 1 to October 1, monitoring is intensified. This is a routine process due to the fact that an increase in ambient temperature creates favorable conditions for the proliferation of Vibrio cholerae, so the risks of infection increase.

Peaks of cholera cases in Ukraine were recorded in 1998, 1999 and 2007. The last outbreak of cholera in Ukraine occurred in 2011 in Mariupol, when 33 cases of cholera and 24 cases of vibration carriers (asymptomatic patients) were recorded - the infection was brought to the port city from another country. The Ministry of Health of Ukraine notes that cholera is not an endemic disease in Ukraine. The infection is common in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South and Central America.

After the Russian terrorist attack with the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station on June 6, 2023, it was Russia that refused to allow independent experts, observers and humanitarian workers into the territory of the destroyed station and flooded Ukrainian settlements. Ukraine not only initiated the investigation, but also fully cooperated with independent experts, providing full access to the affected areas, witnesses, all information and evidence.

Russian media used the anniversary of another tragedy in Ukraine, which occurred due to rocket attacks in Kramatorsk, to spread a fake story about the “liquidation of a group of American mercenaries”. Propagandists claim that the presence of men in military uniform among the photographs of the dead allegedly confirms the statement of the Russian Army that the purpose of the strike was military and legitimate.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this. They found out that the Russian Ministry of Defense is constantly trying to convince the international community that by launching missiles at Ukraine, they are deliberately destroying only military targets. However, even the very fact of military aggression against another country is a violation of international law, and Russia violates many rules of war by shelling peaceful Ukrainian cities and civilian objects.

The shelling of the Ria Pizza pizzeria in Kramatorsk occurred on June 27, 2023. Then Russian troops launched a missile attack on the cafe, killing 13 people, including 4 children, and wounding 59 people. Among the dead soldiers there were only two: combat paramedic of the 3rd Special Brigade Artem Sukhovyi and International Legion volunteer, former US Marine Ian Tortorici. It was the death of Jan Tortorici that Russian propaganda used as evidence that the goal of the Russian army was supposedly legitimate. On the day of the attack, Tortorici, like many other soldiers in the front-line city, went to a pizzeria to eat, as his friend, Ed Flores, recalls. StopFake also previously wrote why it is impossible to call foreigners fighting for Ukraine mercenaries, as Russian propaganda does.

The investigation into this crime in Russia was carried out by experts from the human rights organization Truth Hounds, since their colleague, writer Victoriia Amelina, was among those killed in the cafe. Experts have determined that the attack on Kramatorsk is a war crime - an indiscriminate attack that led to dire consequences among civilians. Truth Hounds also noted that Russia is pushing the view on Ukrainians that the presence of Ukrainian defenders in civilian areas allows the Kremlin to launch deadly missile attacks, but in fact, “the presence of military personnel in a cafe does not justify or humanize Russians. But on the contrary, it further emphasizes the same pattern of their crimes”.

On July 8, 2024, Russia launched a missile attack on Ukraine, in particular, air defense forces operated in the territories of the Kyiv region and in Kyiv. Debris fell in seven districts of the capital.

As of 14:30, Suspilne reports, it is known that 15 people were killed in different areas of the city, 38 were injured in various ways.

During a series of attacks, the Okhmatdyt children's hospital was damaged - the Russians destroyed some of the buildings of the medical facility. Health Minister Oleh Liashko said that intensive care, operating rooms and oncology departments were damaged as a result of the attack. And he added that the hit was in the toxicology building, where children received dialysis.

At the same time, Russian propagandists began to spread the thesis that all this was the consequence of the work of the Ukrainian air defense, and not of Russian strikes.

However, the SBU has already established that Russia hit a children’s hospital with an X-101 missile.

“Relevant evidence has already been found at the scene of the tragedy: in particular, fragments of the housing of the rear part of the X-101 missile with a serial number and part of the steering wheel of the same missile”, the department indicated.

That is, in pro-Russian telegram channels they are simply trying to challenge the shelling of civilian infrared missiles, attributing it all to the so-called “poor performance of the Ukrainian air defense system”. This is not the first time Russia has resorted to such rhetoric.

In its digest of anti-Ukrainian messages in Russian media, the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine highlighted the manipulation and fake news spread by Russian propagandists.

Russia seems to be offering a “peace agreement” rather than issuing an ultimatum to Ukraine.

Russian propagandists are spreading information that Russia is offering Ukraine a peace agreement to end the war. Thus, Russia is highlighted as a peacemaker, a party desiring peace. At the same time, propagandists claim the “unwillingness” of Ukraine or the West, which “leads Ukraine”, to end the war.

In fact, Russia issued an ultimatum to Ukraine. The Russians’ demands included: the transfer to Russia of the territories it occupied and international recognition of Ukrainian territories as part of Russia, the non-aligned and nuclear-free status of Ukraine, and the lifting of sanctions against Russia.

Russian propagandists have resorted to replacing concepts in order to portray Russia not as an aggressor, but as a peacemaker. Such propaganda affects both Russian and foreign audiences. It demonizes the West, portrays Russia as morally superior, and instills doubts in Western society about the wisdom of continuing to support Ukraine.

Ukraine allegedly uses cargo ships for military purposes

Propagandists baselessly claim that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are allegedly launching missile attacks on Sevastopol and Crimea using dry cargo ships on which launchers with ATACMS missiles are placed. Thus, the ship is supposedly capable of entering the Black Sea or Odesa cargo port after an attack and merging with the dry cargo ships stationed there.

However, this is a fake, since a cargo ship is a transport vessel designed to transport dry cargo and is not suitable for installing weapons on it. Moreover, Russian propagandists cannot provide any evidence of the use of such vessels by Ukraine.

The dissemination of such a fake is an attempt to legitimize Russian attacks on non-military vessels that are allegedly used for military purposes. So the Russians are blowing up maritime security and jeopardizing one of the trade routes for Ukraine. In addition, in this way, Russian propagandists are spreading fear among Ukrainians and, in general, undermining trust in Ukraine.

Russian propagandists addressed the military personnel of the occupation army with a “disclaimer” that the Ukrainian special services had trained a large number of saboteurs in the Kharkiv region. According to them, “representatives of the Ukrainian underground” can even be women, elderly people and teenagers. Propagandists also call for special attention to be paid to the relatives of killed or captured Ukrainian soldiers. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes about this.

In fact, information about Ukrainian saboteurs among women, the elderly and teenagers does not correspond to reality. Thus, Russian propaganda carries out “information processing” of the military in the context of intensifying hostilities, encouraging them to commit crimes against Ukrainian civilians. The Center also states that Russian propagandists must be held accountable for war crimes, as well as the authorities in the Kremlin who give orders to kill the civilian population of Ukraine.

Russian resources are disseminating information that Ukraine does not abandon its intentions to “continue terrorist activities”. This is how Russian Presidential Press Secretary Pieskov responded to Ukraine’s threats to strike the Kerch Bridge. He also added that Russian special agencies are already taking appropriate measures.

However, Ukraine has never practiced terrorism and condemns terrorist practices, write the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Russia these days continues its terrorist attacks on the territory of Ukraine. We are talking about missile and artillery strikes on civilian targets, as well as drones.

At the same time, Russia not only practices terrorism against Ukraine, but also has close relations with other terrorist movements. For example, representatives of the Taliban visit Moscow and are received there at a high level. Previously, we wrote about how Russia is everywhere trying to find the “Ukrainian trace” and blame Ukraine for certain ills of the world, in particular, terrorist attacks.

Social networks state that Belarusian volunteers fighting as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are hiding “behind the backs of children” in Kyiv hospitals at 30 and 32 Bohatyrska street. The head of the KGB of Belarus stated this and added that “terrorists” will face “deserved punishment according to laws of war”.

VoxCheck analysts write that the Kyiv City Children's Clinical Hospital No. 1 is actually located at 30 Bohatyrska street, and the Kyiv City Clinical Dermatovenerological Hospital is located at 32 Bohatyrska street. However, there are no signs that there were Ukrainian Armed Forces military personnel in one of these medical institutions.

Moreover, the director of the Kyiv City Children's Clinical Hospital No. 1, Yevheniia Hryhorieva, said that there were no Ukrainian military personnel in the hospital, and the statement of the head of the KGB of Belarus is simply a lie.

Russian telegram channels write that Moscow and Kyiv held the first face-to-face negotiations on the exchange of children in Qatar. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the Commissioner for Children's Rights in Russia, Mariia Lvova-Bielova.

In fact, there were no direct negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. The return of Ukrainian children and negotiations are taking place through the mediation of Qatar and Qatari diplomats. This was stated by the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights Dmytro Lubinets: “Ukraine is negotiating with Qatar. I had a meeting with the Qatari delegation. It was through the mediation of Qatar that we returned and continue to return Ukrainian children”.

In addition, the American Institute for the Study of War also denied this information, calling it an attempt by Russia to reduce its responsibility for the abduction and deportation of Ukrainian children.

Read also: The executive director of the the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights Union allegedly said that children rescued from abduction by Russia want to return there

Propagandists in the Russian media say that the energy sector in Ukraine, as they claim, was “protected with sandbags worth 2 billion hryvnia”, and this is supposedly why the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant (TPP) in the Kyiv region was destroyed. They say that corruption and the lack of desire to truly protect the country’s energy structure were the reason for the destruction of Ukrainian thermal power plants, and not targeted missile attacks by the Russian army. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They remind us that on the night of April 11, Russian troops completely destroyed the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant in the Kyiv region, as reported by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Centerenergo PJSC Andrii Hota in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine. Centerenergo added that Trypilska Thermal Power Plant was the largest supplier of electricity to the Kyiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions.

After the destruction of the thermal power plant, information began to spread on social networks that last year Centerenergo PJSC claimed that the Trypilska station was 100% equipped with physical protection from shelling, and money was allocated for this from the budget (we are talking about 9.7 billion hryvnia - note ed.). Based on this, the Russian propagandist began to write that this defense was “sandbags” worth 2 billion hryvnia.

Centerenergo OJSC responded to this information and explained that Trypilska Thermal Power Plant did not receive 9.7 billion hryvnia from the state budget for the construction of protection against drones and missiles, and that this amount was allocated by the Cabinet of Ministers to protect the entire critical infrastructure of the country’s fuel and energy sector, and not just separately for the Trypilska station. In addition, Centerenergo added that the company, through its efforts, ensured 100% physical protection of the station, but this protection can only protect against fragmentation damage, and not against direct missile hits.

The head of the State Agency for Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Development, Mustafa Nayyem, said the same, explaining that the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant is a very large facility, and it is impossible to completely protect it only with protective engineering structures without the use of appropriate air defense systems.

Later, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in an interview with the American media PBS, said that the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant was destroyed by the Russians because Ukraine had no missiles left to protect it. Commenting on the problems with weapons by the allies, Zelenskyi gave an example of the situation with thermal power plants: “I’ll give you one example, very simple: at the Trypilska station, the light in the Kyiv region depends on it. 11 missiles were flying. We destroyed the first seven, the next four destroyed TPP. Why? Because there were zero missiles”.

Centerenergo also adds that at the moment, the resumption of thermal power plants without providing Ukraine with air defense systems is “surprisingly useless”. This was stated by the head of the supervisory board of PJSC Centerenergo Andrii Hota on the air of the Ukrainian Voice of America service.

Such statements are yet another example of Russian propaganda manipulation aimed at spreading narratives of massive corruption in the country in order to discredit Ukraine’s efforts to ensure the security of its critical infrastructure. At the same time, Russian propaganda misses the fact that it is the Russian army that is committing war crimes, shelling the energy infrastructure of Ukraine and causing significant damage to the civilian population.

For many years now, propagandists have been actively spreading the words prescribed for Serbian politician Slobodan Milosevic, accused of numerous war crimes and genocide. Like, he said that the West is a “mad dog on a chain” that has bitten the throat of Yugoslavia, and the Russians should also prevent the same from happening to Russia, Belarus and Ukraine. “Russians! I appeal to all Russians, residents of Ukraine and Belarus, as well as those in the Balkans who consider themselves Russians. Look at us and remember - they will do the same to you when you disunite and give in to weakness. The West is a mad dog in chains that will bite you in the throat. Brothers, remember the fate of Yugoslavia! Don’t let this happen to you!”, - this is a warning, according to some network users, that Milosevic allegedly made for Russia before his death. StopFake specialists drew attention to this case.

They recall that in the summer of 1999, after NATO bombed Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic agreed to withdraw Serbian troops from Kosovo and hold presidential elections. In 2000, presidential elections in Yugoslavia turned into a revolution, and President Slobodan Milosevic was demolished by supporters of his opponent Vojslav Kostunica. Some time later, Milosevic was arrested and sent to the Hague International Tribunal - he was tried for crimes against humanity during the war in Yugoslavia. The trial lasted five years and was never completed - Slobodan Milosevic died in prison from a myocardial infarction on March 11, 2006.

With the beginning of Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine, this “quote” could be seen more and more often on the Internet. There were many versions of when Milosevic made such a statement - in his last interview, in a letter to the Russian President, or on his deathbed. However, Milosevic’s “quote” about a “mad dog on a chain” is distributed exclusively in the Russian-language segment of the network - StopFake journalists were unable to find a single mention of such an expression by Milosevic in English, German or French. Moreover, in the Serbian language this “quote” can be found only twice - in the Rtvbn news from July 2014 that a poster with this statement appeared in one of the Moscow cinemas, and in the publication of the pro-Russian Facebook page Glas Pomoravi Info. The quotation does not appear in Macedonian and Slovenian (in which Milosevic could probably have left his last interview).

Shortly before his death, Milosevic wrote a letter to the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In it, the politician spoke about his suspicions that doctors were allegedly trying to deliberately undermine his health. However, this letter does not contain the mentioned statements about the West.

Further search on the Internet shows that the quote began to spread en masse in the Russian-language segment of the network only in the fall of 2012 in publications entitled “Greetings from the former Yugoslavia”. The author of this publication is Les Ivanov.

It should be noted that since the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Russian media are increasingly using this statement to support their anti-Western rhetoric. At the same time, even in the Russian media itself one can find many publications stating that this quote has nothing to do with Slobodan Milosevic. For example, in November 2017, the publication MK.ru wrote that Russian State Duma deputy Natalia Poklonska used a fake quote from Milosevic about the West as a “mad dog”. They write that “despite its (quotes - editor’s note) popularity in Russian nationalist circles, it is unknown in the original, just as its source is unknown”. But already in March 2023, MK.ru published a material entitled “In the State Duma and the Federation Council they mentioned Milosevic’s prophetic appeal to the Russians after the bombing of Yugoslavia”, in which the same fake quote was presented under the guise of a real one - these words, as they say in the material , Milosevic allegedly said during his last speech.

Propagandists continue to claim that Russia allegedly adheres to international norms in its aggression against Ukraine. This time, propagandists spread disinformation about “Russia’s compliance with the Geneva Conventions on the treatment of prisoners of war”. Russian media claim that “Russia treats Ukrainian captives humanely” and “Ukrainians are surprised at the good treatment in Russian captivity”.

In fact, Russia has repeatedly violated the basic principles of the Geneva Conventions, attacking civilians, medical facilities and medical personnel, and disregarding the principle of humane treatment of prisoners of war. All these facts were re-recorded by independent commissions under the auspices of the United Nations, as StopFake reminds us.

At the end of March 2024, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine published another report (December 2023 - February 2024), which reports a sharp increase in cases of torture and execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian occupiers. The 28-page document, consisting of 110 points, describes the facts of torture, abuse, sexual violence and executions of both civilian Ukrainians by the occupiers and prisoners of war, documented by UN experts.

The report emphasizes that torture and ill-treatment of Ukrainian prisoners by Russians is very common and “commonplace”. According to the UN, 96% of Ukrainian prisoners of war (58 out of 60 respondents) became victims of various types of torture.

UN experts named beatings, electric shocks, threats of execution, mock execution, exposure to cold and water, and torture in which the victim is forced to remain in one fixed position for a long time as the most common methods of torture. Ukrainian prisoners of war told the commission about the practice of sleep deprivation, prohibition of the use of toilets, torture by hunger and thirst, loud noises and Russian songs. Captives interviewed by the UN reported that conditions in Russian colonies had improved a month before their exchange in order to hide traces of numerous tortures of Ukrainians.

A separate paragraph in the UN report describes Russian torture of a sexual nature. 65% of Ukrainian prisoners - 39 people out of 60 respondents - were subjected to sexual violence or threats of such violence from the occupiers. These included attempted rape, threats of rape and castration, beatings or electric shocks to the genitals, and repeated forced disrobing, the UN report said.

Pro-Kremlin media write that Russia allegedly adheres to international norms in its aggression against Ukraine. Russian media add that “Russia treats Ukrainian captives humanely - and Ukrainians are surprised at their good behavior in Russian captivity”.

StopFake analysts analyzed this case and explained that Russia has repeatedly violated the basic principles of the Geneva Conventions, attacking civilians, medical facilities and medical personnel, as well as neglecting the principle of humane treatment of prisoners of war. All these facts have been repeatedly recorded by independent commissions operating under the auspices of the United Nations.

For example, at the end of March 2024, the UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine published a report (December 2023-February 2024) which reported a sharp increase in allegations of torture and execution of Ukrainian prisoners of war at the hands of Russian occupiers. The 28-page document, consisting of 110 points, describes the facts of torture, abuse, sexual violence and executions of both civilian Ukrainians by the occupiers and prisoners of war, documented by UN experts.

Russian propagandists are spreading claims about the “accuracy” of Russian airstrikes in Ukraine, interpreting the Financial Times article in their own way. They claim that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry allegedly acknowledged the “sharpness of Russian operations” aimed “against Ukrainian military targets” and again accused Ukraine of “blackmail for the sake of obtaining weapons from the West”. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found a Financial Times article cited by propagandists about Russia's use of Soviet-made guided bombs in the war with Ukraine. The article describes how these bombs are upgraded with the addition of cheap wings and a GPS system and released from Su-34 and Su-35 aircraft capable of hitting targets along the front line. The article quotes a comment from the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, who notes Russia's intensive use of these bombs to attack Ukrainian military positions, noting that damage to a bomber carrying such a bomb is the only possible defense. However, the Financial Times refutes the myth of the “high precision” of Russian attacks, pointing to their use against civilians and examples of significant destruction and civilian casualties.

The author of the article also criticizes Russian claims about the “precision” of strikes, recalling the large-scale use of missiles and kamikaze drones against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and emphasizes that such actions can be qualified as war crimes, considered in international courts. In the context of these charges, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian army officials.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to justify Russian attacks against civilians.

Russian media are disseminating information that a Member of the European Parliament from the Dutch right-wing party Forum for Democracy, Marcel de Graaf, said that the terrorist attack at Crocus City Holly was organized and paid for by Ukraine.

In fact, behind the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Holi near Moscow is the Islamic State Khorasan group, which took full responsibility for the attack. This has already been confirmed by US Presidential National Security Adviser John Kirby.

As for Marcel de Graaf, the Dutch politician accuses Ukraine without providing any evidence. In addition, he is an open Russophile and a supporter of Putin. Graaf also advocated stopping aid to Ukraine and lifting sanctions from the aggressor country. They write about this in the Center for Strategic Communications and Security at Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

Propaganda continues to spread fake news about the terrorist attack. The head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Moscow Region, Kyrylo Budanov, noted that the Kremlin had already changed the versions of events at the Crocus City Holi near Moscow three times, trying to somehow link the so-called “Ukrainian trace” to the terrorist attack. It is obvious that Russian propaganda also attracts European lobbyists with a pro-Kremlin position. In addition, in order to blame Ukraine, the Kremlin launched a discredit campaign using bots.

• Read also: The Russian NTV channel showed a fake video where the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine “confirmed the involvement of the Kyiv regime” in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Holi (ADDED).

Propaganda telegram channels write that on the morning of March 25, 2024, Russia launched a strike on Kyiv with Zircon hypersonic missiles. As a result, two Patriot air defense systems were allegedly destroyed in Zhuliany, at the Kyiv airport. The Russians also seem to have managed to strike the headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate and the “decision-making center” of the SBU.

In fact, this information is not true. Propagandists have not decided among themselves what Russia “destroyed” during the morning attack on Kyiv - one false version contradicts the other, they write in the Center for Strategic Communications at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

In reality, air defense forces destroyed both of the two ballistic missiles that the Russians launched at Kyiv from temporarily occupied Crimea. The debris of one of the downed missiles destroyed part of the Boichuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative-Applied Arts and Design.  The building containing the gym, assembly hall and congress hall was damaged, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reported. In general, destruction as a result of the attack in Kyiv was recorded in the Pecherskyi, Solomianskyi and Holosiivskyi districts. According to the mayor of Kyiv Vitalii Klychko, ten victims are known, two of them were hospitalized.

Russian propaganda deliberately exaggerates Russia's achievements in the war against Ukraine, trying to spread another victory story for Russians. That is, propagandists engage in eye-catching activities and publish fake information. Previously, we refuted the report that the Russians allegedly destroyed a batch of missiles for the Patriot air defense system and warehouses with Storm Shadow missiles.

Pro-Kremlin resources are disseminating information as if the Ukrainian military is planning to blow up the Dnipro hydroelectric station in order to cause a “large number” of victims and subsequently shift responsibility for these actions to Russia. They say that it does not resort to shelling of civilian infrastructure and such a step may be the work of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation write that these falsehoods only serve to escalate the situation around the critical infrastructure of Ukraine. The point is that none of the Ukrainian military plans to blow up the Dnipro hydroelectric power station, this is just an element of the Russian disinformation campaign.

In reality, Russia is shelling critical infrastructure, residential buildings and killing civilians. And all it is trying to do by spreading such messages is to intimidate Ukrainians and create in them a sense of distrust of the state and the defense forces of Ukraine.

Back in early March 2024, Ukrainian Prime Minister Shmyhal reported that Ukraine went through the winter without “blackouts or shutdown schedules”. Due to the reliable protection of Russian energy facilities, it was most likely not possible to damage them. However, the terrorist country does not give up its attempts to destroy Ukraine, including threatening future “shelling”. And he demonstrates this as a so-called response to the Ukrainian military.

For example, Bloomberg journalists write that the Russian-Ukrainian war has entered a new phase. Ukrainian drones are beginning to attack Russia's Soviet-era energy infrastructure. Since the beginning of 2024, Ukraine has carried out about 15 drone attacks on oil refineries in 9 Russian regions.

That is, Ukrainian attacks demonstrate Russia’s vulnerability and at the same time the inability to effectively counter them. In order not to demoralize the Russians, the Kremlin is building different theories regarding “retaliation strikes”. For example, the Russian Ministry of Defense on his telegram channel called the massive attack on March 22, 2024 a “retaliation strike” against Ukraine for its “illegal” shelling.

And even earlier, on the night of December 30, 2023, there was shelling of military facilities in the Belgorod region, but as a result of the unprofessional work of Russian air defense, fragments of Ukrainian missiles fell on the center of the city of Belgorod and on the housing sector.

That is, the Kremlin is looking for ways to enrage Ukrainian society by churning out scare messages like this.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are spreading information that the “Kyiv regime” is allegedly preparing a terrorist attack in Kupiansk in order to blame Russia for it. According to propagandists, this is evidenced by the opening of the local market. In addition, the “news” notes that the Ukrainian military will use residential buildings as shelter, and local residents as “human shields”.

In fact, this information is not true, according to the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council. The purpose of this fake is to create an information alibi for the Russian military before the likely chaotic shelling of Kupiansk, which they carry out almost every day. Also, according to the head of the Kupiansk city military administration, Andrii Besedin, measures are being taken on the territory of the community for the mandatory evacuation of the population to safer places, which, in particular, contradicts the words of propagandists about a “human shield”.

By spreading this disinformation, Russian propaganda fuels its narrative about the alleged “crimes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, resorting to one of the propaganda tactics called “reflection”. That is, propagandists seek to divert attention from the real state of affairs. We previously wrote that Russia is trying to disrupt the process of evacuating children from the Kharkiv region by spreading disinformation messages.

Propagandists on anonymous Telegram channels are distributing a video where the executive director of the Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights, Oleksandr Pavlichenko, allegedly stated on the Kyiv TV channel that many children rescued from Russian abductions want to return to Russia. However, this is manipulation.

The Ukrainian Helsinki Human Rights itself reported about it on its telegram channel. The organization claims that propagandists cut the video and took it out of the context of Pavlichenko’s interview. In fact, answering one of the presenter’s questions during the broadcast on March 11, Oleksandr Pavlichenko emphasized that the Russian authorities are conducting criminal ideological propaganda among Ukrainian children, actually zombifying them. He noted that this could lead to children who are later rescued being tempted to return to Russia, where they were abused. However, Russian propaganda presents a cut-out piece with its own interpretations.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to justify Russia's actions against Ukrainian children. Like, it saves them. Detector Media previously wrote about how propaganda justifies the kidnapping of Ukrainian children.

Russian telegram channels are distributing a video in which allegedly soldiers of the Third Separate Assault Brigade (3rd Separate Assault Brigade) shot Russians in a trench who were trying to surrender.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine stated that this video recording was obviously staged. Firstly, in the video one can trace the artificial Ukrainian actors - “fighters”. Secondly, the “killed man” suddenly began to move. In fact, Ukraine adheres to the Geneva Conventions and treats prisoners humanely. The Russian army has repeatedly shot Ukrainian soldiers who surrendered.

Thus, propagandists encourage the Russian military to kill every Ukrainian, even unarmed ones, without hesitation, they say, “look, they do this!” In addition, in this case, Russian propaganda uses tactics of reflection, that is, they bring forward the same accusations against Ukraine as it does against Russia. Only the Ukrainian side has real grounds for this, unlike Russia, because, for example, only on February 18-20, 2024, cases of executions of Ukrainian prisoners of war by Russian occupiers near Avdiivka, Vesele and Robotyne were recorded.

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