According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, pro-Russian telegram channels spread information about holding a large-scale "holiday concert" on the occasion of the completion of the "people's will" in the temporarily occupied territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions and their reunification with Russia. The concert is scheduled for September 30th.

However, in order to create a picture of “enthusiastic” spectators who will publicly “rejoice” at the occupation, the Russians will use the “administrative resource” - the lists of spectators are pre-approved, and attendance at the “celebration” is mandatory. Also, according to the results of the "celebration", men will be granted a respite from mobilization.

Thus, the Kremlin propaganda is trying to impose on the world community the illusion of popular approval of the occupation of the sovereign territories of Ukraine and to legitimize it. In a similar way, Russian propaganda tried to convince that in Kupiansk they rejoiced at the occupation and celebrated the Day of the Russian flag, while temporarily occupied Mariupol allegedly celebrated the Day of the Metallurgist.

Such information is disseminated through propaganda information resources. Allegedly, Poland's intentions regarding Ukrainian territories are quite aggressive. Allegedly, ballots are already ready for voting for the secession of the Lviv region from Ukraine and joining Poland. It's fake.

As reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation, the Kremlin’s attempts to promote the thesis of the “Polish threat” have been heard since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, they have been repeatedly denied by officials in Poland and Ukraine.

It is likely that disinformation about Poland's intentions to occupy the Lviv region is being spread in order to divert attention from the illegal pseudo-referendums in the territories temporarily occupied by Russia. Also, a new “wave” of disinformation about Poland’s allegedly aggressive plans is aimed at destroying Ukrainian-Polish unity and canceling support for Ukraine.

Previously, propagandists have repeatedly spread fakes in relation to Poland. In particular, they wrote that Poland began the "economic seizure" of Ukraine and the western regions of Ukraine.

Russian media report that "official delegations from all over the world" allegedly arrived in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine to observe the so-called referendums. Like, it is these "international observers" who prove the "legitimacy" and "transparency" of holding illegal pseudo-referendums.

According to StopFake, instead of "independent observers", specially trained actors and fans of the Kremlin were brought to the occupied territories, posing as official delegations of foreign countries. They have no real political and diplomatic weight.

According to the Commissioner of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine for Human Rights, Dmytro Lubinets, many foreign correspondents of Russian state media were found among foreigners who, in violation of Ukrainian legislation and international humanitarian law, took part in holding pseudo-referendums in the occupied territories.

The “Italian journalist” Eliseo Bertolazi, who was presented as an “official international observer” by propagandists, is a correspondent for a Russian propaganda resource. "Official observer" from Latvia Alina Herlinei works as the editor-in-chief of a Russian state publication in Latvia. “UK watcher” Vanessa Wiley is the editor of a pro-Russian and anti-Western publication that frequently publishes conspiracy theories. Syria, Venezuela and Afghanistan, which also sent "observers" to the pseudo-referendum, are under sanctions for authoritarianism, abuse of power, violation of the rights of their own people.

Russian media write about this with reference to the so-called "chairman of the election commission of the Zaporizhzhia region" Halyna Katiushchenko. She reported that 85,000 residents allegedly “voted” in the occupied part of Zaporizhzhia (32,000 of them allegedly outside the region), which is 51.55% of the total number of “voters”. It is not true.

The results of the so-called "referendums" in the territories of Ukraine occupied by Russia are not recognized by Ukraine or the world, since they are held in violation of all possible norms of international law and have no legal force.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project note that the day before, propagandists reported that they had added 500,000 people to the “electoral lists” in the Zaporizhzhia region. In this case, 85,000 "voters" is only 17%. Now it is impossible to check how many people actually remained in the occupied territories. At the same time, the invaders claim that according to the “results of the referendum”, the entire Zaporizhzhia region will become part of Russia within the administrative boundaries established by Ukraine.

According to the Constitution of Ukraine, questions about changing the territory are decided exclusively by an all-Ukrainian referendum. So the figures and plans voiced by the invaders have nothing to do with reality.

On the eve of the pseudo-referenda, Russian propaganda was talking about the planned results of the “vote”.

Like, they were simply “handed Ukrainian passports”, so now they only want to return “to their roots”.

This message is spread by the Russian media in the context of holding illegal referendums in the occupied territories and the narrative about primordially Russian territories.

According to the fact-checkers of The Insider project, in 2001 almost 1 million 927 thousand inhabitants lived in the Zaporizhzhia region, of which 70.1% were Ukrainians and 24.7% were Russians. Ukrainian was named as their native language by 73.6% of the respondents, and Russian - only 24.6%.

This is not the first time Russian propaganda has manipulated ethno-national issues. Previously, they said that Ukraine does not have "historical rights" to the "Northern Black Sea" or that the Donbas, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson region have the right to self-determination under the UN Charter. Thus, they are trying to justify the invasion of Ukraine

Such information is systematically disseminated by the Russian media. They reported problems with water supply in the temporarily occupied Makiivka, Donetsk region: there, local residents stand in long queues near water distribution points, and only 6 liters are given per person. The Russians say the water supply will not be restored because the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal, the only water artery, remains under Ukrainian control. This is manipulation.

Part of the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal really remains under the control of Ukraine, but the inhabitants of the occupied cities do not have normal access to drinking water not because of it. According to VoxCheck, the water infrastructure of Donbas was outdated until 2014, and after that it was further damaged due to the actions of the Russian army. On February 19, 2022, the Russians fired on the pumping station of the South Donbas water pipeline, in April they repeatedly fired on the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal. That is why the cities of the temporarily occupied Donbas and Luhansk region were left without water supply. Active hostilities and the occupation of a part of Donbas do not allow repairing the canal and other facilities.

There is a shortage of water not only in the occupied, but also in the territories controlled by Ukraine. Since 2014, the operation of the Siverskyi Donets-Donbas canal has been stopped several times in separate sections after Russian shelling. Today, water is periodically turned off in Sloviansk, Kramatorsk and other cities due to the need for repairs.

This is reported by Russian media with reference to the chairman of the Federation Council of the Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation Valentyna Matviyenko. Allegedly, the West hastened even before the start of the referendums to declare that they do not recognize their results and that this means that the opinion of the inhabitants of these regions does not interest them at all.

The Charter of the United Nations states that the purpose of the UN is "to develop friendly relations among nations on the basis of respect for the principle of equal rights and self-determination of peoples, and to take other measures to strengthen the common peace."

The Insider fact checker suggested that Matviyenko probably believes that the occupation of part of the country and the holding of "referendums" on annexation in the occupied areas is strengthening the common peace.

This thesis is spread by Russian propagandists on social networks, in particular, it was mentioned by Russian Foreign Minister Serhii Lavrov. Such reports say that residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine can independently decide what to do with sovereignty, together with the occupying authorities. However, this is not true.

In fact, as reported by StopFake fact-checkers, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is a flagrant violation of the UN Charter. According to the document, Russia does not have the right to hold any so-called "referenda" in Ukraine, since "each state must refrain from any action aimed at the partial or complete violation of the national unity and territorial integrity of any other state or country".

Even if the Ukrainians want to hold a referendum, this should take place under the auspices of the Ukrainian government, and not the occupation. According to Section III of the Constitution of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian referendum is appointed by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine or the President of Ukraine.

There are reports in social networks that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are allegedly implementing punitive measures in the de-occupied territories. The so-called document mentions the huge losses of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the forced mobilization of those liable for military service. However, this is all untrue.

According to analysts at the Center of Disinformation, the document is fake because:

it contains errors that are not inherent in Ukrainian business speech: “to work out passages”, “on the territory liberated”, “we will organize the work as soon as possible”;

in the "document" incorrectly formatted field "Recipient";

the barcode of the "document" is placed in violation of the rules of official document management.

This thesis is extended by the pro-Kremlin media with reference to Sar Webknecht, a member of the German parliament. In his appeal he said that he considers it unrealistic to force Russia to return Crimea to Ukraine and says that if this is to be tried, the conflict will continue forever.

However, according to EU vs Disinfo analysts, the assertion that “the return of Crimea to Ukraine is impossible” is the opinion of a member of the German parliament, and not the agreed position of the Bundestag or the government, which has always supported UN and EU resolutions and actions condemning the illegal annexation of Crimea by Russia.

Propagandists deliberately distort this thesis in order to once again promote the pro-Kremlin narrative about Crimea and direct it to the international community. Like, Crimea is no longer possible to return, even European countries recognize this.

The authors of many “patriotic” telegram channels in Russia were outraged not only by the exchange of the leadership of the Azov Regiment, which the Russian authorities promised to give to the tribunal and generally ruled out the possibility of their exchange, but also by the fact that Viktor Medvedchuk was among those who surrendered to Russia.

The military or political leadership of the Russian Federation has not yet commented on the exchange because of the indignation of the “patriots” who consider it a defeat, real and informational. But Russian propagandists and PR people are making significant efforts to distance the leadership of the Russian Federation in the information field from any defeats and shift the responsibility to someone else. Therefore, commenting on the exchange of more than 200 Ukrainian military and foreigners who fought on the side of Ukraine was instructed to Denys Pushylin, the leader of the “DNR”.

He stated that he “signed the order himself” on the exchange, which is surprising since the exchange was coordinated by the efforts of a group of negotiators, including the Turkish president, the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, representatives of President Zelenskyi’s office – and none of these countries, of course, recognized the “DNR” as “a part of the conflict”, and Pushylin as a person who can decide at least something. Still, Erdohan thanked the efforts of “Zelenskyi and Putin” for creating the possibility of an exchange.

But it is Pushylin who is spread by Russian propaganda where he explains that Medvedchuk was “liberated from Ukrainian captivity”. Although Medvedchuk was in custody and is a citizen of Ukraine, therefore he cannot be captured and thanks to his previous “merits” he cannot be involved in organizing the exchange of prisoners. And it seems that the absence of Medvedchuk in Russia “complicated the referendum and support for this referendum”. Consequently, the detained Medvedchuk complicated the process of “expression of will” in the occupied parts of Ukraine, and how come “free Medvedchuk” could help the “referendums” that would begin tomorrow, Pushylin, of course, did not explain.

All these incomprehensible statements are another proof that in any defeats, Russian propaganda is trying to shift the responsibility to the “people of Donbas”. For example, during the counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kharkiv region, it was the Russian propaganda who blamed the defeat on those mobilized from the occupied territories of Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Russian propaganda telegram channels began to distribute a video that should “explain” to the Russians what the Russian Federation will “receive” as a result of the so-called “referendums” in the occupied territory of Ukraine.

Oddly enough, there is no mention in the video of the “liberation of Russian-speaking brothers from the Nazis, or their “protection” from ghostly “oppressions”. At the same time, they focus only on the fact that Russia has seized more than 100 thousand square kilometers of land, the territory of Ukraine “will decrease by 20%”, and the population - “by 21%”.

The video tells how much grain can be grown in the occupied territories of the Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions and reports on the same grain that the Russians stole this year in Ukraine. Since it is also impossible to boast of the “benefit” from the occupied territories of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, because the industry of the occupied Donbass was destroyed during the 8 years of the war, the video reminded that “the USSR in the Donetsk region produced 30 million tons of coal annually”, and “before the Maidan, GDP of Donetsk region accounted for 16% of the total gross domestic product of Ukraine”. The propagandists decided not to specify anything about the Luhansk region, they only indicated that “it has huge mineral reserves”.

The video also shows a map of Ukraine, which demonstrates all these calculations for the territory of all regions within their administrative boundaries but none of these four regions is completely occupied.

Russian media disseminate information that in all the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine, a voluntary decision was simultaneously made to immediately join Russia. Moreover, the invaders are already spreading information about how many residents are ready to take part in the “referendum” and what (positive) decision will be: in the occupied parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, 80% of residents will vote “for”, in Luhansk - 90%, and in Donetsk - 91%. The occupiers are trying to imitate "democracy" and, according to the results of "polls", they assume that in Zaporizhzhia and Kherson region, part of the inhabitants will "vote" for "remaining part of Ukraine".

Recently, due to the successful counter-offensive of the Ukrainian army, as well as due to partisan resistance in the temporarily occupied territories, collaborators reported about the "postponement of referendums for security reasons". However, on September 20, the self-proclaimed authorities in all the temporarily occupied territories simultaneously announced the "immediate holding of a referendum" during September 23-27.

Such decisions have no legal force: neither Ukraine nor the world recognizes the results of the so-called voting. According to the Constitution of Ukraine, "the territory of Ukraine within the existing border is integral and inviolable" and questions about changing the territory of Ukraine are resolved exclusively by an all-Ukrainian referendum.

The SSU takes away documents from residents of eastern Ukraine so that they cannot leave their place of residence and become human shields for the Ukrainian military. This thesis Russian propagandists soar on Facebook and illustrate with a photograph with stacks of Ukrainian passports lying on the floor. However, this photo was published back in July and illustrates the opposite.

As analysts of the Myth Detector project write, for the first time this photo was published by the Agency for Strategic Communications and Information Security of the Ministry of Culture and Information Security of Ukraine on Twitter. According to their information, the photo shows Ukrainian passports in the city of Lysychansk which the Russians confiscated from locals in the temporarily occupied territories.

There were stories about this on Russian television, in particular, the propagandists went to the village of Vasylivka, Zaporizhzhia region, to the only official checkpoint on the front line, where people leave the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and in some cases vice versa. The propagandists, of course, paid attention only to those people who go to the occupied territory and assure that recently the flow of refugees from the Ukrainian side has almost doubled. Like, someone is going to visit relatives or on business, many have luggage, which means they are going there for a long time. It is not true.

According to fact checkers from the Insider such “news” does not indicate compared with what moment the flow of those wishing to visit the occupied territory has increased. It is also completely incomprehensible why this is called a flow of refugees, if the author of the plot himself admits that who visits relatives and who goes on business. In addition, they are silent about the fact that the day before the Russian side closed the checkpoint for several days due to security issues.

At the same time, a Kherson journalist Konstiantyn Ryzhenko was driving through Vasylivka from the occupied territory. He described his experience on the Radio Svoboda (Liberty) website. According to him, there are so many people that you have to stand in a live queue for several days, so he advises you to take a mat and a blanket or a sleeping bag, or even a tent, with you. “It's more convenient and comfortable to sleep in it than in a car or a bus”, says Ryzhenko.

Such messages are distributed by propaganda telegram channels, in particular MediaKiller. Such reports say that allegedly the United States will not grant Russia the status of a State Sponsor of Terrorism as because of this Washington will lose a number of privileges. In particular, this will lead to a rupture of diplomatic relations with Russia and will reduce the influence of the United States in the international arena. However, this is manipulation.

Indeed, according to Reuters, the US Senate recently introduced legislation that could recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. “The need for this action is more urgent than ever before”, said one of the authors of the bill, Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal. Washington is not afraid to take such decisive action, and even more so actively supports Ukraine in the fight in the war unleashed by Russia.

Previously, it was indeed said that Russia should not be given such a status. The Biden administration did not comment further on the decision.

Thus, Russia wants to show its power and world support, as if the United States does not recognize it as a terrorist state because this will only make it worse. Like, it is not profitable for anyone to quarrel with Russia.

Such a message is being spread by Russian propagandists against the backdrop of the liberation by the Armed Forces of Ukraine from Russian invaders of territories in the Kharkiv region. The reports say that for people living in the liberated territories of the Kharkiv region, a big problem will be that immediately after the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and maybe with them, real punishers will come. Like, they showed themselves perfectly in the fight against civilians even before the war: they fearlessly killed prisoners, fought against the flow of humanitarian aid, etc. The authors of such messages add that people in the liberated territories need to be careful. 

In addition, according to the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Russian propaganda accuses the Ukrainian authorities of plans to persecute traitors and collaborators among the residents of the territories of Ukraine de-occupied from the Russian occupiers. And Russia calls on international organizations to “force Kyiv to abandon punitive measures against civilians”; appeals to all UN states "to influence Kyiv in order to prevent severe humanitarian consequences for civilians"; accuses the Armed Forces of Ukraine of "looting, torture, beatings, in order to later shift the responsibility for their crimes to Russia".

In fact, the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not persecute the civilian population in the liberated Ukrainian territories. Since the liberation of cities and villages from Russian invaders, dozens of videos have appeared on the network, which show how civilians welcome the Ukrainian military with hugs and thank them for their struggle. However, Russia once again seeks to create the image of evil Ukrainians-punishers who mock their citizens; torture them, etc.

Thus, the propaganda wants to justify the war that Russia started in Ukraine. Like, the Russian army came precisely to liberate the Ukrainians from the captivity of the terrible Nazi punishers. In addition, the Kremlin seeks to create an alibi for itself regarding the possible discovery of war crimes by the Russian army in the liberated territories in order to avoid negative reputational consequences by analogy with the tragedy in Bucha.

The Russian Ministry of Defense assured that the Russian army is not retreating from the Kharkiv region, but is regrouping to the occupied part of the Donetsk region "to step up efforts in the Donetsk direction" in order to achieve the goal of a special military operation to liberate Donbas. The Russians said that during this operation a series of "disgusting and demonstrative events were carried out with the indication of the real actions of the troops".

The Russians circulated such a statement in order not to admit that the Ukrainian army carried out a successful offensive and liberated more than 30 settlements in the Kharkiv region, and allegedly they themselves decided within three days to curtail and organize the transfer of troops to the occupied Donbas.

Such theses are disseminated by propaganda channels, in particular by RIA Novosti. These reports say that Polish companies have organized the purchase of farmers’ products at a reduced price. In this way, allegedly Poland dooms Ukrainian enterprises to bankruptcy. And since then the Poles seek to buy the assets of companies and Ukrainian lands at reduced prices. However, this is all lies.

As the specialists of the Brekhunets (Lier) project explain, the current harvest campaign is really difficult. Due to the loss of access to ports, after the full-scale invasion of Russia, those who grew grain were the first to suffer. In addition, part of the crops in the temporarily occupied territories was also lost: fields were burned, equipment was destroyed.

The Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine noted that there are only a few bankruptcy cases.

Now, for example, ports have started to work, and if the dynamics are the same as now, then export volumes will be at the level of 4-4.5 million tons, it is quite possible that in September talks will begin between banks and manufacturers about new repayment and credit schedules.

Media Detector has already written about a fake on the impossibility of selling agricultural land to foreign citizens. Moreover, this applies as well to legal entities - food companies.

They also allegedly have a big request for literature in Russian. This is reported by Russian media on anonymous telegram channels. This is not true.

In fact, the occupiers are destroying Ukrainian textbooks and teaching methodology books, books on the history of Ukraine, books by Ukrainian writers, and the Ukrainian language is being made an optional subject in schools. Even fairy tales and illustrated children’s books with almost no text were destroyed. As the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center writes, the Russians decided on their own about the language of instruction in schools.

Since May, the occupiers in the Kharkiv region have emphasized that education in schools will be according to Russian programs and Russian standards. For this, delegations of teachers from the occupied territories of the Kharkiv region traveled to Russia for the so-called retraining. At the end of August, propagandists reported that the United Russia party set the task of developing a plan for the phased Russification of schools and kindergartens in the temporarily occupied Vovchansk,Kharkiv region. In particular, the subject “History of Ukraine” will be replaced by “History of the Russian Federation”. Classes taught in Ukrainian will be replaced by “Russian-speaking” classes. Ukrainian literature will be taught exclusively in Russian and there will be a separate “Russian fiction (Russian literature)”. All entries in students’ registers and diaries will be made in Russian.

In August, Putin instructed the Russian government to pay 10,000 rubles at the same time to one of the parents of schoolchildren in the occupied parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Luhansk and Donetsk regions, provided that the child starts studying according to Russian programs by September 15.

Russian media write about this with reference to the so-called “head of administration” Yevhen Balytskyi. They reported that from September 05 in the occupied territories the hryvnia will allegedly “cheapen” and amount to 1.25 rubles. Allegedly, soon the “rate” of the hryvnia and the ruble will be 1:1, and then the hryvnia will completely “depreciate”. This is manipulation.

The occupiers are artificially withdrawing the hryvnia from circulation and forcibly making payments in rubles. It is impossible to talk about an economically justified ratio of the hryvnia and the ruble in the occupied territories. The Ukrainian banking system in the temporarily occupied territories does not work, so it is impossible to replenish the turnover of hryvnias.

Thus, due to the “depreciation” of hryvnias, the occupiers are trying to promote the idea of ​​depreciating everything Ukrainian and to emotionally influence the Ukrainians who remained in the occupation.

Earlier, the occupiers spread fakes that allegedly in the shops of Ternopil and Lviv regions prices are indicated in hryvnia and zloty.

The Poles demand that Ukraine return the property lost after the Second World War. Russian media are massively spreading a fake about “thousands of lawsuits” that descendants seem to have filed

Poles who lived in Lviv until 1939, demanding that their apartments be returned to them.

In fact, there are no such claims. In their materials, the Russian media refer to the article of the publication “Strana” (“State”), which for many years promotes pro-Russian theses. This time the publication took a comment from the chairman of the Polish organization “Restitution of Kresov” Konrad Renkas, who stated that such claims are prepared. But during the war they decided not to sue.

At the same time, the Russian media wrote that the Ukrainian courts were already “overwhelmed” with these lawsuits.

The Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine warned: Ukrainians in the temporarily occupied territories of the Zaporizhzhia region receive SMS with fake information and a link to the enemy's Telegram channel. The report says that 85% of the region's residents are in favor of joining Russia.

As the specialists of the Center found out, the link leads to the Zaporizhzhia Vestnik Telegram channel, owned by the Russian occupation authorities and aimed at residents of the Zaporizhzhia region.

“This channel was created just a month ago, and its main goal is to incline people to the side of Russia, demonstrating “all the beauty of the Russian world” and at the same time to discredit the Ukrainian authorities,” the CСD wrote.

Together with the CCD, we urge you to use time-tested, reliable sources of information, as well as those where you can identify the author of the content.

Such messages are spread by pro-Russian telegram channels and Twitter accounts. Allegedly, such a crime is punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The propagandists also refer to the "law on collaborationism", which supposedly came into force on August 16. It is not true.

Ukrainian legislation does not provide for liability for receiving Russian humanitarian aid in the occupied territories. According to StopFake, the new bills, on the contrary, are designed to include humanitarian aid in the list of activities that are not considered collaborationism, if there is no cooperation with the Russian occupiers.

There is no single “law on collaborationism” in Ukraine yet. On March 15, separate rules on liability for cooperation with the occupiers came into force. There is also no single punishment for collaborators yet. Depending on the circumstances, it can be different: from a ban on holding certain positions to life imprisonment.

Russian propaganda convinces of this. But this is not the case at all, the Center for Strategic Communications notes.

In fact, Ukrainians are:

going to rallies en masse,

cooperating with the Armed Forces,

fighting the invaders on their own,

This was written by the pro-Kremlin media with reference to the mayor of Lviv, Andrii Sadovyi. It is not true.