Propagandists broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks and the media are distributing a video that allegedly depicts the murder of a Ukrainian recruiting officer while delivering a draft notice. They say that this footage was “shared by the National Police of Ukraine”. They add that this can be considered “the beginning of the civil war in Ukraine”. It's fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that the video being distributed did not indicate where this incident occurred, which the territorial center of recruitment and social support was being referred to, or when it happened. Such propaganda methods are used specifically to make it more difficult to identify the video and verify its authenticity. Also, the video itself is of very low quality, trimmed (consisting of 2 seconds) - this method is also often used to make it impossible to prove the falsity of the message.

The StopFake specialists also checked the official communication channels of the National Police in recent days and found neither the publication of this video nor information about the murder of a territorial center of recruitment and social support representative. This also indicates that the information being disseminated is fake.

Shortly after the appearance of this dubious video, the National Police published a refutation explaining what exactly it indicated forgery: “the published fragment of the video does not reflect signs characteristic of a shot from a firearm; the inscriptions on the vest of the person in the video are illegible, probably written in foreign letters, and employees of the territorial center of recruitment and social support, while on duty, wear camouflage clothing and without reflective vests; The “watermark” on the video is a fake of the Ukraine National Police mark and does not correspond to how the official video is marked. In addition, the National Police noted that they had not received any reports of the murder or injury of a territorial center of recruitment and social support employee.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to show that public outrage in Ukraine supposedly goes beyond limits. Russian propaganda often uses the topic of mobilization in Ukraine to create fakes and manipulations. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted them.

Users of social networks broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric are distributing videos where supposedly Ukrainian soldiers demonstrate underground fortifications recaptured from the Russians. Like, there are hundreds of meters of branched underground tunnels, a high level of engineering equipment. Commentators ask to see Ukrainian fortifications hinting that they allegedly do not exist. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that in fact the video is not of the Ukrainian military demonstrating their recaptured positions, but of the Russians showing their underground bunkers. However, it is unknown where these fortifications are located: on the front line, deep in the rear in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or on Russian territory.

The author of the two-minute video initially introduces himself as “Borman from the 3rd battalion”. However, at 01:26 from the video, it is noticeable that he has a patch with the Russian tricolor on his left hand. It should also be noted that inside the bunkers there are no traces of combat or dirt, typical of military conditions in the fall and winter. Therefore, it is more difficult to determine the date and location of the video shooting.

Despite the fact that the Russian defense line does pose a big obstacle to the Ukrainian army moving forward and liberating the occupied territories, the Russian military also complains to the propaganda media about Ukrainian drones and tunnels.

By spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to incite despair and mistrust among Ukrainians, especially in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, in this way they are also trying to show that Russia is supposedly constantly winning on the battlefield, in particular thanks to its “amazing fortifications”.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks are distributing a video with the symbols of the British language corporation BBC, which claims that Ukraine allegedly spent $1.2 billion in 2023 to create fakes about the victories of the Ukrainian army at the front. The order, according to the video, was carried out by one of the largest PR companies in Britain. Propagandists claim that, as a result, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Yermak, allegedly “refused to renew the contract for 2024 with the British”, since their activities “did not help in any way to increase the attractiveness of mobilization in Ukraine”. They say that the money went down the drain or “was stolen according to the old Ukrainian tradition”. The video claims that this information was discovered by the independent international research team Bellingcat. However, this is a fake.

Analysts from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that the BBC had never published such a video on its social networks. This video is likely fake. The attackers deliberately crystallized the logo of the British television company and their design for propaganda purposes. To create the video, footage from open sources was used (in particular, an image of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Andrii Yermak) and stock videos (in particular, with people in suits shaking hands). Propagandists used archival photographs of Ukrainian military personnel taken before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The portion of the video purported to be Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins talking about his “investigation” was taken from his #ConflictZone interview with DW (December 2022 issue), where Higgins is actually talking about the Russian disinformation against Ukraine and the activities of Russian spies in the West. Official information on Bellingcat resources also does not contain any information about the investigation that propagandists refer to. Previously, Higgins noted on his X (formerly Twitter) account that propagandists had already attributed false statements to Bellingcat several times.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, in order to cover up the war crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine and create a false impression among the world public about the failures of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the battlefield, Kremlin propaganda has been actively spreading the narrative that Ukraine is creating fake content about the war in Ukraine. They say that Ukraine lies to its citizens, which means there is no point in trusting it.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that in Ukraine, representatives of the patrol police have begun to detain men to hand them over to the Territorial center of recruitment and social support employees. As proof of this, a video of patrol officers knocking a man down is being circulated online. Such mobilization takes place in Ivano-Frankivsk.

This information is not true. The mentioned video recorded how law enforcement officers detained a man who was on the roadway and actually violated traffic rules by obstructing the passage of traffic. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, which verified this information with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In addition, the man in the video is 69 years old, which makes it impossible for him to mobilize, as propagandists write about. The police detained the offender and took him to the department, where they compiled administrative materials against him, but did not hand him over to the Territorial center of recruitment and social support employees.

By spreading this disinformation, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine. More rebuttals from the Detector Media on the topic of mobilization can be found here.

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.

A video from the American publication Wired, specializing in IT and innovation, is being circulated online, declaring that the Ukrainian military allegedly uses satellite Internet from Starlink primarily for online gambling. The video states that approximately 35% of all connections allegedly led to Ukrainian casino sites. The video fake was exposed by the StopFake fact-checkers.

There are three reasons why this video is fabricated.

Firstly, the American publication Wired never published the video in question on its social networks. The StopFake journalists checked the latest publications on the Wired websites (wired.co.uk and wired.com), which mentioned Ukraine. They have no mention of the Ukrainian military allegedly using Starlink to play online casinos. Instead, Wired has numerous posts about Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine, such as: Elijah Wood and Mike Tyson Cameo Videos Were Used in a Russian Disinformation Campaign, Elon Musk Mocked Ukraine, and Russian Trolls Went Wild, Fake Taylor Swift Quotes Are Being Used to Spread Anti-Ukraine Propaganda.

Secondly, although the attackers tried to imitate Wired's branding, there are many differences that can be seen when comparing this video with real Wired videos. In particular, all Wired videos have a title in the first seconds - an inscription on a black background, made in a different font. The fake video does not have such a title. It should also be noted that to create the fake, the attackers used video from low-quality open sources, which is not allowed in authentic Wired videos.

Thirdly, it was not possible to find a single study in open sources that analyzed Internet traffic from Starlink stations used by the Ukrainian military.

With such publications, propagandists are trying to discredit the effectiveness of assistance to Ukraine and expose the Ukrainians as short-sighted people who allegedly abuse the help of the international community.

Anonymous telegrams are distributing a video, which, according to their version, has become a greeting of Merry Christmas: in the video, actors dressed as devils sing in the guise of a church choir and greet Ukrainians with the holiday. It's fake.

The StopFake fact-checkers examined the case and determined that this was not an unofficial New Year’s greeting for the New Year or Merry Christmas. After all, this video is an advertisement for an online casino. The authors of the fake simply added one of the logos of Ukrainian channels to confirm the “broadcast” of the so-called greetings to the devils in disguise. That is, the video has nothing to do with religion, just as it is not an official greeting of Ukrainians on Christmas.

Read on Censor.NET: After Stepan Bandera and Joe Biden, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine “canonized” the dog Patron. Review Russian disinformation for November 27 - December 3, 2023 here.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric distributed a video with an advertising banner that appeared to be located in New York. The likely video says, “If Snoop Dogg gave up drugs, you can do it too”. Subsequently, a photo of Volodymyr Zelenskyi appears on the screen. It is not true.

The VoxCheck analysts were able to analyze the case and found out that the video is not real. After all, while watching a video with an advertising banner, they noticed the logo of one of the rehabilitation centers for people with various types of addictions in the United States - namely Wish Recovery. That is, the fake news suggests that it was this establishment that distributed the video on its own behalf. The VoxCheck specialists checked whether the rehabilitation center used a video with Zelenskyi in its advertising communications. It turned out that the Ehab clinic did not publish a similar video on its pages on social networks and it was also not possible to find any mention of it either. Essentially, the “advertising” was compiled using special editors.

Other advertising banners placed alongside the fake video of a rehab clinic indicate that the area itself was filmed at least in the fall. For example, on the screen one can see an advertisement for the song Lollipop by Darell, which was released back in July 2023, and the video was published on October 8, 2023; Allegedly, the song has been advertised for two months. Or an advertisement for the cosmetics brand Charlotte Tilbury, a collection dedicated to the festive period, starting with Halloween 2023. That is, the advertising banners were filmed in advance, and then a video with Volodymyr Zelenskyi was inserted.

With the help of Russian propaganda, Zelenskyi was able to appear in various roles, in particular: a vain person who spends all budget funds only on himself; a punitive satanist destroying Ukrainian church property; a person with drug addiction; theft of Western money; a puppet controlled by the West; a monster who throws “everyone in a row” to the front, etc. This is how the Kremlin uses the tactic of imposing shameful epithets.

Anonymous telegram channels are distributing a video that allegedly states that Volodymyr Zelenskyi supported the so-called petition of Ukrainian linguist Iryna Farion for the “dismissal” of Russian-speaking fighters from the Ukrainian Defense Forces. “From now on, we will mobilize only Ukrainian-speaking citizens”, Zelenskyi was quoted. It's a lie.

The Voxcheck specialists analyzed the case and found that there is no such petition on the website of the official Internet representation of the President of Ukraine, and the quote from Volodymyr Zelenskyi was completely invented. Analysts also checked the social networks of the former deputy of the 7th convocation - they did not find any information about the presentation of the petition. And the original source of this video is a TikTok account in which the author systematically disseminates fakes about mobilization, humanitarian aid and creates deepfakes with the participation of Ukrainian politicians. The author also runs a telegram channel, where, according to analysts, he relays Kremlin narratives: for example, he does not call Russia an aggressor.

This fake is most likely spread against the backdrop of Iryna Farion’s scandalous statements about Russian-speaking military personnel on the air of the program “Rendezvous with Yanina Sokolova”. Then she stated that “she cannot call Russian-speaking military personnel Ukrainians”. After all, according to her, if there is no discipline in the army (to study the Ukrainian language - DM), then it is a rabble. Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets appealed to law enforcement officers and the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting to verify Farion’s statements about Russian-speaking military personnel.

Subsequently, on November 8, 2023, she released an email from a Crimean student, which supported his position on the importance of using the Ukrainian language among the military. At the same time, Farion published the letter and did not hide the student’s personal data. Anonymous and pro-Russian telegram channels “thanked” the linguists for the information provided and a few days later they published a video in which the guy confirms that it was he who sent the letter to Farion. In the video, he also said that he was at the Center for Combating Extremism of the Russian occupation Ministry of Internal Affairs and they had an “intelligent conversation” with him. As a result, Dmytro Lubinets contacted the Security Service of Ukraine regarding the disclosure of confidential information.

Now criminal proceedings have been opened against Farion under several articles, in particular, violation of the equality of citizens depending on their race, nationality, regional affiliation, religious beliefs, disability and other characteristics.

In the Ukrainian segment of social networks, information is being spread that a curfew is being introduced in Ukraine during the New Year holidays. As they add, it will take place from December 30, 2023 to January 2, 2024. To find out the exact list of areas in which there will be a curfew, users are asked to go to anonymous telegram channels using the link. The publications also refer to the TSN story. However, this is not true.

The VoxCheck analysts were able to analyze the case and establish that the “story” has been compiled: there is no mention of the introduction of a 24-hour curfew on TSN’s social media pages.

The experts also checked the video for the use of artificial intelligence using a special tool called AI Speech Classifier. It turned out that the probability of using AI is 98%. This is indicated, among other things, by the fact that the presenter’s facial expressions do not coincide with the words superimposed by artificial intelligence. That is, the authors used real TSN news material, but put other words on it.

By dispersing such stuffing, telegram anonymous people seek to artificially increase the audience on telegram channels for their own benefit.

Propagandists are distributing a video on social networks showing a large-scale banner of the CNN television network in Times Square in New York with the inscription “Kyiv has fallen. Will the Russians stop or move on? Find out more on Political Briefing”. However, this is fake.

Reuters fact-checkers drew attention to it. They found out that such a banner never existed, and Silvercast, the company that advertises on the billboards, confirmed that the image was “fake”. The video was altered to make it appear as if it was an advertisement for Political Briefing, a weekly podcast hosted by CNN political director David Chalian. “This video is a fabrication and is not an advertisement from CNN”, Emily Kuhn, CNN's vice president of public affairs, told Reuters. Harry Grossman, a spokesman for Silvercast in New York, said in an email to Reuters that the ad was “fake” and never aired on the company's billboard shown in the video.

Propagandists create such fake news to discredit popular media. In addition, they create the erroneous impression that these media actually support the Russian version of events.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric in traditional media and social networks are actively distributing a video showing a large line in Chernihiv for free bread. They say that this indicates hunger and the unhappy state of people in Ukraine, caused, in particular, by “European integration”. However, this is manipulation.

The analysts of the StopFake project paid attention to it. They found that the video did not really indicate “hunger and trouble”. In fact, it shows the distribution of bread to people who took part in the gospel ministry in Chernihiv. Representatives of the evangelical church gave bread to their parishioners not because of “hunger”, but as a gift after the service. Humanitarian support of parishioners is standard practice of many evangelical religious organizations around the world and does not indicate “poverty and destruction” in the country. The promotion uses specially baked bread with the inscription “Victory” from the Craft Bakery in Kyiv.

By spreading such manipulations, Russian propaganda is trying to strengthen its narratives about “poverty and destitution” in Ukraine, which allegedly resulted from the “collective West”. Russian propaganda became more active in disseminating this message against the backdrop of news about the start of negotiations on Ukraine’s accession to the European Union.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are creating an advertising campaign to “promote” women into the army. And they explain this initiative by saying that women should “encourage” men and get to know them. “Do you want a “real man”: strong, courageous, responsible? You know the answer. All the “real men” are here now - join the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, the video says.

The VoxCheck analysts investigated the case and found that such a video does not belong to the official campaigns of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. For example, this video is not on the official website or on the social media pages of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, using a reverse search on Google, it was possible to find out that the video was compiled using frames from stock videos. In addition, the video was distributed exclusively in the Russian segment of social networks.

Russian propaganda is once again speculating on the topic of “mobilization of women”. But only doctors and pharmacists must register with the military from October 1, 2023; however, military registration does not mean mobilization or the establishment of restrictions on travel abroad. The Ministry of Health notes: registration is necessary only to summarize data on the existing reserve of doctors in the country. The travel of this category of women is unlimited. To register for military service, this category of women will have three years - until December 31, 2026.

Propagandists also repeatedly appealed to the provisions of the bill, previously promulgated by People’s Deputy Marianna Bezuhla. Possible legislative norms published state that women who are fit for military service will be registered as liable for military service. At the same time, during martial law, women are recruited to combat positions only voluntarily. But during a big press conference that Volodymyr Zelenskyi held on December 19, 2023, he said that he would not sign a bill with clauses on the mobilization of women.

Among other things, we recommend reading another of our documented cases, in which propagandists claimed that Ukrainian doctors and pharmacists were supposedly “escaping” from Ukraine en masse through the so-called mobilization.

Telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that the Church of the Dog Patron was founded in Ukraine. As proof, the authors add a video in which a man allegedly wearing a priest’s robe and with a headdress in the form of a dog’s head invites parishioners to the Church of the Holy Dog Patron. It's a lie.

Analysts from the VoxCheck project investigated this case and explained that the news about the founding of the church was made up. At the same time, the primary source of the video is the humorous channel in the text. That is, propagandists replicated the satirical video and presented it as a true fact. Moreover, the Ukrainian media did not publish such news. Neither such information was published on social networks or on the website of the dog Patron itself.

Let us remind you that we previously documented a fake that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine canonized the dog Patron.

Read on Censor.NET: The OCU is allegedly praying for Ukraine to join NATO and the EU.

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.

Kremlin media and social network users spreading pro-Russian rhetoric began to spread false information that a Ukrainian military man was allegedly sent to the front in Avdiivka for filming a video in TikTok, and there he allegedly died instantly. In such messages, Russian propaganda adds his humorous video about “cleaning the general’s garage”, next to information about the death of a certain “Valerii Tarashchuk”. However, this is fake.

After disseminating such information, StopFake decided to check whether it was true that the military man was sent to the front because of a video on TikTok and whether he really died there. As it turned out, the information disseminated is not true.

The StopFake specialists began searching for the deceased “Tarashchuk Valerii” using his photograph. The search tool on social networks Search4faces displayed the inactive profile of “Stiopa Ihonin” on VK. Using this name, we managed to find his active pages on Instagram and Facebook with the image of the “deceased” Valeryii Tarashchuk. There are links on Instagram to Tiktok, where they found the video that Russian propaganda used.

The StopFake specialists contacted the user for a comment - whether he really belongs to the video distributed by Russian propaganda and whether he was really sent to Avdiivka because of his TikTok. The author of the video, a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Stepan Ihonin, confirmed that this is his video, but the description that Russian propaganda provides him is fake. “I was shocked when my friends showed me this news. Everything that is written there is complete nonsense; I have not cleaned the garages of any generals. No one was looking for me and no one sent me to Avdiivka”,  said the military man. They also asked Ihonin about the inscription “I thought I was going to Avdiivka, but I went to clean the general’s garage” from the distributed video. The military man said that he did not make such an inscription. On his Tiktok profile, this video is without any captions and was published long before propagandists began to spread it.

They spread such fabrications to create a false image of Ukraine as a state that restricts the rights and freedoms of its citizens, as well as strictly censoring its media space. Moreover, propagandists resort to this to intimidate Ukrainians. They say that now they can be mobilized for humorous TikTok. Detector Media has repeatedly written about other Russian stories on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine.

Pro-Russian telegram channels write that in the near future Ukrainian troops will supposedly begin to retreat from the left bank of the Kherson region, from the village of Krynky, since the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces there can be calculated in the dozens. They say that since the end of autumn 2023, the Ukrainian military has been “pushed” there not to expand the bridgehead, but to inevitable death. In the Russian army, supposedly in Krynky there are only a few wounded. In asserting this, propagandists refer to Putin’s statement made during the “direct line” on December 14, 2023. However, this is not true.

The experts from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security analyzed this case. They found out that in fact the situation in the village of Krynky, which is described in propaganda publications, referring to Putin, is significantly exaggerated, as are the “tactical successes” of the Russian occupiers in this direction. In addition, a cemetery of broken Russian equipment has already accumulated near Krynky, which is confirmed by video recordings of precise strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the occupiers. By the way, presumably, in the area of the village of Krynky in the fall of 2023, the deputy of the 14th Army Corps of the Russian Armed Forces, Major General Zavadskyi, died.

It should be noted that on December 14, 2023, the day of Putin’s “direct line”, the British Ministry of Defense reports specifically on the problems of the Russian military on the left bank of Kherson, and not the Ukrainian army. They write there that the newly formed 104th Guards Airborne Division of Russia with a high probability suffered extremely heavy losses when trying to dislodge Ukrainian forces from Krynky.

Speaking about the successes of Russians on the left bank of the Kherson region, Russian propaganda is trying to create the idea that the Russian army has a great advantage there. In addition, in this way, propagandists once again exceed the achievements of the Russian military in the war in Ukraine. Previously, we analyzed the propaganda message that Ukraine is allegedly preparing for the surrender of Kherson.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing a video allegedly from Euronews, which depicts “graffiti” with Volodymyr Zelenskyi in the image of a maniac from the film “The Shining”, in the interpretation of the creators of street art demanding money. The reports also refer to material from the publication Der Tagesspiegel, which allegedly cites this graffiti as evidence of the growth of anti-Ukrainian sentiment. It is not true.

The VoxCheck analysts investigated this case and found out that Euronews did not publish the video on its social media pages. This means that the probable plot is compiled. In addition, there is no material about the caricature and the growth of so-called “anti-Ukrainian sentiments” in Germany on the Der Tagesspiegel website or on the publication’s social networks.

We have repeatedly documented hoaxes involving fake graffiti or covers on foreign magazines, newspaper columns or advertisements. Thus, propagandists seek to show that their rhetoric (for example, that Zelenskyi is hated by the whole world) is also repeated in the West. So it may seem to readers that the public is really dissatisfied with Ukraine. And especially when the authors use elements of popular culture, hinting that people are laughing at the situation in Ukraine, and that the Ukrainian agenda for Europe is a reason to laugh.

Russian telegram channels are distributing a video recording of an unknown woman who, on condition of anonymity, says that the Ukrainian military seems to be robbing residential buildings and apartments in Kherson because they will “surrender the city”. They justify their actions by the fact that they do not want to leave Russia.

The very fact of the appearance of information with reference to an anonymous authority already indicates its dubiousness. The Russians are conducting IPSO as if they are actively advancing on all sectors of the front and are preparing to occupy Kherson. In fact, the reality is different - the Ukrainian Armed Forces are conducting an operation on the left bank of the Kherson region, and this gives grounds to assert that the information about the surrender of Kherson is an invention of Russian propaganda.

With disinformation about the alleged capture of Kherson, the Russians are trying to cover up their failures on the battlefield and discredit the Ukrainian army. Moreover, the Russians launched similar messages before the Kharkiv region was liberated in September 2022.

• Read also: The Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly deliberately shelled the center of Kherson

This information is disseminated by pro-Kremlin resources. In this “news”, propaganda  refers to the British broadcasting corporation BBC, which published the corresponding video. The information itself is distributed in several versions. The first piece of propaganda allegedly attaches a BBC video with text about accusations against the head of the Servant of the People faction. It says that the case is likely to be investigated by the International Criminal Court, and information about this was received by the BBC, as well as the research group Bellingcat. In the second version, only a screenshot from the same video is attached. All this is done in the corporate style of the British broadcaster. However, this is fake.

Experts on the StopFake project studied this case. They managed to find out that the information was not true. Journalists from Newtral and Checkyourfact, who checked the video, also came to the conclusion that it was fake.

Firstly, the video in question says that one of those who received information about the investigation is BBC journalist Shayan Sardarizadeh. It should be noted that such a journalist really exists, and he is engaged in fact-checking. However, on his page on the social network X, the journalist himself said that the video being distributed was fake.

Secondly, the incorrect spelling of David Arakhamia’s last name in the video indicates that the material is likely fake. In the accompanying text he writes “Arahmia”, but in English the surname of the head of the Servant of the People faction should be written as Arakhamia. In addition, a search on the official BBC website for the surname Arahmia does not yield any results.

Thirdly, on the same official website of the BBC, on the social networks X and Facebook, on YouTube there is no video publication published by propaganda. Propagandists once again used the corporate style of the world's leading media, in this case the BBC, to create yet another fake story about Ukraine.

This is not the first time that Russian propaganda has used the corporate design style of reputable foreign media to publish its fake news. Previously, we refuted information that the German media Deutsche Welle allegedly distributed a video about an anti-Ukrainian flash mob that took place in Poland.

Users of social networks that spread pro-Russian rhetoric are spreading information that, due to a shortage of electricity, Ukrainian television is allegedly calling on “all unmarried women to move to bachelorhood”. A video is also being circulated online of a news program presenter saying: “The message continues to be important. Due to the heat and electricity conservation regime, all unmarried women are asked to move into bachelors. Please do not ignore this question and be sure to pass it on to your loved ones. Studio”.

In fact, the message being circulated online is not true, and the video itself has been edited. Using a reverse image search on Bing, StopFake specialists were able to establish that a news release from the First City TV Channel.Kryvyi Rih was used to create this fake video. On the screen is Natalia Boldunska, who regularly hosts a news program. The fact-checkers looked through all the news releases with Natalia’s participation, but they were never able to find such a “story”. This video was probably created using a neural network.

The fact that the video was deliberately edited for propaganda purposes is also indicated by the illogicality of the “presenter’s” language. At the end of the video, it can be heard saying: “Studio”. Typically, such an appeal can be heard from correspondents during live broadcasts, and not from the host who is most in the studio of the new program. The very advice to unmarried women to move into bachelors during a power outage is a joke and has been spreading online since at least October 2022.

This video was first published on his Telegram channel by the famous pro-Kremlin propagandist Simeon Boikov, better known by his online nickname Aussie Cossack. StopFake has repeatedly drawn attention to Boikov’s propaganda activities: he regularly distributes false content about Ukraine. Also, Australian media previously reported that Boikov was hiding in the Russian consulate after a Sydney court issued a warrant for his arrest in December 2022. A man is accused of attacking a pro-Ukrainian protester.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to show that the Ukrainian authorities and Ukrainians do not want to solve problems at all, but are running away from them. In particular, this also applies to power outages. However, in reality it is Russia that should be in them, since it is destroying Ukrainian civilian infrastructure.

Users of social networks broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric began to spread fake information that one of the Ukrainian companies specializing in the production of video content is now showing a video where a neural network “revitalizes” dead soldiers so that they express the opinion: “It was not worth it” (reflection of Russian aggression, which led to the death of soldiers at the hands of the Russian occupiers. - ed.). As “proof”, users attach a short video, which, according to them, was recorded from the group’s official YouTube page.

The StopFake project verified whether this video is actually related to the mentioned company. It turned out that the disseminated information was not true. Firstly, the video shows that the broadcast, as noted, took place on the Film.ua Group YouTube channel. The Ukrainian group of companies actually has its own channel on this platform, but the original channel has an authenticity icon next to its name, while the fake one does not. Secondly, there are no videos on the channel distributed by Russian propaganda. StopFake specialists reviewed published videos and live broadcasts over the past few months and did not find anything similar. Thirdly, StopFake turned to Film.ua Group for a comment: did they really broadcast the video that was being distributed on social networks. The group's PR manager Kateryna Zymina said that they did not do this.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine and create a false impression that everything is tragic at the front. Like, it’s not worth fighting, so it is necessary to agree to Russia’s terms. Detector Media wrote about a number of other inventions by Russians against the Ukrainian military.

Users of social networks broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric are distributing a video allegedly from the American media company Bloomberg that the Ukrainian authorities tried to sell the Crimean collection of “Scythian gold”, recently received from the Netherlands, at an online auction at Sotheby’s. They say they tried to block the auction, but this does not mean that valuables worth $20 million will not be sold elsewhere. However, this information is not true.

The specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. There is no specified material on the official website and social networks of Bloomberg. Despite the use of the media company’s logo by propagandists, the discrepancy between the video’s design (font and caption design) and the official version indicates that it is a fake. It should also be noted that Bloomberg publishes most of its videos without a logo. Those videos that did have the logo were first broadcast on Bloomberg TV, after which some of them were published on the agency’s social networks. In addition, Bloomberg journalists, using publicly available media content in their videos, always indicate the original source, which is not the case in the video about the sale of Scythian gold distributed online. It is a compilation of publicly available photos and videos. In particular, to create this video, propagandists used several videos from auctions published by Sotheby's, as well as an excerpt from an interview with Ukrainian politician Hennadii Korban.

The assertion that Ukraine allegedly tried to sell the exhibits through Sotheby's auction is meaningless. The fact is that the gold artifacts from Crimea, known as Scythian gold, returned to Ukraine from the Netherlands, belong to the Museum Fund of Ukraine and are under state protection. Exhibition “Crimea. Golden Island in the Black Sea”, which was exhibited on the eve of the annexation of Crimea at the Allard Pearson Museum, included 584 exhibits from five Ukrainian museums (Museum of Historical Treasures of Ukraine, Central Museum of Taurida, Bakhchisarai Historical and Cultural Museum, Kernik Museum and “Chersonese Tauride”). After the Supreme Court of the Netherlands confirmed the decision to return the Crimean artifacts to Ukraine, the items were delivered to the National Museum of the History of Ukraine, where they are still stored. It is also important to note that before lots are put up for sale, they are carefully checked by Sotheby's lawyers and art experts. All these measures virtually exclude the possibility of illegal sale of “Scythian gold” returned to Ukraine.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit the Ukrainian authorities. Like, everything is so bad that they have to sell historical artifacts. However, this is not so; in particular, the National Museum of the History of Ukraine took responsibility for storing the collection.

Russian telegram channels are distributing a video by a TikTok user under the nickname shket057, in which soldiers of the 167th brigade of the Ukrainian Defense Forces disorganizedly retreat from their positions near Bilohorivka. They say that such actions are related to the lack of supplies of resources necessary for fighting on the battlefield. However, this is fake.

Experts at the Center for Countering Disinformation analyzed this video. They found out that the profile from which the video was distributed duplicates the real page of the user shket057, but this video is not on it. In addition, in this case, the fact that there are no 167 brigades in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is also important.

To make things more credible, propagandists create fake accounts on TikTok, where they spread their lies on behalf of the Ukrainian military. The purpose of such actions is to demoralize the population of Ukraine, sow panic among them and assure everyone of the successes of the Russian army on the battlefield. The Russians also spread information that Ukraine allegedly went on the defensive along the entire front line, however, this turned out to be a manipulation of the words of Hanna Maliar, the former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine.

This information was recorded by specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. They explained that pro-Kremlin telegram channels are disseminating information about the defeat of the Grim-2 OTRK launcher. Video evidence is added to the messages.

However, in fact, the primary source of such “news” was a satirical telegram channel, the description of which clearly states that all messages are only humorous in nature. But in fact, the video depicts the defeat of Russian equipment. On December 6, 2023, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko published a video of the defeat of the Russian operational-tactical missile system on his telegram channel. It is most likely that the authors of the satirical channel used this particular video to create the news. And then the Kremlin resources replicated this.

Still, it is impossible to say that the Russians did not destroy Ukrainian equipment on the battlefield, because this is more than possible during the war. But propagandists deliberately exaggerate the significance of “destroyed” equipment on the battlefield, hinting at the supposedly low combat capability of the Ukrainian army. And they use supposedly reliable information to support such a thesis.

The head of the Main Directorate of Missile Forces and Artillery and Unmanned Systems of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Serhii Baranov, in an interview with the military radio station Army FM, when asked whether the Grim-2 installation was at the development stage, replied that the installation was “being improved so let the Russians experience its effects on themselves”.

Read here on how Russian propaganda devalues the weapons that serve Ukraine.