Propaganda says that Ukraine has become one of the private military companies affiliated with NATO. Like, NATO pays money to Ukraine, supplies weapons and intelligence information. NATO also allegedly points to the targets that Ukraine should hit. Allegedly, Ukrainians suffer from this as they must fight.

Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically elected president and parliament. Ukraine does not fight on behalf of a foreign government or organization. It was Russia that started the war in 2014 by occupying parts of Ukrainian territories. Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The Ukrainian army protects Ukrainian territory and Ukrainians. EU vs Disinfo analysts drew attention to the spread of the message.

Due to the spread of such messages, Russia is trying to discredit the support of Ukraine by democratic states. Previously, similar messages were spread: they say that Ukraine is a tool of the West to undermine Russian statehood; the war in Ukraine is part of a secret Western plan to destroy China. The propagandists also claimed that the West was “coordinating” Ukrainian strikes against Russian military facilities.

Such a message is spread by Russian propaganda to a foreign audience, in particular, covering the events in Soledar. Like, thanks to the “bold and selfless” actions of the “volunteers” of the battle groups of the private military company (PVK) “Wagner”, an assault was made on the city blocks of Soledar “occupied” by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

EU vs Disinfo analysts drew attention to the spread of the message. In fact, the PVK “Wagner” is an illegal armed formation that is fighting in Ukraine. Russia did not report the participation of the Wagner group officially. However, their operations are closely linked to the regular Russian army and its foreign policy. The equipment comes from Russian state arsenals and the group is completely dependent on supplies through the logistics of the Russian army.

As analysts write, Wagner is as “private” as the Kremlin needs to avoid command responsibility for the group's atrocities or its covert involvement in conflicts around the world. The group can be considered as another auxiliary armed formation under the Kremlin umbrella.

Their rights, including being in captivity, depend on the official status of the military who are at war. Russian propaganda uses the tactics of substitution of concepts, calling Ukrainian volunteers “mercenaries”. Real mercenaries fighting in the ranks of the Russian army are presented as volunteers.

Earlier, Russian propaganda claimed that a group of Islamists from Syria would fight on the side of Ukraine or spoke about Polish mercenaries who allegedly fought and died in Ukraine.

A number of telegram channels, operating under the control of Russian intelligence, began to distribute photos of documents glued on various houses in the capital. This is a printout of the order for mobilization, signed by the head of the Holosiyivskyi territorial center for recruitment and social support (TTsKSP). The document states what people who have received the draft notices, people who have not yet registered, and people who are going to change their place of residence should do during the general mobilization. All photos of the documents were taken in the Holosiyivskyi district of Kyiv.

The photos are real. Telegram channels of the GRU network write that these documents indicate that “The President's Office is stepping up mobilization”. This is manipulation.

Firstly, even though the president signs the mobilization order, all mobilization activities are under the jurisdiction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Secondly, the general mobilization has been carried out in Ukraine since February 24, did not stop and was last extended in November 2022 until February 18, 2023. Thirdly, as reported in the Kyiv City State Administration, such announcements are the usual informing of the population. “TTsKSP have the right to bring information about planned events to citizens. This is the usual work of the TTsKSP. Such announcements should not be taken in a different context”, and they also add that the announcement at the entrances of houses is “informing the population that the mobilization process in the country continues and a reminder for those who have already been given draft notices to come to the military registration and enlistment office”. The Kyiv state city administration did not explain why it was about these announcements that they appeared only in one district of the capital.

Earlier, Kremlin propaganda has repeatedly spread fakes about mobilization in Ukraine.

Russian media and pro-Russian resources are spreading a video in which a Russian military man says that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were preparing an offensive in the summer of 2022 against Rostov-on-Don and Taganrog. This is allegedly evidenced by marks on maps found on abandoned Ukrainian positions near Avdiyivka. It's fake.

According to VoxCheck, the Russian military shows a Soviet, not a Ukrainian map. There are no marks in Ukrainian on it, only in Russian. Mariupol is designated as Zhdanov - this is how the city was called from 1948 to 1989. That is, the map was created no later than 1989. On it one can also notice the stamp “For official use only” in Russian language but not in Ukrainian. There is no information about who exactly and why put the marks on the map that the military demonstrates. Thus, Russia is trying to make Ukraine an aggressor, to undermine its authority in the international arena.

Earlier, Russian propaganda spread messages that Ukraine had become a laboratory for testing Western weapons, that Ukraine was a biological threat. The propagandists also spread messages that the United States allegedly conducted training and training in Ukraine with pathogens of especially dangerous diseases.

Viktor Medvedchuk, a former deputy of the pro-Russian OPZzh (Opposition platform — for life) party, whom Ukraine accuses of treason and deprived of citizenship, published an article in the Russian media Izvestiia (News) about the “anatomy” of the modern military confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, as well as about the role of the West in this war. In order to prove the “guilt of the West” in the destruction of the Soviet Union, he used a fictitious quote from former United States President Bill Clinton. Insider drew attention to this.

“Using the mistakes of Soviet diplomacy, the extreme self-confidence of Horbachov and his entourage, including those who openly took a pro-American position, we achieved what President Truman was going to do with the Soviet Union with the help of an atomic bomb”, Medvedchuk quotes Clinton in the article. But, as the checkers found out, the quote allegedly belonging to Clinton was published both in Russian and in English only on Russian resources, for example, on the pages of users on Vkontakte. And also in one of the Russian history textbooks for history teachers, which contains a lot of fakes, propaganda, errors and unproven facts. Secondly, the quote appears to have been taken from Bill Clinton's speech at the meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 24, 1995 - but the fact checkers found no evidence that Clinton spoke or even attended this meeting. There is also no quote or mention of this speech in the English-language media or historical articles about Bill Clinton.

We recall that in his article Medvedchuk promotes a lot of disinformation messages that reproduce the position of Russian propaganda. Detector Media has prepared a selection of them.

Russian propaganda constantly lies about the “achievement” of its army, and therefore makes mistakes. This time, as TSN drew attention, the speaker of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Ihor Konashenkov, “reported” that the Russian army destroyed four Bradley infantry fighting vehicles manufactured by the United States. It's fake.

In fact, these machines have not yet been delivered to Ukraine, and only on January 16 it became known that the Ukrainian military began to learn how to operate them at training grounds in Germany.

We recall that earlier Russian propaganda constantly reported on the destruction of Haimars complexes and Bayraktar drones. If we calculate how much propaganda “destroyed” these complexes and UAVs in Ukraine, it turns out that the Russians shot down and destroyed several times more devices and complexes than they were in Ukraine at all.

The network of channels supervised by Russian intelligence is spreading the following message: the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has shown how quickly the Americans can “leak” allies, negotiate with the Kremlin and stop aid. Therefore, propagandists write, instead of Ukraine's victory, it may happen that Ukrainians will be left with a destroyed country, a demographic crisis and thousands of dead and wounded.

With the help of this message, Russian propaganda is again trying, firstly, to deprive of subjectivity and to prove that the war between Russia and the United States, and Ukraine is just a “testing ground” for this war. Secondly, in this way, propaganda again tries to shift the responsibility for its own crimes to other countries. It is not because of American assistance that Ukraine has destroyed infrastructure, millions of refugees and thousands of deaths. Russia did all this by attacking Ukraine, and American or other weapons help the Ukrainian army defend the country from invaders.

In addition, Western partners, including the United States, are already developing assistance plans to renew Ukraine. And now legal mechanisms are being developed that will help Western countries transfer Russian sanctioned assets to Ukraine for the restoration of the country.

Russian media and pro-Russian resources are spreading information that Germany will never hand over Tornado fighter jets to Ukraine. The messages are based on a quote from the German politician Gauke Schulz. It seems that he said that these fighters protect Germany and should not cause a war with Russia. He also allegedly said that fighter jets in Ukraine would be used inappropriately. This is manipulation.

According to StopFake, Gauke Schulz is a representative of the pro-Russian German party Die Linke. He does not have a mandate, he does not stand for federal state, federation or EU bodies. Moreover, Schultz has nothing to do with making decisions on arms supplies to Ukraine.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads messages that the West does not want to help Ukraine with weapons, relying on non-authoritative sources of information or distorted quotes. Thus, Russia is trying to undermine the authority of Ukraine at the international level, to show the weakness of the Ukrainian government.

Earlier, Russian propaganda spread messages that NATO was supplying “scrap” instead of weapons. The propagandists argued that the supply of weapons to Ukraine would increase the number of victims and prolong the “conflict”. They also wrote that allegedly 30-40% of the weapons supplied to Ukraine reach the front, or that the weapons provided by the United States do not reach Ukraine.

Russian media are spreading the news that the United States seems to be in for a “gloomy future” due to the “catastrophically devastated military depots” of the American army after military assistance to Ukraine. Propagandists write that the US “will not be able to restore its stocks for at least five years”. This is manipulation.

Russian propaganda refers to an analytical publication by the US Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS). The author analyzes the number of shells and weapons systems that the Americans have already supplied to Ukraine and makes predictions about how and with what the US will have to replace them. And in some cases, indeed, according to analyst Mark Kanchian, it will take years. But there are conclusions in the article that clearly explain: “Most inventories are okay. These six systems do not represent the full spectrum of U.S. inventories. Most items provided to Ukraine have been in small numbers, or from areas that have large inventories or production capacities. For most categories of weapons and munitions, the United States can provide support indefinitely”. The only thing that confuses the analyst is the lack of transparency of data that can be used to evaluate stocks of weapons and the insufficient speed with which the US Department of Defense purchases aid to Ukraine outside the United States. That is, there are no “threats to national security” due to a decrease in the number of weapons or a crisis in the supply of weapons to Ukraine in the article - these are all inventions of Russian propaganda who for almost a year have been trying to destroy or weaken Western support for Ukraine through disinformation. Propaganda spreads several messages on this topic: Ukraine sells weapons to other countries; Western weapons are not enough for Ukraine to win the war; Western weapons are scrap metal that cannot be used to fight. At the same time, propaganda calls Ukraine a testing ground for the latest weapons. Despite these efforts, Western partners are supplying more and more needed modern weapons to Ukraine.

On Saturday, January 14, during another massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine, one of the enemy missiles hit a multi-storey building in Dnipro. After the hit, the whole entrance collapsed. According to the latest data, the bodies of 40 dead, including three children, were found at the site of the explosion, as reported by the press service of the State emergency service.

Molfar OSINT community analysts and Our Money.Lviv jointly conducted an investigation to identify all those involved in the terrorist crime.

They published all those involved in the rocket attacks, including those who refueled the planes and rockets before launch. Additionally, persons directly associated with this aviation regiment, but not belonging to its personnel, were identified.

Experts cite a telegram post by Hennadii Korban, the head of the territorial defense in Dnipro, who said that the 52nd Guards heavy bomber aviation regiment based in the city of Shaikivka committed the crime. At the same time, analysts made an effort to identify every person from the regiment.

In addition, fact-checkers add that it was this regiment that was previously involved in the terrorist shelling of the Amstor shopping center in Kremenchuk on June 27, 2022.

Former deputy of the pro-Russian OPZZh (Opposition platform — for life) party Viktor Medvedchuk, whom Ukraine accuses of high treason and deprived of citizenship, published an article in the Russian media Izvestiia (News), which calls the war in Ukraine a “Ukrainian issue”, about the alleged “anatomy” of the modern military confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, as well as the role of the West in this war. In his work, he promotes a lot of disinformation messages that reproduce the position of Russian propaganda. Detector Media has prepared a selection of them.

The European Union has the ambitions of a colonizer

In his article, Viktor Medvedchuk expresses his opinion about the EU's attempts to create colonies. According to the article, after winning the Cold War, Europe is trying to “absorb” its opponent, that is, Russia and the post-Soviet countries. He uses the wars in Georgia and Syria as an argument. Like, the European Union is trying to split the state and absorb them.

In fact, the wars in Georgia and Syria took place with the direct participation and even at the initiative of Russia, so one can talk about the ambitions of the colonialist, but they are shown not by the EU countries, but by Russia. It is Russia that is the aggressor in the case of Ukraine, because it was it who started the war in Ukraine back in 2014 - with the seizure of Crimea and the fighting in Donetsk and Luhansk regions.

Ukraine gained independence without a national liberation struggle

The article says that Ukraine gained independence due to an agreement with Moscow, which even pushed our state to this decision, because it was beneficial to Russia in economic terms. In fact, Ukraine fought for its independence.

In particular, on December 1, 1991, a referendum was held on the need to declare independence. Then the turnout at the polling stations was unprecedented - 31,891,742 people. At that time, this amounted to 84% of the total population. At that time, 90% of the people voted for independence, only 7% were against it, and another 2% of the ballots were declared invalid.

Before the referendum, the Presidium of the Verkhovna Rada addressed the people with the words that “not supporting independence means supporting dependence”, but there is no such country that Ukraine would aspire to become dependent on. The message about the so-called gifted independence is not new to Russian propaganda. Russia has been trying for years to create the appearance that Ukraine became independent only thanks to it, and, in general, Russian propaganda is trying to promote the opinion that Ukraine would not exist at all if it were not for Russia.

Ukraine began to promote anti-Russian propaganda and this led to the creation of “two Ukraines”

According to Medvedchuk, after the first Maidan, that is, after the Orange Revolution, Ukraine began to promote anti-Russian propaganda. That is what he calls taking a course towards joining the European Union and NATO, as well as restoring certain pages in the history of Ukraine. In particular, such anti-Russian propaganda was allegedly Yushchenko's policy towards the Holodomor. In particular, the recognition of his genocide of the Ukrainian people.

In fact, even after the proclamation of the European course, the policy on Russia in Ukraine has not changed. The only exception was the orientation towards European values, which, according to Medvedchuk in his article, Russia also tried to instill in its people. However, in Ukraine, legislative norms were introduced that worked for the spread of the Ukrainian language, etc. Such a policy to protect the state language, according to the Russian narrative, is also anti-Russian. No one banned the Russian language in Ukraine, moreover, they still do not.

The increase in the amount of anti-Russian propaganda in the information flow, Medvedchuk argues, has led to the emergence of “two Ukraines”: one of them is pro-Russian and the other is anti-Russian. This approach suggests the idea of the disunity of Ukraine and the ethnicity of the pro-Russian, that is, the southeastern part to the aggressor country. The existence of “two Ukraines” is a common message promoted by Russian propaganda, including Medvedchuk. It is really intended to divide Ukrainian society, to turn people against each other.

Ukraine is connected with Russia culturally and mentally

The kinship of the cultures of the Ukrainian and Russian people is another message that is very often used by hostile media. They write that by abandoning Russian culture, we are losing a significant part of our own. The Russian media are actively manipulating opinions about a common cultural space and history for the sake of emotional pressure. Medvedchuk also mentioned this message in his article.

Ukraine was part of the Russian Empire, and then in the USSR for a total of 300 years, and all this time the pro-Russian authorities of these states pursued a rather cruel policy on the Ukrainian language, culture and economy. The most famous bans on the Ukrainian language are the Valuiev circular and Emsk decree, but Ukrainian was banned 134 times in total. Therefore, cultural products created by Ukrainians were also often written in Russian. In particular, books or operas, and Moscow assigns everything written in Russian.

It is impossible to talk about the kinship of our peoples, because the Ukrainians were held by force and repeatedly suppressed the liberation struggle. For example, this happened after the Ukrainian central council proclaimed the fourth universal (bill) about the independence of the Ukrainian People's Republic.

To end the war, Europe must take into account the interests of Russia

In his article, Medvedchuk expresses the opinion that the end of the war is possible only if Moscow's interests are taken into account. They also consist in the preservation of the occupied territories as part of Russia.

The aggressor state is trying to persuade Ukraine to negotiate in order to end the war on favorable terms, but Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has repeatedly noted that peace is possible only if all territories are de-occupied in accordance with the 1991 borders. Promoting an opinion about “Moscow's interests” means nothing more than another ultimatum.

The Ukrainian political elite does not need peace

According to Medvedchuk, the Ukrainian authorities are not interested in peace. It seems that they continue to wage war in order to get more money and weapons. In general, Russia does not stop trying to discredit Ukrainian politicians.

In fact, such a statement is not true, because at the beginning of the war, Zelenskyi turned to Putin and asked for personal negotiations, but he refused. Now Ukraine has withdrawn from the negotiation process due to the unfavorable conditions offered by Russia.

Ukraine needs peace, but not “some”, but with the preservation of statehood, sovereignty and security guarantees. It is Russia that does not want to end the war, because its military is still on the territory of Ukraine and continues to kill Ukrainians, destroy Ukrainian cities, villages and infrastructure.

This is not the first time Russia has been spreading messages and manipulations to resume negotiations with Ukraine. For example, recently Russian propaganda also talked about “their interests” in the negotiation process with Ukraine. The supply of weapons to Ukraine, which the Russian propaganda media called a theatrical performance, was not ignored either.

The messages expressed by Viktor Medvedchuk repeat the theses of Russian propaganda and their dissemination has the same goal: to justify Russia's aggression in Ukraine, to explain it with so-called historical justice, to create the appearance that Ukraine is not complete without Russia and its culture, to devalue the struggle of the Ukrainian people for their statehood.

A photo of graffiti allegedly taken in New York is being circulated on social networks. It depicts locusts, which allegedly symbolizes the President of Ukraine, who “feeds” at the expense of the American budget. It's fake.

In fact, there is no such graffiti. According to MythDetector, the photo was created using special programs. Eyewitnesses confirmed the absence of such graffiti as well. According to experts in 3D-drawing, even after erasing such graffiti, traces remain on the surface that are not in the place where the graffiti should be. Thus, Russian media and propaganda telegram channels are trying to discredit the Ukrainian president. Like, in the world he is considered a clown and is not taken seriously.

Previously, Russian propaganda spread fakes to associate Volodymyr Zelenskyi with Hitler. In addition, propagandists systematically spread messages about fake graffiti and covers of satarian magazines that make fun of Zelenskyi.

This is the message propagandists use on social networks and telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. It says that the Office of the President made Oleksii Arestovych a scapegoat. They say that the entire leadership already knew the truth about the fall of a Ukrainian missile from air defense on a residential area in Dnipro, and a freelance adviser to the Office only told the truth. Consequently, the information space is overflowing with footage of a destroyed house in Dnipro. The report notes that officials did this on purpose in order to shift the focus in the information space and hide the real situation in the Bakhmut direction, in particular in Soledar.

The Ministry of Defense in the latest report reported that the occupier really does not leave attempts to capture the Donbas, Soledar itself and Bakhmut. Tough battles are going on. Ukrainian soldiers successfully repel attacks “both day and night”.

The explosion of a residential building in Dnipro, which occurred through the fault of Russia on January 14, is indeed a tragedy. However, information about it got into the information space not to shift the focus or hide something, but precisely because Russia launched a rocket that killed Ukrainian civilians destroying their home. The Command of the Air Defense Forces emphasized that it was the Russian missile that hit the building.

By spreading such messages, Russia is trying to justify itself and shift the responsibility to Ukraine for the terrorist act that was committed by the Russian army against the Ukrainians. At the same time, the enemies allegedly give specific examples of why it was not the Russian army who did this. Let's say Russia had no reason to attack civilians, but let's look at Ukraine, which successfully used this situation to hide its defeats. Also, such messages help Russia to shift informational accents. Allegedly, it is better to talk and write about the important: the situation in Bakhmut and Soledar, and not about Dnipro.

This is the message propagandists use on social networks and telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. It says the war provided an opportunity for the US and Ukraine's other allies to study how their weapons system performs under heavy use. They say that Ukraine is used as a testing ground and in fact the partner countries are only worried about their own benefit. The authors of the messages add, as evidence of the publication, a likely material from CNN, which allegedly talks about this. However, this is manipulation.

In fact, the propagandists changed the title of the article using a graphical editor. Here is the original title of the material “How Ukraine became a testbed for Western Weapons and battlefield innovation”, but the propagandists distorted the title and called it a “laboratory”. However, the material does say that Ukraine is testing the latest weapons and many countries can determine its effectiveness. In contrast, the authors of the article describe how the inventive Ukrainian army maintains and repairs weapons. That is, the enemies distorted the context of the entire material and singled out theses that are beneficial to propaganda.

Propagandists are spreading this manipulation to undermine the confidence of Ukrainians in Western countries that help Ukraine in the war with Russia. Allegedly, their goal is not to protect the territorial integrity of Ukraine, but only to test their weapons for their own benefit. Enemies want to distort reality and show that everyone seems to be indifferent to the fate of Ukraine.

Russian propaganda media disseminate information that supposedly the Ukrainian ambassador Vadym Prystaiko, in an interview with Newsweek, acknowledged the “colossal losses” of the Ukrainian army and noted that people were dying “in the interests of the West”.

In fact, the enemy media refer to a quote taken out of context. The diplomat said that people are dying from Russian shelling and rocket attacks. There were no words of military losses “in the interests of the West” at all.

According to StopFake analysts, the quote, manipulated by the Russian media, was about the destruction and deaths from a full-scale invasion that has been going on for almost a year. In addition, he meant not only the military, but also civilians suffering from Russian occupation. Russian propaganda writes about the “interests of the West”, although in fact the diplomat did not mention them. This is a manipulation aimed at blaming Ukraine's allies for its losses.

Russian media often write about the West and its involvement in the war in Ukraine. In particular, they manipulate the topics of arms supply and call Volodymyr Zelenskyi a “puppet” in the West's war against Russia. Recently, the media of the enemy also wrote that allegedly Kyiv is not allowed to negotiate and stop the war, although Russia is trying to put ultimatums on the terms of the negotiation process.

Such a message is distributed to the propagandist by social networks and hostile telegram channels. It says that Ukraine is waiting for massive famine. Like, the data of the Ukrainian Club of agricultural business show that in 2023 the harvest will decrease so much that farmers will not be able to cover the resources for food security. The propagandists add that the map published by the farmers includes the territories highlighted in gray, namely the territories temporarily occupied by Russia. According to them, this may indicate that Ukraine is no longer interested in the territories seized by Russia. However, this is manipulation.

As the fact-checkers of the Voxcheck project found out, in 2023 the harvest will indeed decrease, but Ukraine will have enough stocks for food security. The Ukrainian Club of agricultural business (UCAB) released its forecast on 16 December. Social networks provided correct data on the reduction of sown area and harvest in 2023. Representatives of the Ukrainian grain association suggest that the harvest will fall by 50%.

However, the authors of the UCAB forecast did not conclude that the Ukrainians would not have enough food. On the contrary, from their analysis it follows that the harvest will be enough for both export and domestic consumption. Consequently, farmers will be able to cover all food needs.

As for the map, the members of the agricultural club did not explain why the temporarily occupied territories are grayed out. Analysts have suggested that this is all because of the fighting, which makes it impossible to collect data. 

Propagandists spread this message to intimidate Ukrainians and cause them to distrust their own state. It seems that Ukraine cannot provide its people with food, electricity or gas. Enemies are trying to create the appearance that Ukrainians live unbearably, and the state does not care about them, and supposedly forgets them.

Russian propaganda media disseminate information about the recent sharp drop in the combat capability of the Ukrainian army. Allegedly, such a statement was made by the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar. The authors of the messages add that the Ukrainian army is already exhausted and most people cannot go through the military realities. That is why, according to propagandists, the Ukrainian army is no longer combat-ready. However, this is manipulation.

Analysts of the Voxcheck project investigated this case and found that on January 8, Hanna Maliar published a message in her telegram channel, where she talked about the difficult situation in Soledar, Donetsk region, and how the Ukrainian army is resisting the invaders. However, she did not say that the Armed Forces of Ukraine were sharply losing their combat capability. On the contrary, she stressed that in some areas of Donbas, the military is successfully breaking through.

However, she said that Ukrainians need to understand how civilians go through difficult moral and physical ordeal during the war. Enemies distorted the context of the official's quote.

Propagandists spread this message to destabilize the situation in Ukrainian society. Against the backdrop of heavy fighting in the Bakhmut direction, pro-Kremlin telegram channels and media resort to various manipulations and fakes to make Ukrainians despair of the Ukrainian army. Propagandists seek to create the appearance of losing Ukraine, because its army can no longer withstand the fight against the enemy.

We recall that earlier Detector Media wrote about the manipulation of propagandists, that the Ukrainian leadership allegedly forced the Armed Forces of Ukraine to leave the territory of Bakhmut due to the inability of the military to fight.

On January 14, a Russian military rocket attack on an 18-entrance building in Dnipro, where more than 1,100 people lived, killed at least 9 people, including a 15-year-old girl, and injured 64. Russian propagandists have spread a number of messages, whitewashing Russia's crime and blaming the Ukrainian military and government for the tragedy.

Russia has never struck civilians

Pro-Russian bloggers claim that the Russian military's missile strikes are accurate and always hit the target. This time, the targets were energy infrastructure facilities and Ukrainian air defense positions.

An air defense missile hit the building

Like, an air defense missile destroyed the whole entrance of a multi-storey residential building in Dnipro. Allegedly, as a result of the hit, a secondary detonation took place, most likely the result of a gas explosion. Neither the air defense missile itself, nor even the Russian cruise missile could cause such fatal destruction.

No one will know the truth, independent experts will not be invited

Allegedly, Ukraine blamed the Russians, and Russia blamed Ukraine. This controversial case could be resolved by sending independent experts, but during the war no one will do this and everyone will blame each other.

For the sacrificial death of Ukrainians, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive the latest tanks from the West

Allegedly, the Ukrainian authorities use a hit of the house in order to beg military assistance from the West. Like, Zelenskyi is safe and ready to fight to the last peaceful Ukrainian.

In fact, a building in Dnipro was destroyed by a Russian ballistic missile strike. According to Mykola Lukashuk, chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, he was released from a Tu-22m3 long-range bomber. It was at this time that air raids continued throughout Ukraine, and Russian missiles were hit not only in Dnipro, but also in other settlements of Ukraine. In particular, in the Lviv region. However, Russian propaganda once again seeks to justify the crimes of Russians against Ukrainian civilians and accuse Ukraine of killing civilians. Propagandists use this technique almost every time after people die as a result of Russian strikes. For example, Russia denied its involvement in the deaths of people in Kramatorsk or Vinnytsia, who died as a result of rockets falling on public places. In addition, Russia regularly claims that it hits only infrastructure facilities. However, this is not true, because Russian missiles have repeatedly hit both residential buildings and led to tragedies, as well as shopping centers, train stations and so on.

By the way, in one of the propaganda telegram channels at the time when the air raids continued in Ukraine, a message appeared that there were 80 missiles in the sky over Ukraine at that time. The message also said that not all of them will fall into infrastructure facilities. Later, propagandists began to spread the words of Oleksii Arestovych, an adviser to the President's Office, who allegedly agreed that the explosion in the house was due to air defense. Allegedly, a rocket flying over Dnipro was shot down and it exploded when it fell on the entrance of a residential building. These words of Arestovych were massively shared by Russian propagandists, claiming that Ukraine itself admitted its guilt in the death of civilians. However, the words of Oleksii Arestovych are not the official position of Ukraine on this issue, and the Office Advisor himself has not yet commented on the situation that has developed as a result of his statements.

However, according to the project NotaYenota, according to the speaker of the Air Force of Ukraine Yurii Ihnat, the missile was launched over Dnipro from a Tu-22M3 long-range bomber from the Kursk region and the Sea of Azov. In total, there were 5 launches of such missiles. The X-22 is called the “carrier killer”. The missile, warhead 950 kilograms, can be equipped with a nuclear warhead. It is designed to destroy aircraft carrier groups at sea. Such missiles are not used in cities, but it was Russia that launched them over Dnipro. Later, Arestovych spoke about his words on the Facebook page. The adviser to the Office of the President did not deny that he really spoke on the air about the fall of the air defense missile. However, he noted that no one would accuse Ukraine of blowing up the house, because the world would understand everything correctly. Such words of the adviser were perceived ambiguously, so in the comments to the message he was asked if the tragedy really arose because of the Ukrainian air defense. Arestovych noted that the explosion occurred as a result of Russian actions. The Air Force Command of Ukraine once again reacted to the situation and reported that the radar facilities had found the approximate launch site, altitude, and flight speed. “There is no doubt that it was the X-22 missile. The Armed Forces of Ukraine do not have fire weapons capable of shooting down this type of missiles”, the ministry said.

In recent days, pro-Russian telegram channels have been spreading information through the network that an offensive from Belarus will take place in the near future. Allegedly, the western regions of Ukraine are massively preparing for defense - trenches are being dug all over the territory and everything is mined.

In fact, the “invasion from Belarus” is one of the most common messages of Russian propaganda. Stuffing with thoughts about preparing Ukraine for an offensive from Belarus into the Ukrainian media space, propagandists are trying to sow panic and strike fears among Ukrainians.

Russian propaganda media, citing The Wall Street Journal, reported that Western and Ukrainian officials and analysts called on the Ukrainian Armed Forces to leave Bakhmut and retreat to a new line of defense while such a withdrawal is possible. They say that the battle for Bakhmut takes place on Russia's terms, because of which the Armed Forces of Ukraine have lost the forces necessary for the spring offensive.

In fact, an article in The Wall Street Journal titled “Russia gains ground in east Ukraine as fight for Bakhmut intensifies”, which Russian resources refer to, does not contain any appeals to the Ukrainian army to leave Bakhmut. The article describes the situation on this sector of the front, where, according to the British Ministry of Defense, Russian troops and members of the Wagner Group paramilitary force “now most likely control the majority of Soledar, 6 miles northeast of Bakhmut”. The WSJ writes that the encirclement of the Armed Forces of Ukraine by the Russians in Bakhmut is still unlikely.

The article contains quotes from President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, military journalist Yurii Butusov and Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar. Their words boil down to the fact that even with the capture of Soledar, the Russian army will not achieve anything and that the battle for Soledar continues. None of the Ukrainian representatives said that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly “continue to fail”.

Bakhmut and Soledar in the Donetsk region remain the site of some of the fiercest fighting between the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the Russian occupiers. Russian propagandists use the information field in these battles, spreading fakes about non-existent movements or using fake calls for retreat, as in the case of the WSJ article. This is necessary to demonstrate success in the war after a series of defeats from the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The Russian military command created a special document for propagandists to cover the events of the war against Ukraine. Now they should praise Serhii Shoihu and not mention the Wagner group.

The document was analyzed by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

General recommendations contain eleven points, the main content of which is:

1) Orientation to information exclusively from sources agreed by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation;

2) Emphasizing in informational materials and comments of “independent” experts on the leading and positive role personally of Serhii Shoihu and Valerii Herasymov;

3) Justifying strikes on Ukraine's critical energy infrastructure, referring to the “forcedness” of such actions;

4) Emphasizing the theme of providing Ukraine with Western weapons. In this sense, it is especially recommended to focus on the fact that “Russia is conducting a military operation not against Ukraine, but against the entire NATO”;

5) Refusal to mention the Wagner military group in a positive context. Emphasizing excessive human losses and Wagner meaningless attacks;

6) Tracking and citing publications in foreign media about the successes of the armed forces of the Russian Federation and the failure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

It is proposed to focus particular attention on the statements of Western and Ukrainian politicians, which can be interpreted in a similar vein.

As explained in the Main Intelligence Directorate, the document indicates a fundamental change in emphasis on covering the course of events in the war against Ukraine and the aggravation of the political struggle within Russia.

This was written by anonymous pro-Kremlin telegram channels. Allegedly, in Ivano-Frankivsk, a local tattoo parlor offers a special promotion: the removal of a swastika for half the price. The proof is the “photo” of the banner with the announcement of such a “promotion”. This photo was also circulated on the Polish forum.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project checked the shared photo using Google and Bing image search platforms and found that photos of the Tattooirograf tattoo studio, located in the Russian city of Biisk, Altai Territory, were used to create a fake.

In the announcement, the propagandists wrote the word “share” in Russian, not as it would be correct in Ukrainian. By spreading such fakes, Russian propaganda once again wants to nourish the narrative that Ukrainians are Nazis. It arose back in 2014, Russian propaganda justified the invasion of the territory of two regions of Ukraine with the so-called Nazism, calling the Ukrainian authorities criminal and illegal. Ukrainians became Nazis allegedly because they “destroy the people of Donbas”, ban the Russian language, hate everything Russian, etc. And the so-called denazification became one of the fictional reasons for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

On December 13, this information was circulated in English on Twitter by the Russian Embassy in London. This post was shared among the English-speaking sector on Twitter. Also, the Russian media published relevant news with reference to the embassy.

On the embassy’s page, a video was circulated as evidence, in which the Ukrainian military is working with drones, attaching details with the inscription “OB” to them. Russian propagandists in the diplomatic mission believe that the Ukrainian military is apparently preparing to use chemical weapons, probably phosgene. Allegedly, the video shows gas cylinders with the inscription “OB”, which means “poisonous ammunition”.

In fact, the Russians distributed edited excerpts of a video published in a telegram by the Ukrainian military, the commander of the Madiar Birds aerial reconnaissance group with the call sign Madiar. He showed how Ukrainian aerial reconnaissance officers assemble the Molfar folk kamikaze drone with a warhead on their own. In another video, Madiar demonstrated how kamikaze drones work near Soledar at a Russian military point.

Russian propagandists are stuffing with fakes into the information space about the possible use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian military in order to change the topic from their own failures near Bakhmut and Soledar, which they planned to capture before January 1, 2023.

Russia has repeatedly accused Ukraine of using and distributing banned weapons. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry recorded an alleged chemical attack on the Russian military from a Ukrainian drone and unmanned vehicles of the Armed Forces of Ukraine were found for spraying chemicals.

Ukraine ratified the international Chemical Weapons Convention, which includes phosphorus, in 1998. Then the entire chemical arsenal that Ukraine inherited from the USSR was destroyed. At the same time, Russia is using banned weapons in Ukraine.

In social networks and enemy telegram channels, a message is spreading that a probable photo of Stepan Bandera along with the German Nazi leadership has got into the network. Like, he is dressed in the uniform of the Wehrmacht, and even the reward is visible on the bust - supposedly the Cross of military merit. The authors of the message add that this photo is prohibited in Ukraine. It is not true.

Analysts of the Lithuanian project “15min naujenos” say that in reality in the photograph is not Bandera, but Reinhad Hellen, a well-known figure in the army intelligence during the Second World War, and later the founder of the German federal intelligence service. Fact-checkers say that the photo appeared on the web after 2014, in Livejournal, a blogging platform that is popular in Russia.

Propagandists have repeatedly spread fake stories about Ukrainian figures, including Stepan Bandera. The purpose of the fake is to nourish the narrative that Ukrainians are Nazis and are aimed at creating an idea of Ukrainian historical figures as exclusively Nazis and collaborators, which at the same time undermines the image of modern Ukraine and its authorities.

Pro-Russian telegram channels distributed information about allegedly secret training of the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, police and fire protection of the Lublin voivodeship of Poland. They reported that Kyiv is preparing for a humanitarian catastrophe and is conducting exercises aimed at “preventing a massive uncontrolled flow of migrants”. Allegedly, Poland is afraid of the flow of refugees from a neighboring country.

In fact, according to VoxCheck, the study was reported publicly. On December 16, they were reported on their official pages by the State Emergency Service of the Volyn region, the State Migration Service and the Ministry of Internal Affairs. The local media also wrote about them. There was no secret in the conduct of the training.

The purpose of the event was to work out the main actions in case of crowding at the border. Also, interaction with Polish colleagues was worked out to help citizens temporarily located at checkpoints across the state border.

Since the beginning of the war, the Russian media have been constantly writing about Ukrainian and Polish relations. In particular, that allegedly in the near future Poland will begin the occupation of the west of Ukraine, or that the number of HIV-infected people in the country has increased due to Ukrainian refugees. Thus, Russia is trying to sow discord between Ukraine and Poland.