Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric in the English-speaking segment of social networks claim that the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi, has surrendered, and Ukraine has been under the complete control of Russia since this weekend. The primary source is an unknown tweet with the following content: “Zelenskyi surrendered. Ukraine has fallen. Israel is next”. This is a fake.

Specialists of the Associated Press drew attention to him. They found that the tweet had been shared/liked more than 10,000 times as of Monday, November 5. A number of high-ranking officials, especially Volodymyr Zelenskyi, emphasize that there is no question of a truce, just like there is no draw in the war. Russian aggression against Ukraine over the weekend did not stop, as evidenced by Russia's air attack on 10 regions of Ukraine, which led to the destruction of civilian infrastructure.

By spreading such fakes based on the statements of Ukrainian high-ranking officials, propagandists want to distort reality and create a false identity between Russian aggression against Ukraine and the war in Israel and Palestine. In addition, they use the increased level of coverage of events in the Middle East to try to convince foreigners that they are right. Detector Media refuted other Russian messages, manipulations and fakes on the topic of events in Israel.

Russian media reacted to the article by the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi, for foreign media, presenting individual quotes from him as evidence of the “failure of the Ukrainian army” on the battlefield and suggesting that he “announced the inevitable surrender” of Ukraine. However, this is a fake.

Specialists of the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that Zaluzhnyi actually emphasized: Ukrainians in practice demonstrated their willingness to “put their soul and body down for their freedom”. He noted that Russia, having an advantage in resources, could not implement the plans of its general staff. In the interview, the Commander-in-Chief identified five priority directions for the development of Ukraine to avoid turning the war into a war of position. In his opinion, at this moment Ukraine, limited in resources, has reached parity with Russia in such areas as air warfare and radio-electronic warfare.

In addition, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces emphasizes the importance of increasing the effectiveness of the management of the Ukrainian forces through the widespread use of modern information technologies. Zaluzhnyi also emphasized the need to improve the logistical support of the country's defense. He noted that the situation “requires the search for new and non-trivial approaches to avoid military parity with the enemy”.

By spreading such fakes based on the statements of Ukrainian high-ranking officials, propagandists want to distort reality and cause disputes between representatives of the Ukrainian authorities. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted fakes and messages directed directly against Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

Propaganda resources are disseminating information that allegedly the Security Service of Ukraine and the National Police of Ukraine “under a false flag” may resort to provocations related to biological weapons. The head of the radiation, chemical and biological protection forces of Russia, Ihor Kyrylov, said that according to the scenario, first in the Mykolaiv region the emergence of cases of infectious disease with the bird influenza virus will be recorded, and then Russia will be blamed for this. It's fake.

The case was documented by the fact-checkers from the Center for Countering Disinformation. They found out that the information about provocations has nothing to do with reality, that is, fake. In addition, over the past 20 years, neither the Ukrainian side nor the WHO have reported cases of human infection with bird flu in Ukraine.

This case of disinformation primarily targets ordinary Russian citizens and fuels the Russian narrative about biological weapons in Ukraine. Previously, we refuted information that the authorities in Odesa were destroying traces of US military biological laboratories.

Pro-Kremlin resources are spreading disinformation about the losses of American troops in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Propagandists refer to an interview with American volunteer Matthew Van Dyke, published on the YouTube channel Judge Napolitano – Judging Freedom. In it, a volunteer allegedly stated that 510 American volunteers who joined the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces died. This is manipulation.

The Center for Countering Disinformation worked on this case. They found out that during a volunteer’s answer to the presenter’s question about the number of American soldiers killed in the war in Ukraine, Van Dyke voiced the figures of five to ten people. He also added that many American volunteers were wounded.

Russian propagandists exaggerate the achievements of the Russian army in the war against Ukraine to fuel the narrative of the “second army of the world”. On the other hand, by manipulating information, Russian propaganda is trying to convince everyone around that mobilization in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is useless - and so everyone will die, and therefore it is easier for Ukraine to surrender now. Previously, we denied information that American students were allegedly being recruited into the Foreign Legion of Ukraine.

Pro-Kremlin media are distributing a video of an alleged advertising video on YouTube, in which a military man in an Israeli army uniform is supposedly campaigning in Ukrainian to join the IDF - the Israeli Defense Forces - and fight against Hamas. It's a lie.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council analyzed this case and found that such advertising from the official representative of the Israeli Ministry of Defense does not exist. It was compiled: after all, using a reverse search on Google, experts found that to create a fake advertising video, the authors used a TikTok video from the official account of the Israeli Defense Forces on this social network. And later a voice in Ukrainian was superimposed on the video.

Let us recall that the Institute for the Study of War’s statement on October 7 said that the Kremlin is actively using the Hamas attack on Israel for information operations aimed at weakening US and Western support for Ukraine. And the thesis about “mobilizing people to Israel” is used by fake bots to, first of all, convince that the Ukrainian leadership sees only military force in men and women - and officials, say, will use this for their own purposes. Even for mobilization to other countries.

Previously, we have already documented a propaganda campaign, supposedly Ukrainians were given draft notices to mobilize into Israeli volunteer battalions.

A video is being distributed on social networks in the Russian segment in which the mayor of Kyiv, Vitalii Klychko, allegedly proposed voting not to consider the occupied territories part of Ukraine. This is manipulation.

The VoxCheck analysts analyzed the case and found out that this quote was taken out of the entire video. In fact, Klychko spoke about the reasons that make it impossible to hold elections. Among them, in particular, is the fact that some people are in the occupied territories and will not be able to vote. He spoke about this on the television channel “Kyiv”.

“Those territories that are occupied are no longer Ukraine, because there will be no representatives [of Ukraine at the polling stations]. How do we take these territories into account or not?” - said the official.

That is, he did not claim that the occupied territories are not Ukrainian, but explained that elections there are not yet possible. For example, because representatives of Ukraine will not be able to establish polling stations there due to active hostilities.

Using quotes from public figures, military officers, politicians and other public figures, Russian propaganda is trying to convince consumers of disinformation of the authenticity of such expressions. Like, if a Ukrainian official himself stated this, he can be trusted as he is an authoritative source, although the authors do not explain how reliable the information presented in the manipulative publication is. This is how propagandists use the tactic of appealing to authority.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks claim that President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly said that “if Ukraine loses the war, it will be because of the Jews”. This is a fake.

Analysts of the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security Council of Ukraine and the Georgian MythDetector project drew attention to it. They found out that the circulated quote is a fake, because it cannot be found either on the official pages of the President, or in Ukrainian or Western mass media. On the contrary, Zelenskyi condemned the actions of Hamas and drew parallels between the current events in Israel and the Russian-Ukrainian war. He condemned terrorism and emphasized Israel's right to self-defense.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to convince Ukrainians that after the start of the war between Israel and Hamas, Western countries will redirect the aid intended for Ukraine to Israel and Ukraine will not have the support of the international community.  Detector Media explained how propagandists still manipulate the topic of events in Israel.

Enemy resources are disseminating information that supposedly American political scientist Francis Fukuyama, in an interview with Radio Svoboda (Liberty), spoke about the impossibility of Ukraine returning all occupied territories. This is manipulation.

The case was studied by the fact-checkers from the StopFake project. The American philosopher noted that the only possible option in which Russia would leave the occupied territories is the victory of Ukraine on the battlefield. Also in the interview, Fukuyama said that it is possible that Ukraine will face a situation where not all 100% of the territories can be unoccupied and that the war could continue for a long time. That is, the political scientist spoke only about the “probability” that not all territories of Ukraine will be liberated, but did not claim that this is the only possible scenario.

During the interview, Francis Fukuyama was careful with his statements regarding territorial concessions, and inserted remarks such as: “As a foreigner, I cannot give advice on this issue. This is a question that Ukrainians themselves must answer and make a decision”. Regarding the end of the war unleashed by the Kremlin, the political scientist said that “none of us can predict how long this war will last”. Ultimately, he suggested that the situation could become similar to Israel's as long as Russia continues to exist as a state.

Russian propaganda nourishes the narrative that Ukraine is unable to de-occupy all of its territories and win the war against Russia. With the help of fakes of this kind, propagandists are trying to dissuade the Ukrainian people from victory over Russia and sow fear, uncertainty and doubts in the future.

On the Internet, propagandists began to spread information that Romania is in no hurry to help evacuate its “stranded” citizens in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Hamas attack on Israel. Bucharest is supposedly engaged in saving Ukrainians, that is, it puts them as a priority. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project looked into this case and found out that there is no information that Romania is prioritizing the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens. Evacuation from the Gaza Strip is not yet possible, so propagandists manipulate information when they write that the Romanian authorities are saving Ukrainians, but not Romanians. On October 8, 2023, Romania made its first flight, evacuating 346 Romanian citizens from Ben Gurion Airport (Tel Aviv, Israel), as reported by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Almost a week later, the first evacuation plane to Romania with Ukrainians on board took off from the same Israel on October 14 - there were 207 Ukrainian citizens on board, mostly women, children and the elderly. Due to the fact that Ukrainian airspace is closed to aircraft due to Russia’s armed aggression, Ukrainian citizens are forced to fly first to Romania, a neighboring country, and only then travel overland to Ukraine.

Russia is trying to “create a quarrel” between Ukraine and its neighboring states, one of which is Romania, in order to reduce their support for the Ukrainian people from Russian aggression. Previously, pro-Kremlin media also spread disinformation about the rescue of Ukrainians from Israel in order to once again discredit the Ukrainian government for its inaction.

In the Ukrainian segment of TikTok they are spreading information that starting from October 25, 2023, the curfew schedule in Ukraine is supposedly changing. The authors seem to refer to the statement of the Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada Ruslan Stefanchuk. The publications claim that this decision is due to “population control” during the winter period. In addition, such videos encourage people to follow a link to find out the curfew in a particular region. It's a lie.

The fact-checkers at the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council examined this case and explained that there are no new curfew schedules. And the links that fake bots add lead to anonymous telegram channels and third-party sites. Accordingly, this is the work of scammers who are trying to artificially increase the number of audiences on their pages on social networks. Moreover, Ruslan Stefanchuk also did not make such statements, this is simply a Russian propaganda fiction.

Actually, the decision on the curfew schedule falls within the competence of the heads of regional military administrations, and depending on the region, the schedule may vary.

In the Ukrainian segment of Facebook, information is being spread that Ukraine will allegedly not receive reparations from Russia, because Volodymyr Zelenskyi “did not introduce a state of war”, and minor citizens of Ukraine will not have the status of “children of war”. It is not true.

The message was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. They turned to the former Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine in 2015–2019, a teacher at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Serhiii Pietukhov, for comment. He said: “Russian reparations are a matter of international law. Reparations are a form of compensation for harm caused by one state to another. In this case, the international community has no doubt that there is a war between Ukraine and Russia, or in the terminology of international law, an international armed conflict. A formal declaration of war has long been no longer required in international law and is not a criterion for assessing damages or the debt to pay reparations”.

Pietukhov also explained that the status of children of war can be accepted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, regardless of the declaration of a state of war. This is a domestic decision and “no one within the country questions the existence of war”.

Consequently, the message that Ukraine will not receive reparations because it did not declare war on Russia is intended to create distrust in the Ukrainian authorities. Earlier,  Detector Media talked about the message that Ukraine did not declare war on Russia.

This thesis was spread in the Ukrainian segment of Facebook. The reports say that Ukraine allegedly did not declare martial law or war on Russia in general, which means that Ukraine is fighting illegally. In particular, they argue that such actions of the Ukrainian leadership are involved in an irresistible desire to seize Western resources.

There is a war going on in Ukraine, and this is understandable without announcements. For example, politician and diplomat Andrii Shevchenko explained in a comment to MediaSapiens that from a legal point of view, a declaration of war is an external matter of the state. He adds that international law does not focus on words or statements, but on actions. Therefore, from the point of view of international law, what is happening is an obvious war, a violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Back in March 2022, former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar explained that there is no need to adopt a special law or decree on declaring war. She cited Article 3 of the 1974 UN Resolution on Aggression and emphasized that an invasion or attack by the armed forces of a state on the territory of another country, bombing or blockade of ports qualifies as an act of aggression.

This thesis was spread in pro-Kremlin media. The messages added how the West was allegedly trying to destroy Ukraine, “to lead it to the grave” so that it would lose everything in the war. Therefore, the messages call for “marriage” with Russia, and it is better to “sever relations” with Western countries; according to the authors, the West is not interested in the Ukrainian victory. The publications refer to material from a foreign publication, which sets out these opinions with reference to authoritative sources.

Analysts from the StopFake project took up this case and found out that the foreign material referred to by propagandists turned out to be full of Kremlin messages. That is, the author expressed his vision in relation to the Russian-Ukrainian war. The material was published on one of the Slovak news sites. Among other things, the author of the material repeated many disinformation stories that coincided with the Russian agenda. For example, the war is supposedly “interesting to the West for the sake of making money” or that it is better to “be friends and cooperate” with Russia, etc. But this is not the official position of the Slovak government, but the author’s own opinion in the column.

Using quotes from public figures, military officers, politicians and other public figures, Russian propaganda is trying to convince consumers of disinformation of the authenticity of such expressions. Like, if the journalist himself stated this, he can be trusted, because he is an authoritative source. Although the publications do not characterize how authoritative the information presented in the column is. After all, propagandists use the tactic of appealing to authority.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Volodymyr Zelenskyi is ready to sign a “lifetime agreement” to carry out the war in order to receive “eternal aid from the West”. They say that Zelenskyi cannot calm down and expresses his thirst for unlimited resources. As a result, propagandists summarize: Zelenskyi is throwing Ukrainians into the capitalist “Western meat grinder”.

The president, obviously, is not going to sign any agreement on conducting an “eternal war” on the territory of Ukraine. Such words from Russian propagandists are too exaggerated and create the apocalyptic impression that Ukraine is supposedly governed from the outside, and its president is pandering to Western officials for his own profit. Russian propaganda has repeatedly manipulated the issue of receiving humanitarian aid: it portrayed Zelenskyi as a beggar who only needs to whine about weapons and other resources. Propagandists also wrote how Ukrainians allegedly cheat or commit outright crimes - shelling civilians - all in order to take possession of what they want.

These attempts indicate the demonization of Ukraine and the creation of an erroneous impression about it among partner countries. For example, similar rhetoric is used in anonymous telegram channels in response to the arrival of foreign politicians in Ukraine. Propaganda systematically promoted the thesis that the worries in Ukraine were not real, but only attempts to intimidate foreigners and get as many weapons as possible.

This information was disseminated by Russian media. Reports say that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg allegedly confirmed that it was the North Atlantic Alliance that “started the war in Ukraine” and that Russia invaded Ukrainian territory due to “NATO expansion”. This is manipulation.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project took up this case and found out that in fact the Secretary General did not say this, and his quote was distorted. Experts explain that the quote itself was compiled from Stoltenberg’s speech at a meeting of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament on September 7. Then he talked about the failed policy of dictator Putin, who, on the eve of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, blackmailed the Alliance and demanded that Eastern Europe be given to its sphere of influence.

We are talking, in particular, about how, at the end of 2021, the Russian Foreign Ministry demanded that Western states “stay away from Ukraine”, preventing Ukraine’s Euro-Atlantic integration. At that time, Russian “parliamentarians” sought a legal guarantee that NATO would renounce any military activities in Eastern Europe and Ukraine.

Actually, commenting on the events of the past, Stoltenberg said that Russia’s aggressive war against Ukraine is in fact a strategic mistake and a dictatorial failure.

By distorting quotes from public figures, military officers, politicians and other public figures, Russian propaganda is trying to convince consumers of disinformation of the authenticity of such expressions. Like, if the military man himself said this, one can trust him, because he is an authoritative source. This is how propagandists use the tactic of appealing to authority.

Russia systematically deals with the distortion of quotes. This helps it promote its own theses, and if they are “consonant” with the statement of authority, the information acquires legitimacy in the eyes of users of anonymous telegram channels. Read the latest fake cases:

Ukrainian media are disseminating information that from October 1, 2023, emergency power outage schedules will come into effect in Ukraine. It seems that government officials and energy companies have already prepared them. It's fake.

The case was examined by fact-checkers from the Center for Countering Disinformation. The official website of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine reported that “the energy system will be fully ready for the heating season without power outages and, accordingly, consumer restrictions” and “the use of outages from October 1 in any of the regions of the country is not planned”.

Since last year there were power outages due to Russian rocket attacks on Ukrainian infrastructure, the ministry notes that this year they “can only be used in the event of shelling and damage to energy equipment”.

Russian propaganda media published information that Romanian Defense Minister Angel Tilver allegedly made a statement in which he called on the Ukrainian government to move military operations, barracks and enterprises away from the common border so that Romanian territory would not be damaged. It's fake.

The case was investigated by fact-checkers from the Myth Detector project. The Romanian fact-checking organization Factual told the fact-checkers that the Romanian defense minister did not make such a statement. Also, the Romanian Ministry of Defense officially denied this quote and published a statement on the media monitoring platform Inforadar.

The Romanian Ministry of Defense suspects that this fake appeared as an echo of Russian attacks on the territory of Ukraine, which resulted in drones falling onto the territory of Romania. Fragments of drones fell on September 4 and 9.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to quarrel between Ukraine and its allies and shift responsibility onto our state for the fall of Russian drones on Romanian territory. They say that if there were no Ukrainian barracks there, there would be no strikes. However, it was Russia that started the war in Ukraine and is destroying infrastructure and civilian objects. Previously, we refuted the fake that Ukraine confirmed that Russia carries out precision strikes exclusively on military targets.

Russian media are disseminating information that Ukrainian Serhii Dubinin, “associated” with the Azov battalion, stormed the Capitol on January 6, 2021. In addition, propagandists claim that American intelligence services “have already discovered other Ukrainians who were near the Capitol that day. But none of them were brought to justice.” It's fake.

Analysts from The Insider project drew attention to it. They found out that the photo that is being distributed online as evidence of this thesis shows Inter TV channel operator Serhii Dubinin. He filmed reports at the Donetsk airport, in other places along the collision line in 2014, and was even put on the wanted list of the so-called LNR for “carrying out terrorist activities”. On January 6, 2021, he was reporting on the onslaught of the Capitol for the Details program. During the shooting, he took a photo with Jacob Chansley, a man with the pseudonym Shaman Q-Anonu, which is said to be evidence of his participation in the onslaught. In fact, Dubinin has nothing to do with either the Trumpists or Azov.

With the help of this fake, Russia wants to discredit the Ukrainians, justify its actions against them and indicate the “selectivity” of American justice. They say that the participants in the assault were convicted, but the Ukrainians were condemned not once because of the war.

Propagandists are trying to adapt their messages to audiences in different states. One of the newest attempts at such adaptation is the conspiracy theory about Ukropolin. It is being promoted to a Polish audience.

According to this conspiracy theory, the Polish government is preparing the Poles for the “absorption” of Poland by Ukraine and the emergence of the “Ukropolin” state.

“Ukrpolin” is an evolution of the “Polin” project, a variation of the so-called world Jewish conspiracy. The history of the conspiracy theory about Polina dates back to 1989. Then, in the first after 1945 elections in Poland, supporters of the Solidarity trade union came to power. Conspiracy theorists, however, decided that “Polin” had arisen, a state led by Germany and Israel (Polin is the Jewish name for Poland). Polina conspiracy theorists also believe that the POLIN Jewish History Museum is involved in this process.

In the case of Ukropolin, propagandists scare the Poles with the loss of their statehood. To do this, they take the news out of context or come up with evidence of the gradual absorption of Polish space by Ukrainians. For example, they publish an unknown list of first-year students of a technical school specializing in “automobile technician”, where only two Polish names and surnames are indicated, and all the rest are Ukrainian.

“Two Poles and other Ukrainians in the first year of an automotive technical school? Is it still Poland or Ukropolin?” - note the authors of the message.

Using this conspiracy theory, the Russians are trying to quarrel with the Poles among themselves. They mention “Ukrpolin” in any context. For example, here is how a Polish pro-Russian telegram channel presented a meeting between the leader of the United Left of Poland, Robert Biedron, and the then Prime Minister of Finland, Sanna Marin, in April 2023, about free abortions for Poles in Finland:

“Superrrr! We will kill more Poles and do it voluntarily, the most important thing is to kill them as much as possible, send them to war like cannon fodder, then make women disappointed, dress openly and go right and left, and then we will finance their abortions, and in the end we will take their country and make Ukropolin ... 

Probably, the Russians are trying to influence the perception of Ukraine by the Poles with such inventions and reduce the level of assistance to Ukraine from Poland. Currently, the level of support for Ukraine by the Polish society remains the highest among European countries. Therefore, in order to change this, the Poles are trying to cause fear for their country and skepticism towards the Ukrainians. Like, there are already so many Ukrainians in Poland that Poland is gradually turning into another region of Ukraine. This is yet another example of how conspiracy theories can deepen social divisions and fuel hatred against ethnic groups.

On September 6, 2023, the Russian military launched a missile attack on a market in the city of Kostiantynivka, Donetsk region. As a result of the attack by the Russians, 16 people were killed, 28 more were injured, but the number of victims may vary. This was announced by Volodymyr Zelenskyi on the official page on the Telegram.

Russian propagandists and pro-Kremlin telegram channels accuse Ukraine of shelling the center of Kostiantynivka. Allegedly, during the operation of air defense, the rocket flew in an unplanned trajectory or shot down something in the sky that fell on the market. Russian propaganda uses the tactics of reflection and transfers responsibility to the victim of the crimes of the Russians. After the attack on the house in Dnipro on January 14, 2023, Russian propagandists also tried to whitewash the Russians and blamed the Ukrainian military for the tragedy.

On the fact of the shelling by Russian troops, the prosecutor's office opened criminal proceedings under article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine (violation of the laws and customs of war).

The Kremlin media are spreading information that the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov was removed from his post, allegedly due to the fact that “the conflict with Russia dragged on”. Russian propaganda refers to an article in The New York Times. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case. After analyzing the New York Times article cited by Russian propagandists, they came to the conclusion that the publication did not indicate this reason as the key reason for the dismissal of Oleksii  Reznikov. “The fate of Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov has become the subject of growing speculation in Ukraine as financial irregularities at the ministry became known and the government launched several investigations into official corruption”, the NYT article says. They also add that as the war dragged on, there was a need for new leadership that could solve the accumulating problems.

Thus, Russian propaganda discredits the Ukrainian authorities and tries to shift the responsibility to Ukraine - they say, it is to blame for the duration of the war that Russia started. Russian propaganda uses the “most guilty” tactics.

Mary Wareham, advocacy director of the arms department of the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch, allegedly admitted that Ukraine is killing civilians with cluster shells. On September 5, Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels began to disseminate such information. Russians and propagandists refer to the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 report. The analytical team of Detector Media has looked into the primary sources and tells what human rights activists wrote and what the propagandists thought up.

On September 3, the Human Rights Watch website published Mary Warham's column on the use of cluster munitions in Ukraine. In the text, she refers to Russia's “widespread use of cluster munitions” that has resulted in “civilian deaths and injuries, damage to civilian infrastructure, and contamination of agricultural land”. The human rights activist points out that Ukraine also uses cluster munitions, which “cause civilian casualties, but on a much smaller scale than the Russian army”.

In his blog, Wareham refers to the Cluster Munition Monitor 2023 report. This report mentions that the Ukrainian Armed Forces “used cluster munitions in attacks on Izium in the Kharkiv region between March and September 2022, when it was controlled by the Russian army”. The authors of the report note that the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine denied the accusations of using cluster munitions. The list of sources of the document contains a link to a letter from the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. And the letter from the Ministry of Defense states that although Ukraine is not a party to the Convention on Cluster Munitions of May 30, 2008, “The Armed Forces of Ukraine strictly comply with the norms of international humanitarian law when planning and conducting military operations”. Human Rights Watch condemned the use of cluster munitions, but primarily blamed Russia, not Ukraine, for their use on the battlefield. The authors of the report cited the discussion about the transfer of cluster munitions by the United States to Ukraine as an example of how “stigmatized” the use of these munitions on the battlefield is. But they were reminded of the threats to their civilians even after the end of the war due to the fact that they may not explode immediately. Propagandists claimed that the human rights organization criticized only Ukraine and admitted that it violates international humanitarian law, and ignored the criticism of Russia by human rights activists.

This is not the first time propagandists and Russians have turned to the topic of cluster munitions of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, which allegedly kill civilians. In July, Detector Media refuted a claim about the death of a Russian propagandist who was allegedly killed by Ukrainians with American cluster shells. With messages about the use of cluster munitions by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, propagandists are trying to plant several ideas on the audience. Firstly, that the Ukrainian military seems to be killing civilians, and this symbolically equates the actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with the war crimes of the Russians. Secondly, they try to shift the responsibility for the suffering of civilians from the aggressor to the victim of the aggression. And for this, they use the tactics of “third party” propaganda — they put into the mouths of representatives of non-Russian public organizations and media theses that are consonant with the messages of Russian propaganda.

Russian media and anonymous telegram channels are circulating a photo that allegedly shows an order from the commander of the 123rd Trooper Brigade to create mobile crematoria. In the “document” this decision is explained by a large number of losses on the Ukrainian side and overcrowded morgues. However, this is fake.

Specialists in the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They checked the document for errors and found out that the text indicated a period of 5 days instead of a period. In addition, the format of the name does not meet the current requirements for official documentation, according to which the document should not contain “R. Tokarenko”, but “Roman TOKARENKO”. Moreover, since the 123rd TRO brigade is a territorial defense formation in the Mykolaiv region, such orders should be issued in Mykolaiv, and not Kherson, as in the photo. There were no reports of command redeployment. The seal is also not real - there is no organization with the EDRPOU code 07849800. VoxCheck specialists tested the print with the InVid plugin and found signs of being added in the photo editor. Also in the photo one can see that the text is above the seal, but should be below it. The 123rd troop brigade also denied the fake on their Facebook page, calling it “another IPSO of Russian propaganda”.

By creating and spreading such fakes, propagandists want to exaggerate the scale of losses and the situation, as well as demoralize Ukrainian society. They say that the Ukrainian army has heavy losses, which indicates the loss of Ukraine. However, such fakes only indicate that Russia wants to cover its own numerous losses and failures at the front.  Detector Media has already refuted the Russian fake from the “Kyivstar video” about the losses of the Ukrainian army.

Such information was disseminated in social networks and propaganda media. The reports say that on August 23, 2023, the Russians shelled the Sumy region and the city of Romny. The authors added that the invaders managed to destroy the school where the Ukrainian Defense Forces were located. The publications added that only the Ukrainian military suffered from the missile attack. It is not true.

The VoxCheck project specialists investigated the case and found that in fact there were no military among the victims. Instead, the occupiers fired on civilians - and they fired on a civilian object, not a military one. Particularly the local school. Four people were killed in the attack by Shahed drones: a school principal, a deputy principal, a secretary and a librarian. Also four civilians were injured who were passing by the school and came under fire. The head of the Romny Regional Military Administration explained that at the time the drone hit the school, there were 19 teachers. One of the eyewitnesses, a primary school teacher at the Romny school, also confirmed the presence of employees at the school. That is, the authors are trying to deny their own attacks and hits on civilian infrastructure. They disfigure reality and convince themselves of their “truth”. And they say: wherever they went, there were definitely soldiers there. However, the authors do not provide any facts and reject any reproaches in their direction.

The occupiers are constantly working on similar tactics: wherever the shelling occurs, it is allegedly justified. But documented cases of Russian terror testify otherwise. By the way, one  can read the chronology of Russian shelling of residential and civilian objects here. Also, check out fakes on similar topics, in which Russian propaganda denied shelling civilian infrastructure, justifying itself by “NATO headquarters”:

For example, when the Russians allegedly fired at a meeting of Lithuanian and Polish NATO officers in Chernihiv, but in fact the invaders got into the local drama theater. Or a case where propagandists tended to believe that the terrorist shelling of Odesa in July was a shelling of weapons production sites. And not on the cultural sites of Ukraine, included in the UNESCO world heritage, as it really is. Or, let's say, how the occupiers “destroyed” the ammunition depot in Uman. We found out that the Russians hit an industrial facility and a car wash. And finally, read here how a propaganda shelling of the residences of “NATO instructors” in Kramatorsk turned out to be a terrorist attack on a local cafe.

Russian propagandists are spreading information that the Ukrainian mobile operator Kyivstar allegedly disclosed real losses among the Ukrainian military in the war against Russia in the promotion of a charity initiative. Allegedly, the company has created a video in which it encourages sending text messages to dead servicemen, but hundreds of thousands of defenders will not be able to respond to the messages. This is fake.

The case was investigated by fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation. They checked the information at the Kyivstar company, where they were told that the telecommunications operator did not conduct similar actions and did not release a promotional video.

Russian propagandists are trying to intimidate Ukrainians and discredit the military leadership by spreading fakes about casualties among the Ukrainian military. They say that the authorities are silent about real losses so that people are not afraid of mobilization. Earlier, we refuted the fake that in Ternopil they threatened to cut off the gas and hot water to conscripts who do not come to the Territorial centers of procurement and social support.