Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say Volodymyr Zelenskyi recently made the decision to call up 3,000 U.S. military reserve soldiers due to “huge losses” in the war. The authors refer to the “edition” of The Babylon Bee. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the Brekhunets (Liar) project took up this case and found that the propagandists really took the news from The Babylon Bee humorous forum and passed it off as information from an authoritative source. Although someone can write on the forum and the moderation rules there are completely different. The site also indicated that they publish fake news and that they are satirical. That is, propagandists distorted the context of the news and passed it off as real.

Russian propaganda systematically nourishes the narrative that regular military personnel of other states, the so-called “foreign mercenaries”, are fighting in Ukraine. Thus, Russian propaganda is also trying to justify the failures of the Russian army. Like, they are fighting not with “weak” Ukrainians, but with “specially trained NATO members” or Americans.

Russian media, broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, spread the information that Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in an interview with ABC News, allegedly stated that “the United States was in charge of the Ukrainian aggression” and allegedly added that “the United States could end the conflict in Ukraine at any second, since they [the Americans] unleashed it”. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has not made any statements that the United States has unleashed a war in Ukraine. He confirmed that Ukraine itself decides on the occupation of its territories. Zelenskyi commented on Donald Trump's words that he could end the war in 24 hours. The President of Ukraine said that Trump already had his 24 hours, but then he had other priorities. He also added that the option of ending the war with Russia through trade in its own territories is unacceptable for Ukraine.

Thus, Russian propagandists are once again trying to discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyi and worsen relations with Western partners, hoping that they will reduce military assistance to Ukraine. Earlier, we refuted the manipulation that Jens Stoltenberg refused to shake hands with Zelenskyi.

Russian media, broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, spread the information that Putin said that Russia still does not use cluster munitions in Ukraine. “If they are used against us, we reserve the right to mirror actions”, the Russian president said. It's fake.

The fact-checkers of The Insider media drew attention to the case. On February 25, 2022, the international human rights organization Human Rights Watch reported on the strike of a Russian ballistic missile 9M79 fired by the Tochka-U complex on a hospital in Vuhledar. It was equipped with a warhead filled with 9N123K cluster munitions. As a result, 4 people died.

On February 28, 2022, investigative journalists from Bellingcat tracked the use of cluster munitions by Russia in Ukraine. And already at the end of March 2022, the chairman of the UN Human Rights Council, Michelle Bachelet, said that Russia had used cluster munitions 24 times at that time. The attack on the Kramatorsk railway station on April 8, 2022, which killed 58 civilians and wounded about 100, was also carried out by Tochka-U.

Russia discredits Ukraine and tries to make it guilty of the war. They say that it is the Ukrainians who are the aggressors, and Russia was forced to enter the war and use cluster munitions. Earlier, we refuted the fake that Ukraine does not have the right to use cluster munitions because it signed the convention in 2008.

Propagandists in social networks are spreading information that they have placed an advertising banner in New York with the words: “No Zelenskyi - no war”. It's fake.

Specialists of the Beyond the News project and the Center for Countering Disinformation drew attention to it. They found out that the video, which allegedly depicts a banner, is the result of video editing. Based on footage from Fifth Avenue, however, it was filmed before the start of a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Analysts have noticed that the banner is missing from recent street panoramas on Google Maps and video footage of the street. In addition, they note that in the video there are black traffic lights, while since 2021 there have been yellow traffic lights on this street. The absence of the banner was also confirmed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and the Consulate General of Ukraine in New York.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists continue to try to personally discredit Zelenskyi and create the false impression that they no longer want to support Ukraine abroad precisely because of the behavior and rhetoric of its president. For a similar purpose, they create fake covers of foreign publications, as Detector Media wrote about more than once.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say Ukraine is actually committing war crimes by taking the war to the cities. Like, there are more people in cities, and they suffer from the fact that the military builds fortifications, “military bases in hospitals”, etc. According to the authors, the Ukrainian Defense Forces deliberately do not evacuate people from cities so that Ukrainian civilians would die.

The fact checkers of the VoxCheck project took up this case and determined that these theses are not true. They explained that Ukraine does not commit war crimes and did not “transfer” the war to Ukrainian cities since it is Russia that has been committing war crimes on the territory of Ukraine since 2014, shelling peaceful cities and terrorizing civilians. And after the start of a full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian authorities constantly organize evacuations from the front-line territories. The Russians are shelling Ukrainian territories, cities and villages, respectively, the Ukrainian Defense Forces are protecting civilians from the invaders.

It is clear that the military can equip the territory of the city for the needs of protection, without violating basic human rights and international law. Therefore, the allegation about the construction of military fortifications (or any fortifications in cities or villages) and violation of the rules of warfare is unfounded. On the contrary, it helps protect people from Russian shelling. With this message propagandists transfer responsibility from the aggressor to the victim as if the Ukrainian troops are to blame for the fact that Ukraine is shelled daily and they must defend themselves.

Propagandists create and distribute publications that Ukraine has imprisoned journalists from abroad for publishing “inconvenient truths” about Russian aggression. They say that such “Western values” are supported by the Ukrainian government, hiding behind the silence of the West.

As the main example, the authors of such publications use the situation with a citizen of the United States and Chile, journalist Gonzalo Lira. Allegedly, he was imprisoned only for what he said: “facts recognized by Kyiv.”

However, in reality, the journalist was arrested for spreading openly anti-Ukrainian aggressive rhetoric and Russian disinformation. For example, Lira called Ukrainian President Zelenskyi a “thug”, EU leaders “incompetent” (supporting the words of Russian Prime Minister Medvediev), and also accused the US and Poland of intentions to “divide Ukraine”. The journalist justified Russia's actions by saying that it needed the entire territory of Ukraine so that there would be no worse problems. In addition, he called on the International Criminal Court to arrest the ex-president of Ukraine Poroshenko for allegedly “killing children in the Donbas”.

All these and other statements by Lira were once drawn to the attention of the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. By spreading this message, Russia wants to shift the responsibility for its actions to other forces and divert attention from its own systemic problems with freedom of speech.

Kremlin propaganda media, anonymous telegram channels and users of the Russian segment of Twitter spread information that the UK is allegedly recruiting “mercenaries” for the Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south and east of Ukraine. Proof of this is the announcement of the EU Citizenship Program on the Adzuna job site. Russian propaganda refers to the publication of the British edition of The Times. It's fake.

The fact-checker of the Stop Fake project drew attention to the case. The UK did not recruit “mercenaries” to Ukraine because of the Adzuna website. What's more, Adzuna chief executive Doug Munro told The Times that the ad was created for the purpose of propaganda and that his site was “a victim of Russian disinformation about the war”. After the message began to circulate among the military, The Sunday Times contacted Adzuna. And the company immediately froze the advertisement and contacted the police. Doug Munro believes that this provocation was created by “Russia or pro-Russian fans”.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads fakes and manipulations by so-called foreign mercenaries in Ukraine. Thus, Russian propagandists seek to create the appearance that Russia is actually at war not with Ukraine, but with the so-called collective West. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the message that the West allegedly does not allow the Ukrainian military to use its equipment, because “foreign mercenaries” are doing this.

The thesis that Russia is trying to end the war that Ukraine started in 2014 was promoted by Putin at meetings with military corps. He stated that “we are not the aggressors, the aggressors are they [Ukrainians], but we are trying to end the war by force of arms”. However, such conclusions are unfounded.

Russian propaganda is systematically spreading the thesis that allegedly Ukraine unleashed a war back in 2014, began to conduct hostilities against itself, and subsequently refused to sit down at the negotiating table. Since 2014, Russian propagandists have used the tactics of substitution of concepts and talked about the “civil war” in Ukraine. Behind this term, Russia's participation in the hostilities in the East of Ukraine was hidden. Now the Russians are conducting a “special military operation” on the territory of Ukraine.

By spreading such messages, Russian propagandists are trying to justify their actions and shift the responsibility for them to the victim. Allegedly, Ukraine started the war in 2014, and Russia is now trying to stop it. However, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, started a war in the East and annexed Crimea. Earlier, Detector Media reported that a war broke out in Ukraine over the ban on the Russian language.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that draft law No. 7114, allegedly declaring a state of war, registered on February 24, 2022, has disappeared from the website of the Verkhovna Rada. The authors argue that mobilization is illegal. They add a screenshot to messages that show a citizen's request for public information. In response to a request, the Verkhovna Rada stated that the draft law No. 7114 was not in the database.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project drew attention to the case, and they found that Volodymyr Zelenskyi submitted the draft law “On declaring a state of war” for consideration by the Verkhovna Rada on February 24, 2022, and it was indeed not approved. However, this does not mean that we are not at war. For example, back in March 2022, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar explained that it was not necessary to adopt a special law or decree declaring war. She cited Article 3 of the UN Resolution “On Aggression” of 1974 and stressed that an invasion or attack by the armed forces of a state on the territory of another state, bombardment or blockade of ports is qualified as an act of aggression.

In addition, after the start of Russia's full-scale aggression, Volodymyr Zelenskyi issued a decree “On the introduction of martial law in Ukraine”, adopted on February 24 by the Verkhovna Rada. This document empowers military administrations to assist in the organization of mobilization and communicate to the population the order of the military commissar to announce mobilization.

By spreading this message, Russian propaganda wants to prove that, as they say, the war is staged in Ukraine, but in general the state of war has not been declared. Like, there is no war, and mobilization is also impossible. Thus, propagandists deliberately hide the fact of a full-scale invasion of the territory of Ukraine.

This message is circulating in the Russian segment of Facebook and Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. As proof, they cite Stephen Bryen’s article What happened to Ukraine’s General Valerii Zaluzhny? posted on the Asia Times website. Zelenskyi seems to have doubts, despite the Ukrainian Armed Forces being equipped with American and European weapons, including Leopard tanks, because “Ukraine will have to go mostly without air cover for any advance and will face a heavily electronically jammed battlefield where Western smart weapons may not work”, as the article notes. This is manipulation.

Stop Fake experts drew attention to the case, noting that this article in Asia Times is an outright manipulation. The author of the article, Stephen Bryen, is spreading fake Russian propaganda about the allegedly missing Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Earlier Detector Media denied this information.

Bryen also writes that the United States is allegedly pressuring Zelenskyi to launch a counteroffensive, and then adds that “There are other rumors pointing to an ongoing struggle in Ukraine between military and civilian leaders”. The opinions expressed in the article spread Russian narratives.

Detector Media found out that on May 13, 2023, in an interview with Italian media, Zelenskyi said that the issue of a counteroffensive is the most popular in Ukraine, but the president cannot disclose details so as not to do harm.

And on May 29, he wrote on his telegram: “I just finished the Headquarters. Important questions. Important decisions. The main thing is timing. And most importantly, there are answers regarding the timing”.

Russian propagandists continue to spread narratives about an upcoming Ukrainian counteroffensive that is supposedly doomed to fail. Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to demoralize the Ukrainian military, discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyi and sow discouragement among Ukrainians. Earlier, Detector Media refuted the fake that NATO military experts are confident in the failure of the counteroffensive of the Ukrainian military, and also that the West is allegedly preparing for the loss of Ukraine in the war.

The Kremlin propaganda media spread an article with the headline “The West has lost. The US revealed the truth about the Ukrainian counteroffensive”. In the text, military experts Michael Kofman and Rob Lee commented on the war in Ukraine. They allegedly stated that “The event pins hopes on a Ukrainian counter-offensive, but its outcome is unlikely to live up to expectations, instead giving Russia an advantage” and noted that “Putin may assume that this offensive is the highest point of Western assistance to Ukraine and that subsequently Russia will be able to deplete the Armed Forces”. It's fake.

The Insider drew attention to the case. In fact, the article by Kofman and Lee states that the future offensive of Ukraine, no matter how successful, will not lead to an immediate end to the war and that one must prepare for a protracted conflict.

“Ukraine may well succeed on the battlefield, but it will take time to turn military victories into political results”, the article says. Experts also noted that even if Ukraine wins a military victory or a series of victories, this does not mean that the war will end there. However, there is no question of Russia's advantage on the battlefield or recognition of the defeat of the West.

Thus, Russian propagandists continue to promote the narrative that Ukraine is dependent on the West and its interests in the war and wants to demoralize Ukrainians. Like, take a look, even American military experts do not believe in the victory of Ukraine. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the message that Ukraine is a tool of the West to undermine Russian statehood.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the cancellation of the upcoming elections is an expected move from Zelenskyi who wants to stay in power longer. According to the authors, Zelenskyi understands that he will not be able to secure a victory in the presidential election, since society is “extremely unhappy” with him. Like, Volodymyr Zelenskyi is losing Ukrainian lands and at the same time the support of Ukrainians. The authors argue that Zelenskyi wants to seize all power in Ukraine.

However, this thesis is unfounded. According to Ukrainian law, elections cannot be held under martial law. That is, Zelenskyi will remain president until the end of the war. This is not his desire, but a forced step in order to avoid violations of the law and various conflicts. Moreover, no one “drags out” the war if the Russians shell Ukraine every day. Recently, the head of PACE Tiny Kox spoke about the possibility of holding Ukrainian elections. He explained that elections should be held in Ukraine, however, most likely after the end of active hostilities, when martial law will still be maintained. He acknowledged that it is difficult to hold elections under such conditions. At the same time, the Ukrainian authorities at the PACE event said that the elections should be held in 2024. The head of the Ukrainian delegation to PACE, Mariia Mezentseva, said that the Ukrainian authorities are now striving to adhere to the usual calendar. That is, 2024 is the year of presidential and parliamentary elections as planned, and 2025 is the year of local elections.

The Ukrainian government does not refuse to hold elections, but rather seeks ways to hold them. However, politicians consider all the risks associated with the war that Russia unleashed against Ukraine. Under such conditions, Russia is preventing the elections from being held, as they shell Ukrainian cities and villages on a daily basis, and the Russians kill Ukrainian civilians.

Anonymous telegram channels spreading pro-Russian rhetoric have reported that Western partners are tired of the war in Ukraine. And this is confirmed by the fact that a large number of requirements are allegedly “missed by foreign politicians” or they refuse to fulfill them at all. Also, the authors of the messages call Zelenskyi's visits to Rome, Paris and Berlin unsuccessful. According to anonymous telegrams, the only confident partner of Ukraine remains the United Kingdom.

In fact, such conclusions are unfounded. During a visit to Berlin on May 14, 2023, the President of Ukraine and the Chancellor of Germany issued a joint declaration. Germany also announced a large aid package. Federal Chancellor Olaf Scholz tweeted that Germany is providing a new military aid package worth a total of 2.7 billion euros, including further Leopard -1 battle tanks, Marder infantry fighting vehicles and Iris-T air defense systems.

On May 13, during a meeting in Rome, the President of Ukraine and the Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Italian Republic made a joint declaration. “Within NATO, Italy continues to focus on direct support to Ukraine, contributing to a significant expansion of NATO's Comprehensive Assistance Package to Ukraine”, the declaration says.

During the meeting in Paris on May 14, 2023, France also signed a declaration of support for Ukraine's move to NATO. In particular, the declaration states that “France continues to provide strong support for strengthening Ukraine's ability to defend itself and recalls that Ukraine has the right to choose its own security measures”.

However, by spreading such messages, propagandists want to show that the support of international partners has weakened, they are tired of helping Ukraine and devalue the results of a foreign visit. Russian propaganda needs such rhetoric to demoralize Ukrainians; to convince Ukraine that soon no one will help it, so that it will be left alone in the fight against Russia.

Earlier, Detector Media talked about the message that Zelenskyi sold Ukraine to a Western fund.

This thesis was spread on social networks and in the propaganda media. The report says that the United States is the main sponsor of the Russian-Ukrainian war, because in Washington they are afraid of the possibility of Russia rising again as a world leader. Therefore, the US is using Ukraine as a buffer for its own security. However, American officials don't give a damn about the fate of Ukraine. Therefore, they are waging an “indirect” war with Russia through Ukraine.

The fact-checkers of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the case and determined that such a thesis is unfounded. The US is not at war with Russia because it has not declared anything to it. On the contrary, Russia, having carried out a large-scale offensive on the territory of Ukraine, is committing war crimes every day. Therefore, Russia attacked Ukraine, and it only defends itself with the help of internal resources and Western assistance.

The West, including the United States, supports Ukraine with military and financial assistance for the effective self-defense of the country, in accordance with Article 51 of the UN Charter, in order to stop Russia's aggressive war against Ukraine. And not because “the West is waging war against Russia”.

By spreading this message, propagandists feed the narrative of the existence of a so-called “collective West” united against Russia to destroy it.

The allegation that the war in Ukraine was staged was circulating in the American segment of Facebook and Twitter. As evidence of the so-called staging, the authors of the message published videos in which armed men in military uniform with yellow ribbons on their hands enter the building, and a film crew is standing nearby and filming the scene. It's fake.

According to Reuters analysts, the video circulating on social networks is from the filming of the film “Nadia” in Latvia. This film is based on the story of a woman who lost her parents and partner and gave birth to a child during the war. On the Latvian channel RUS.LSM, they filmed a story about the tape, and also uploaded an additional video on YouTube with footage from the filming, where the cameraman and the bomb explosion are visible (36 seconds). Also, the director of the film, Artem Kocharian, posted a video from the filming process on TikTok with the hashtags “cinema”, “backstage”. In a few seconds, his video was being circulated by social media users and they wrote that “the war in Ukraine is like a Wag the Dog movie”.

Propagandists use such fakes to deny the war in Ukraine and discriminate against the Ukrainian authorities. Detector Media has already talked about the fabrications that the massacres in Bucha near Kyiv were allegedly staged by the Ukrainian military.

The Kremlin websites disseminate information that in Ukraine, due to the war with Russia, there are allegedly almost no people of twenty years old left. Propagandists attribute this to “the West's order to Zelenskyi to fight to the last Ukrainian”. Like, precisely because the Ukrainians are forced to fight, the number of twenty-year-old boys and girls in Ukraine “has decreased by four in just a year”. It is not true.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project investigated this case. They determined that the Russian propagandists were referring to “official statistics from the annual World Population Prospects published by the UN Secretariat”. Thus, Russian propaganda claims that last year in Ukraine there were about 200 thousand boys and 200 thousand girls of twenty years old, and this year's data show that in the age category of 21 years (these people are now 21 years old) there are only about 60 thousand boys and 50 thousand girls left.

However, the data presented in the World Population Prospects differ from the figures voiced by the propagandists. In 2023, about 133 thousand boys and 118 thousand girls aged 21 live in Ukraine, and not 60 and 50 thousand, respectively. And in 2021, when they were 19 years old, the number of boys was about 190 thousand, and girls - 180 thousand. That is, over the specified period, the number of young people in Ukraine has indeed decreased somewhat, but not by several times, as Russian propaganda claims. According to StopFake experts, the main reason for the decline in the population of Ukraine in 2022-2023 was emigration abroad due to Russia's armed aggression.

Russian propaganda spreads such fakes in order to discredit the Ukrainian authorities, demoralize Ukrainians and show the inexpediency of further resistance to Russia. They say that Ukraine is losing its youth because of the opposition to Russian aggression, and the authorities are not able to ensure the safety of their people. We note that this is not the first time Russia has manipulated figures on the population of Ukraine. Detector Media has already told how Russian propaganda counted Ukrainians by the amount of bread consumed and claimed that there are 5 million fewer Ukrainians every year.

Propagandists distribute a video allegedly filmed in one of the shopping centers in Vienna. It shows a TV screen, which shows the inscription “Nicht unser Krieg” (Not our war) against the background of the Austrian flag. Like, the Austrians do not want to support Ukraine. It's fake.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that the photo with the inscription contained traces of inept editing. In particular, the pixels on the “screen” are uneven and moved out, which is impossible in a real screen. Moreover, on other screens shown in the video, you can see an advertisement for a waste reduction project in the Turmstraße residential center of the Mitte district in the city of Berlin. In addition, one of the Twitter users found out that the shopping center where the photo was taken is not in Vienna, but in Berlin.

Thus, Russian propagandists want to convince Ukrainians that Europeans are war-weary. Like, the Austrians do not want to help Ukraine. However, the Ukrainian diaspora in Vienna is actively implementing a number of projects that are of high interest among ordinary Austrians.

Anonymous telegram channels spreading pro-Russian rhetoric often publish messages that coincide with the position of conspiracy theorists on a number of world events. This time they claim that the war in Ukraine is the beginning of the third world war as part of the world elites' plan to destroy humanity. There have been more such messages after recent statements by Bill Gates regarding the COVID-19 pandemic.

In this case, conspiracy theorists are referring to the theory of a “secret world government” made up of businessmen and wealthy people of the world. They allegedly lead heads of state to spread their ideas and sometimes resort to “grand plans”. They are often called pandemics, wars, major natural disasters, etc.

Now fans of conspiracy theories put the coronavirus pandemic and the war against Ukraine in one chain, calling them “stages of the plan to destroy humanity”. Like, the planet was closed for a year, stuffed with vaccines, but this was not enough, so it was needed to finish everyone off with a war. As goals for such plans, propagandists refer to the theory of the “golden billion”: only one billion of the most hardy population should remain on the planet, which could survive all these ups and downs.

Thus, Russian propagandists devalue the tragedy of these events and try to shift the responsibility from the aggressor to the victim of the aggression. Like, we are only on foot in this game, and the Western elites started the war. However, foreign experience shows that such a deepening of isolation from reality can be dangerous. In particular, in the United States, cases have been recorded when fans of conspiracy theories tried to kill their defendants.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. During a speech by U.S. Director of National Intelligence Avril Gaines, she allegedly called the war for Ukraine “already lost” and that it had “no chance” of defeating Russia. Like, the director recounted the results of the US intelligence report. The authors of the messages add that the US is preparing Ukraine for “the worst-case scenario”. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case, and investigated that the propagandists distorted the context of the statement of the Director of National Intelligence of the United States, because there were no results on the “loss of Ukraine” in the report. As analysts explain, the document, on the contrary, notes that Russia is suffering heavy losses on the battlefield, and its stockpiles of weapons are being depleted - these factors make the Russian army vulnerable. That is, in the report itself, they emphasized the fact of the military weakening of Russia, the fact-checkers noted.

As to the statement by Avril Gaines, she did not speak about the loss of Ukraine either. She noted that indeed the Russian aggression against Ukraine is “exhausting and protracted”, but immediately cited facts indicating the weakening of Russia at the front.

By spreading such a message, propagandists want to convince that Western partners are desperate in Ukraine and at the same time do not support it, because it will soon lose. Thus, the authors are trying to sow panic among Ukrainians in order to destabilize moods and discredit Western partners in the eyes of Ukrainians.

We recall that Detector Media previously denied fakes designed to discredit the Ukrainian authorities or Western partners in the eyes of Ukrainians. For example, analysts refuted the statement of Bill Gates, who said that the current leadership of Ukraine is one of the worst in the world. They also explained the manipulation in which propagandists claimed that Ukraine would soon become uninhabitable due to losing the war.

Such information appeared in the Russian propaganda media. Reports say that the fact that Ukraine will not receive planes from abroad was allegedly announced by Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. Like, Ukraine is already desperate and there is no optimism that fighters from partners will still arrive. However, this is manipulation.

As StopFake analysts found out, propagandists distorted Dmytro Kuleba's commentary to the German publication Bild am Sonntag.

In fact, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said that Ukraine, on the contrary, has no doubt that it will receive fighter jets from allied countries. However, he added that the acquisition process could take a long time despite the work being done.

Propagandists use such manipulation to reassure the audience that Ukraine will not receive weapons from Western partners to fight Russia. They say that even Ukrainian officials do not believe in new deliveries, so there will definitely not be weapons. Thus, Russia creates the appearance that Ukraine is allegedly losing the support of the West and will soon be left without any help.

This thesis appeared in Russian propaganda media and telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. Reports say that Ukraine has allegedly brought the defense of the EU countries to a “terrible state”. The authors of the messages refer to the publication of columnists for the American edition of Foreign Affairs Max Bragman and Sophia Bash. However, this is manipulation.

This media really published a publication with the title “Why European Defense Still Depends on America” dated March 7, 2023. However, as StopFake analysts note, the Foreign Affairs publication does not at all state that Ukraine allegedly “brought the EU defense capability to a terrible state”. In fact, the authors of the publication write that Russia's military aggression against Ukraine revealed already existing problems in the defense of European countries, and that these problems also remain unresolved even after a year of war.

However, such messages are beneficial to Russian propaganda. Thus, propagandists create the appearance that due to the fact that the EU countries send weapons to Ukraine, they themselves are weakening.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that the US plans to hold talks with Russia in order to “somehow agree to achieve peace”. The authors note that the United States is allegedly at war with Ukraine against Russia, and then America will independently make decisions on negotiations with Russia.

Analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to this case and determined that this thesis is unfounded and has no evidence. The West supports Ukraine with military and financial assistance and does not take a direct part in the war. In addition, Western partners act on the principle of not discussing issues related to Ukraine without Ukraine. That is, Ukraine is also a participant in all international processes, no one can make decisions on behalf of Ukraine without the knowledge of the Ukrainian leadership.

According to analysts, there are no significant differences between the United States and Europe in the position on Russia's war against Ukraine. In the conclusions of the Council of the European Union of February 9, 2023, it was unequivocally noted that the EU will support Ukraine for as long as necessary. Western countries, including the United States, are determined to help Ukraine in its victory.

By spreading such a message, propagandists want to convince that Ukraine is supposedly a puppet in the hands of the West, which acts in its own interests and does not take Ukrainians into account. At the same time, Russian propaganda promotes the thesis of a truce as the only way to end the war, so that Russia in the international arena will be considered and tried to “somehow negotiate”.

Russian and pro-Russian telegram channels began to circulate Ramzan Kadyrov's quotes that the “diabolical regime of Ukraine” is fighting against the “defenseless”, so this can be considered a “war without rules”. Kadyrov's statements are linked to reports of an alleged “Ukrainian reconnaissance sabotage group” (DRG) that allegedly attacked two villages in the Briansk region, took Russian civilians hostage and fired on a car.

Versions of the event in the Briansk region were specified several times both in terms of the number of victims, and the location of the so-called DRG (reconnaissance sabotage group), and the purpose of their stay in Russia. Despite this, the Russians immediately, without clarifying the circumstances, took advantage of the situation and accused Ukraine of terrorism. Like, the Ukrainian military commits crimes against peaceful Russians. The Ukrainian authorities called these statements a provocation and denied Ukraine's involvement in the events in the Briansk region. In the end, representatives of the “Russian volunteer corps” took responsibility and called the events an attempt to show that there are also free people in Russia who are ready to fight against the Putin regime.

Thus, Russia uses the tactics of reflection and shifts the responsibility for anything to Ukraine. Like, Russia does not attack first, but “strike back”. In fact, Russia is an aggressor state that started a war against Ukraine and commits war crimes on the territory of Ukraine, including against children.

There are messages disseminated to both Ukrainian and foreign audiences that allegedly Volodymyr Zelenskyi believes that the United States is not helping Ukraine enough. Allegedly, America like Ukraine should send its daughters and sons to war. Allegedly, if NATO “does not want to give enough weapons”, they should take part in the war. They say Zelenskyi made such a statement during a press conference on the anniversary of the great war. It is not true.

The video circulating online is edited and taken out of context. Volodymyr Zelenskyi does not call on the US or NATO to enter the war. StopFake fact-checkers explain that the video shows a fragment of the President's answer to a question from a BBC journalist about what Volodymyr Zelenskyi would like to say to those Americans who do not support military assistance to Ukraine. The response stated that if Ukraine did not win the war, Russia would start a war with NATO countries, primarily with the Baltic countries. In this case, all NATO countries, including the United States, will have to send their military to war. From this answer, the propagandists compiled the text they needed. The fact-checkers of the MythDetector project came to the same conclusion.

Since the beginning of the war, Russian propaganda has been promoting the narrative that Ukraine is trying to draw other countries into a war with Russia.

Reports are circulating on pro-Russian telegram channels that Ukrainians are building defensive structures on the border with Russian-occupied Transnistria. They say that Ukraine is justifying itself by strengthening its own security, but ‘in fact” it is preparing provocations to draw Moldova into the war.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads messages that Ukraine is going to draw neighboring states into the war, including Poland, Romania, Moldova, Hungary or Belarus. The propagandists also wrote that in one way or another Ukraine was involving the USA, Finland, Estonia, Germany, Slovakia, Serbia, etc. into the war. Propaganda claimed that military personnel of NATO countries or representatives of the OSCE are fighting in Ukraine. Thus, Russia uses the tactics of substitution of concepts in order to present itself as a victim of global aggression, and not as an aggressor state.

Russia launched a new wave of disinformation messages about drawing Moldova into the war after Russian missiles violated Moldovan airspace. Thus, Russia is trying to be proactive and absolve itself of responsibility for war crimes. Like, Ukraine provokes other states and draws them into the war, not Russia. The Russians recently shared a “document” allegedly confirming that Ukraine was preparing to attack Transnistria.