Russian propagandists in their media, including Telegram channels, are spreading new fakes, accusing the Ukrainian military of inhumane crimes, such as killing civilians in Donbas, dumping bodies into wells, and destroying churches and drinking water sources.

This is what experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council write about. They found out that these statements are based on unconfirmed “testimonies” of Russian military personnel or residents of occupied territories who are spreading rumors without any facts.

Propagandists purposefully spread such stories to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine, undermine the international community’s trust in Ukraine, and justify their own numerous war crimes, including the systematic destruction of civilian infrastructure and violence against civilians. Such manipulations are a classic tool of information warfare aimed at creating a false image of the enemy.

Russian Telegram channels are spreading a video in which a man says that Ukrainian stores sell dry rations intended for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the video, he shows soup packed in a khaki-colored vacuum-sealed bag as supposed evidence.

However, the label of the soup shown in the video differs from the label of the original dry rations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The manufacturer of the soup is the company Veres, which sells these products legally, and both civilians and military personnel can buy them in Ukrainian stores.

The packaging clearly indicates that the producer of the buckwheat soup with pork is Veres. This soup, along with other ready-made meals by Veres, is available for purchase at stores like Epicenter and other retail chains in Ukraine. Nowhere on the packaging does it state that the product is exclusively for military use.

While AFU rations do include liquid meals, the packaging of the Veres soup is distinctly different from the standard military rations. Ukrainian military ration packaging typically features a minimalist design with white labels and black text. The khaki-colored vacuum-sealed packaging in the video is the only resemblance to the AFU rations.

Russian propagandists are distributing a photo of a supposedly special offer in one of the Ukrainian clothing stores. The information sign allegedly states: "For veterans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, a 50% discount on the purchase of one boot."

However, this information is not true, the VoxCheck project reports. Using the Google reverse image search function, a video with this advertisement was found. The video shows that information about the promotion is posted in a fitting room of a store. However, the name of this store is not visible either on the sign or in the frame, despite the fact that the store name is usually duplicated in the announcement of the promotion.

Also, the design of the advertisement often uses the store’s corporate fonts and colors. However, the advertisement about the alleged discount for disabled military personnel has an extremely minimalistic and non-commercial look. Anyone could print such an ad and hang it in a fitting room, and then shoot a video and pass it off as a real campaign.

After all, the ad used the word “disabled”, although the correct word would be “a person with a disability”. And customers from Ukraine did not report existence of such a campaign. Instead, the primary source of this video is a Russian propagandist Armen Hasparian.

Earlier, reports were refuted regarding claims that young people in Kyiv were invited to “lie in a coffin”, and that individuals of draft age were offered a discount.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels are spreading information that the commander of the 154th separate mechanized brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Shcherbyna, allegedly uses the services of a Ukrainian fortune teller, Mariia Tykha. According to the propagandists, before being sent to the front line, the soldiers of the 154th brigade can allegedly “find out their fate” for an additional fee, on average up to a thousand hryvnia. The fortune teller predicts a successful operation, from which they will definitely emerge unharmed.

In fact, this is a fake, the VoxCheck project reports. There is no evidence that Mariia Tykha provides services to the commander of the 154th separate mechanized brigade, Oleksandr Shcherbyna. He has never mentioned any fortune tellers on his social media pages.

In addition, the primary source of this information is the pro-Russian Telegram channel Ukropskyi Fresh, whose messages regularly discredit the Ukrainian military.

Mariia Tykha is indeed involved in astrology, extrasensory perception, and calls herself a witch. On various YouTube channels, the woman thinks about upcoming Russian shelling on Tarot cards, predicts a “Maidan” in Moscow, the end of the war, etc. But not all of her predictions come true. Both astrology and extrasensory perception are pseudoscience, and predictions from such pseudo-experts are not supported by facts, VoxCheck adds.

Earlier, we recorded a fake about the SBU allegedly detaining tarologists, fortune tellers and psychics who predict Russia's military successes.

The pro-Russian segment of the network is spreading information that one of the Ukrainian cafes allegedly has a menu with different prices for civilians and military personnel. These menus are allegedly called “standard” and “for the military” respectively, with similar dishes and inflated prices for the second category. As “proof” of this, the propagandists add a corresponding photo.

However, this information is not true, as reported by the VoxCheck project.

Using Google's reverse image search function, it was possible to find out that this news is only being spread by Russian propaganda resources. The probable original source of the photo is the Russian Telegram channel Actually in Kherson. Neither the name of the establishment that allegedly has such a menu nor its address are known. Most likely, this is simply an edited photo or a staged shot.

Usually, such cases of discrimination against Ukrainian military personnel gain publicity in the media and social networks. However, no reliable Ukrainian publications reported on this incident.

Earlier, we refuted the information that some Ukrainian stores had introduced a 20% tax for Territorial recruitment and social support center employees.

Pro-Russian sources have spread information that on November 17, 2024, while repelling a massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine, a Ukrainian servicewoman allegedly hit not a Russian missile, but a house. Thus, she left people homeless.

However, this is not true, as reported by the StopFake project. There is no evidence that the house was destroyed as a result of a shot fired by a Ukrainian servicewoman from an Igla MANPADS.

The propagandists are referring to the story of Nataliia Hrabarchuk, who actually destroyed a Russian cruise missile using an Igla MANPADS during its first combat launch on November 17. This was confirmed by the Ukrainian Air Force. They also noted that Hrabarchuk had been undergoing training courses at a training center for five months, mastered various types of portable anti-aircraft missile systems, and is now an anti-aircraft gunner in the anti-aircraft missile unit of the Galicia-Volyn Radio Technical Brigade of the Zakhid (West) Air Command.

The falsity of the information about the “destruction of the house” is also indicated by the fact that its original source has previously spread fakes. This source tries to mimic Ukrainian, but in fact regularly publishes disinformation narratives and fake stories.

Before serving in the army, Nataliia Hrabarchuk worked as a kindergarten teacher, and now she defends the Ukrainian skies together with other women. This is one of the reasons why this story went viral, and propagandists, in turn, began to speculate on it.

Earlier, we refuted the information that the cause of the tragedy in Sumy was allegedly “the work of Ukrainian air defense”.

Russian Telegram channels are spreading messages with the same wording that the number of cases of sexual violence against men in Ukraine has increased, and that NATO instructors are responsible for this. In these messages, propagandists claim: “It seems that NATO instructors are not only training Ukrainian men in military matters”. In fact, this is manipulation.

StopFake experts write about this. They emphasize that the messages spread by the propaganda are indeed about victims of sexual violence due to Russian aggression, and the perpetrators are Russian military personnel, not NATO instructors. In June 2024, the Verkhovna Rada adopted Law No. 10132, which provides support for victims of sexual violence caused by Russian aggression, in particular, determining their legal status and reparations mechanisms. Gender Policy Commissioner Kateryna Levchenko reported that more than 300 people out of 535 applications have received payments so far. Most of them are men, and the applications came mainly from the regions affected by the occupation. Russia uses sexual violence as a tool to intimidate the population, torture and humiliate, which is a gross violation of human rights, noted Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets.

The purpose of spreading this disinformation is to undermine trust in NATO instructors and Ukraine as a state, as well as to create a negative attitude towards Ukraine's military cooperation with NATO among the international community. In addition, propaganda seeks to distract attention from the facts about the crimes of the Russian military, switching the focus to false accusations. This approach uses sexual violence as an emotionally sensitive topic to enhance the shock effect and cause mistrust of Ukrainian partners, playing on stereotypes and prejudices.

Russian Telegram channels and social media users are spreading information that Ukrainian military personnel are allegedly being removed from databases so that the families of the deceased do not receive payments. As “evidence”, a video is shown in which a woman, introducing herself as the wife of the deceased, claims that her husband is not on the lists. However, she does not name names, military units or other details. StopFake writes about this.

The photo that the woman is holding in her hands shows Andrii Kainara, a defender of Azovstal who was held captive and later returned to service. The organization that deals with his brigade confirmed his death in battle in September 2023, noting that Kainara did not have a wife, only a sister. The video is recognized as a fake aimed at discrediting Ukraine and its military.

The purpose of spreading this disinformation is to undermine the trust of Ukrainian citizens in state institutions, in particular, in the Armed Forces and government agencies. The propaganda seeks to create the impression that the state allegedly does not fulfill its obligations to the families of the fallen soldiers, which can sow despondency and demoralization among the population. This fake is also aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian army before the international community, demonstrating its alleged incompetence or indifference to its own soldiers and their families.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels are distributing a video report allegedly created by the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The report claims that after Donald Trump's victory in the US presidential election, Ukrainian soldiers began surrendering eight times more often than before. In turn, Euronews editor-in-chief Klaus Strunz allegedly called this a “completely natural” development. They say that now it has become clear to everyone that Ukraine is doomed, so the military is thinking about how to save their own lives.

However, this video is fabricated, writes the StopFake project. ISW did not publish such a video or similar statistics on its website or on its social media pages. There are no similar reports in any reliable Western media, including Euronews. The editor-in-chief of this broadcaster, Strunz, did express support for Trump on his social media pages, but did not comment on the potential consequences for Ukraine after the newly elected US president takes office, nor on reports of mass surrender of Ukrainian troops. After all, this “news” is false.

Therefore, there is no independent and verified data on how many Ukrainian soldiers actually surrender, since such statistics are only available from the Russian side, which does not inspire confidence.

With this fake, propagandists are trying to assert that with Trump coming to power in the United States, Ukraine will not receive any critical financial and military support from this state and, in general, a “complete catastrophe” awaits Ukrainians.

Earlier, the Russians had already distributed a fabricated video on behalf of ISW. Thus, earlier we recorded a fake video about how two out of ten Ukrainians died during meetings with representatives of the Territorial recruitment and social support centers.

Russian and Belarusian propaganda resources are disseminating information in a coordinated manner on social networks, trying to present the Ukrainian Armed Forces as using the “human shield” tactics in the Kursk region. These accusations are based on the statements of an unnamed Russian soldier without any confirmation. This means that it is not true. This is what the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security writes.

The “human shield” message is typical of the Russian army, which has repeatedly used civilians in the occupied territories as cover since 2014. For example, in December 2023, the Ukrainian prosecutor's office opened a criminal case on the use of Ukrainian prisoners as a “human shield” in the Zaporizhzhia region. This is another attempt by Russian propaganda to shift the blame for its crimes to the Ukrainian side.

The purpose of disseminating disinformation about the alleged use of civilians in the Kursk region by the Ukrainian military as a “human shield” is to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the international arena and to increase hostility towards Ukraine among the Russian population and its presence in Ukraine to shift attention to the numerous war crimes committed by Russian troops, accusing the Ukrainian side of such crimes.

Pro-Russian sources are distributing a photo of an announcement in Ukrainian, which states that the National Police headquarters in Kharkiv Oblast is looking for Carlos Maria Mallarino and Héctor Santiago Trujillo. Russian propagandists are commenting on the photo of the announcement, claiming that two “Colombian mercenaries” have deserted from the Ukrainian army.

In fact, this information is not true. The Main Directorate of the National Police in the Kharkiv region did not put these two people on the wanted list - there is no such information on their official website or on their social media pages. The ad also contains punctuation errors. And the photo of the ad is distributed mainly in the pro-Russian segment of the network. Considering the listed facts, it can be argued that the ads were presumably forged by propagandists.

This fake feeds the Russian narrative about the presence of “foreign mercenaries” in the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In addition, by spreading such disinformation, the Russians speculate on the topic of desertion in the Ukrainian army.

Earlier, we analyzed the Russian propaganda that a group of foreign mercenaries of the Ukrainian Armed Forces was allegedly “liquidated” in the Briansk region.

Propagandists are distributing an interview with a Ukrainian prisoner of war in the media, who allegedly heard threats from his commanders to “shoot him in the back”. However, this is disinformation. This is written by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

Its experts remind us that, firstly, prisoners are forced under pressure to talk about what the occupiers demand, including confessing to false crimes or making other false statements. The Russians practice torture and murder of prisoners, grossly violating the laws of war. Secondly, methods similar to Stalin's blocking detachments have been restored in the Russian army, where Kadyrov's Akhmat units perform this function. Back in March 2022, the SBU released an intercepted conversation of a Russian militant who admitted that their task was to hold back retreating Russian soldiers. Thus, Russia is again using the “repulse” tactic, accusing the Ukrainian side of its own crimes.

The purpose of spreading this disinformation is to undermine Ukrainians’ trust in their military command and state institutions, to raise doubts about the professionalism and morality of the Ukrainian army, and to sow divisions in society. Such tactics help Russian propaganda to shape the image of Ukraine as a state with a chaotic military, where there is supposedly brutal treatment of subordinates by commanders. It also serves to justify the brutality of the Russian army by projecting its own practices onto the enemy.

A supposed advertisement from the Ukrainian Women's Watch organization is being distributed in the pro-Russian segment of social networks, which talks about military training courses for women. The “advertising banner” shows a woman in a military uniform and in the background is a photo of a monkey sitting behind the wheel of a car. And the slogan is: “Women's two-week military assistance courses - even a macaque can be taught to drive!”

However, this advertisement is not real. We checked the image from the Telegram channel using a special tool FotoForensics, which establishes the fact of interference in the image. For example, Photoshop or other photo or video editors. Therefore, it was possible to establish that the photo distributed by the propagandists contains signs of editing. Moreover, no Ukrainian media published such an advertisement. Just like on the organization's website, we did not find any information about such an advertisement.

Women in armed conflicts are one of the most vulnerable social groups. Some researchers call Russian aggression a war for gender order, a gendered confrontation, because Moscow is fighting for so-called traditional values, which imply the triumph of patriarchal practices and the leveling of gender equality. Hostile propagandists depicts a dissolute and full of feminists, prostitutes and the emasculation of the “true male essence”. Ukraine, according to propagandists, was once part of the famous “Russian Gothic”, but, having become Europeanized, adopted the destructive practices of gender equality.

Read our study on the Russian dimension of Russian misogyny: The shell of a femina with black content. How Russian propaganda is trying to discredit Ukrainian women.

The news was spread on social networks, in particular on the propaganda Telegram channel Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny, citing the Ukrainian news agency Ukrinform. The fake news states that 500 volunteers have been recruited for the Ukrainian Legion, which is being formed in Poland, but there is not a single Ukrainian among them.

“Ukraine needs to quickly gather enough people to form a battalion. Ukraine is doing everything to recruit foreigners to fight”, the propaganda correspondence said.

However, the fake news repeated the context of the news. In fact, the point is that as of early November, more than 500 applications from 30 countries had been submitted to the Ukrainian Legion, a military unit that is currently being formed in Poland among Ukrainian volunteers living abroad. In fact, the decision to create the Ukrainian Legion, which will be prepared with the assistance and support of the Polish Ministry of Defense, was announced following the signing of a security agreement between Ukraine and Poland on July 8 in Warsaw.

That is, only Ukrainian volunteers living abroad are signing up for this unit. There is no talk of any “recruitment of foreigners”.

Russian propaganda systematically feeds the narrative that professional military personnel from other countries are fighting in Ukraine — so-called foreign mercenaries.  In this way, Russian propaganda also tries to justify the failures of the Russian army. They say that they are not fighting weak Ukrainians, but “specially trained NATO soldiers” or Americans. Moreover, Russian propaganda throws in such fakes to show that there is no one left to fight in Ukraine and they are recruiting “anyone in sight”.

By the way, in our Newspeak column we reported that it is Russia that is recruiting mercenaries, in particular Wagner representatives. This is essentially a terrorist organization within the Russian army.

Let us recall that Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny is a fake resource created solely to spread propaganda messages that are beneficial to Russia.

Read also: The lie that Polish media reports about half a million fallen Ukrainian soldiers.

Anonymous propaganda Telegram channels are actively distributing an ad about a “50% discount” on one boot for veterans of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with a disability allegedly established by Ukrainian sellers. However, this is fiction, and the photo with the ad has been edited.

This is what experts at the Center for Countering Disinformation say. They note that this type of disinformation is aimed at manipulating citizens' emotions in order to cause indignation and despondency among Ukrainians, especially among those who actively support the military and help the wounded. Through targeted fakes, Russian propagandists are trying to portray Ukrainian society as not appreciating its heroes, as absolutely false and manipulative.

Such propaganda can also sow discouragement among international partners providing financial and humanitarian aid to Ukraine. Propaganda seeks to convince both external and internal audiences that support for veterans is weak and their needs are ignored. This not only undermines unity within the country, but can negatively affect Ukraine’s reputation in the world. At the same time, such manipulations reinforce stereotypes, portraying Ukraine as a country that allegedly despises its heroes, which in a war situation is a dangerous tool for psychological influence on society.

Russian anonymous Telegram channels have spread information about the detention of a volunteer at a checkpoint in the Sumy region, allegedly with more than 100 kg of drugs that were supposed to be received by Ukrainian soldiers from the 82nd Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The propagandists used a photo of a pickup truck with drugs from the X social network. However, this is not true.

This was discovered by experts from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. They found out that the photo used for the fake really does refer to a report from the US Border Service. And the drug shipment mentioned in the fiction was seized in Texas, not in Ukraine.

The purpose of such information manipulations is to discredit the Ukrainian military and volunteers in the eyes of the international community, which undermines support for Ukraine at the international level. Such fakes create the impression of corruption and criminal activity among Ukrainian defenders and volunteers, aiming to cause mistrust among partners and donors providing assistance to Ukraine. Such disinformation campaigns are part of Russia's strategy aimed at undermining the unity of international support and the attitude towards Ukraine as a reliable partner in the fight for security and democracy.

Russian propaganda Telegram channels are distributing a video in which a friend of a Ukrainian soldier, who was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage, 3rd degree, allegedly shows the state's assistance to the family of the deceased. The video says that the family was given toothpaste, antiseptic, seasoning, and a sheet. The man in the video concludes that this is not the kind of assistance that the family actually needs.

However, this is a fake, the VoxCheck project writes. Despite the fact that the order shown in the video is real, the aid shown in the video was unlikely to have been provided by the Ukrainian authorities. After all, among the items shown, there is not a single one that was produced or sold in Ukraine. For example, OraLine Bubble Gum toothpaste for children is produced and sold in the USA. The antiseptic is also not available for sale in Ukraine, but can be ordered from the UK. The manufacturer of the bed sheet is the Finnish company Sakupe, its products are also not available for sale in Ukraine.

Accordingly, it is unlikely that the Ukrainian authorities would purchase household items, such as toothpaste or bed sheets, from foreign companies to help the families of fallen defenders. Perhaps these items were transferred to Ukraine as humanitarian aid, and propagandists passed it off as state support for the families of fallen soldiers.

Families of Ukrainian soldiers killed at the front receive a one-time payment of 15 million hryvnia from the state. If a soldier died during his service, but not during combat, his relatives receive financial assistance in the amount of 750 subsistence minimums. As of January 1, 2024, the subsistence minimum is 3,028 UAH for able-bodied individuals. That is, the family of a fallen soldier receives almost 2.3 million hryvnia. However, this amount may change with the change in the subsistence minimum. These amounts, 2.3 or 15 million, are equally divided between all members of the deceased's family. The following are entitled to receive the funds: the parents of the deceased; one of the spouses who has not remarried; children under 18; dependents.

Also, families of missing soldiers, in addition to maintaining monthly payments for the soldier (official salary, salary for military rank, allowances for length of service, other monthly additional types of monetary support), are provided with an additional payment, which was assigned to the soldier for participation in military operations, in the amount of 100 thousand hryvnia. The family is deprived of such payments if the soldier voluntarily surrendered, deserted or arbitrarily left the military unit or place of service.

We have previously recorded similar fakes from Russians. In particular, they spread disinformation about a dead Ukrainian soldier buried in an anonymous grave, as well as about the alleged theft of personal belongings of a Ukrainian soldier at his funeral.

On October 29, the Russian FSB announced that a group of foreign mercenaries of the Ukrainian Armed Forces had allegedly been “liquidated” in the Briansk region. At the same time, the saboteurs were allegedly found to have a Canadian flag and a prayer book in Polish. However, this incident raises many questions. In particular, Kremlin political scientists claim that Russia is thus looking for grounds to involve North Korean troops in the war. The official interpretation, however, looks unconvincing.

The Kremlin justifies the deployment of North Korean troops by citing a treaty with Pyongyang, but that treaty was only ratified on October 24. Meanwhile, Ukraine's Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security released a video confirming the presence of North Korean soldiers in Russia on October 18, as well as this explanation.

The incident can be seen as yet another step in Russia’s disinformation campaign aimed at justifying its aggression and spreading propaganda to domestic audiences. The Kremlin is trying to present the war not only as a conflict with Ukraine, but also as a fight against Western mercenaries. Such tactics allow the authorities to create the appearance of a broad international conspiracy against Russia and attract popular support, including by justifying increased repression and mobilization. This message is also part of a broader information context in which Russian propagandists regularly try to attract more foreign participants to the conflict, including countries seeking to maintain neutrality.

Propagandists are actively distributing video materials from Ukrainian sources on anonymous Telegram channels, in particular, a video of Ukrainian servicemen of the 15th Brigade of the NGU Kara-Dag, where they evacuate the wounded from the combat zone under fire. Russian propaganda presents this video as evidence of the alleged retreat of Ukrainian troops from Selydove, disseminating information about the transfer of the city under Russian control. However, this is not true.

This was indicated by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Its specialists emphasize that, according to the representative of the NGU Ruslan Muzychuk, Selydove remains under the control of Ukrainian forces. At the same time, Ukrainian units are holding back Russian attempts to advance from the north and east. Such information leaks are aimed at demoralizing the Ukrainian military and creating a false picture of the situation in order to sow doubts among the population and undermine confidence in Ukraine's defense efforts.

Such disinformation campaigns are also part of a broader Kremlin strategy that includes discrediting the Ukrainian military and distorting the real situation on the front lines, trying to justify Russian aggression as “protection” of civilians.

The National Security and Defense Council's Center for Countering Disinformation has recorded a significant increase in the scale of Russian disinformation, in which propagandists promote false messages about the alleged deliberate killing of civilian Ukrainian soldiers. In particular, they are actively distributing an unverified drone video, using it to support their claims. This video does not contain specific information about the direction of the shelling, the circumstances of the events, or the identity of the participants, which makes these claims dubious.

The purpose of such disinformation is to create a false image of Russian military personnel as “defenders” of the civilian population of the temporarily occupied territories and to divert attention from the real war crimes recorded there. Russia is trying to justify its aggression by using these information leaks to discredit the Ukrainian military and strengthen the negative image of Ukraine among the local population and the international community.

Propaganda Telegram channels are spreading the message that Ukrainian soldiers from the 61st Separate Mechanized Brigade are “committing atrocities” against civilians in Kursk and “bragging” about photographs of the tortured on the Internet.

But in fact, the original publication talks about Russian atrocities in one of the villages that was liberated by the fighters of the 61st Separate Mechanized Brigade. To create a fake, the real message was edited.

In fact, the original publication is a message from October 13, 2024 on the Facebook page of the educational project of the analytical center CASE Ukraine “The Price of the State”. The description of the project states that it explains to Ukrainians “how much the state costs them and what their taxes are spent on”.

The message noted that the photo shows the aftermath of Russian crimes in one of the liberated villages (the location is not specified). The 61st Separate Mechanized Brigade took control of this settlement. Its fighter took a photo of the dead tortured by the Russians. The post then included a gathering for the brigade. There is no mention of the Kursk region in the text. The Russians changed the original publication.

A video is being distributed in Russian social networks, showing military equipment located along the road. The publication indicates that it supposedly belongs to Ukraine, it was hit in the Kursk region, where it remains.

But the video does indeed show Russian equipment that Ukrainian troops captured in 2022. OSINT analysts geolocated the location of the video recording to the village of Myrnoye in Donetsk region. And the video itself has a watermark from one of the Russian propaganda Telegram channels. When the video was published on the channel, it was simply captioned as “a cemetery of Ukrainian armored vehicles destroyed in the zone” and did not mention the Kursk region.

And the OSINT analyst EjShahid actually established that the video was filmed in the village of Myrne in the Donetsk region. It is located at a great distance from the Russian-Ukrainian border. The analyst confirms that the video shows captured Russian tanks.

Ukrainian troops broke through the Russian border in the Sumy region on Tuesday, August 6. On August 12, President Zelenskyi wrote directly for the first time that Ukraine was conducting an operation in Russia's Kursk region. On August 12, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi reported that Ukraine controlled almost 1,000 km of the Kursk region. As of August 21, 93 settlements in Russia are under Ukraine's control.

Russian sources, citing a certain “news story”, are spreading information that the Colombian government is planning to restrict the showing of TikTok videos from Ukraine due to the “romanticization of war” and “propaganda of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. Thus, the video story says that TikTok videos from Ukraine allegedly create a distorted romanticized perception of war among Colombian youth, which allegedly encourages them to join the International Legion of the Ukrainian Armed Forces en masse.

However, this information is fake, writes the StopFake project. The video clip that the Russians are distributing is fabricated. The attackers used the corporate style and logo of the Colombian publication City Noticias TV to create the fake, but did not take into account that the publication publishes content not in English, but exclusively in Spanish. There is no such clip on the media’s website or social networks. There is also no similar news on the Colombian websites of the Ministry of Information Technology and Communications and the Ministry of National Defense, as well as on any authoritative Spanish-language or English-language media.

Finally, the “facts” in the video contradict reality and common sense. For example, the story claims that the average age of Colombians joining the Ukrainian army has dropped from 22 to 18 due to the influence of TikTok. However, this is highly unlikely, since 18 is the minimum age to join the International Legion.

On the contrary, most Colombians in the Ukrainian army are veterans with combat experience – this was written about by a number of publications that studied the motivations of Colombian citizens to join the International Legion. Accordingly, such experienced fighters are encouraged to join the war with Russia not by a romanticized perception of the war, but by decent financial compensation.

Previously, we recorded a number of Russian propaganda leaks on the topic of Colombian citizens in the ranks of the International Legion. For example, we analyzed the fake that the body of the fallen Colombian fighter Michael Ramirezi Fino from the International Legion was allegedly returned to his family “without internal organs”.

Russian sources are spreading information about alleged “atrocities” by Ukrainian soldiers from the 61st separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. The propagandists write that a Ukrainian serviceman allegedly “bragged” online about a photograph depicting “tortured peaceful resisting residents”.

However, this is a fake. The Center for Countering Disinformation found the original message, and it turned out that it had a completely different context. Russian propagandists made certain manipulations with the real correspondence, changing its text in a photo editor and, finally, presenting it as the real one.

The purpose of the fake is to present Ukrainian military personnel in a negative light. That is, it is about discrediting Ukrainian soldiers, in particular those carrying out combat missions in the Kursk region. Earlier, we documented a fake that Ukraine allegedly created “concentration camps” in the Sumy region.

Propagandists are spreading information that a mutiny has occurred in the 116th separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kupiansk. In addition, they claim that the unit has lost its combat capability, as a result of which it was allegedly withdrawn from the combat zone. The enemy's messages say that the military refuses to follow orders, and relatives are raising money for lawyers to help the detained fighters avoid punishment. However, this is fake.

This was reported by specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. They checked this information among the military command and confirmed that these statements were fictitious. The brigade continues to carry out combat missions in a certain area of responsibility and acts in accordance with orders.

Such information leaks are part of psychological operations aimed at undermining the morale of the military and distrust of the Ukrainian Armed Forces among the population. Their goal is to destabilize the internal front, cause panic, despondency and discredit the Ukrainian army against the backdrop of active military operations. Such campaigns are also designed to exert emotional pressure on the families of the military in order to cause fear and doubt in the effectiveness of the armed forces. The enemy uses disinformation as a weapon to weaken Ukraine's defense, so it is important to trust only verified sources of information.