Russian propaganda resources are spreading reports that the Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) allegedly detained employees of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine (GUR MO) who were trying to enter Russia from Lithuania. The goal of the Ukrainian intelligence officers was to “gather information about border security and kidnap a child”.

In fact, this information is not true. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation after verifying this news. They also added that Ukrainian intelligence does not use such methods, and this statement is another provocation by Russian special services.

The purpose of the fake is to discredit Ukrainian intelligence officers and demonize them in the eyes of ordinary Russians, because in addition to “collecting information”,  they allegedly also wanted to “steal a child”. Earlier, we wrote about eight fake chats that copied the official “Main Intelligence Bot”.

Russian propagandists are spreading manipulative messages that Russian aviation allegedly destroyed a UAV train in Zaporizhzhia. Russian media, citing the alleged words of the spokesman of the Operational-Strategic Group of Forces “Tavria” Vladyslav Voloshyn, claim that the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly confirmed the “liquidation of the UAV production workshop”. This is reported by StopFake.

In fact, Russia has really stepped up terror against the civilian population of Ukraine's frontline cities - dozens of airstrikes are carried out daily on Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv, Sumy, Kherson, Odesa and other populated areas. Schools, playgrounds, residential buildings and hospitals often fall under these indiscriminate attacks. Russian occupiers have modernized guided aerial bombs (GAB), allowing them to attack cities located deep in the rear. On September 27, 2024, on the air of Novosti.Live, the press secretary of the Tavria Operational-Strategic Group of Forces, Vladyslav Voloshyn, commented on the modernization of Russian aerial bombs, but made no statements about the destruction of “UAV workshops”. Voloshyn noted that Russia continues to destroy Ukrainian frontline cities, striking the civilian population. He also noted that it is very difficult to shoot down guided air bombs and Ukraine should focus on destroying the enemy's rear airfields and its aircraft. This requires long-range weapons.

Russia's airstrikes in Ukraine can be considered war crimes falling under the jurisdiction of international courts. In this context, on March 5, 2024, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for the commander of Russia's Long-Range Aviation Serhii Kobylash and the former commander of the Russian Black Sea Fleet Viktor Sokolov for attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine.

Propaganda is trying to create the false impression that the Ukrainian military will suffer serious losses due to Russian airstrikes. Fakes about the destruction of “UAV warehouses” and “drone production workshops” help to present Russia as an effective force capable of carrying out pinpoint strikes on important Ukrainian Armed Forces facilities. By claiming that Ukrainian speakers allegedly confirm Russian successes, the Kremlin is trying to raise doubts about the veracity of Ukrainian reports and sow mistrust among Ukrainian citizens and the international community. The spread of false reports about allegedly massive strikes on important facilities in the rear can also sow panic among the population, undermine morale and create a sense of danger even far from the front line. Fake reports about the destruction of military infrastructure can be aimed at weakening Western support for Ukraine, making them doubt the advisability of providing further assistance.

Information is being spread on social networks that the Ukrainian energy company, the Sumyoblenergo joint-stock company, allegedly promises to leave without wages those workers who refuse to donate blood to the soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The publications include a photo of an announcement stating this.

“Ukrainians are forced to donate blood for the Zeus members who defend the independence and security of Ukraine in the Kursk region. And if they don't donate, they won't get paid…” - this is how the fake news scammers describe the situation.

StopFake specialists analyzed the case and contacted Sumyoblenergo with a request to confirm or deny this information. The company's press secretary stated that the ad was fake and indicated where exactly the propagandists had miscalculated. For example, the company does not have such a department as the “personnel department”, since it was this department that allegedly posted the ad.

Propagandists have been systematically spreading fakes and manipulations on the topic of an alleged blood shortage in Ukraine. In this way, the authors of the messages are trying to convince that everything is bad in Ukraine and that there are many wounded who are not receiving adequate care because “there is not enough blood”. We managed to refute several fakes on this topic. For example, one of the fakes said that Ukraine is banning all foreign citizens from becoming blood donors. We also checked the authenticity of a message on social networks about a Ukrainian woman abandoning her husband because he was “transfused with Russian blood”.

Read on Censor.NET: In Ukraine, LGBT community representatives were allegedly banned from “donating blood”

Propagandists are distributing an image on anonymous Telegram channels, which shows a propaganda poster, allegedly placed in one of the Ukrainian public toilets. The poster calls for joining the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and contains the provocative inscription “Don't piss yourself - join the Armed Forces of Ukraine”. However, this is a fake.

The poster looks evenly placed on the wall. However, paying attention to the overall plane of the image and the corners, you can see that the poster is too perfectly positioned on an uneven surface (in particular, the curvature of the walls). This may indicate that it was added using a graphics editor. The poster in the photo also does not have natural shadows that would fall from it onto the wall. This may be one of the key indicators that the image was superimposed on the photo using Photoshop or another image editing program. The lighting in the room does not match the appearance of the poster surface. The entire plane of the photo has a natural blurriness and low quality, which may be due to the poor quality of the camera. However, the poster looks too clear and bright against the background of the overall interior. Such a contrast may be a sign that the poster was inserted into the image in post-processing. In toilets, such materials quickly deteriorate from moisture or physical impact (dirt, damage), but the poster looks new, which also raises doubts. After all, the phrase “Don't piss yourself - join the Armed Forces of Ukraine” is a tracing from Russian, which is almost never used in official recruitment advertising for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. A search for news about such a poster in the Ukrainian media, as well as this image on other resources, did not yield any results.

The aim of the fake is to discredit mobilization campaigns in Ukraine. The image is used to ridicule patriotic agitation and recruitment efforts into the Ukrainian Armed Forces. It attempts to provoke a negative reaction from the audience, especially people who may be sensitive to subtle provocations and emotional manipulation.

Anonymous propaganda telegram channels are spreading a statement by a former Ukrainian MP that the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have allegedly already exceeded half a million people. This figure is confirmed by the state of cemeteries in large cities. However, such claims are unfounded.

This was reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Its experts emphasize that this former MP has long been known for his provocative and false statements, regularly used by pro-Russian propagandists. In particular, in September 2024, the man spread lies that “the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly downplaying the number of victims” after a missile strike on a military school in Poltava. In July, he claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi was allegedly preparing a bloody provocation to save US President Joe Biden. In April, the former MP spread a fake about Russian missiles allegedly hitting a military unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was allegedly located in a hotel in Chernihiv.

Propagandists try to use such information, especially inflated figures of Ukrainian Armed Forces casualties, to demoralize Ukrainian society and create disillusionment about the army’s ability to defend the country. This fake news also aims to accuse the Ukrainian leadership of hiding real losses and failing to effectively manage the army. Russian propaganda uses such statements to strengthen support for the war among Russians, claiming that the Ukrainian army is allegedly suffering catastrophic losses.

Propagandists are spreading information on anonymous Telegram channels that a Ukrainian special forces unit consisting of “mercenaries”, including thousands of fighters from the American private military company Forward and hundreds of units of equipment. However, this is a fake.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security draws attention to this. Its experts have found out that this story is yet another fictitious Russian fake, which is part of a long-term information campaign trying to promote the image of “NATO mercenaries” allegedly participating in military actions on the side of Ukraine. Russian propaganda has been actively using these fabrications since 2014 to create a myth that Ukraine is under the external control of NATO and Western countries.

In reality, Forward Observations Group is a tactical gear and medical supplies company founded by American veteran Derrick Bales. This company has nothing to do with military operations in Ukraine. It is called a “private military company” only by Russian disinformation agents.

The Kremlin uses such fakes to impose the idea that the war in Ukraine is not simply Russian aggression, but a confrontation with the entire West, in particular NATO. This helps mobilize support among the Russian population, making them believe that Russia is defending itself from foreign anger. The spread of fakes about “Western mercenaries” helps Russian propaganda explain its military failures. The successes of the Ukrainian army are often portrayed as the result of help from “all-powerful” Western forces, rather than as achievements of the Ukrainian military. The Kremlin also constantly tries to portray Ukraine as a state that is unable to independently resist Russia and needs “mercenaries” for support. This is part of the narrative about the weakness of the Ukrainian army and the alleged “external control” of the country.

Propagandists claim in the media that the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) allegedly shoot prisoners of war, abuse civilians, shell residential buildings in the Kursk region, and also create concentration camps in the border regions of Russia. However, this is not true.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security draws attention to this. Its specialists have found out that propagandists have been spreading similar fake statements about the “crimes” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces for years, but they have no evidence. In reality, the Ukrainian Armed Forces act in accordance with international law and strictly adhere to the Geneva Conventions. Not a single Russian fake about the “atrocities” of the Ukrainian military during the entire war has been confirmed by any independent investigation or international organizations. In addition, Russian prisoners of war held in Ukraine have all the necessary rights and are treated in accordance with international norms.

Russian propaganda is trying to create an image of Ukrainian soldiers as criminals and punishers in order to undermine international support for Ukraine and justify Russia's aggression. Such fakes are also aimed at inciting aggression and hatred among the Russian population towards Ukrainians, stimulating support for the so-called “special military operation” and attracting new volunteers to the war. The spread of such fakes helps Moscow distract attention from its real crimes in Ukraine, in particular, mass murder of civilians, torture and inhumane treatment of prisoners.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Mariia Zakharova has once again stated that in Kursk Oblast, Ukrainian soldiers are allegedly “at gunpoint” driving Russian civilians into “concentration camps”. Russia's permanent representative to the UN Vasyl Nebenzia made an identical statement. He also added that “from 70 to 100 civilians were subjected to violence in the basements of the Sudzhanskyi boarding school”.

In fact, this information is not true, as reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation.

With this fake, Moscow is trying to shift the focus of attention from the Russian filtration camps that have been massively created by Russians in the occupied territories of Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war, thereby violating international humanitarian law. However, no fakes of Kremlin propaganda absolve Russia of responsibility for its war crimes.

The Center for Countering Disinformation adds that with the help of “filtration measures” the Russian occupiers identify disloyal people and intimidate Ukrainian civilians. Many of those who did not pass the filtration ended up in Russian prisons, were subjected to torture, etc.

Earlier, we recorded a fake story that allegedly “mercenaries” of the Ukrainian Armed Forces had shown extreme cruelty towards residents of the Kursk region.

Russian media have spread information that in Ukraine children's blood was allegedly forcibly taken for the needs of the army. At the same time, such propaganda materials note that this is done by the military themselves, or that this blood is collected for “foreign mercenaries”. The publications are accompanied by a photo of a guy who donated blood in an educational institution - school desks are visible in the background of the photo.

“There have already been cases in history when children's blood was used to support the health of Wehrmacht soldiers. And this practice was assessed during the Nuremberg Trials”, the propagandists write.

VoxCheck fact-checkers analyzed the case and determined that this photo was actually taken on Donor Day, which was held on August 22 in the Vinnytsia region. At that time, a blood collection point was indeed set up in a local lyceum, and the blood collection itself was carried out by a mobile team from the Vinnytsia regional blood service center with the help of local health workers.

A total of 80 people donated blood, local groups write that there were many more who wanted to, but not everyone was able to take part in this procedure due to health reasons. Many photographs from the West were published, among them readers can see the one used by agitprop, but not a single photo shows children, only adults are in line and donating blood.

Propagandists have been systematically spreading fakes and manipulations on the topic of an alleged blood shortage in Ukraine. In this way, the authors of the messages are trying to convince that everything is bad in Ukraine and that there are many wounded who are not receiving adequate care because “there is not enough blood”. We managed to refute several fakes on this topic. For example, one of the fakes said that Ukraine is banning all foreign citizens from becoming blood donors. We also checked the authenticity of a message on social networks about a Ukrainian woman abandoning her husband because he was “transfused with Russian blood”.

Propagandists are spreading information on anonymous Telegram channels that Ukrainian soldiers have stopped being fed, which is why store administrators in Pokrovsk are calling on the military not to rob their establishments, since “people also want to eat”. However, this is fake.

This is what experts from the Center for Counteracting Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council write. They remind us that such fakes are aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the eyes of Ukrainian society. Their dissemination is aimed at creating an image of irresponsible military personnel who allegedly violate civil rights. This is an information attack aimed at reducing morale and trust in the defenders of Ukraine, especially in conditions of heavy fighting and temporary occupation of certain territories.

The aim of such fakes is also to cause tension between the military and the civilian population, to portray Ukrainian soldiers as a threat to their own people, undermining the unity of the country in its fight against Russian aggression. In addition, such fakes can influence international perceptions by presenting the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a negative light, which is in line with the Kremlin’s strategy to undermine Western support for Ukraine.

A pro-Russian Moldovan Telegram channel writes that Ukraine is “a testing ground not only for conventional, intelligent and unmanned weapons”. Wounded Ukrainian soldiers are also allegedly transported to Europe as biomaterial for studying the effects of modern weapons on humans and for testing new types of viruses and bacteria that are more resistant to antibiotics. In reporting this, the propagandists partly refer to the material of the British publication The Times.

In fact, the propagandists manipulated an article in The Times titled: “Ukraine war highlights mutated superbugs that can resist antibiotics”. The text tells of the case of a Ukrainian soldier whose leg was amputated at St George’s Hospital in London because antibiotics could not cure his infection, as the bacteria were resistant to all classes of antibiotics. However, the propagandists’ claims that Ukrainian servicemen are being transported to Europe to test new types of viruses and bacteria are unfounded.

At the same time, The Times writes that this is not just a crisis of war zones and distant lands. In 2022, more than 58,000 people in England were infected with an antibiotic-resistant infection, up 4% from the previous year. Moreover, almost 8,000 people die from such infections in the UK every year.

With this message, propagandists feed the narrative about Western biological laboratories in Ukraine. As part of this disinformation campaign, we recorded a number of such leaks. For example, we wrote about the spread of a fake about the invasion of poisonous spiders from American biological laboratories in Ukraine.

Russian Telegram channels are distributing a video that allegedly talks about cases of abuse of mobilized soldiers in the 128th separate mountain assault Transcarpathian Brigade. According to the propagandists, this footage was filmed by one of the brigade's combat medics.

However, the Center for Countering Disinformation, having verified the information in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, reported that the disseminated recordings about the alleged cruel treatment of mobilized personnel are another Russian propaganda leak. The Center added that an investigation was conducted, as a result of which no facts were found that confirm the statements of the author of the aforementioned videos.

This fake is aimed at undermining the mobilization process in Ukraine and discrediting the Ukrainian defense forces. Russia shows that the Ukrainian army allegedly treats newly mobilized people badly, thereby trying to reflect the desire of Ukrainians to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Earlier, we analyzed the disinformation that Olena Zelenska called on women to mobilize.

Russian Telegram channels are spreading information about the search for armed prisoners in the “Dnipropetrovsk and Kirovohrad regions” who, after signing a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine, voluntarily left the military unit. The propagandists add that these individuals, known as the “Dnipropetrovsk maniacs”, are guilty of numerous murders.

However, the information about the escape of these persons is not true. According to the records of the Information Subsystem of the National Police, they are not wanted - this was reported to the Center for Countering Disinformation by the Head of the Communications Department of the National Police of Ukraine Olena Berezhna. In addition, the “wanted announcement” mentions “Dnipro region”, but such a region does not exist in Ukraine, which further indicates that this news is fake.

Also, the persons in question could not sign a contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine due to the current restrictions of the Ministry of Defense, the Center for Countering Disinformation adds (persons convicted of murdering two or more people cannot sign a contract and leave prison).

By spreading such disinformation, propagandists seek to discredit the bill No. 11079-1 adopted in May 2024 on the mobilization of certain categories of convicts. Thus, we have previously documented similar fakes. For example, on mobilized prisoners who allegedly sell drugs in the Sumy region.

Propagandists are spreading information that during Russia's missile strike on Kharkiv, facilities of the nationalist Azov battalion were hit, including a shopping center where the military allegedly set up their base. However, this is a fake.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security writes about this. They found out that this is a typical technique of Russian propaganda. Russia deliberately attacks civilian objects in Ukraine, committing acts of terror. Every time a Russian missile hits a hospital, school, shopping center or post office, propagandists claim that it was a “military object” or “Azov base”.

In this way, the occupiers are trying to shift responsibility to Ukraine, claiming that “the Ukrainian Armed Forces are using civilian objects and the population as a “human shield”.”

In fact, on September 1, Russian terrorists deliberately launched a missile attack on a shopping mall, the Sports Palace, and one of the Nova Poshta branches in Kharkiv. According to the city's mayor, Ihor Terekhov, 44 people were injured as a result of the shelling of these facilities, including seven children, the youngest child being only three months old.

Anonymous Telegram channels are spreading a video that appears to show a soldier forcibly evacuating residents of Vovchansk in order to “then freely rob their homes”.

VoxCheck analysts explained that the Kharkiv region authorities announced the evacuation of Vovchansk precisely because of constant Russian shelling and the threat of occupation. In addition, the person in the video is not a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but an employee of the National Police.

The excerpt distributed by the Kremlin's henchmen is part of a video about the evacuation of Vovchansk, which was published on May 23, 2024, on the YouTube channel by the host of Channel 24. It shows, in particular, the evacuation of a family with a child who did not want to leave. In the end, they agreed to temporarily leave the city.

Parents cannot refuse to evacuate their children. Otherwise, they may be subject to administrative or criminal liability for failure to fulfill their child-rearing responsibilities. However, in this case, the priority is the safety of the children, not the punishment of the parents. Therefore, law enforcement officers and local authorities are trying to convince parents or other guardians to leave with their children. In fact, this is also shown in the video – a law enforcement officer explains to the parents why they need to leave.

On May 10, 2024, the Russian army launched an offensive in the north of the Kharkiv region. Due to the threat to the lives and health of local residents, the evacuation of the population from the city was accelerated on the same day.

Against the backdrop of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' operation in the Kursk region, pro-Russian and anonymous Telegram channels began a series of discrediting messages about the military. In particular, one of these is the assertion that the “Kursk adventure” has escalated into “the murder of Ukraine”: as the messages claim, Volodymyr Zelenskyi ordered all forces to be sent to the Kursk region in order to achieve military success there. At the same time, other directions were left “without any military”, which allowed the Russians to advance further.

“Now the Russian army will soon control the entire territory of Donbas, which will simplify the enemy's offensive along this entire front”, the propagandists explain.

In fact, such a thesis is not true, no directions could be left “to the mercy of fate”. In this way, the fake news is trying to convince of the failure of the Kursk operation for the Ukrainian side. It would seem that these are just wasted resources. At the same time, they feed the mood of the domestic audience: if we are talking about an attack on Russian territory, the Kremlin's henchmen find justification for such an attack. They say that the Ukrainian army is already losing, it will soon retreat from the territory of Kursk region; and during this time, Russia will attack other territories.

Although, for example, in Lithuania, they recorded a reduction in Russian ground forces due to the offensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the Kursk region of Russia. This was stated by the commander of the Lithuanian army. That is, one way or another, the Kursk operation affected the actions of the Russian troops and there, at least, rotations to other directions are taking place.

Let us recall that 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 the Kursk region of Russia. On August 12, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi reported that Ukraine controls almost 1,000 km of Kursk region. As of August 21, 93 settlements in Russia are under Ukraine's control.

Anonymous Telegram channels and social networks in the Russian segment are spreading information that after the offensive on Kursk, the Ukrainian Armed Forces' defense in Donetsk region was left without shells and soldiers. This is reported by the American publication The Financial Times.

“The offensive in Kursk has accelerated Russia's offensive in Donbas. This happened because up to 10,000 Ukrainian troops, including elite airborne assault units, were withdrawn from this section of the front. Priority in providing ammunition, as well as soldiers, is given to the Kursk direction, officers transferred from Donbas to Russian territory told FT”, they reported on social networks.

StopFake fact-checkers analyzed the case and determined that The Financial Times article did not say at all that the Ukrainian Armed Forces’ defense in Donetsk region “was left without shells and soldiers” after the offensive on Kursk region.

The article emphasizes that due to the Kursk operation, Ukrainian servicemen in Donbas have to ration the amount of ammunition, and soldiers “may face an even longer stay at the front without rotation”. Moreover, this is the conclusion of the authors of the publication themselves, that is, an assumption.

Let us remind you that 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 the Kursk region of Russia. On August 12, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi reported that Ukraine controls almost 1,000 km of the Kursk region. As of August 21, 93 settlements in Russia are under Ukraine's control.

Read on Censor.NET: The US is allegedly involved in the operation in the Kursk region.

While monitoring the information space, the Center for Countering Disinformation discovered a fake Telegram channel illegally using the name of the 46th Separate Airmobile Brigade of the Airborne Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This fake Telegram channel actively spreads false messages aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian military. In particular, the channel spreads manipulative information about the situation on one of the front lines in the Donetsk region.

It is important to note that this channel has nothing to do with the 46th Brigade. Official representatives of the brigade stated this on their official pages, noting that the information on the fake channel is manipulation and disinformation.

The purpose of spreading such fake news is to undermine confidence in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and sow panic among the Ukrainian population. Propagandists are trying to demoralize citizens, raise doubts about the effectiveness of defense and the ability of the military to protect the country. In addition, such disinformation may be part of a broader information war aimed at creating chaos and destabilizing society, which may ultimately weaken national resistance to the aggressor.

Propagandists are spreading information on anonymous Telegram channels that a brand with a trident was allegedly found among the abandoned items at an abandoned Ukrainian military stronghold. According to them, the Ukrainian military uses it to brand civilians. However, this is fake.

It was brought to the attention of specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation. They found out that this fake has no basis and is an attempt to discredit the Ukrainian army, creating an image of Ukrainian soldiers as cruel executioners. Such statements are part of a large-scale disinformation campaign aimed at inciting hatred towards Ukrainians and justifying aggression from Russia.

This fake is also spread to manipulate emotions and increase hostility towards Ukraine. In addition, propagandists want to create the illusion that Ukrainian troops are not only fighting against Russian troops, but also allegedly pose a threat to the civilian population. Such propaganda is aimed at causing fear and hatred among Russians, increasing support for Russia's military actions and demoralizing Ukrainian society.

In addition, this fake can be used to try to influence the international community by portraying Ukraine as an aggressor, allegedly resorting to brutal methods of war. However, these claims are unfounded, because the Ukrainian military adheres to international norms of warfare. The Ukrainian armed forces do not use and have never used such methods.

Pro-Russian telegram channels claim that Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers carried out a chemical attack in the Kursk region due to the “impossibility of breaking through” Russian defenses. As propagandists write, the Ukrainian military used chemical weapons against Russian positions, violating international law.

However, this is another Russian fake, according to the Center for Countering Disinformation. Propagandists do not provide any real evidence indicating the veracity of this information. In addition, Ukraine is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention and strictly complies with its international obligations on the non-use and non-proliferation of chemical weapons. This fact has been repeatedly confirmed by the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), operating under the auspices of the UN.

At the same time, it is the Russian so-called “military correspondents” (the same propagandists) who from time to time distribute videos showing the use of chemical weapons by Russian troops against Ukrainian positions, which is a war crime and an outright violation of the laws of war.

Such fakes are part of the Kremlin’s strategy regarding the information response to the events in the Kursk region. The head of the center, an officer of the Ukrainian Defense Forces, Andrii Kovalenko, spoke about this earlier.

Propagandists are spreading information on social networks that mobile crematoriums made in Sweden and Italy have allegedly appeared in Sumy. They say that the Ukrainian authorities plan to use them to destroy thousands of bodies of dead soldiers in the Kursk region. However, this is fake.

This was pointed out by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Its experts found out that it is Russia that is actively using mobile crematoriums and found numerous evidence of this. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, as of April 2022, 13 mobile crematoria were operating in temporarily occupied Mariupol to destroy the bodies of dead civilians. The use of such crematoria was also recorded in the Chernihiv region and Novoaidar, Luhansk region.

This fake is part of a constant disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Propagandists have been spreading similar messages regularly since the start of the full-scale invasion. Already in September 2023, they were spreading similar disinformation about the alleged “delivery” of 200 mobile crematoria from Germany, which indicates the systematic use of this topic to create fear and mistrust in society.

Such stories are aimed at creating panic and undermining trust in the Ukrainian authorities and military. Propagandists are trying to convince Ukrainians and the international community that Ukraine is allegedly hiding its losses and is ready to take extreme measures to keep this a secret. It also diverts attention from the crimes that Russia itself is committing, in particular the use of crematoria to hide its crimes in the occupied territories.

Russian propaganda is distributing a video on anonymous telegram channels with content in a foreign language, in which a funeral cortege On the Shield with the body of a Ukrainian military man passes through a Ukrainian city. In the video, an order is allegedly heard from a loudspeaker for people to kneel before the hero who died in the Kursk region, otherwise people will be fined for disobeying the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, in reality this information is fake.

This was reported by fact-checkers of the Bez Brekhni (No Lies) project. The video was actually filmed in Ukraine, namely in the Ternopil region, because at the 13th second a table with the name of the street Ruska, 17 appears in the frame. Also, the On the Shield campaign is truly a humanitarian project of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, within the framework of which volunteers help transport the bodies of fallen military personnel. However, the original video was published on the YouTube channel of a local website long before the operation in the Kursk region - on July 17. There is not a single voice notification or orders for citizens. Only sirens and emergency signals can be heard. The military man who was being transported by the motorcade, Valentyn Iliin, died on July 13, 2024 and was not involved in the operation in the Kursk direction.

By publishing such messages, Russian propaganda is trying with all its might not only to spread the message about the supposedly large losses of Ukraine during the attack on the Kursk region, but also to create the effect of hostility and confrontation between the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the civilian population. In addition, propagandists are also making attempts to depopulate the civilians of Ukraine during the war, presenting them as “slaves” for bending the knee in front of the motorcade. But in fact, the tradition of honoring fallen soldiers on their knees is one of the important parts of the farewell memorial service, as well as a spontaneous gesture of gratitude to the defenders who laid down their lives for Ukraine. This is how Ukrainians honored their fallen heroes at the beginning of the ATO in 2014.

Propagandists are distributing on anonymous telegram channels an image of a postcard on which First Lady Olena Zelenska allegedly calls on Ukrainian women to join the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In fact, this postcard is another fiction.

This was brought to the attention of specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation, as well as the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. They found out that there were no such materials either on the official websites of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine or on the department’s pages on social networks. Also, this information is not available on the official resources of the Olena Zelenska Foundation.

The purpose of this fake is to discredit the mobilization campaign in Ukraine and Olena Zelenska personally in order to undermine trust in the Ukrainian authorities and cause negative sentiment in society. Propagandists are trying to create the idea that mobilization is so critical that even the First Lady is allegedly involved in calls to join the army. In addition, this is an attempt by Russian propaganda to manipulate Olena Zelenska’s interview with the British media platforms Daily Mail and The Mail on Sunday, where she commented on proposals to cede territories for the sake of peace and spoke about new war crimes by the Russians. Propagandists use such manipulations to further distort her words and influence public sentiment both in Ukraine and abroad.

Propagandists are distributing information on the social network X, allegedly near one of the hospitals in the city of Sumy, an advertisement was noticed in which the administration is looking for trucks with refrigerators for transporting “oversized cargo”. According to propagandists, these trucks will be used to transport the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers, who “continue to die en masse during attempts by the Ukrainian Armed Forces to attack the Kursk region”. But in fact this ad is fake.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security spoke about this on the telegram channel. Firstly, the contact phone number with the name Dmytro indicated in these advertisements actually belongs to a girl named Daria, Ukrinform fact-checkers have established. Secondly, the photo of the truck posted in the ad was indeed previously published on the website of an online store in Russia. Propagandists simply used ready-made illustrations for a fake ad.

This fake is part of the Kremlin’s disinformation campaign against the actions of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in the Kursk region. His goal is to discredit the Ukrainian army, spread the message that the operation in the Kursk region is supposedly an absolute failure for the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and also to hide the losses and failures of Russia itself on the battlefield.

Pro-Russian telegram channels, in particular Polish ones, are distributing a video allegedly on the phone of a deceased Ukrainian soldier, “demonstrating the tragedy” of the situation at the front. According to propagandists, his own people abandoned him and another seriously wounded soldier: communication was cut off, ammunition was running out. Finally, in the description of the video they add that the recording allegedly clearly shows that the Ukrainian Armed Forces serviceman could not survive due to another betrayal of the command, which abandoned the soldiers to their fate.

However, this video is likely staged. Its author, posing as a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, most likely attached captured chevrons received in battle to his equipment. In addition, the video contains tragic music in the background, which Russian propagandists deliberately added to make the situation that allegedly developed with the “Ukrainian military” more emotional. The video also bears a watermark from one of the Russian propaganda telegram channels, which presumably became the primary source of distribution of the video. This gives additional reason to believe that this is a fake.

Staged video is one of the Russian propaganda tactics. A little earlier, we recorded a similar fake video, one of the messages of which was also “betrayal of command”. In the end, a certain similarity between these recordings is another argument in favor of the artificiality of the above video.

Pro-Russian resources say that this video is proof of the disdain of ordinary soldiers by the Ukrainian high military command. Thus, propagandists are trying to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

• Read on Censor.NET: Russians are filming fake videos about the Kursk region with people dressed in the uniform of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - The Center of Countering Disinformation  - Detector Media.