A photo of a so-called advertising sign for the Roman pizzeria Locanda alla Romana is being circulated online, in which they present “Diavola Zelenskiy”  pizza stuffed with “ammunition and body parts of Ukrainian military personnel”.

VoxCheck analysts explained that there is no such advertising, and that pizza with that name simply does not exist. There is also no mention of this on the restaurant’s official social media pages. Also, checking the billboard photo using the FotoForensics tool found that the text and image of the pizza were most likely added to an existing photo.

Among other things, the restaurant department assured that they had never created such an advertising image.

Russian media are distributing a photo where the ATM screen allegedly reports a cash withdrawal limit of 100 UAH per day for men of military age. To cancel restrictions, one needs to update their data at the nearest Territorial center of recruitment and social support.

The case was examined by VoxCheck analysts, who found out that the image had been edited, because the original photo did not show an ATM dispensing cash. Propagandists used a photo of a PrivatBank self-service terminal - the terminal only accepts cash and does not issue it. Moreover, through a reverse search, Google was able to establish that the photo appeared on the Internet back in 2021. This was a negative review about a malfunction of the self-service terminal in Pervomaisk.

And the official website of PrivatBank does not indicate a limit on cash withdrawals of 100 UAH per day. Currently, one can withdraw up to 100 thousand UAH per day from hryvnia and foreign currency accounts in Ukraine.

Russian propaganda resources, as well as some foreign media, are disseminating information about the supposedly official decision of France to send its troops to Ukraine. Moreover, soldiers of the French Foreign Legion allegedly already arrived in Sloviansk to help the Ukrainian military.

In fact, this information is not true. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes about this. The primary source of this information is an article in the Asia Times. Its author, former Pentagon official Stephen Brian, who had previously been caught “playing along” with Russian narratives, published a lot of pro-Russian materials on the social network Substack, from where Asia Times took them. In this article, Brian refers to information from Russian propaganda resources that published this fake news. In addition, information about the decision to send French troops to Ukraine has already been denied by the French Foreign Ministry. This was written on the official page of the department on the social network X: “Disinformation campaigns to support France in Ukraine are more active than ever. France did not send troops to Ukraine”.

Russian propaganda has indeed intensified the creation of fakes about French troops in Donbas, Ukrinform reports. The goal of this campaign is to strengthen anti-Western and mobilization sentiments among Russians. Previously, Detector Media analyzed the fake Russian propaganda that French troops were supposedly heading to Romania and then arriving in Ukraine.

Russian resources are disseminating information that in the Odesa region, a Territorial center of procurement and social support employee beat a man who did not even try to resist. It seems that this is how forced mobilization takes place in Ukraine, propagandists add.

In fact, this information is fake. This was reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. The video shows not “forced mobilization”, but a brawl, and the man in uniform is not an employee of the Territorial center of procurement and social support, but a military man who returned from the front. In addition, an intoxicated civilian man was the first to start a fight, and the serviceman had already responded to him, they write in the original source of the video distribution. However, Russian propagandists decided to ignore this fact and distort the information.

So, with this fake, Russian propaganda continues to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine. Read more materials on this topic here. We previously wrote about a new large-scale information campaign launched by Russia called Evader.

Propagandists on social networks and media are disseminating information that one of the restaurants in Lutsk allegedly refused to host a memorial dinner for the widow of a Ukrainian military man. It was noted that the reason for this refusal was that the military man was from Kharkiv. When disseminating this news, Russian propaganda either referred to the story of the Ukrainian media - Channel 12, or did not indicate the original source at all.

StopFake specialists decided to check if this is true. They found out that the Channel 12 story, which propagandists refer to, states that the widow of a Ukrainian soldier, Ivanna Tsiukh, complained that a Lutsk restaurant refused to host her funeral dinner. According to her, having heard about the wake, representatives of the restaurant suggested holding it in the “gazebo” of the establishment, and not in the main room. In the story, Tsiukh expressed the opinion that the reason for the refusal was the mournful nature of the dinner, the holding of which, according to her, was contrary to the rules of the restaurant. However, the Ukrainian media story does not mention that the refusal was due to the fact that her husband was from Kharkiv.

StopFake specialists also found a video message from the military wife Ivanna Tsiukh about this incident on her Facebook page. In it, she tells a story similar to what she told Channel 12. However, even here she never remembers that the refusal was due to the fact that her husband had a connection with Kharkiv. There is also a message on the restaurant's official Facebook page in which they explain their refusal to Tsiukh by the fact that they do not have the opportunity to share the room.

Propagandists spread such disinformation to create the impression that Ukrainians despise their army and consider it criminal.

Propagandists are disseminating information from an article, now deleted from the Australian National Review, about the sale of 40% of Ukrainian agricultural land in 2021 to Western companies Cargill, Monsanto and Dupont. However, this is not true.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They explained that from January 1, 2024, the land market in Ukraine began its work, and the second stage of land reform continues. Now not only individuals, but also companies can buy land, and the limit on this has been increased to 10 thousand hectares. But at both the first and second stages of land reform, the purchase of land by foreign companies is prohibited. Even Ukrainian agricultural holdings with foreign beneficiaries do not have access to the Ukrainian land market. Foreigners (individuals) can inherit agricultural plots, but cannot use them, and these plots are subject to alienation within a year.

Media Bias/Fact Check categorizes the Australian National Review as a conspiracy theorist and pseudoscientific source that spreads false claims. The publication also refers to an article by the French publication Ritimo, but it does not contain any information about the purchase of Ukrainian lands by Cargill, Monsanto and Dupont. Moreover, Monsanto ceased to exist in 2018 when it was acquired by Bayer.

Propagandists spread such disinformation to intimidate the Ukrainian population and hit a trigger for many people, reinforcing the message about external control. They say there is a war in the country, but allegedly the country itself has already been sold. 

Propagandists spread information that in Ukraine one can buy bracelets with prayers that protect you from the territorial recruitment centers. The text on them calls on the Mother of God, Archangel Michael and the Guardian Angel, as well as a request to all saints. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. A reverse search for the photo showed that similar bracelets are sold in Ukraine, but with a different prayer - “Our Father” in Spanish.

The text of the correct prayer does not mention the Territorial centers of procurement and social support and the religious figures mentioned in the misleading description. Similar bracelets are also sold in Russian stores, AliExpress and Alibaba.

In addition, the “text” on the bracelets is likely translated from Russian, since the phrase “my favorite” in the propaganda text should be translated as “my beloved” in Ukrainian.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and the mobilization process as a whole. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other fakes against it.

Propagandists again tried to undermine the authority of Ukrainian refugees by disseminating information, allegedly the Indian TV channel WION published a video in which they claim that 93% of Ukrainian male refugees purchased tickets to Asia through Europe. They say that the hotel booking service Booking recorded an increased demand for flights on April 23, 2024. The video explains that this happened as a result of an order from the Ukrainian Ministry of Foreign Affairs to restrict consular services to men. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that the WION channel did not actually have such a video, but instead the propagandists assembled it from various sources. An example of this is a video in which the executive director of Human Rights Watch talks about women's rights. It was taken from another interview back in 2023 and has nothing to do with Ukrainian refugees. Moreover, the Booking service has not confirmed any changes in demand for tickets.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other fakes against it.

Propagandists are disseminating information on men of military age having a limit on cash withdrawals from an ATM in the amount of 100 hryvnia per day. They say that in order to withdraw more, it is necessary to update the data in the Territorial centers of recruitment and social support. However, this is fake.

StopFake specialists drew attention to it. They found out that the National Bank of Ukraine did indeed establish certain restrictions on cash withdrawals, but these restrictions apply to all citizens and amount to no more than 100 thousand hryvnia per day. Also, depending on the bank, there are certain additional restrictions on withdrawing cash from an ATM. For example, in PrivatBank one can withdraw no more than 20 thousand hryvnia at a time, and to receive a larger amount one needs to repeat the operation no earlier than three hours later. There was no statement regarding the issuance of cash to men of military age. This is not the case in the new law on mobilization, adopted on April 16.

Russian propaganda created this fake in order to provoke panic among citizens, disrupt mobilization and violate trust in government by creating artificial cash demand. In this way, propagandists try to create negative emotions and tension. Detector Media has already repeatedly refuted other Russian fakes regarding mobilization in Ukraine.

Propagandists accused the Ukrainian military of plagiarism. They began to spread information that the Third Separate Assault Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly used the words of the self-proclaimed Russian President Volodymyr Putin in its recruitment advertising. When publishing this “news”, Russian propaganda adds a photograph of an advertisement for the brigade with the words “Why do we need such a world if there is no Ukraine there?” and Putin's interview with almost identical words.

After disseminating this information, StopFake checked whether one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces brigades actually took Putin’s words for their advertising campaign. They found out that the propagandists themselves added a “quote” to the advertisement, accusing the Ukrainian military of plagiarism.

A reverse image search on TinEye showed that the photo distributed by propagandists appeared online in late April 2024 on the French news site France24. On the website one can see that it was taken by Reuters correspondent Alina Smutko on April 23, 2024 in the Kyiv metro. The original is also available on the Reuters photo bank with a full description. The original photo is different from the one used by Russian propaganda. Putin's quote was added to the image in the photo editor. In the original photograph, completely different words are visible: “Zazhyhai (ignite) in the third assault brigade” (zapaliui - in Ukrainian).

StopFake also ruled out the possibility that the photo used by the propagandists could accidentally show advertisements in different places of the Kyiv metro. If one compares the details of the fake photo and the Reuters photo, one can be sure that this is the same image. Looking closely at the wall in the background, one can see the painted elements positioned the same in both photographs.

Propagandists spread such fakes to show the false closeness of Ukrainians and Russians. Like, we think the same and act the same. However, in reality, Ukraine and Russia are completely different.

A recently created Telegram group invited Ukrainians to join the protest on May 21 at 12.00 in the “central square”. They say that Ukraine needs changes, and the people should no longer remain silent.

One of the messages indicates that users are willing to pay 50 hryvnia if they refer a friend to the group. This indicates an artificial attempt to protest.

Also, in the group one can find a corresponding picture with a lexical error, which suggests that it was probably created by non-native speakers.

The date chosen for the “protest” also plays into Russian propaganda. Like, on May 21, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi will become illegitimate. However, in reality, the Ukrainian Constitution guarantees the legitimacy of the president during martial law.

This group is probably part of the Maidan-3 operation, which the GUR warned about.  Detector Media has already written about how propagandists are still trying to spread the message about Zelenskyi’s “illegitimacy”. In general, the essence of the messages about the “loss of legitimacy” by Volodymyr Zelenskyi is as follows:

At some point in the first half of 2024, Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s tenure in office will expire. And he will no longer be considered the plenipotentiary leader of Ukraine.

After this, unrest may begin in Ukrainian society. It can be avoided if Volodymyr Zelenskyi leaves the post of President of Ukraine. But he, they say, will do everything to stay in power.

Therefore, the oppositionists or ex-commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii  Zaluzhnyi or the oligarchs or partners of Ukraine will remove Volodymyr Zelenskyi from office by force.

Russian propaganda resources are disseminating information that on the cover of its latest issue, the German magazine Handelsblatt depicted a bloody Ukrainian passport, as well as a severed hand, and signed it all with the words: “Yes, dead. But with a new passport”. This is how the publication allegedly responded to the decision of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry to restrict Ukrainian men abroad from receiving consular services.

In fact, this information is fake, because the German magazine Handelsblatt did not publish an issue with such a cover. One can verify this by looking at the official website of the publication. In addition, the cover distributed by Russian propagandists shows the magazine issue number 87 dated May 4, 2024, but the actual issue of the magazine under this number is dated May 6, 2024 and has a different cover.

This fake is a reaction of Russian propaganda to the temporary cessation of the provision of consular services to Ukrainian men abroad. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine emphasized that the decision to suspend the process of providing consular services to a category of Ukrainian citizens defined by law is a temporary step, due, in particular, to the need to resolve the issue of military registration of citizens of mobilization age abroad.

Russian resources are disseminating information that Ukraine does not abandon its intentions to “continue terrorist activities”. This is how Russian Presidential Press Secretary Pieskov responded to Ukraine’s threats to strike the Kerch Bridge. He also added that Russian special agencies are already taking appropriate measures.

However, Ukraine has never practiced terrorism and condemns terrorist practices, write the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Russia these days continues its terrorist attacks on the territory of Ukraine. We are talking about missile and artillery strikes on civilian targets, as well as drones.

At the same time, Russia not only practices terrorism against Ukraine, but also has close relations with other terrorist movements. For example, representatives of the Taliban visit Moscow and are received there at a high level. Previously, we wrote about how Russia is everywhere trying to find the “Ukrainian trace” and blame Ukraine for certain ills of the world, in particular, terrorist attacks.

Pro-Russian users of the social network X (formerly Twitter) are distributing a video in which Ukrainian soldiers allegedly burn an effigy of US presidential candidate Donald Trump with the words: “You will never be president again”.

However, this video is definitive, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. The individuals on it are not military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. These are Russian actors playing Ukrainian soldiers in captured Ukrainian uniforms, the Center adds. These people in the video do not speak Ukrainian like residents of Ukraine - one can hear a strong Russian accent.

On the one hand, the purpose of this fake is to discredit the Ukrainian Defense Forces, and on the other hand, to spoil Ukrainian-American relations and bipartisan support for Ukraine in the US Congress. Moreover, this is happening against the backdrop of the election campaigns of US presidential candidates.

Pro-Russian resources are distributing a video where Belarusian teenagers say how Ukraine allegedly recruited them to commit terrorist acts on the territory of Belarus.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine claims that in fact the teenagers became the heroes of the propaganda video. They are under psychological pressure from the “investigation” controlled by the Belarusian dictatorship, as well as from Russian propagandists.

During the video recording, one of the teenagers burst into tears. In addition, certain marks are visible on his face, which may indicate torture by the special services of Belarus. Probably, the detained children were forced to give the evidence, and therefore it cannot be trusted, the Center adds.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, allegedly submitted his resignation, but the presidential office refused to register the document. So Syrskyi allegedly sent it to Zelenskyi by “General Staff special mail”.

In fact, “this news” is fake. They write about this in the Center for Strategic Communications and Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Firstly, the primary source of this information is an anonymous account on the social network X (formerly Twitter), which regularly disseminates pro-Russian narratives. Secondly, the author does not provide any evidence to support the treacherous theses about Syrskyi’s alleged resignation. In the end, there is no information in any official sources about Syrskyi’s supposedly impending resignation.

The purpose of spreading this disinformation is to sow panic among Ukrainians and turn them against the current government. Previously, we refuted information that the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, Syrskyi, allegedly confirmed the “pathetic state of the Ukrainian army”.

Propaganda resources, after Russian rocket attacks on the sorting depot and the Nova Poshta office in Odesa on May 1, 2024, began to promote the version that in fact there was a warehouse with ammunition produced by NATO countries.

However, this information is fake. This is reported in Nova Poshta itself. The company's press service claims that the depot and department together had 904 items worth almost 3 million UAH. “And according to the enemy, weapons were stored here”, Nova Poshta adds. The company also promised to fully compensate customers for the cost of their parcels.

We are dealing with yet another Russian justification for a strike on the city’s civilian infrastructure, as a result of which 14 people were injured. It seems that it was in the parcels of the Ukrainians that the Russian military saw an unprovoked threat. We previously wrote about how the Russians justified the attack on Sloviansk on April 15, 2024.

Pro-Kremlin resources disseminate information that those who died during the tragedy in the Odesa House of Trade Unions on May 2, 2014 cannot be brought back, but it is possible to “defend their memory, restore honor and glory to them”. And this is one of the goals of the so-called SVO (special military operation). In asserting this, propagandists refer to a statement by Vice-Speaker of the Russian Federation Council Kosachov.

In fact, such statements serve solely to justify Russian aggression. They write about this in the Center for Strategic Communications and Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. The Russian disinformation operation to “burn Russian speakers in Odesa” has become a successful mechanism for inciting war. The tragedy itself in Odesa was another episode of Russia’s hybrid aggression against Ukraine.

That is, Moscow still uses the narrative about the “Odesa hut” in its propaganda. However, Russia's cynicism is that this is happening at a time when it is terrorizing civilian targets in Odesa, killing its inhabitants.

Read also: Odesa – a “Russian city”? How Russia is capturing the symbolic space of Ukrainian cities – MediaSapiens.

Kremlin media state that territorial recruitment centers announced free evacuation from Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, and then workers handed out draft notices to men leaving these cities. In the message, the authors attach a screenshot with evacuation vehicles and a phone number - 050 444 1005.

VoxCheck specialists analyzed the case and came to the conclusion that the number in the screenshot belongs to the Good Deed charity organization. The organization is engaged in free evacuation of people from front-line territories (Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions, etc.) to Dnipro. The photo shows cars with the name of the organization. Cars with the same stickers appeared in videos published on Good Deed’s social media pages.

That is, a charitable organization organizes the evacuation process and there is no talk of “handing out” draft notices; this is an invention of propagandists.

Social networks state that Belarusian volunteers fighting as part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are hiding “behind the backs of children” in Kyiv hospitals at 30 and 32 Bohatyrska street. The head of the KGB of Belarus stated this and added that “terrorists” will face “deserved punishment according to laws of war”.

VoxCheck analysts write that the Kyiv City Children's Clinical Hospital No. 1 is actually located at 30 Bohatyrska street, and the Kyiv City Clinical Dermatovenerological Hospital is located at 32 Bohatyrska street. However, there are no signs that there were Ukrainian Armed Forces military personnel in one of these medical institutions.

Moreover, the director of the Kyiv City Children's Clinical Hospital No. 1, Yevheniia Hryhorieva, said that there were no Ukrainian military personnel in the hospital, and the statement of the head of the KGB of Belarus is simply a lie.

Social networks report that representatives of the LGBT community have been banned from donating blood. As evidence, users provide data from the website of the Ternopil Regional Blood Service Center regarding contraindications to donation. Homosexual relations were introduced into the so-called form of “risky behavior” and as a result such persons were “banned” from donating blood.

VoxCheck analysts investigated that the official website of the Ternopil Regional Blood Service Center actually published information about the list of diseases, contraindications to donation and forms of risky behavior. Among the contraindications there is no category of representatives of the LGBT community. Although the web archive preserved the previous version of the page (for 2023), which actually indicated the prohibition of donation due to homosexual relationships.

A representative of the LGBT community could not always become a blood donor. Only in 2021, this category was removed from the criteria for contraindications to donation. Homosexual relations have been classified as a form of risky sexual behavior, which in fact can be inherent in any person.

Propaganda spreads information that Ukrainians allegedly began to donate less and help volunteers and the military less. And also that Western foundations and organizations have completely stopped funding, as a result of which financial support for the treatment of the military has decreased. In addition to this, the ability to travel abroad to receive surgical services was allegedly limited. But all this is fake.

Vox Ukraine specialists drew attention to it. Based on the results of a survey conducted by Gradus Research on the second anniversary of the full-scale Russian invasion, there is a positive trend toward an increase in the frequency and regularity of citizens making donations. Data from Monobank, one of the leading banking services for collecting charitable contributions, confirms this positive trend. During 2023, support for charities and voluntary organizations has more than tripled compared to the first year of the full-scale invasion.

Data from the reports of the Come Back Alive foundation also refute this fake. Compared to 2022, the amount of donations in 2023 was slightly lower, but it is known that the average amount of donations in the second year of a full-scale invasion increased by more than 10%.

In this case, propagandists are trying to level out the support of Ukrainian citizens and contribute to the destabilization of society by reflecting false opinions. They describe the situation in such a way as to provoke a pessimistic attitude towards assistance to the Ukrainian military and dramatize the economic situation of citizens.

Propagandists, through pro-Russian telegram channels and accounts on the social network X (formerly Twitter), are distributing a video in which Catherine Himmler, the granddaughter of the brother of one of the most influential leaders of Nazi Germany, Heinrich Himmler, allegedly calls on Ukrainian young people not to return to Ukraine. Like, she advises “not to hand over Ukrainians to the bloody dictator Zelenskyi”. But this is not true.

In fact, Himmler made no such statement. The video was edited using archival chronicles from the time of the Third Reich, echoing footage of a meeting with the participation of the foreign ministers of Ukraine and Germany Dmytro Kuleba and Annalena Berbock, as well as other German politicians. Katherine Himmler responded to the Agency's editor by email, confirming that she had not said what propagandists had attributed to her.

On April 16, the President of Ukraine signed the law on mobilization and military service, which talks about strengthening sanctions against military service evaders, as well as some changes in military registration. On April 23, Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba announced a decision to limit the provision of consular services abroad to Ukrainians of military age. Commenting on this decision on the social network X, he noted that “soon the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will provide updated explanations on the procedure for obtaining consular services within the framework of the law for men of mobilization age in foreign diplomatic institutions”. Taking advantage of this situation, Russian propaganda is trying to spread panic and discredit the government. Detector Media also refuted other Russian stories on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine.

Propagandists are spreading information that after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed a new law on mobilization in Ukraine, the number of people looking for notaries to draw up wills has suddenly increased. Advocates point to Google Trends statistics for searches for “notary to draw up a will”. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They note that Google Trends is a service that helps one understand what topics the audience is interested in based on the number of search queries on Google. However, checking the statistics on the request of a notary to draw up a will in Ukraine over the last 7 days did not show enough data to display statistics. This means that during this period of time, users did not make such a request often enough. In addition, the service’s charts show that over the past year, interest in the topic of wills in Ukraine has remained stable without sudden increases after the signing of the law on mobilization.

This law provides for some restrictions for those liable for military service, but Russian propaganda is trying to manipulate this issue, spreading panic among the population.  Detector Media also refuted other Russian inventions under this law.

Propagandists are spreading a message in which the Russian allegedly expressed his negative opinion about obtaining Ukrainian citizenship. According to him, he was convinced of his mistake, since now, having a Ukrainian passport, he missed the opportunity to leave the country and he faces being sent to the front. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that this post first appeared on X (formerly Twitter) on April 19 and was posted by the user @KirriloUA, on whose account one can see mainly propaganda materials.

The photo used in this post does not actually belong to the author, but is taken from open sources and has been circulating since at least 2020. Moreover, in Ukraine, from November 1, 2016, only ID cards are issued, and not passports in booklet format, as in the photo. The latter forms have been taken out of circulation, and now a passport of the 1994 model can only be obtained through a judicial process.

The active dissemination of this material in pro-Russian media indicates that this may be part of an organized propaganda campaign to discredit Ukraine.