This thesis is spread by Russian propagandists on social networks, in particular, it was mentioned by Russian Foreign Minister Serhii Lavrov. Such reports say that residents of the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine can independently decide what to do with sovereignty, together with the occupying authorities. However, this is not true.

In fact, as reported by StopFake fact-checkers, Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine is a flagrant violation of the UN Charter. According to the document, Russia does not have the right to hold any so-called "referenda" in Ukraine, since "each state must refrain from any action aimed at the partial or complete violation of the national unity and territorial integrity of any other state or country".

Even if the Ukrainians want to hold a referendum, this should take place under the auspices of the Ukrainian government, and not the occupation. According to Section III of the Constitution of Ukraine, the All-Ukrainian referendum is appointed by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine or the President of Ukraine.

This thesis is spread by Russian propaganda in its media, in particular, it was mentioned in the framework of the official consultative meeting convened by Russia during the Biological Weapons Convention. Their reports say that the United States is not only building new biological laboratories, but also conducting experiments on a vulnerable group of people - the poor and the mentally ill. Like, Washington is indifferent to people, if only to make new weapons. However, this is not true.

Analysts at the Center for Countering Disinformation report that a week before the disinformation emerged, the US State Department already wrote that during consultations in the presence of 89 countries, the United States and Ukraine presented evidence that strongly refuted the absurd and false claims of Russia about the development of biological weapons and US biolabs in Ukraine.

Russian media publish news reports claiming that a Swedish newspaper has published a "secret report" about the US plan to destroy the European economy through a war in Ukraine. It seems that the EU economy, primarily Germany, is competitive and its development poses a threat to the United States. In order to destroy the European economy, America planned to draw the EU into the war in Ukraine, as a result of which Russia would predictably restrict energy supplies and the EU would impose its own sanctions. Thus, a crisis will arise in Europe, which will slow down the overall development, destroy industry, lead to recession and inflation as well as to an increase in unemployment, so European specialists migrate to the United States.

This secret "memorandum" was actually published by the Swedish newspaper Nya Dagbladet. The report, according to this publication, was allegedly created by the RAND Corporation, an American think tank. But after the publication RAND stated that he had never published or prepared this memorandum.

The international group of fact-checkers Logically connects the Swedish publication with fringe politicians, including the ultra-right. The newspaper has previously spread conspiracy theories more than once.

Fact checkers found in the text of the memorandum many factual and grammatical errors, and one foresight. The document was created on January 25 but actually it refers to the “stopping of Nord Stream 2”, although at that time the pipeline was still planned to be launched and was in the process of licensing. The launch of Nord Stream 2 in the EU was abandoned after the start of the war on February 24. In addition, the document talks about the approval of the plan by the "Congress and the Senate" of the US but the US legislature is called the Congress, and consists of the House of Representatives and the Senate. There are other gross factual errors that the authors of a think tank that has been working for governments and private corporations around the world since 1948 could hardly have made.

Russian propaganda media and telegram channels are spreading a fake that the Ukrainian military allegedly fired at the territory of the South Ukrainian nuclear power plant, despite the fact that they themselves reported on missile strikes against the nuclear power plant.

For example, on September 19, the day when rockets exploded 300 meters from the nuclear power plant reactors, the website of propagandist Yurii Podoliak and the Rybar telegram channel spread news with the headline “At night, Russian Armed Forces troops launched a missile attack on the South Russian NPP”. And they justified the shelling by the fact that “the reactors were not damaged”, and the missiles hit the “military base”, which seems to be located nearby and supplies fuel to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As evidence that Ukrainian military facilities existed on the territory of the station, Russian resources are distributing documents from 2017 with an order to conduct anti-terrorist exercises to work out the protection of nuclear power plants in Ukraine. These exercises were indeed carried out, they were not secret and are not related to any “bases” allegedly located on the territory of the station - information about the security measures of 2017 can be found in the Ukrainian media, StopFake notes.

We remind you that Enerhoatom and President Zelenskyi distributed a video of the shelling of a nuclear power plant and accused the Russian occupiers of shelling. “South” Command also noted that the Russians used “Iskander”. The station is located in the Mykolaiv region, which is regularly shelled by the Russians. In addition, the Russians had previously shelled another nuclear power plant - Zaporizhzhia. And, despite the conclusions of the IAEA, which demands the withdrawal of Russian troops from the ZNPP and recognizes the threat to Ukraine's nuclear facilities, the Russians are constantly trying to shift the blame for the shelling of nuclear power plants to Ukraine.

Russian propaganda came up with a new fake to prove the “inhumanity” of Ukrainians. To do this, they used a video of a woman who walks around the supermarket, approaches a large container and says: “Oh, how interesting! “Orcs” in a transparent package. Something new”.

Where exactly and when the video was taken is unknown. But judging by the design of the container, which StopFake drew attention to, these are toys that have already begun to be sold on Halloween, which is celebrated on the night of November 1st. Russian propaganda used the name of the toys to prove that Ukrainian children are offered to play with “the bones of Russian soldiers who are called orcs in Ukraine”.

Russian media and anonymous telegrams write about this. Like, “a bright symbol that charged the townspeople with optimism” suddenly disappeared. Moreover, postcards were allegedly hung in the city with a message about the search. The reason for the disappearance, according to propagandists, was the tense situation in the city. They also say that he was allegedly seen in Odesa as it is better protected. It's fake.

Vitalii Kim is the current head of the Mykolaiv regional civil-military administration, appointed by the Decree of the President of Ukraine in accordance with the law. Kim denied the information about his “escape” by recording a video from his office.

“They say that I seem to have run away to Odessa or something like that ... Where to run? There are fewer shellings, we are moving forward, there is a lot of work because we need to build new fortifications already on the territory of Kherson”, Kim said.

Russian media write about it. Like, Ukraine is preparing for this in advance, so it asks the West for even more necessary weapons. In the messages, propagandists allegedly refer to an article in The Wall Street Journal. This is not true.

In fact, in the article “Ukraine Signals Major Weapons Request for Long-Term Offensive Against Russia” there is no hint of an offensive. The authors of the publication analyze the list of 29 types of weapons and ammunition that Ukraine asks to provide. According to the authors of the article, this list is fully consistent with the development of the situation in Ukraine.

Russian propaganda is spreading messages about Ukraine's advance into Russian territory as part of a previous message that Russia was forced to launch a preemptive strike because otherwise Ukraine would have attacked first. Also, Russian propaganda is constantly trying to prevent the supply of weapons to Ukraine. To do this, they often manipulate quotes from Western publications taken out of context in order to pass off wishful thinking. Propagandists have previously written that Ukraine is using the offensive to get even more weapons. 

Kremlin media circulated on social media a video allegedly showing an anti-aircraft missile confiscated by the German police. Allegedly, the Bremen police detained Ukrainians who wanted to sell such weapons on the black market. Like, these weapons were actually delivered to Ukraine from the West as military aid. This fake was also spread by the Deputy Russian Ambassador to the UN, Dmytro Polianskyi, with the comment that "former Western partners warned of such a threat to their own people". These messages are not true.

The German edition of Spiegel denied the Kremlin fake. The publication quotes a Bremen police message on Twitter, which says that they have nothing to do with this video and did not arrest a single Ukrainian who sold weapons.

The fakeness of the video is also indicated by the audio track and it is identical to the video from January 2022, in which the police were trying to stop filming an arrest at a demonstration in Thuringia.

The picture is distributed in anonymous pro-Russian telegram channels with the caption that supposedly Volodymyr Zelenskyi the dog has taken roots in the West. This cover is fake.

Propagandists once again used the Charlie Hebdo cartoon magazine for fake news. The death of the British Queen Elizabeth II was not neglected either. Volodymyr Zelenskyi was again portrayed as a dog, who painted the inscription on the pedestal for the coffin, changing the word queen to “queer”.

The fake issue is dated September 19, but there is no such magazine on the website in the Charlie Hebdo archive. There is no such illustration in the drawing section. It is not known who the author of this cartoon is, but it has nothing to do with Charlie Hebdo magazine.

This is not the first time propagandists have used a fake cover. Previously, fake covers were distributed with Volodymyr Zelenskyi in the form of a dog with Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron.

Russian propaganda media and publics on social networks write about this with reference to collaborator Vitalii Hanchev. Allegedly, seven detained foreigners study at the local medical college. According to Hanchev, the Armed Forces of Ukraine intend to be used to “make news fake like it was with Bucha”. It is not true.

Kremlin propaganda was refuted by Ukrainian policemen. According to the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center, seven Sri Lankan citizens aged between 20 and 40 arrived in Ukraine about three weeks before the full-scale invasion. Some of them came to study at the Kupiansk Medical College, and some came to work. They rented a house in Kupiansk. Fleeing from the occupation, they walked to Kharkiv, but on the way they were detained by the Russian military. The invaders took the foreigners to the aggregate plant in Vovchansk, where they kept them for 4 months and mocked them: they pulled out their nails, subjected them to physical and psychological violence. The Russians did not communicate in English, so the foreigners did not understand what they wanted from them and why they were tortured. The Russians said "money" during torture. The Investigation Department interrogates the victims and establishes all the details.

Russian media report that the head of the NATO Military Committee, Rob Bauer, allegedly admitted that several years ago the Alliance was preparing for its expansion near the borders with Russia. Like, now NATO is implementing these plans. It is not true.

Admiral Rob Bauer did not mention plans for NATO expansion. According to StopFake, the meaning and even the translation of his words have been distorted by the Russian media. In fact, the Chairman of the NATO Military Committee spoke about the revision and overhaul of military structures, which was planned several years ago.

The NATO Military Committee met on 16-18 September 2022 in Tallinn, Estonia. At a joint press conference, Chief Rob Bauer said that NATO would be conducting "the largest overhaul of military structures since 1949", which they began planning several years ago but it is now under way. In the original speech, the verb overhaul was used, which means to carefully inspect or overhaul. However, Russian propagandists saw in these words direct confirmation that the Alliance was planning to expand to the East years before a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. Thus, allegedly Russian claims to NATO about the danger of expansion near the borders with Russia are allegedly quite justified. In addition, pro-Kremlin telegram channels also wrote that Rob Bauer's statement supposedly proves that Finland and Sweden planned to join NATO in advance, and the war in Ukraine became only a formal reason for this.

The SSU takes away documents from residents of eastern Ukraine so that they cannot leave their place of residence and become human shields for the Ukrainian military. This thesis Russian propagandists soar on Facebook and illustrate with a photograph with stacks of Ukrainian passports lying on the floor. However, this photo was published back in July and illustrates the opposite.

As analysts of the Myth Detector project write, for the first time this photo was published by the Agency for Strategic Communications and Information Security of the Ministry of Culture and Information Security of Ukraine on Twitter. According to their information, the photo shows Ukrainian passports in the city of Lysychansk which the Russians confiscated from locals in the temporarily occupied territories.

There were stories about this on Russian television, in particular, the propagandists went to the village of Vasylivka, Zaporizhzhia region, to the only official checkpoint on the front line, where people leave the temporarily occupied territories of Luhansk, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions, and in some cases vice versa. The propagandists, of course, paid attention only to those people who go to the occupied territory and assure that recently the flow of refugees from the Ukrainian side has almost doubled. Like, someone is going to visit relatives or on business, many have luggage, which means they are going there for a long time. It is not true.

According to fact checkers from the Insider such “news” does not indicate compared with what moment the flow of those wishing to visit the occupied territory has increased. It is also completely incomprehensible why this is called a flow of refugees, if the author of the plot himself admits that who visits relatives and who goes on business. In addition, they are silent about the fact that the day before the Russian side closed the checkpoint for several days due to security issues.

At the same time, a Kherson journalist Konstiantyn Ryzhenko was driving through Vasylivka from the occupied territory. He described his experience on the Radio Svoboda (Liberty) website. According to him, there are so many people that you have to stand in a live queue for several days, so he advises you to take a mat and a blanket or a sleeping bag, or even a tent, with you. “It's more convenient and comfortable to sleep in it than in a car or a bus”, says Ryzhenko.

This thesis was spread by the pro-Russian Internet publication in Ukraine Strana.ua. It refers to Deutsche Welle. Strana.ua writes that Ukrainian refugees are attracted by low prices in Russian-speaking travel agencies and that they are not embarrassed by the Russian language of the staff and signs “We speak Russian”. However, this is not true.

Some Ukrainian refugees in Germany actually used the services of one Russian-speaking travel agency in Bonn not because it was Russian-speaking, but because the employees of this travel agency changed the business format and decided to support and help the Ukrainians.

According to the representative of this bureau, many of their excursions are funded by charitable organizations in Cologne and Bonn. She had to convince many Ukrainians that there is nothing to be ashamed of if, instead of sitting in hostels for refugees, they go to Amsterdam for one day. In addition, the representative of the travel agency said that Ukrainians in Germany do not have Russophobia, they can clearly separate Russians who condemn the war from those who support the Putin regime and military aggression against Ukraine.

Some women told Iryna that they also faced hostility towards them from Russian-speaking residents in Germany, these are mainly those who watch Russian propaganda TV channels here and believe that Putin is fighting “Nazis and Bandera”, the article says.

With reference to the statement of the Russian consul in the Slovak Republic Ihor Bratchykov, Slovak websites that regularly distribute Russian propaganda wrote about this. Allegedly, in the Slovak village of Ladomyrov, two months ago, at the direction of the village headman, “with the help of a bulldozer, the burial place of soldiers of the tsarist army was razed to the ground”.

The police of the Slovak Republic called it an outright lie. The head of the Ladomyrov village, Vladyslav Tsuper, also absolutely denied the destruction of the cemetery.

According to him, the military cemetery of the dead soldiers of the Russian tsarist army during the First World War was equipped by the municipality in 2014. A chapel was erected at the cemetery, wooden crosses were installed. Concrete curbs were cemented into the ground around the crosses. “Recently, we chose only these borders – for better care of the territory”, the head of the village says about the situation at the military cemetery. The curbs made it difficult to clean and mow the grass. No grave was damaged - this can be seen in the photographs.

But Russian propagandists need to constantly come up with fakes, so they do not disdain anything in their business, writes Mukachevo.net.

Such messages are distributed on social networks, in particular, in the Russian segment of Facebook. They say that the first lady of Ukraine made a loud statement, allegedly calling the British freaks worried about every penny at a time when she herself was rescuing children from under the rubble of bombings. The author of the message wrote that this insult caused a crushing flurry of criticism of Olena Zelenska. However, there was no such quote in the interview at all.

In fact, according to fact-checker Myth Detector, the quote used is fictitious. Actually, the first lady of Ukraine never even used the phrase "British freaks", and also did not say that she got the victims out of the rubble. In an interview with the BBC Zelenska answering the questions of a journalist said that the economic crisis also affects Ukraine, and along with rising prices, Ukrainians are counting the dead.

The report also said that Olena Zelenska was having a good time in London during the bombing of Kyiv and only returned to Ukraine after the situation had calmed down. The day after the start of Russia's war against Ukraine, the president announced that he himself was staying in Kyiv, and his family was in Ukraine, and they were not going to leave the country. There is no evidence that Olena Zelenska left the country.

Propagandists spread these messages to discredit the leadership of Ukraine by saying that Ukrainians despise the people as the first lady did.

This fake is spread by the Russian media, in particular in their telegram channels. Reports say that allegedly in Ukrainian schools, students are forced to complain about their parents if they suddenly speak Russian in everyday life or if their relatives live in Russia. Like, teachers post such ads in their classrooms. However, this is an outright lie.

As they say, if the cap fits, wear it. That is about the propagandist: due to poor-quality translation, instead of the phrase "Tell the teacher" (rozpovisy vchyteltsi) the Russians made a mistake and wrote "Rospovi vchytelke" so it is quite clear that this is another Russian fake.

Tell the teacher:

— If you have relatives in Russia;

— If your parents speak Russian at home;

— If your parents watch TV in Russian;

- If your parents speak badly about Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

In addition, in Ukraine there are no norms regulating the language of communication in everyday life. According to the law “On Ensuring the Functioning of the Ukrainian Language as the State Language”, its effect does not apply to the sphere of private communication. Even in many cities, in schools or kindergartens, children still communicate in Russian.

Such fake propagandists go around in order to discredit the Ukrainians and justify Russia in the war that it unleashed. Like, in Ukraine, they are forced to dislike everything Russian, starting from schools.

Photos of a man with a bunch of Nazi tattoos are circulating on social networks. Particularly with the swastika. The text circulating along with the photo says that the photo is of Ukrainian Vadym Troian, a former head of the Kyiv police.

However, this is not true. As Correctiv analysts have found out, the bald man in the photograph is not Vadym Troian, but a Russian neo-Nazi from St. Petersburg Oleksii Maksymov. At the same time, Ukrainian Vadym Troian was mentioned in the media when he was appointed as a chief of police in Kyiv in 2014. He has been repeatedly called a right-wing extremist, but he is not in the photo on the Internet.

According to analysts, fake photos have been circulating online since Troian was appointed as a head of the agency in 2014. It is beneficial to distribute such propaganda’s photos as confirmation that Ukrainians are Nazis. Earlier, photos of two men with Nazi tattoos, allegedly depicting Ukrainian refugees in Rijeka (Croatia), were distributed on social networks. In some reports, the photo served as an excuse for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. 

Such information was massively distributed on social networks. In particular, Whatsapp. A voice message circulating on the messenger said that Ukrainians are social scammers because they come to Germany on Flixbus, receive a Hartz IV payout, sometimes even without a registered address, and immediately return to Ukraine. The message also added that the authorities of the country tolerate all the falsifications carried out by the Ukrainians because they have such an instruction to do so.

However, as the analysts of the Corrective project write, there is no confirmation that such cases of fraud were actually recorded. Analysts asked Flixbus, the Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs (BMAS) and the Employment Agency if they were aware of alleged massive cases of so-called social fraud by Ukrainians. However, none of the authorities interviewed were able to confirm the story or had evidence of such incidents.

Indeed, in order to receive the Hartz IV social payment, you need to have a legal address in Germany. This is exactly the payment that the unemployed in Germany will receive; people with no income; those who cannot live on their income. The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs says that only those people who have a registered address and are permanently located in Germany can receive a Hartz IV.

In various messengers and social networks, a story about a Ukrainian refugee who allegedly refused to pay for the services of a hairdresser and manicure in the amount of about 200 euros is spread to a foreign audience. It seems that the social security service should have paid the bill instead. The police allegedly called on this occasion after a short phone call confirmed that Ukrainian refugees have such privileges. This story is fake.

As the German fact-checkers of the CORRECTIVE project found out, similar stories were spread about two different cities. Local police have denied reports of calls. The Ministry of Social Affairs of the federal state of Saxony said that such compensation is not provided and is legally impossible. Since June 1, Ukrainians have been able to receive basic social security in Germany, but it does not cover visits to the hairdresser. Social assistance is the same for everyone and Ukrainians do not have any advantages compared to citizens of other countries.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads fakes that Ukrainian refugees have privileges compared to the help of citizens of other countries. The purpose of such fakes is to create a negative attitude towards Ukrainians abroad and reduce assistance. Previously, fakes were spread that the low-income in Poland were denied free food because of Ukrainian refugees.

Russian media write about this with reference to the head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley. Allegedly, he estimated the losses of the Ukrainian armed forces at tens of thousands of dead. It is not true.

As StopFake writes, the American general did not make any statements about the losses of the Ukrainian army. At the same time, Milley said that tens of thousands of civilians were killed due to Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. He also drew attention to the fact that almost 15 million Ukrainians became refugees as a result of the war. Despite this, Russia continues to attack civilians and critical infrastructure.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin noted that Ukrainian defenders are using Western weapons very effectively, in response to which Russia is stepping up aggression against civilians. Terrorism against civilians is part of Russia's military strategy.

That is, representatives of the Pentagon at a briefing at the Ramstein air base expressed support for Ukraine and drew attention to the crimes of Russia. Russian propaganda took quotes out of context and distorted their content for wishful thinking. The Russians use this tactic systematically. Earlier, with the help of disfigured quotes, they reported that the German edition of Die Welt called on Ukraine to recognize the “loss of Donbas”.

Anonymous telegram channels and Russian media write about this. Allegedly, the Investigative Committee of Russia will open criminal proceedings on the arrest of teachers in the Kharkov region. The fake got into the Ukrainian information space because of the pro-Russian media and bloggers. They allegedly referred to a comment by Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk that the detainees would be tried under Article 483 of the Criminal Code (violation of the customs and laws of war). Like, the punishment for them provides for up to 12 years in prison and they are not subject to exchange, because they are not prisoners of war. Some telegram channels also hinted that not all teachers would live to see the trial. It is not true.

As journalist Iryna Romaliiska reported with reference to the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine, Ukrainian police did not detain Russian teachers in the de-occupied territories of the Kharkiv region. Information about the detention was not confirmed in the office of the President of Ukraine. Subsequently, the Russian authorities denied the information about the detention of Russian teachers in Ukraine.

Most likely, this news was deliberately spread by pro-Russian resources in order to demonstrate the “ruthlessness” of the Ukrainian authorities, and subsequently its “absurdity”. This fake also echoes the Russian propaganda narrative about “Ukrainian Nazis.” Previously, fakes were spread that schoolchildren in the temporarily occupied part of the Kharkiv region were choosing Russian as the language of the studies process.

A wedding photo in front of a monument with a blue-and-yellow flag, in which brides and guests raised their hands in a gesture similar to the Nazi salute, is being shared with foreign audiences on social media. Like, nothing special, just another ordinary day in the life of Ukrainians. Also in the comments to the photo they write that foreigners should not support Ukrainians in the war because Russia was “right” when talking about Nazism in Ukraine. This photo is fake.

As the Reuters fact-checkers established, the photo was digitally processed. This is not the first time the photos have been shared on social media. It was previously distributed back in 2016. Also, the color of the flag has been changed, in the first photos the flag is black and yellow. In 2018, the fake photo was proved by OBOZREVATEL. Probably, the photo was taken in Russia in the city of Novokuznetsk. This was identified by the monument.

This is not the first time Russia has resorted to the dissemination of fake photos in order to confirm the narrative that Ukrainians are Nazis. Previously, photos of half-naked supposedly Ukrainian “Nazi refugees” in Croatia were used for this.

The Russian media spread the information that the head of the EU Foreign Service called Russia a “fascist state”. And since he supports Ukraine and its government in the war with Russia, then the hidden fascist himself would support Franco's dictatorship in Spain.

This story is given by euvsdisinfo.eu. First, Borrell did not call Russia fascist, but only referred to a reservation made by a speaker at the Inter-Parliamentary Conference in the Czech Republic. And secondly, Borrell is a Spaniard and a representative of the Socialist Party, his public service and track record prove that he opposed the Franco regime and was an active participant in Spain's transition to democratic governance.

Pulling words out of context and distorting them, blaming Ukraine, the EU, the UK, etc. in being “fascists” is a typical tactic in pro-Kremlin disinformation ecosystems where anyone who disagrees with Russia can be labeled as a fascist. This is done in order to play on the sensitivity of the topic of the Second World War for Russians, to cause a sharply negative attitude for everyone who is branded with such a cliché.

Ukraine mainly exports grain to Europe, and not to the countries of Asia and Africa, which need it the most. This fake was spread by the Russian media. They refer to the words of Russian leader Putin, which he said during one of his speeches, that only 60,000 tons of grain exported from Ukraine were sent to developing countries. And most, they say, “was delivered to the EU countries”.

This fake has been debunked in Britain. The corresponding statement appeared on Twitter of the British Ministry of Defense. “Putin's statement is not true. About 30% of the cargo was sent to low-income countries in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. Russia is pursuing a deliberate strategy of disinformation in an attempt to shirk responsibility for food security issues, discredit Ukraine, and minimize opposition to its invasion”.

Also, this fake has been repeatedly refuted in Ukraine, in particular by the Ministry of Infrastructure. The Russians spread this fake to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the international community, interfere with its international trade and justify their military presence in the waters of the Black Sea.