Anonymous telegram channels are spreading a fake developed by the Russian media that the Zaporizhzhia NPP is allegedly on the verge of functioning, because the life of the nuclear power units “expired back in 2015-2018”, that the plant needs the intervention of Russian specialists, and the continued operation of the equipment threatens.

In fact, as StopFake fact-checkers found out, Ukraine, under the supervision of leading international experts, has successfully upgraded five of the six power units of the Zaporizhzhia NPP since 2016, extending the life of each facility by an average of ten years. A number of European countries, the USA, Canada and Russia itself have experience in extending the service life of nuclear power plants, the fact checkers added.

More details.

The dubious news published by the Russian media was intercepted by a number of Ukrainian websites. The original source is the Austrian tabloid Exxpress, which was seen violating journalistic standards, writes StopFake.

Exxpress, citing its sources, reported the death of Natalia Vovk, a Ukrainian woman whom Russia called the murderer of the daughter of propagandist Oleksander Duhin, Daria. According to the publication, the body of a woman with 17 stab wounds was found in a rented apartment. It is reported that a note was allegedly found in the hands of the deceased.

The news is illustrated with a photograph showing the body of a woman. At the same time, according to StopFake, the photo was published back in 2020, in the news about the bride who was killed before the wedding.

Meanwhile, the information about the murder of Natalia Vovk was not confirmed by the Austrian Foreign Ministry.

StopFake suggested that an anonymous telegram channel became the source for the Austrian site and their news was used by Russian propagandists to reinforce the message that Ukraine was involved in the death of Daria Duhina.

It is a reminder that Russia accused Ukraine of the murder of Daria Duhina, providing only dubious evidence that cannot be verified. In particular, accusing an "Azov" serviceman of murder. Ukraine denies any involvement in the attack. Later, Russian propaganda spread the message that British intelligence could be involved in Duhina's murder.

A video is circulating on the social network Facebook, where the announcer discusses the Russian-Ukrainian war and hints that American troops are in Ukraine. Under the video is the caption: “That is the end for Putin! US Army in Ukraine!" This video is fake.

The video was checked by the fact-checker of the Logically project. The video does not contain any details regarding the likely presence of US troops in Ukraine: it does not mention how long the troops have been in Ukraine, in which region of the country they are deployed, what are the purposes of their presence, etc. There is no evidence of the presence of the US military in Ukraine.

Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin has ordered U.S. troops stationed in Ukraine in 2021 to leave the country and redeploy personnel to Europe, according to a CNBC report. On February 12, the US Department of Defense issued a statement specifying that 160 Florida National Guard soldiers who trained the Ukrainian military were temporarily redeployed to Europe. Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said the decision was made for security reasons.

Russian propagandists spread fakes about foreign troops in Ukraine in order to hide the reasons for the failures of their own army, they say, they are fighting not against Ukrainians, but against professional foreign military.

In social networks, the same type of publications are circulating that supposedly support for Ukraine in the UN over the past 6 months has significantly decreased. Allegedly, on August 24, only 58 out of 193 UN member states supported a resolution condemning the actions of the Russian army on the territory of Ukraine. Unlike the previous one, when on March 2, 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that Russia stop the so-called special military operation in Ukraine, which was supported by 141 states. It is not true.

Voting for a resolution to hold Russia accountable for crimes in Ukraine will take place at the 77th session of the UN General Assembly in September. The document dated August 24, which is called the “UN General Assembly resolution” on the net, is not really like that. This is a joint statement by Ukraine and 57 other UN member states condemning Russia's failure to comply with the resolutions of the UN General Assembly of March 2 and March 24 demanding an end to military aggression against Ukraine.

The first resolution "Aggression against Ukraine" (A/ES/11-1), condemning Russia's invasion of Ukraine, was adopted on March 2, 2022. The resolution was supported by 141 states. The second resolution of the UN General Assembly on the war in Ukraine was adopted on March 24, 2022. The document was supported by 140 countries. The third resolution of the XI emergency special session of the UN General Assembly suspended Russia's membership in the UN Human Rights Council. It was adopted on April 7, 2022 with 93 votes in favor.

Thus, propaganda continues to build a narrative about the alleged fatigue of the world community from the “Ukrainian issue”. Previously, fakes were spread that the British were supposedly tired of Ukrainian refugees, or they were convinced that “the stormy romance between Europeans and Ukrainians is ending.” More details.

These messages are being circulated on social media. Allegedly, the Russian military found a report addressed to the commander of the 72nd Motorized Brigade, Colonel Vdovychenko, that the "new batch of drugs" allegedly received at the end of June "causes concern." This photo is fake.

According to the VoxCheck fact checker, the report does not contain specific information: the names of drugs, their purpose, the number of units delivered, dates of receipt, etc. The "complaints" of the military are also vague, mentioning only one case of violence among the military, allegedly due to "refusal to issue a drug."

The report contained both factual and grammatical mistakes. Mykhailo Drapatyi actually has the rank of brigadier general, not major. As of July 2022, Mikhailo Drapatyi is the Deputy Commander of the Operational Command "South". He was the commander of the 2nd mechanized battalion of the 72nd OMBR back in 2014. Grammar mistakes testify to the automatic translation of the report from Russian.

By spreading a fake report, Russian propaganda is trying to support the fiction about the forced use of drugs in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Also, earlier propagandists said that more than half of the Ukrainian military use drugs. Russian propagandists also systematically resort to creating fake "documents". Recently, a fake document was circulated, allegedly confirming the losses of the Ukrainian army.

  Russian media and social networks write about this. Allegedly, the Western publication called on Ukraine to recognize not only the “loss of Donbas”, but also the “senselessness of the attacks on Kherson.” Like, "the Kyiv regime is not able to change Russia's success in the special operation." It is not true. In fact, Die Welt columnist Christoph Schilz emphasizes in the author's coloumn that Western countries are still not giving Ukraine enough weapons to turn the tide of the war. The main idea of ​​the material lies in the title - "too little military assistance." The author says that Ukraine may lose its territories in the east, a significant part of the south is also occupied, and, in his opinion, there are no signs that the situation will change in the near future. Russian propagandists took these words out of context and gave them a different meaning. Shilts also believes that the West needs to make a decision - either to significantly improve the equipment of Ukraine with weapons in the near future, or leave Ukraine "at the mercy of the Russian military machine." That is, the publication Die Welt did not call on Ukraine to recognize the loss of territories, moreover, the author of the column called on the West, and Germany in particular, to supply Ukraine with more heavy weapons, and not be limited to "promises and speeches of solidarity." Russian propagandists systematically manipulate out-of-context quotes from Western media and politicians in order to pass off wishful thinking. Previously, using disfigured quotes, they claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi was about to step down at the start of a full-scale invasion. More details.  

This was reported in the news on Russian TV channels. Allegedly, there were warehouses of foreign weapons at the airfield. This is not the first time Russians lie about their military “gains” and “victories”. In fact, this time Russian propagandists distorted the news about the rocket attack on Shepetivka, which took place on Ukraine's Independence Day. Critical infrastructure was hit, police said, and windows and doors in nearby homes and a school were blown off by the blast. As a result of the hit, 3 people were injured - a woman and two children.

Near Shepetivka in the village of Sudylkiv in Soviet times there was a military airfield. Historians in their writings recall that it was bombed during the Second World War. During the independence of Ukraine, the airfield did not function.

The presenter of the TV channel "Russia-1" Olha Skabeyeva, talking about the shelling, called Shepetivka Shchepetovka. Ukrainians in social networks created their answer to Skabeyeva for the airfield and for the perverted name of the city.

Pro-Kremlin media reported that the government of Ukraine has canceled a one-time assistance in the amount of 15 million hryvnias, now “you can forget about this money”, the Cabinet of Ministers will determine the amount of payment to the families of the deceased soldier during the Russian war against Ukraine. They say that officials made such a decision in order to “not go bankrupt”, because the Ukrainian army allegedly has “huge losses” - in the amount of “76 thousand dead” servicemen of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is not true.

The pro-Kremlin media distorted the changes in the law “On the social and legal protection of servicemen and members of their families.” Among the innovations of the law that came into force on August 25, one of the paragraphs refers to the issue of paying a lump sum in the event of the death of a military man during martial law. Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar explained that a one-time payment to the families of the fallen heroes of the defenders of Ukraine remains in the amount of 15 million hryvnias. “On February 28, the government decided that the payment to the families of the dead defenders of Ukraine is 15 million hryvnias. Nobody cancels this decision and is not going to abolish it,” Maliar emphasized.

According to her, some of the people who submitted the necessary documents have already begun to receive one-time assistance from the state.

The fake pro-Kremlin media about the abolition of payments and about “76 thousand dead” defenders of Ukraine is aimed at undermining morale and discrediting the military-political leadership of the country. More details.

This information is promoted by the Russian media. They say that the countries of the European Union will become "a base for training Nazi militants" who should carry out "terrorist operations" against the "civilian population" in the Donetsk region.

This information appeared in the Russian media after the High Representative of the European Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy, Josep Borrell, on August 22, informed journalists about the EU plans to organize a mission to train the military personnel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine to effectively counter Russian aggression.

As such, there is no joint EU mission yet: the head of European diplomacy said that the launch of a large training program for the Ukrainian military in the use of Western weapons will be discussed at the end of August at a meeting of EU defense ministers in Prague, StopFake reports.

Consequently, the European Union and Ukraine do not engage in “terrorist training”. In fact, it is Russia that can be accused of preparing terrorists, since it started a war against Ukraine, kills civilians and destroys Ukrainian cities and villages. By spreading the thesis about “training centers for Ukrainian saboteurs” for operations in the Donbas, Russia is distracting from its own war crimes in the East of Ukraine.

The Kremlin media, referring to a collaborator in the Zaporizhzhia region, spread the information that the Ukrainian army "has interrupted the last, fourth power transmission line from the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant." Volodymyr Rogov, a representative of infidels in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region, said that it is now "physically impossible to transfer electricity to the right bank of the Dnipro." It is not true.

The security and defense forces of Ukraine do not shell the Zaporizhzhia NPP, as well as the power transmission lines near the station. On March 4, the largest nuclear power plant in Europe was seized by the Russian military, and since then they have been placing military equipment and ammunition there, shelling the nearby territory from its site. On August 26, Enerhoatom confirmed that the Zaporizhzhia NPP was again producing electricity for the needs of Ukraine after the first complete disconnection from the power grid in the history of the plant. And Ukrenerho announced that they had resumed the work of two trunk lines damaged by Russian troops, which ensured the operation of the station.

Recently, Russian propaganda spread the message that it is not profitable for Russia to shell the ZNPP, because it controls it and Kyiv is to blame for the attacks on nuclear infrastructure facilities.

This is written in anonymous telegram channels. Allegedly, Roger Waters was put on the "Peacemaker" list and sentenced to death for his statements about Crimea. It is not true.

The musician was indeed included in the list of the Peacemaker for his statements regarding the status of Crimea. Waters said that allegedly Russia has all the rights to the Crimea, and the change of power in Ukraine was planned by Washington. This is the reason for the listing. However, the Peacemaker Center is a Ukrainian non-governmental organization engaged in the study of crimes against the national security of Ukraine, peace, the security of mankind and the international legal order. The organization asks law enforcement agencies to consider the information they publish on the website as a statement about a crime against national security. Therefore, the inclusion of public figures in the list usually leads to reputational losses. As for the death penalty, this type of punishment has been excluded from the list of those used in Ukraine since 2000.

Probably, in this way, Russian propaganda is once again trying to convince foreigners that Ukrainians are Nazis. Earlier propagandists said that in Ukraine the synod of the Russian Orthodox Church was sentenced to death. More details.

This is written in social networks and anonymous telegram channels. Like, the moratorium is valid only until the end of the year, and then people will pay for all the months. It is not true.

As the Center for Counteracting Disinformation writes, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed a law that provides for the establishment of a moratorium on raising heat tariffs for the population during martial law in Ukraine and six months after its termination or cancellation. The moratorium also applies to natural gas distribution services.

This is not the first time propagandists have manipulated the topic of tariff increases. In May, they spread fakes about a threefold increase in tariffs. Thus, they are trying to emotionally put pressure on the Ukrainians and undermine the credibility of the authorities during the war.

The photos are being shared by social media users with negative comments. Like, in the cold, the fact that "your money continues the war in a distant country" will not warm. The billboard photo is fake.

Reuters fact checkers checked the photo using the FotoForensics tool and found that it had been edited. The original image of the billboard does not have a blue-and-yellow background, nor an inscription discrediting British aid to Ukrainians. In fact, this is an advertisement for musical events in Manchester.

Thus, the propagandists are trying to turn the British against the Ukrainians. This is not the first time Russian propaganda has used fake photos to spread disinformation. Propagandists have previously circulated photofakes about posters at airports allegedly warning Ukrainians of £5,000 fines for unacceptable behaviour. Also, allegedly, the British are already planning to expel Ukrainian refugees from the houses where they found shelter.

Russian media disseminate information that allegedly the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine has established such a punishment for refusing to evacuate. It is not true.

Decree of the Cabinet of Ministers of August 23, 2022 No. 940, to which the propagandists refer, does not provide for the deprivation of parental rights in case of refusal to evacuate children from the combat zone. Most of the innovations concern only the evacuation of orphans and children deprived of parental care. Their guardians may be deprived of guardianship in case of refusal to evacuate. After the children are evacuated to a safe place, the National Social Service will decide on the appointment of new guardians. We are talking about foster families, family-type orphanages etc. That is, the state has strengthened control over the safety of children, the responsibility for which lies with the state.

Propagandists constantly manipulate emotionally sensitive topics. Previously, they wrote that in the West fast-eating children were taken away from

Pro-Kremlin propaganda media spread messages with such a statement. The reports claim that the Ukrainian army is trying to assign itself additional tank brigades, which in fact do not exist in the Armed Forces. According to the propagandists, Ukraine is trying to deceive the West and create the appearance of its power, to show its fake superiority of the Russian army. In fact, the units that propagandists persistently call virtual are quite genuine and perform the tasks assigned to them.

As StopFake writes, Russian publications refer to the American magazine Forbes, they say, it was this authoritative publication that "exposed" such large-scale fabrications by the Ukrainian military. But the author of the article, David Eks, does not say that this is a case of falsification, let alone deception of countries friendly to Ukraine. In the article "It Seems Ukraine Is Struggling To Form Tank Brigades", he reflects on the reasons why the Ukrainian Armed Forces have not yet launched a counteroffensive in the southern direction. The journalist of Forbes is trying to find out how many full-fledged tank brigades are at the disposal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and expresses doubts about the combat capabilities of two of the six brigades known to him. David Ecks believes that the reason is the lack of trained personnel, and not the lack of military equipment. Speaking about the lies of the Ukrainian army, Russian propaganda seeks to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of Western partners and reduce the capabilities of the Ukrainian military. Like, they will definitely lie about the number of their units and available forces, but in reality they can't do anything. More details.

A video from the canteen is circulating online, which allegedly shows how Poles are denied free food. Russian media circulated it with the comment that the man was allegedly denied a bowl of soup for the outcasts. This is manipulation.

The video was recorded in Wroclaw at the World Central Kitchen, which provides targeted assistance to people affected by the war in Ukraine. The video really shows how two Poles are denied food, but they explain this by the fact that funds for food were allocated for a purpose. World Central Kitchen is a non-profit charitable foundation that provides food to people affected by natural disasters or other crises. The organization has been helping Ukrainians since the first day of the war. Also, its representatives explained that they did not have the opportunity to provide food for every resident of Wroclaw and expressed their condolences due to the fact that someone was denied food. After this incident, the organization and its partners decided to allocate 100 places to feed Poles in need of help. Russian propaganda is manipulating the video, as funds for the food of Ukrainians were allocated by a targeted charitable foundation, and Poles can use help in municipal centers. That is, no privileges are granted to Ukrainians.

Russian propagandists are constantly spreading fakes to discredit aid of Poland to Ukrainians. More details.

Allegedly, the United States, Great Britain and Poland “do not hide their readiness to send troops to Ukraine” and are now “preparing a pretext” for an “invasion” of Ukrainian territory. This is not true.

Representatives of the United States and Great Britain did not voice any plans for an invasion of Ukraine. It was solely about preventing the extremely dangerous actions of Russia, which is provoking a European-scale nuclear catastrophe at a seized Ukrainian nuclear facility.

In view of the fact that Russia was using the captured ZNPP as a “nuclear shield”, confirmed by Western intelligence, representatives of the UK and the US reported that a Russian attack on the ZNPP would be a violation of Article 5 of the NATO Charter. In particular, Tobias Ellwood, head of the Defense Committee of the House of Commons of the British Parliament, said this. The British counterpart is supported by Adam Kinzinger, a member of the US House of Representatives. He also stressed that a potential accident with a radiation leak at the ZNPP, provoked by Russian occupiers, could be interpreted as an attack on NATO states.

Article 5 of the Washington Treaty states that an attack on any of the member states of the Alliance is considered an attack on all of them. This article was first invoked in response to the September 11 terrorist attacks against the United States of America.

Russian propagandists are constantly trying to discredit the partnership between Ukraine and the West and devalue the military assistance of these countries. More details.

Such information was distributed by the Russian media with reference to an interview with the existing foreign intelligence service of Ukraine Mykola Malomuzh. It's a fake.

In fact, Mykola Malomuzh, answering the question, said that in order to prepare a strategic offensive it is necessary to prepare reserves. It was about the mobilization of reserve military personnel with military experience. Mobilization of pensioners was not discussed.

According to Voxcheck, for a military reserve, the marginal age is established in stock. It depends on the rank of military: from 60 years for younger and senior officers to 65 years for the highest officers. During military legislation, citizens from 18 to 60 years old can be conscripted into army. The retirement age of men in Ukraine is 60, provided that they have the necessary insurance experience (if a person does not have enough insurance experience, he may resign later). That is, the retirement age and age of stay in stock are the same.

Previously, propagandists distributed fakes that there was no one to fight in Ukraine, and therefore LGBT -faculty was summoned into the army. The propagandists also tried to discredit and violate mobilization measures in Ukraine, dissolving other reports. Thus, propagandists are trying to distract the audience from hidden mobilization in Russia.

Such news is spread by local social networks, namely the Real Volyn telegram channel. Reports say that state services have begun to select material assistance for children taken abroad by their parents. It is not true.

According to the fact-checkers of the Brekhunets (Liar) project, despite the forced evacuation abroad, Ukrainians have not lost their right to social protection and can easily receive assistance from the Social Insurance Fund of Ukraine. The authors note that this is possible only for employed citizens who are forced to leave the country.

From the first day of the full-scale invasion, the FSSU adapted the procedure for assigning assistance under martial law. This allowed the organization to directly accrue more than 19.5 million hryvnia of sick and maternity leave payments for evacuated employees.

Anonymous telegram channels and Russian media write about this with reference to the militant of the so-called LNR, "representative of the people's militia of the LNR" Andriy Marochko. Allegedly, on the territory where hostilities are taking place, wounded Ukrainian servicemen and local residents with pro-Russian views are disappearing somewhere. Marochko says that he allegedly has evidence of the work of "Western transplantologists" who transport organs and Ukraine, and then to the West. It is not true.

Organs removed from the body remain viable for a limited period of time, during which it is impossible to transport them from the war zone in Donbas to the West. Organ retrieval requires a team of specially trained personnel of at least 6-8 surgeons. Transplantation is always targeted, based on a series of compatibility criteria. For this, a preliminary medical examination of both the donor and the recipient is always carried out, which is impossible in war conditions.

Russian media write about it. Allegedly, the investigators received documents from a Ukrainian woman who, together with her underage daughter, rented an apartment in the same house with Duhina in order to follow her. Anonymous telegram channels also suggest that a child could have planted the explosive. It is not true.

According to the Azov regiment, the woman, whose documents were published by the Russians in their report on the investigation into the death of Daria Duhina, has nothing to do with the regiment. Azov believes that Russian propagandists deliberately spread such messages to confirm the need for a "tribunal" against the Azov people. The regiment also assumes that the ID card was lost and fell into the hands of the FSB by accident.

Immediately after the explosion, the Russians accused the Ukrainian special services of blowing up the car. This information was denied by adviser to the head of the President's Office Mykhailo Podoliak. He also suggested that such messages are necessary for propagandists for open mobilization. Podoliak also said that Duhina's death could be the result of "clashes between internal political groups."

These messages are being circulated on social media. Allegedly, cameramen are filming people in warm clothes running against the background of destroyed cars and buildings. This is not true.

According to the fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project, in fact, the video shows a fragment of the shooting of a documentary film about the Russian-Ukrainian war. The video was posted by a Tik-Tok user in August 2022. The Associated Press found out that he was a casting assistant for the documentary "Region of Heroes", the filming process of which was posted online. In a comment to the news agency, he confirmed that he posted a video from the set.

The film is produced by the Ukrainian production company IDEAFILMS with the assistance of the State Film Agency. It consists of film reconstructions of five real stories of residents of the Kyiv region under occupation. On the company's Instagram page, there is a photo of the same location as in the video, but from a different angle.

Propagandists are trying in every way to hide the atrocities of the Russian army in the temporarily occupied territories.

Anonymous telegram channels and Russian media report that the academic year should allegedly start in all educational institutions offline. Like, parents are trying in vain to protest such a decision. It is not true.

There is no mandate for compulsory full-time education. The educational process in full-time format will take place only if there are bomb shelters in educational institutions. The final decision on the format of training is made by the military-civilian administration with the participation of parents. Parents of schoolchildren have the opportunity to choose the form of education for their children - assessment or distance learning, or an individual study schedule, external or family education.

As StopFake writes, propagandists also spread a fake message that all educational institutions are allegedly the place of deployment of the Ukrainian military. Therefore, they are likely targets of the Russian army and it is dangerous to send children there.

Thus, the propagandists manipulate the emotionally sensitive topic of children's safety during the war and try to undermine Ukrainians' trust in the authorities.

They write about it on pro-Russian websites. For example, in Great Britain they allegedly invented reusable toilet paper as a way to save money "against the background of anti-Russian sanctions in the country", residents of the country are switching to it because of the crisis. Russian politician Dmytro Medvediev called on Europeans not to be silent about the issue of toilet paper and to demand that their governments restore full-fledged economic relations with Russia. This is not true.

This was reported in the Russian Ministry of Defense. Allegedly, several Russian military men who were in the territory of the occupied Zaporizhzhia region of Ukraine were found to have a poisonous substance - botulinum toxin type "B". This substance is an organic poison of artificial origin.

Mykhailo Podoliak, an adviser to the head of the President's Office, believes that they were poisoned by alcohol.

So, having carefully read the official statement of the Russian Ministry of Defense regarding the poisoning of the military of the Russian occupation army in the Ukrainian city of Vasilievka, Zaporizhzhia region and the accusation of Ukraine of using "chemical weapons" (by the way, they are talking about this with all seriousness), we can say this (also seriously ):

Excessive consumption of cheap unlicensed alcohol in a 40-degree heat, along with expired dry rations of the "Russian army" can definitely lead to unpredictable consequences. Ukrainian land will never be hospitable to Russian invaders. Endless vomiting is even better that can await you here. However, we understand that it’s not the right time to expect adequacy from you, so continue to tell “fables of good will” about the large-scale use of “alcoholic chemical weapons”,” Podoliak replied. Earlier, the Russian Defense Ministry recorded alleged chemical attacks on the Russian military from a Ukrainian drone and found unmanned AFU apartments for spraying chemicals.