The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the SSU is preparing a punitive operation against citizens loyal to Russia in Kharkiv, under the guise of "clearing the city of artillery and aviation correctors." Also, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a whole list of what the SSU can detain Ukrainian citizens. These are the presence of calls and SMS to Russian numbers, correspondence in messengers condemning the current Ukrainian authorities, subscriptions to Russian channels on social networks, and photo or video materials of the results of impressions of Ukrainian military facilities. People who are loyal to Russia are threatened with torture and threats to the lives of relatives and friends. Also, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports that similar punitive operations have already taken place in other cities - Odesa, Mykolaiv, Sloviansk, Sumy, Chernihiv, and several other settlements.

There is no confirmation of any punitive operations in any of these cities by any Ukrainian security forces. Part of the message of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation looks like a description of the SSU's work to identify collaborators and real correctors. Part of it is a warning to its agents about what needs to be urgently removed from the phones in order not to be exposed by the agents, writes the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center. And it may also aim to sow panic among Kharkiv residents, who, for example, subscribe to local publications that regularly publish photos and videos of "arrivals".

Fire adjusters or those who pass other important information to the Russians are regularly detained in Ukraine. But neither relatives nor relatives of people convicted of these crimes came forward with statements about illegal actions against them. Did the criminals themselves also not complain about the use of force or any illegal actions of the investigators? Instead, full-fledged punitive operations against the civilian population, including pro-Ukrainian activists or representatives of the Ukrainian government, were conducted and are being conducted. Russian troops. Ukrainians are stolen, tortured, killed, and disappear en masse. At any Russian checkpoints, mobile phones and correspondence are checked, after which people are sent to filtration camps.

These messages may also be aimed at spreading the opinion among Ukrainians that many citizens are "loyal" to Russia. But a sociological study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), which was conducted on May 13-18, 2022, showed that the absolute majority of citizens who continue to live even in the territory occupied after February 24, 2022 - 82% - have a negative attitude towards Russia.

The Russian media is mass spreading the news that an alleged Ukrainian from Kyiv is selling two American Switchblade-300 drones on the darknet. But this is another fake.

Researchers at StopFake analyzed images of drones purportedly for sale and found that they were downed or damaged in 2015 and 2016 in Syria. Their images are taken from a discussion on resources that wrote about the war in Syria.

Such fake ads for the sale of arms are part of the disinformation promoted by Russian propaganda to convince Western allies to stop supplying arms to Ukraine. Its main thesis is as follows: weapons supplied by the West do not go to the front, but are sold and smuggled back to Europe or transported to the countries of the Middle East to militants of terrorist groups. Some of this disinformation even reaches the respectable Western mass media - recently the CBS channel showed the film "Arming Ukraine", where it was claimed that the vast majority of weapons provided by the West do not reach the front. After the publicity, the channel stopped showing the film and apologized, and plans to update the material.

This was reported by the Russian media and the official account of the Russian Embassy in Spain. Allegedly, in one of the centers for refugees, Ukrainians were forbidden to hang their national flag. This is evidenced by the photos, which allegedly show graffiti with the inscription "no Ukrainian flags" on the wall of the building next to the center. Pro-Russian telegram channels spread these messages in the Ukrainian infospace. This is a fake.

Graffiti photos are another photo montage. This was pointed out by Twitter users in the comments under the publication of the account of the Russian Embassy in Spain. Twitter users geolocated the location on the photos. The building in the photo is actually in Benalmadena, it belongs to the EpicGym gym. The owners of the hall confirmed on August 5 that such an inscription was never on the wall and provided a video of the facade of the building - it does not contain any graffiti. An analysis of photos circulating online indicates that the "graffiti" was painted over the gym's logo - the edge of the "graffiti" features the letter "E", which corresponds to the first letter of the gym's name, "EpicGym". On social networks, "EpicGym" published a message in which they called the fakes "disgusting and unacceptable" and emphasized that the information on the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Spain is not true. The owners also reported that the people involved in their business do not support Russia in the war going on in Ukraine.

StopFake fact-checkers verified the published photos using the Forensics image verification tool. The check showed a different level of compression at the location of the graffiti - this may indicate that the image has been edited.

This is reported by the Russian media with reference to the representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov. He said that the unit suffered significant personal losses and combat effectiveness in general. Allegedly, they tried to fill the unit with local residents, but no volunteers were found. It is not true.

As the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center writes, the special unit "Kraken" has indeed announced the recruitment of recruits for the assault company. According to Kraken Chief of Staff Kostiantyn Nemichev, in the first two days, 800 questionnaires were received from those wishing to join the special unit. The selection will take place in several stages, including an interview and a "young fighter course". After that, the instructors will make the final decision.

Such fakes are distributed in the network. They said that the UN primarily helps young people, and then retirees. Allegedly, such assistance is provided for pensioners who have the status of internally displaced persons. However, social insurance for pensioners is issued in the regional center, so a pensioner from the occupied territories will not be able to get there and will not receive payments. It is not true.

Such information is distributed in social networks and messengers. It is not true.

The secretary of the city council, Anatoly Kurtev, said that now there are no reasons for the mass evacuation of citizens. The other day, the city authorities started an information campaign to clarify the rules of behavior of the population during an emergency, including during evacuation. However, the official says, these are only preventive measures, because, in the conditions of a full-scale war, such knowledge should be available not only to Zaporizhzhia but also to the entire country. Kurtev urged residents to remain calm and trust only official sources of information, not speculations and rumors on social networks.

Recently, fake reports about the evacuation of residents of Odesa were also spread. Local authorities denied these rumors.

Russian propaganda spreads information that, allegedly, because weapons were distributed to the population in the first months of the war, the level of crime, especially serious crimes - robberies and murders - has dropped unprecedentedly. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, in six months the overall level of crime in Ukraine decreased by 25% compared to last year. Serious and especially serious crimes remained almost at the same level as in 2021, writes StopFake. The number of apartment thefts, robberies, and robberies decreased. This is confirmed by the statistics of the Prosecutor General's Office. The decrease in the level of general crime in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine is explained by the mass migration of people within the country and abroad, the introduction of a curfew, and the coordination of the work of law enforcement officers and territorial defense. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted that the level of crime has increased in the territories with active hostilities. In addition, the number of crimes related to illegal trafficking of weapons and crimes committed with the use of weapons increased. 

Russian propaganda reported that Russian specialists have started the modernization of two turbines of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, and such modernization can increase the capacity of the hydroelectric power station by a third. It will be recalled that the occupiers seized the station in the first days of the invasion of the Kherson region. According to StopFake fact-checkers, the Russians will not be able to modernize the Kakhovskaya HPP, because, firstly, part of the necessary equipment is produced only in Ukraine or the countries of the European Union. Secondly, to install more powerful equipment, it is necessary to make changes to the station’s structure, and this can damage the reinforced concrete dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP. Such works will last at least two years and will give a 5 percent increase, commented the energy generating company "Ukrhydroenergo". Russian media also wrote that one of the turbines "failed, but this is not related to hostilities." "Ukrhydroenergo" denies: as a result of the fighting near Kherson, the power grid was damaged, which caused multiple short circuits and disabled part of the station's equipment 

The information that Serhiy Shnurov visited the city of Irmino in the Luhansk Region was spread by the Russian propaganda media with reference to the Russian actor Georgy Bolonyev. Later, a photo in which Shnurov is allegedly in Luhansk Oblast also appeared on the pages of Ukrainian online media. However, this is not true.

The photo turned out to be a fake. Shnurov accused Russian propagandists of having photoshopped his old photo into a picture with Prigozhin and Bolognev. Pro-government Russian media also denied the fake, referring to the words of Shnurov's press secretary Serhii Guguchkin. Like, the singer is currently in Turkey and taking part in a corporate event. Later, Bolonev published other attempts of the same photo on the Russian social network Vkontakte and wrote that Shnurov is being confused with the Russian actor Sergei Garusov. And this is done not only by readers of social networks, but also by residents of occupied Stakhanov who saw Harusov in person.

"Media Detector'' checked the photo. It is impossible to establish the author and the location of the shooting, as metadata about who created the image is erased in social networks. Reverse search of the original image on the Internet through search engines and the TinEye extension is not convincing due to the clutter of image reposts. However, analyzing the image in the InVid application shows traces of editing. Especially, the right part of the image, where Shnurov is supposed to be. This shows that Shnurov is not really in the photo from Irmina. Harusov is only three centimeters shorter than Shnurov, this difference can be muffled by a hat, higher shoes or lifting on the toes. So, they could really be "confused".

The use of photos of celebrities who were not actually in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories is a novelty for Russian propagandists. Previously, they published news about stars who really visited the occupied territories for, apparently, ideological reasons.

Anonymous telegram channels write about it. Allegedly, such an instruction was given to local authorities. It is not true.

This is reported by anonymous Telegram channels. Allegedly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz accidentally said that Ukraine is being used as a testing ground for new weapons. It is not true.

In an interview with the Canadian edition of The Globe and Mail, Olaf Scholz said that Ukraine was given some weapons systems that the Bundeswehr does not have. However, Scholz did not call the transferred weapons experimental and did not talk about the fact that they are being tested in Ukraine. He also said that German specialists teach Ukrainians how to use this equipment correctly.

Russian media spread a distorted quote from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba. They said, there will be no "new Hague" — the European Union "refused" to create a tribunal, and the International Court of Justice "does not want" to recognize the Russian "special operation" as aggression. It is not true.

During the interview, Dmytro Kuleba answered questions about holding a special tribunal over Russia. The diplomat said that today there is a discussion about the legal format of the investigation and punishment for Russia's war crimes in Ukraine — the creation of a tribunal or the sessions held by the International Criminal Court. Discussion of the legal subtleties of the future process continues, there is no mention of Europe's refusal to recognize Russia's war in Ukraine as aggression or don’t investigate and prosecute those responsible for the war. Ambassador-at-large Anton Korinevych explained that currently there is no international court or tribunal that could judge crimes of aggression, from which genocide, crimes against humanity,d war crimes are derived.

In mid-June, the EU, USA, Great Britain, Japan,d other countries supported Ukraine in opening a criminal case against Russia at the International Court of Justice. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly,d the OSCE Parliament supported the creation of a special tribunal. According to StopFake, three possible models for conducting such a tribunal are currently being discussed.

The Russians spread such a fake in the temporarily occupied territories in the south of Ukraine. Enemy propaganda continues to sow panic among the population, OC "South" reported.

Military correspondent Andrii Tsaplienko drew attention to a photo of Avdiyivka, which was apparently captured by the Russians, where they distributed humanitarian aid to the locals.

The photo shows Ukrainian volunteers who help people survive in the hell that the Russian invaders have created for them.

"The boys freaked out a bit when they saw how their photos were used on Russian resources. If you enlarge the photo, you can see Ukrainian inscriptions and even a map of Ukraine," Tsaplienko noted.

This is stated in the film Arming Ukraine on the American TV channel CBS News. It was announced by the pro-Kremlin media, and in Ukraine, it was published by the website "Strana". The film says that the US loses control over military weapons after crossing the border, that only 30-40% of supplies from the West reach the front, and the rest goes to the "black market". That is why a system of weapons supervision should be created.

Rustem Klupov, a veteran of military intelligence, a participant in the First Chechen War, and a Hero of Russia, said this on a pro-Kremlin show on the Telegram channel.

According to him, the Russian army destroyed a lot of ammunition for this system, and the missiles’ deliveries are carried out by Ukrainian public transport, in particular in buses and trams.

Recently, the USA announced new military aid for Ukraine - the Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive four HIMARS rocket launchers and other military equipment.

These modern rocket launcher systems are actively used by the Armed Forces, and this brings military victories. HIMARS proved so effective that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered commanders to make their destruction a priority. Thus, Russian propagandists regularly launch fakes about the alleged HIMARS destruction. Earlier, they reported the fake destruction of two, then another, then six more HIMARS installations, and also gave burnt straw for the destroyed missiles for these installations.

This information is spread by pro-Kremlin sites, and for illustration, they used photos of the Iversky Convent destroyed during the fighting for the Donetsk airport in 2014.

The Iversky Convent belonged to the so-called Moscow Patriarchate and suffered as a result of the battles for the Donetsk airport in 2014-2015. Videos of Convent’s damage, which the Russian propaganda is using today to illustrate new lies, appeared as early as 2015.

Instead, the Russian occupiers are purposefully destroying Ukrainian cultural heritage, including churches and temples. According to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Russians damaged 101 objects of valuable historical buildings and destroyed or damaged 145 religious buildings. More details.

This information was spread by the Russian media. Allegedly, as a result of the conflict, 9 civilians were injured. The Center for Combating Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine reports that this is a fake.

The Center for Combating Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council has refuted three fakes about the dismissal of workers during wartime.

1. If an employee doesn’t show up for work and his phone is turned off, he cannot be fired.

Such information is incorrect because Article 36 of the Labor Code was supplemented by clauses 8-3 and now "the grounds for dismissal are the employee's absence at workplace and information about the reasons for more than four consecutive months". If the employee does not answer the phone and does not go to work, he will still be fired.

2. The owner of a non-working enterprise cannot fire anyone due to a lack of raw materials.

This is not true, because according to Clause 6 of Article 41 of the Labor Code "the impossibility of providing an employee with a job is an additional reason for terminating the employment contract at the initiative of the employer." An employee can be fired if he does not have a job.

3. If a person has not received a copy of the order within a certain period, then he/she is dismissed illegally.

 According to various versions, the businessman was "cleaned up" by competitors, and he was injured by Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire or mines. The founder and general director of one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural enterprises, "Nibulon", Oleksiy Vadatursky died together with his wife on July 31 as a result of the massive shelling of Mykolaiv by the occupiers. One of the 50 missiles launched by Russia landed in the house. The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevich, said that the shelling was probably "the strongest ever". The "South" operational command specified that on July 31, the shelling was carried out by "Smerch" rocket salvo systems and modified projectiles of enhanced destructive effect against the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems. The Prosecutor General's Office has launched an investigation into the businessman’s murder. According to StopFake, one version of the investigation is that a Russian projectile was fired purposefully at the businessman's house. According to Vitaly Kim, the head of the Mykolayiv administration, the hit of a Russian rocket in the businessman's house could be accidental, since a military unit was stationed in its place before. As in previous cases of accusations of shelling by the Ukrainian army, at first, the propagandists actively wrote about "denazification" and "liquidation", and later began to spread conspiracy theories. This time about the fact that the murder of an agribusinessman was allegedly beneficial to the Ukrainian authorities. 

The Russian media manipulated an electronic petition response on the Ukrainian President’s website. Allegedly, President Zelenskyi gave a positive answer to a petition to replace the monument.

According to StopFake, five similar petitions have been published on the Ukrainian President’s website with a request to demolish the monument to the Russian empress. Two of them collected more than 25 thousand signatures from Ukrainians, and it means that the President had to consider them and give an answer.

The first petition asked to demolish the monument, and the second — to replace it with a statue of Billy Herrington, a pornfilms actor of the 1990s. The President's answers to both petitions are almost the same: he turned request to the Odessa City Council to consider it within its competence. The monument to Catherine II is recognized as a monument of local importance, and only the local authorities can manage its fate.

It was reported by the Russian media with reference to the Russian Minister of Defense Serhii Shoigu. It is not true.

Pentagon Press Secretary Todd Breasseale called Shoigu's message false and said that the Ukrainians "use with striking accuracy and efficiency every high-precision missile system that the United States and partners have provided to defend against the brutal criminal Russia invasion." The commander Andriy Kovalchuk also confirmed that the Russian invaders did not manage to destroy a single HIMARS system. At the beginning of August, the number of HIMARS in service with the Ukrainian military officially reached sixteen systems, and shortly there should be twenty-two of them. The publication Texty.org.ua writes about this in more detail.

This is reported by Russian propagandists and anonymous Telegram channels. Allegedly, the "military formations" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are located on the roof of the Odesa Theater of Musical Comedy, and heavy weapons and armored vehicles are located on the territory of the University. It is not true.

Both institutions denied the reports of Russian propagandists. Administration of Odesa Academic Theater of Musical Comedy named after Vodianyi called the message "an insolent and cynical fake of the occupiers". The Rector of Odesa State Environmental University, Serhiy Stepanenko, invited all interested parties to a field trip to the training ground, where training meteorological stations are located for the practical training of meteorology students.

The occupiers distribute invoices with allegedly new details of the water utility and send them to the heads of condominiums. Screenshots of tariffs and requisites were published by the Deputy Chairman of the Kherson Regional Council Yuriy Sobolevskyi. These accounts do not exist, writes the "Nota Yenota" project.

"The information stated in the material regarding the opening of accounts in rubles does not correspond to reality. It is forbidden to open accounts in rubles in Ukraine. We checked the details indicated in the material. Such does not exist. Details are fake. We ask you to remove the mention of Alfa-Bank from the material and use only verified information, not to mislead readers," Alfa-Bank's press center replied to Kavun.City journalists. In addition, the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) account format is not used in Russia and for the Russian ruble.

Fact-checkers assumed that the goal of the occupiers was either to discredit the utility company or to assure the people of Kherson that "Russia is here forever." We will remind you that earlier propagandists tried to discredit Khersonoblenergo. 

Russian media and anonymous telegram channels write about this. He said that the goal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was to put psychological pressure on Ukrainian soldiers who "have already laid down their arms" or may become prisoners in the future. It is not true.

StopFake fact-checkers checked the quotes of the captive Serhii Volynsky, which are used by propagandists. In fact, he described the events in Olenivka as an explosion, not as shelling. Volynsky does note that the tragedy will affect the condition and psyche of the prisoners, but not in the context suggested by Russian propagandists. Volynskyi also says that he doesn't know the cause of the fire. There are no accusations against the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the prisoner's words.