On March 16, hackers broke the news feed on Ukraine 24 TV channel and published a fake report allegedly from President Volodymyr Zelensky about the "surrender". Instead, the president recorded a video address, calling the fake a "childish provocation" and urging Russians to lay down their arms.
Russian propaganda media disseminate such information. The reports claim that the Territorial Defence Forces units in the town of Volnovakha planned an attack on the territories not under Ukraine's control. It is also stated that "all children and patients were allegedly evicted" from schools and hospitals to accommodate the units' personnel.
However, this is a fake, which was refuted by the fact-checkers from StopFake and found out that the published documents do not confirm this and refute the thesis about the "Ukrainian attack on Donbas". Read more
Russian media are spreading a fake statement by Communist Party Chairman Gennady Zyuganov that the Ukrainian military is allegedly "selling the organs of Ukrainian soldiers killed or seriously wounded" during Russia's war in Ukraine (which he still calls a "special operation"). This fake was spread back in 2015, but it was about Ukrainian soldiers and civilians who died in the anti-terrorist operation zone. At the time, Russian propagandists even edited a video in which a former SBU officer allegedly told about "the organization of a special medical brigade that received orders from Western countries to sell the organs of servicemen and civilians killed in the anti-terrorist operation zone." The Security Service of Ukraine denied such "information", noting that some footage from the video had already been found online.
In addition, Ukrainian defenders killed in the war with Russia are buried in churches where possible. Instead, Russia does not even take the bodies of its soldiers, so Ukraine has to turn to the Red Cross to help remove the Russian military's corpses.
Messages of this content are sent in Viber chats and other messengers in Transcarpathia. The text allegedly advises an experienced military man, but his name is not mentioned. An unnamed military man "advises" not to hide in the basement during the "air alarm" signal and calls them "mass graves" because, in his opinion, being in them is deadly. The message ends with a request to disseminate information to relatives to "help them survive."
Such advice from anonymous experts should not be trusted, as they can harm a person's life. In the case of air alarm, the algorithm of actions recommended by official institutions, regional military administrations should be followed.
Such information is disseminated on social networks, telegram channels and Viber chats. The authors of such reports note that a car is driving in the region, the passengers of which are asking for the addresses of military units to deliver food there allegedly. However, the text asks for "inquisitive" to report to the police or territorial defence immediately.
According to the fact-checkers of the "Liar" project about the SBU data in the Rivne region, all this is not true.
Volyn telegrams and Viber chats spread reports about Israeli intelligence, which reported that Russia increased its military contingent in Brest. Such reports argue that this could mean that the occupiers are preparing to take control of the Brest-Lutsk-Ternopil-Chernivtsi road to cut off arms supplies from Poland and Romania.
The fact-checkers of the Liar project refuted this information. "Adviser to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine Oleksiy Arestovych reassures residents of the western regions. He says the Russian army will not have the resources to attack another area. He stated this in one of the broadcasts on the "Direct" TV channel, "the statement reads.
The fake is spreading on social networks that the humanitarian headquarters of the Lviv Regional Military Administration are filled with goods, and volunteers allegedly do not give them out. LODA head Maksym Kozytskyi denied this information, noting that 80% of the aid received by the humanitarian headquarters of the Lviv region is immediately given to defenders at the front and civilians who remain in hotspots. The rest is distributed among IDPs.
Social networks spread information that to block the runway at the Gostomel airport near Kyiv, the Armed Forces of Ukraine blew up a "double" of the world's largest An-225 "Mriya" aircraft, which is allegedly not ready to fly, and with an actual "Mriya" aircraft allegedly everything is ok.
However, all this is not true. Fact-checkers from VoxCheck have already refuted fake. The Russian occupiers blew up the "An-225 Mriya" plane, and the published photo in fake messages was taken at least four years earlier," the statement said.Read more
Several Kremlin media disseminate such information regarding the so-called "LPR forces". According to StopFake, the killings of civilians are attributed to the Ukrainian army, which allegedly "drove people out of basements and used them as human shields".
“There are no photos and video evidence of such "burials". However, this is not confirmed by locals. On the contrary, the Russian occupation forces continue to fire on civilian targets and kill the civilian population of Ukraine," the fact-checkers wrote.
The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine refuted the fake spread by pro-Kremlin telegram channels, alleging that the Ukrainian military fired on civilians in occupied Donetsk from the Tochka-U missile system. In the videos distributed by the occupiers with the alleged "moment of ammunition and consequences," you can see only a tiny explosion, not typical of the complex "Point-U". The "consequences of the explosion" also do not correspond to the "Point U" projectile; in particular, there is no clear place where the projectile hit, although a typical funnel should have remained. This fake was supposed to "demonize the Armed Forces in the eyes of Western partners and the population of Russia itself..
Messengers are spreading the word that the enemy has developed a new way to warn of attacks on peaceful cities and residents. The report says that enemy reconnaissance groups in the city turn on lasers. According to the report, the green colour allegedly means a place for attacks and provocations; orange or yellow indicates the proximity of the enemy. However, all this is fake.
According to expert Dmitry Zolotukhin, this is technically impossible because a traffic light with a powerful emitter is not visible for 600 meters.
Unbelievable, but the new fake of the Russian Ministry of Defense looks like this: "Ukrainians under pressure from the Ukrainian authorities are forced to flee to Romania, Poland, Slovakia and Hungary." Also, the Russian Defense Ministry said that at checkpoints, "not equipped rest areas, not organized food and medical care, refugees are forced to stay in the cold and cold, many of them with young children," and those travelling by car are stuck in traffic jams for tens of kilometres. Cars and pedestrians need to stand in line "2-3 days".
First, today the State Border Guard Service announced no queues, neither car nor pedestrian, at almost all border crossings. Secondly, volunteers helped refugees at the borders on both sides.
Third, people are fleeing abroad from shelling in residential areas, from air bombs and Grads, which kill Ukrainians by the Russian occupiers. And this is obvious - because neither queues at the borders, nor long waits in traffic jams, nor evacuation trains, in which people stand for twenty hours, did not exist in Ukraine until February 24.
This information is spread on social networks, but it's fake, as VoxCheck checkers found out.
"The Russian navy inflicted the missile strike on the ship. According to the Ministry of Infrastructure of Ukraine, on March 2 at 17:25, Russian naval forces launched a missile strike on the ship Banglar Samriddhu (flag of Bangladesh), which was in the port of Olbia in the Mykolayiv region. A Bangladeshi citizen was killed when a rocket hit. The vessel entered the port on February 23 and was waiting for loading at the №363 berth without the possibility of exiting due to illegal navigation warnings about restrictions on navigation from the Russian navy," the statement reads.
Vitaliy Kim, the head of Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration, reported that an old fake recording with allegedly his voice about tank attack on Mykolaiv at 2 PM has been shared on social media. Kim added that there were no tank groups near the city.
Such information is spread by social media users. It is reported that the Armed Forces of Ukraine kidnapped a United Nations representative in Kharkiv, and also arrived at the UN base in Kramatorsk and confiscated employees’ vehicles.
It is not true. Fake has already been refuted by fact checkers from VoxCheck. Ukrainian armed forces fighters did not abduct the UN representative in Kharkiv. Read more
This information is disseminated on the Internet regarding the video where Ukrainian disposal experts defuse a high-explosive air-dropped bomb OFZAB-500. The messages say that these types of bombs have thin lining, and when falling the weapon would have exploded. According to StopFake, propagandists claim that there are no traces of a falling bomb on earth.
“Some users on Twitter are also skeptical about the video and think that it was staged since the experts defuse the bomb without any type of protection. However, this video was released on the official page of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. The video features OFZAB-500 high explosive fragmentation incendiary bomb that is prohibited by the Convention on Certain Conventional Weapons for use in areas of civilian concentration. Defusion was executed in Chernihiv, on March 9, after another bombardment of the city by russian aviation.” - fact-checkers write.
This information is spread by russian propagandists and Ukrainian pro-russian politicians. In particular, by Illia Kyva. These messages say that on the video Zelensky is escorted by Inna Derusova who died while performing a combat mission on February 26, in Okhtyrka, Sumska oblast.
In fact, the video didn’t show Inna Derusova but Tetiana Ostashchenko who was appointed as Commander of the Medical Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the summer of 2021. Read more
Pro-Kremlin telegram channels spread a fake that people in Kherson were "rejoicing over the arrival of Russia". During the March 13 celebration of the city's liberation from Nazi aggressors, locals allegedly "welcomed the arrival of Russian troops" in the city. In fact, on March 13 in Kherson, several thousand people took part in peaceful action with posters and Ukrainian flags. They also chanted "Go home", "Go home while alive", "Ukraine above all", "Glory of the nation — death to enemies", "Russian soldier, go f*ck yourself", "Kherson is Ukraine", "Russia is a shitbin, Ukraine gonna win." Later, at a rally, the occupiers opened fire. In addition, the SBU previously reported that occupiers were brought Russians from occupied Crimea to the city to create a "picture for the Russian media."
The website of the Zhytomyr Regional Council was hacked on March 13 — it published a fake announcement about the emergency evacuation of citizens. The fake message also called for "not to resist the occupiers." For some time, the site stopped working, and the Zhytomyr Regional Council reported a cyber attack.
The Security Service of Ukraine has denied the fake information that all phone calls and messages, and calls on Whatsapp, Twitter, and Facebook will be recorded in Ukraine.
Russia's Defense Ministry claims that "at least 180 foreign mercenaries were killed and a large consignment of foreign weapons" destroyed due to Russian missiles hitting military installations in the Lviv region on the morning of March 13. The report refers to the shelling of the International Peacekeeping and Security Center in the village of Starychi, Yavoriv district, Lviv region.
In a comment to CNN, Markiyan Lubkivskyi, a spokesman for Ukraine's Defense Ministry, denied the presence of foreigners in the centre at all and called the fake "untrue and purely Russian propaganda." According to the Lviv Regional Military Administration, and 134 were injured in the shelling of the Yavoriv test site, where the centre is located.
The information is being spread on the wen that evacuated children who lost their parents in areas with no combat operations can be quickly adopted. In particular, the reports say that children can be adopted in a few hours in Ivano-Frankivsk region. However, the head of the regional military administration Svitlana Onyschuk denies such information.
“There is information that a child can be adopted in two or three hours, even without documents. This is not true. The adoption procedure remains unchanged. All the children we are currently under supervision. Our educators also take care of them. They are examined by doctors. We take care of children as if they were our own,” Onyschuk said.
Russian propaganda is spreading information that Ukrainian missile allegedly shot down a Romanian helicopter. In such messages, propagandists refer to the "official" statements of the Romanian side. However, according to StopFake, the Romanian Ministry of National Defense immediately eliminated such scenario.
"The plane crash in Romania happened on March 2, and since then Russian propaganda has been actively working to artificially involve Ukraine in it. Articles that a Romanian helicopter was shot down by a Ukrainian missile have been published by Tsargrad, Pravda.ru, Podmoskovye Segodnya, Newsfront and others,” the fact-checkers write. Read more
Statements that Ukraine was preparing an offensive against Belarus are widely spread on Russian websites. Such materials refer to the words of the self-proclaimed President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko.
In fact, the Ukrainian army has not planned, does not plan and will not plan any aggressive actions against Belarus, writes StopFake, citing the words of the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Oleksii Reznikov. "Any attempt to accuse Ukraine of preparing an attack on the Republic of Belarus is a provocation and an excuse for involving the Belarusian army in Russia's war against Ukraine," the statement said. Read more
Такі Such information has been disseminated on social media. However, this is not true. According to the Mukachevo City Council, everything is calm in the city. This morning an air raid siren was heard in the Zakarpattia region, but there were no explosions in Mukachevo.
"In Mukachevo, as well as in Zakarpattia, after the all clear signal, everything went back to normal," said the City Council.