Russian media are spreading information that during his visit, US President Joe Biden ordered Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to step up the actions of the Ukrainian army and launch a counteroffensive. At the same time, propagandists refer to the material of the publication Politico. Allegedly, its authors indicate that Ukraine should launch a counteroffensive now, since the pace of assistance from the West will slow down significantly. This is manipulation.

Analysts at the StopFake project found that the Politico article made no mention of the slowdown in aid to Ukraine and Biden's orders. The material is devoted to the results of the Munich Security Conference and the then upcoming European tour of the US President. The authors of the article argue: “U.S. officials believe that the defense of Ukraine is about to reach a critical phase, when Russia will launch its long-awaited offensive. The Biden administration is strongly urging the administration of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to build on the gains made and perhaps launch a counter strike”.

The Russian media do not correctly quote the publication and give an inaccurate translation of the phrasing from it. For example, if we are talking about the pace of arms deliveries, the word “freely” is used in the original material. And propagandists translate it as “slowly”.

Thus, Russian propaganda wants to re-emphasize Ukraine's “inability” to make independent decisions. The propagandists also want to convince their audience that the West is tired of helping Ukraine, but recent decisions to provide new military and financial aid packages prove otherwise. The Russian media is still spreading disinformation about the US President's visit to Kyiv. Detector Media has already published a selection of the main messages spread by propagandists on this issue.

This thesis was spread by the Russian media. Like, British ex-premier Boris Johnson called the Normandy format “diplomatic imitation”. Propagandists believe that this is evidence of the lack of desire in Europe to fight further to the last Ukrainian. This is manipulation.

On January 26, Boris Johnson gave an interview to Rada TV channel. Analysts of the VoxCheck project found out that propagandists are referring to him, taking the phrase out of context. A TV journalist asked the ex-premier how to convince Western leaders to provide more assistance to Ukraine. To this, Johnson responded that the Normandy Process and the Minsk agreements were a “fundamental lesson” that Europe has already learned well.

“We then applied some sanctions, launched this diplomatic imitation called the Normandy process, and achieved nothing. And Putin concluded that the West would not stop him. That was the mistake. I think now everyone sees this and understands that Ukraine needs to be given what Ukraine needs”, the ex-premier said.

Although the ex-premier called the Normandy format a “diplomatic imitation”, in fact he did not oppose the peace settlement and Europe's participation in it.

By spreading this manipulation, the propagandists want to shift the responsibility for the attack to Western countries, emphasizing Ukraine's “inability” to determine its own destiny. Quite often they use interviews with foreign officials, pulling the right phrases out of context.  Detector Media has already published a selection of manipulations that propagandists disseminated based on an interview with former Israeli Prime Minister Bennett.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular, in the Ukrainian segment of Twitter. The report says that in Ukraine they are allegedly going to deprive the pensions of those who left for Russia or live in the temporarily occupied territories. The authors argue that this is one of the requirements of the International monetary fund. This is manipulation.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to this case and, after studying it, determined that such manipulation appeared against the background of the appearance of a bill on changing the procedure for paying pensions to persons who committed a crime against the foundations of Ukraine's national security, as well as after the draft order of the Ministry of Finance of Ukraine “On approval methods for verifying pension payments and monthly life allowance”. Social media users distorted the main provisions of the bill and the project of the Ministry of finance.

The bill refers to the termination of cash payments to persons convicted of crimes against the foundations of national security. This category includes those who encroached on the territorial integrity and sovereignty of Ukraine or who carried out collaborative activities and collaborated with the occupiers. That is, we are not talking about everyone who, not of their own free will, ended up in Russian occupation.

Another document from the Ministry of finance of Ukraine regulates the process of checking and updating information about the recipient of a pension from the Ministry of social policy, the Ministry of justice, the Ministry of internal affairs and other departments. For example, the Ministry of finance will check and update information about the death of a pension recipient or disability group, etc. In Ukraine, pensions continue to be paid to citizens living in the temporarily occupied territories or those who have gone abroad. As for the so-called requirement of the International monetary fund, it does not exist at all.

Both documents are in no way aimed at depriving pensions of Ukrainians living in the temporarily occupied territories of the country, or those who left for Russia. Moreover, both documents have not yet been adopted and are under discussion.

Such manipulation was widespread in social networks, in particular in telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. The reports say that the head of the British Ministry of Defense, Ben Wallace, allegedly stated the fact that “aid to Ukraine has significantly weakened the defense capability of European countries”. In addition, according to reports, the head of the department allegedly “admitted” that the supply of ammunition in Europe was “very low”. The British Secretary of Defense allegedly made such statements on February 16 during an interview with British BBC Radio 4. This is manipulation.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to this case and, after studying it, determined that the propagandists took the minister's quotes out of context, completely distorting the content of what was said.

In fact, in an interview with BBC Radio 4, Ben Wallace said that Russia's war against Ukraine showed the vulnerability of the defense of all of Europe. Now, according to the minister, European countries are paying the price for years of cutting the military budget, when they had to save on the combat capability of the army, defense infrastructure and its maintenance.

That is, this is not about the fact that support for Ukraine allegedly “exhausted” or “caused problems” in the armed forces of European countries. The British Minister of Defense believes that the problem of the vulnerability of the European defense system is related to the reduction of the military budget and other processes in the past.

By spreading such manipulation, propagandists want to convince the audience that helping Ukraine disarms other countries, so they stay light and weak. Thus, propagandists want to encourage other states not to send weapons to Ukraine.

Messages are being spread on telegram channels that allegedly the Prime Minister of Moldova, Nataliia Havrylytsia, admitted that weapons and donor organs are smuggled into Moldova from Ukraine. Like, Moldova has become a real black market for selling the organs of wounded soldiers. Reports claim that on October 20, 2022 a law was passed allowing organ transplants in private clinics in Moldova. After that, the number of wounded Ukrainian soldiers allegedly increased, who are allegedly taken to Moldova for treatment, and instead are used as donors. This is manipulation.

Propagandists have been manipulating themes of organ trafficking and arms smuggling since the start of the full-scale invasion. However, not once did they provide evidence of these crimes. The Prime Minister of Moldova did not say that donor organs of the Ukrainian military get from Ukraine to Moldova. Nataliia Havrylytsia noted that the country needs additional support from the EU to combat the increase in cases of human and arms trafficking from Ukraine. In particular, in July 2022, the EU created the Support Center for Internal Security and Border Control in Moldova. It deals with combating the trade in firearms and people. Forced transplantation, which propagandists talk about, is only one of the components of the concept of “human trafficking”, as well as recruitment, transportation, sale, involvement in criminal activities, forced labor, etc. So the problem is much broader.

According to VoxCheck, the Ukrainian military is sent for rehabilitation to the Netherlands, France, Ireland, Norway, Denmark, Spain, Poland, Germany, Italy, Romania, the USA and Israel. There is no official information about treatment in Moldova. Reports of “black transplantology” in the Ukrainian army have also been repeatedly refuted.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit international support for Ukraine and worsen partnerships between Ukraine and other states. Earlier, propagandists spread messages that in Poland a refugee from Ukraine was sold for organs, and in Donbas, wounded Ukrainian soldiers and locals with pro-Russian views became victims of black transplants.

Such messages are distributed in pro-Russian telegram channels. Like, on the air of Polish television, Mariusz Blashchak was asked how many Polish “mercenaries” are fighting in Ukraine, despite the criminal liability for hiring. It seems that he answered this question that this is not a big figure and this is not a problem. This is manipulation.

In fact, Mariusz Blaszczak was asked about the Polish military who are fighting in Ukraine. There was no mention of criminal liability either in the question or in the answer. The Polish minister said that a small number of Poles are fighting in Ukraine, and the opposition artificially exaggerates the problem.

Russian propaganda took Blashak's words out of context and deliberately uses the term “mercenaries”. Under Polish law, Poles must obtain the consent of the Polish Ministry of Defense to serve in a foreign army. That is, those who have received this permission sign a contract and fight in the ranks of the Ukrainian army. Otherwise, the Poles are fighting as volunteers, that is, they do not receive financial rewards from Ukraine, which means they are not mercenaries. Poland is considering the possibility of amending the legislation in order to regulate the issues of volunteers fighting in Ukraine.

Propagandists constantly spread disinformation about the participation of the Poles in the Russian-Ukrainian war. Previously, they claimed that in Poland it was open to recruit Ukrainian tank troops. It was also said that Polish professional soldiers were dying in Ukraine, and a special cemetery had allegedly been created for them.

Russian media write that allegedly the “Kyiv regime” intends to arrange a genocide of Russians. Like, adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak, on the air of one of the Ukrainian TV channels, called for “destroying Russians by the thousands” every day. Allegedly, for this tanks, missiles and aircraft should be immediately provided to Ukraine by the West. This is not true.

The Russian media took the words of Mykhailo Podoliak out of context. In fact, he spoke about the prospects for the end of the war and expressed the opinion that in order to end hostilities and de-occupy Ukrainian territories as soon as possible, the Armed Forces of Ukraine need the losses of the Russian army to be about 5,000 invaders. It was this phrase of Podoliak that the Russian media took out of context and used to create “news” about the “genocide of Russians”. That is, Podoliak was talking about the Russian military who came to Ukraine with the war, and not about the Russians in general.

According to StopFake, Ukraine, in accordance with international norms and the UN Charter, has every right to use any means available to it to defend against Russian aggression. Defense against the enemy on sovereign territory is not genocide.

The Russian media deliberately use the tactics of concept substitution and portray Russia as an “affected party”, rather than an aggressor country. Although it was the actions of the Russian army in the temporarily occupied territories that were called the genocide of Ukrainians.

Russian media, citing materials from The Washington Post, write that allegedly “many” US congressmen from the Republican Party spoke out “for Ukraine to give up part of its territories in favor of Russia”. Some publications specify that we are talking about almost half of the Republicans. This is manipulation.

In The Washington Post, Aaron Blake analyzes several recent surveys of US public opinion on support for Ukraine. As StopFake writes, propagandists came up with the message about the “proposals of congressmen”.

In the article, Blake notes that now support for Ukraine in the United States remains predominantly bipartisan. The results of the survey take into account the party allegiance of respondents to Democrats or Republicans. According to a study by Fox News, the majority of Democrats (61%) believe that Ukraine is winning the war. At the same time, 43% of Republican supporters believe that Russia is winning.

In another Gallup Institute poll, respondents were asked what the US should do: “support Ukraine in reclaiming the territories, even if it means continuing the war”, or “end the conflict soon, even if it allows Russia to keep the territory of Ukraine”. The majority of Republicans (53%) were in support of Ukraine, while 41% were ready to approve the seizure of Ukrainian territory by Russia to end the war. The majority of Democratic Party supporters (81%) chose the first answer and only 16% supported possible territorial concessions to end the war.

Russian propaganda systematically manipulates opinion polls to give the impression that there is little support for Ukraine abroad. Previously, propagandists manipulated the results of surveys on arms supplies to Ukraine in Germany, the USA, France, etc.

Russian and foreign media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric use the recent statement by German Chancellor Olaf Scholz against Ukraine. Like, the chancellor is against NATO supplying weapons to Ukraine, because it weakens the Alliance. As a result, according to the authors of the messages, Germany will no longer supply Ukraine with armed assistance.

Analysts of the EUvsDisInfo project found out that in fact, in his statement, Scholz did not criticize the supply of weapons to Ukraine, but that the members of the Alliance turned this process into a “public competition”. This, according to the Chancellor, is what weakens NATO, threatening its unity. Scholz said that unity helped Ukraine in the early days of the war and countries should not argue about arms supplies to Ukraine.

Propagandists are trying in every possible way to condemn Western countries for providing military assistance to Ukraine, using various methods for this. They either call it “foul play” or direct intervention in the war. Very often this is combined with manipulations on the topic of the attitude of society in NATO member countries to the provision of weapons to Ukraine.

On the air of one of the Georgian TV channels,there was a thesis similar to Russian narratives. Like, Ukraine had to refuse to join NATO in accordance with the terms of the Minsk agreements. In exchange for this, Russia supposedly must return the occupied territories to Ukraine. But since Ukraine violated these terms, Russia had no choice but to attack. Analysts of Mythdetector, the Georgian project, drew attention to the case.

In fact, there are no provisions in the Minsk agreements regarding Ukraine's accession to NATO. In addition, it was Russia and its forces that sabotaged the presence of the OSCE in the occupied territories, which was the main part of the Minsk agreements. According to Mythdetector, the Georgian media that disseminated this thesis are controlled by pro-Russian forces.

Russian propaganda uses the theme of the Minsk agreements, in particular, because of the statements of pro-Russian politicians. Thus, propagandists want to shift the responsibility for starting a war from the aggressor to the victim and accuse Ukraine of disrupting international agreements. However, it is Russia that often fails to comply with international obligations, and the outbreak of war is proof of this.

This thesis was spread in social networks and in the media of the Polish segment. Reports say that Poles' attitude towards Ukrainians has worsened. Like, the majority of Ukrainians speak Russian and boast of expensive cars, which is typical for the “Russian world”. Therefore, the Poles allegedly feel hostility towards certain categories of Ukrainian refugees and say with confidence that the attitude has indeed changed for the worse. Later, the material was picked up by users and the media of the Ukrainian segment. The authors of the original article for Rzeczpospolita refer to a likely study conducted by the University of Warsaw, which allegedly refers to the deterioration of attitudes, and cite the words of the President of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland, which allegedly confirm these studies. This is manipulation.

The case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the NotaYenota project, who found that there was absolutely nothing about the “Russian world” or expensive cars in the study. The quote taken by the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita for their article belongs to the President of the Union of Ukrainians in Poland Myroslav Skorka. That is, this quote belongs to one person, although an official representing the interests of both Poles and Ukrainians, but this was not in the study and the quote does not represent its results. In the material itself, they are talking about the deterioration of the attitude of Poles towards Ukrainians, which was noted by Rzeczpospolita at the beginning of the article: “Many Poles are changing their attitude towards them [ed. Ukrainians] for the worse, research shows”.

According to the study, in January 2023, 80% of respondents had a positive attitude towards refugees from Ukraine. 8% of respondents perceived Ukrainians negatively, and 12% - presumably neutrally. When asked if the attitude towards refugees from Ukraine has changed over the past 6 months, that is, since June 2022, a quarter of Poles surveyed (25%) answered yes. Accordingly, for 75% the attitude towards Ukrainians has not changed. These 25% of respondents answered that the attitude has changed, without specifying how. That is why of the one quarter of those surveyed who further answered that their attitude had changed, 68% said that the attitude had changed in a negative direction. However, this is not representative, because in general nothing has changed for 75% of the respondents.

So, Rzeczpospolita journalists manipulated the data and used a quote from the President of the Union of Ukrainians as justification for their thesis, although according to the study, 75% of Poles have not changed their attitude towards Ukrainians.

This thesis was spread in social networks, in particular in telegram channels and in propaganda media. Reports say that Bill Gates allegedly called Ukraine the biggest danger to the world and said that all evils will happen because of it. Like, Bill is convinced that in a few years aid to poor African countries will decrease against the backdrop of the war in Ukraine. The authors of the messages refer to the website of the German publication Handelsblatt, which allegedly mentioned this. This is manipulation.

Analysts of the StopFake project investigated this case and found that the context of the material was distorted. Gates spoke about the latest challenges facing humanity, including the COVID-19 pandemic and Russia's war against Ukraine. At the same time, the philanthropist did not say that the biggest danger to the world in the next few years would come through Ukraine. On the contrary, Gates emphasizes that war is a great tragedy not only for the country where it takes place, but for the world as a whole. That is, there was no mention of Ukraine as the center of global danger.

By spreading this manipulation, propagandists want to show Ukraine as a failed country and create the appearance that the whole world is supposedly opposed to it.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Ukraine will soon collapse due to Russian shelling of energy infrastructure. They say that it will become unbearable to live in Ukraine, and the number of victims due to lack of electricity “may be more than from nuclear weapons”. The authors add that Ukraine is paying for the shelling of the Crimean bridge, because before that Russia did not shell civilian infrastructure. In addition, the authors refer to the publication of Foreign Affairs and its probable material, which dealt with the collapse of Ukraine. This is manipulation.

Analysts of the StopFake project investigated this case and found that the context of the article was completely distorted. Foreign Affairs did publish an article “Ukraine's Coming Electricity Crisis. How to Protect the Grid from Russian Attacks”, which talks about the problems of the energy system in Ukraine. The material also predicts what could happen if effective measures are not taken to counter Russian shelling.

However, in the article, such a “forecast” is possible only under the worst-case scenarios, the journalist says that without “the support of the West”, and also “in case of further successful attacks by the Russian army on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure”, a collapse of the energy system is possible. At the same time, the author notes how such a catastrophe can be avoided.

By spreading such a message, propagandists want to nourish the narrative that Ukraine is allegedly uninhabitable due to a lack of electricity or high utility prices. Thus, the authors want to sow panic among Ukrainians in order to destabilize moods and create a feeling that “nothing will change”. Also calling the so-called collapse revenge for the Crimean bridge, the Russians once again seek to shift the responsibility for what is happening to Ukraine. Like, Russia is destroying the infrastructure solely because of the aggression of Ukraine. However, it is Russia that is the aggressor, and it is this country that started the war.

Such a message was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It says the US is unlikely to hand over the Abrams tanks to Ukraine because of their difficult process of maintaining combat capability. The authors of the report add that the Ukrainian army is not capable of repairing tanks, so they will definitely not be sent. As evidence, they refer to the material of the Financial Times, where supposedly experts talked about this. This is manipulation.

Analysts of the StopFake project investigated this case and found out that neither the author of the article nor the experts interviewed stated that the United States was not ready to transfer the tanks. On the contrary, the publication says that after long discussions and requests from Germany and Ukraine, America nevertheless decided to send 31 M1 Abrams tanks to Ukraine, which is equivalent to one Ukrainian tank battalion. The fact-checkers note that the reporters only cited experts interviewed by the Financial Times who expressed concern about whether Ukraine could actually handle the maintenance of the tank. That is, the context of the article was distorted and the authors used convenient propaganda theses to justify “the unwillingness of the United States to transfer tanks”.

By spreading such manipulation, propagandists are trying to convince that the Ukrainian military is not capable of using Western weapons, they say, they don’t even know how to repair them. Thus, they also want to promote the narrative about the combat-ready Russian technology, which has no equal in the world. Earlier, Detector Media refuted the fake story about the alleged destruction of the Abrams tank by the Russian army, which had not yet arrived in Ukraine.

Telegram channels spread information that there are allegedly not enough ambulances in the Volyn region, since they are regularly transferred for the needs of the 14th separate mechanized brigade named after Roman the Great. Also, many doctors were allegedly mobilized into this brigade, so there is an alleged shortage of professional personnel in the region. This is manipulation.

Reports of a shortage of doctors and ambulances are “fictitious”. The Volyn region indeed handed over nine ambulances to the military hospital and the 14th separate motorized brigade. Three more were donated by Lithuania as humanitarian aid. In addition to ambulances, SUVs and buses purchased with volunteers' money were handed over.

As VoxCheck fact-checkers found out, the messages are illustrated with photographs from the final meeting of the medical council of the Volyn medical center for emergency medical care and disaster medicine. During the meeting, the head of the Center, Volodymyr Shmal, said that 72 emergency teams were working in the medical center in November, provided with everything necessary. In December, another 7 brigades were formed. The center's car park was also updated - 5 new ambulances were bought. As for doctors, the official noted that certain personnel changes are now taking place. However, they are not associated with mobilization - some doctors have retired, and some have changed jobs. Shmal did not say anything about the lack of staff due to the mass mobilization of doctors. Moreover, according to the legislation, hospitals have the opportunity to “book” specialists from mobilization.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to undermine trust in the authorities and local governments and scare Ukrainians that they will be left without proper medical care. Previously, for this purpose, fakes were spread about the business trips of doctors to the combat zone.

This is reported by Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi put into effect the decision of the National security and defense council of Ukraine on sanctions against Rosatom and ZNPP. This is manipulation.

Sanctions were not imposed against ZNPP. Based on the decision of the National security and defense council, by Decree of the President of Ukraine, sanctions were imposed against the Russian corporation Rosatom and 199 companies included in its structure. Including two Russian companies: JSC “Operating organization of zaporizhzhia NPP” and the Federal state unitary enterprise “Zaporizhzhia NPP”. As StopFake notes, with the help of these companies, the occupiers are trying to legalize the operation of the Zaporizhzhia NPP for Russia, including the connection of the Ukrainian power plant to the Russian energy system.

Russian propaganda is trying in this way to promote the message that the allegedly temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories and enterprises on them now belong to Russia. Earlier, propagandists wrote that Zaporizhzhia enterprises fell under EU sanctions. Like, this indicates that the EU recognized these enterprises as Russian.

This thesis appeared in anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. In their messages, they used the Gender Zed NGO post about same-sex sex among Zaporizhzhia cossacks. Like, the Ukrainian LGBT community is trying to distort the “real” Ukrainian history and is trying to make all the cossacks “perverts”. Moreover, the Russian propaganda focused on the part of the message about transgender people in the Orthodox Church of that time. This is manipulation.

The message of the organization is not scientific and cannot be perceived as genuine information, as the authors themselves point out. In addition, the material says that in the Zaporizhzhia Sich there were cruel punishments for same-sex sexual practices. The authors of the message do not claim that all cossacks were gay, but simply explain that the fact that gays among the cossacks were quite real. According to a number of studies, the human population is 7-10% of homosexual people. Therefore, it is quite clear that they could be in the Sich as well.

Russian propaganda actively manipulates topics related to the LGBT community in Ukraine and beyond. Russia, using LGBT disinformation, despises the democratic system, opposing it to the Russian world. Detector Media refuted the main myths about the representatives of the LGBT community, and also told how Ukrainian LGBT activists help in the fight against Russian occupiers.

Pro-Kremlin media disseminate information that, according to a poll, 94% of German citizens do not support the supply of tanks to Ukraine. However, allegedly contrary to public opinion and under pressure from German Chancellor Olaf Scholz, they were forced to agree on the supply of German tanks to Ukraine. This is manipulation.

In fact, according to the results of a regular public opinion poll, 46% of Germans supported the delivery of tanks to Ukraine, 43% were against, and another 11% refrained from answering. In terms of party affiliation: 66% of the supporters of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), 61% of the Greens and 49% of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) supported the transfer of tanks to Ukraine. Among the far-right Alternative for Germany party, 84% opposed the decision. It is their opinion, as the fact-checkers of Myth Detector note, that propagandists give out in the opinion of the Germans as a whole. However, in the elections in 2021, the party won the support of 10.3% of the vote. Therefore, such generalizations are incorrect. According to a poll conducted by Civey for Der Spiegel after the decision to transfer Leopard tanks to Ukraine, 54% of the population supported this decision.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads messages that the West does not want to help Ukraine with weapons, relying on non-authoritative sources of information or disfigured quotes. Thus, Russia is trying to undermine the authority of Ukraine at the international level, to show the weakness of the Ukrainian government. Propagandists continued to disseminate distorted opinion polls in Germany. They wrote that allegedly more than 70% of Germans are against increasing military assistance to Ukraine, or 40% of Germans are convinced that NATO provoked Russia into a war with Ukraine.

This message was circulated on social networks, in particular in the French segment of Twitter. The report says that Volodymyr Zelenskyi calls on NATO to launch a preventive nuclear strike on Russia. The authors of the messages cite an episode from Zelenskyi's online speech at the Australian Lowy Institute and add a short video. The tweets were shared by the propaganda media, who called Zelenskyi's words “a call to start a world war with unpredictable horrific consequences”. However, this is manipulation.

Analysts at the StopFake project investigated this case and found that the meaning of the quote was distorted, because in fact Zelenskyi did not call for a nuclear strike on Russia. In the short video, the president says that NATO needed to launch “preemptive strikes” on Russia to keep it from using nuclear weapons.

However, on the same day, press secretary Serhii Nykyforov explained his words, saying that Volodymyr Zelenskyi had in mind the period until February 24. Because then, according to the president, it would be worth taking preventive measures to prevent escalation. And there was no talk of a nuclear strike from Ukraine at all.

By spreading this manipulation, propagandists are trying to promote the narrative that Russia is allegedly fighting not only with Ukraine, but also with large organizations, such as NATO. Like, the Russians are protecting the world from the war that Ukraine allegedly unfolds.

Such messages are distributed in anonymous telegram channels and Russian media. They say that Kyiv began to openly threaten Moscow. Like, against the background of the victories of the Russian army, the West began to look for ways to turn the tide. Allegedly, Washington plans to seize the temporarily occupied Crimea. This is manipulation.

The propagandists used the words of Mykhailo Podoliak, adviser to the Office of the President, as the basis. He said that Ukraine has begun negotiations with partners on the supply of long-range missiles and aircraft. Podoliak noted that aviation is needed to cover the military, and missiles are needed to destroy Russian weapons depots, including in Crimea. It was this thesis that the propagandists used for manipulation. Using the tactics of substitution of concepts, the Russians began to call attacks on warehouses with weapons terrorist attacks.

Russia systematically spreads messages that discredit Ukraine in the eyes of the inhabitants of the temporarily occupied Crimea. Earlier, they wrote that the Ukrainian army plans to “recapture” Crimea in Russia, and after the liberation, it will deport 800,000 Crimeans. Or propagandists claimed that Ukraine “changed its mind” about returning Crimea, and Ukrainians rejoice that war has come to the peninsula.

A video is circulating on social networks, in which, allegedly, American President Joe Biden confirms that the Third World War has already begun. Like, for the offensive in Ukraine they will use equipment and aircraft with American pilots and crews. This is manipulation.

Part of the video and a quote taken out of context are being distributed on social networks. Biden's quote was taken from his speech at the Democratic House of Representatives conference in Philadelphia back in March 2022. As the VoxCheck fact-checkers explain, Biden is clear that Russia's military aggression against Ukraine will not escalate into World War III. Further, he notes that this is possible on the condition that, along with weapons, the United States will send American specialists to Ukraine. It was this part of speech that was used for manipulation.

Russian propaganda has previously spread the message that the Third World War is going on in Ukraine. This message is used, among other things, to explain the duration and failures of the so-called “special military operation” as they say that Russia is at war not only with Ukraine, but also with the “collective West”.

Videos circulating online show large flocks of dark birds flying near buildings. They write that these videos were allegedly filmed in Kyiv. The Russian media write that this was due to the anti-religious policy of the “Kyiv regime”: state-sponsored sacrilege, the destruction of churches and the persecution of priests. This is manipulation.

Part of the video was actually filmed in Kyiv, and part in Houston (USA) back in 2017. Video from Houston in 2020 was used as “proof” of the effects of typhoon Molave in Vietnam. The migration of large numbers of birds has nothing to do with conspiracy theories or “satanic rituals”.

As the Myth Detector fact checkers explain, this bird behavior is called murmuring. Scientists consider murmurations a way to protect themselves from predators or to exchange information about favorable feeding grounds.

Such manipulations of Russian propaganda nourish messages about the “destruction” of the Moscow patriarchate church, about the need to “desatanize” Ukraine, which promotes paganism. Russian propaganda deliberately divides Ukrainians by religion in order to exacerbate internal disputes and further destabilize the situation in Ukraine.

Russian media disseminate information that allegedly in Ukraine, electricity from schools and kindergartens was redirected to ensure the operation of ski resorts. Like, the Ukrainian military massively complain to the local authorities that their relatives are sitting without light and heat, while the electricity is not turned off in ski resorts. This is manipulation.

The situation with power supply in the Transcarpathian region is really difficult. In some settlements of the Khust district of the Transcarpathian region, there really was uninterrupted power supply for two days in a row, while in other cities and villages electricity was supplied according to the schedule. This angered the locals. The situation was described in an article on the Zakarpatpost website on January 29. According to the StopFake fact checker, the local authorities promised to find out why this situation arose and to resume power supply in all settlements according to the schedule. There was no talk of the fact that the authorities deliberately “redirected” electricity from schools and kindergartens and “gave” it to recreation centers. This is an unfounded fiction of propagandists, since outrages do not occur point by point, but by certain lines.

By spreading such messages, Russian propagandists are trying to devalue the work of Ukrainian energy workers and workers who ensure the operation of critical infrastructure as well as to show the inability of the authorities to solve energy issues. Previously, Russian propaganda spread messages: that Ukraine is resuming the export of electricity, and that is why people turn off the light, that Kyiv is the only city in the “former Ukraine” where, with the help of the West, energy supply is quickly resumed. They also tried to divide the Ukrainians, spreading the message that Odesa was without electricity, because “their electricity was given to the West of Ukraine”.

Previously, Detector Media explained how the Russian army and propaganda are trying to destroy Ukraine's energy system.

Russian propaganda is spreading information that the United States seems to be supporting Ukraine in the war against Russia because of its interest in access to titanium deposits. This is manipulation.

The Russian media are spreading the news with reference to an article in the American edition of Newsweek called “The battle for Ukraine’s titanium”, which really discusses the prospect of investing by American companies in the development of deposits of this strategically important metal, including for the production of weapons. The article also says that Russia will receive a strategic advantage if it controls mining in the occupied territories, although it did not name the seizure of Ukrainian titanium deposits among the reasons for the war. The United States still depends on Russian titanium, and therefore does not impose sanctions on the oligarchs who own factories for the extraction and processing of titanium ore. And the occupation of Ukrainian titanium deposits can strengthen this dependence.

The article does not say anything about the fact that the United States supported Ukraine in the war precisely because of titanium reserves. The point is only that after the end of the war, American investors could meet the development of these deposits. But according to the authors of the article, Russia waging an aggressive war could hide behind fictitious reasons, pursue the goal and seize Ukrainian resources.

This message was circulated on social networks and in the Kremlin media. It says that Ukraine should accept an inevitable defeat from Russia, as it depends on the West. Like, Ukraine is now on the verge of losing, so it is likely, according to the authors of the message, that it “may disappear from the map of the world”. The publication refers to an article published on the Chinese portal Sina. However, this is manipulation.

Analysts of The Insider project investigated this case and found out that in fact the Sina platform is not the media or any official resource, but a huge online platform with registered users. That is, anyone can place anything on it. That is why under the material about the “inevitable defeat of Ukraine” it says: “The content of the above article demonstrates the author's own views and does not reflect the views or positions of Sina.com”. An article is an unofficial position of a country or even a platform, but only one user.

Fact-checkers add that an unknown user of the platform has published five articles since January 24, in which he glorifies the Russian army and predicts an inevitable defeat for Ukraine.

By spreading such manipulation, Russian propaganda resorts to subterfuge and tries to convince the Russians of their victories. Allegedly, the Russians are supported by a strategic partner or a “strong” state that should be trusted. Consequently, Russia wants to distort reality and wishful thinking.