Pro-Kremlin media manipulated a quote from United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, reporting that the organization condemned "Zelensky's actions" regarding "Ukraine's attack" on its nuclear facility, writes StopFake. At a press conference in Tokyo on August 8, the UN Secretary-General did comment on the shelling of the nuclear power plant captured by the Russians. He said that the attacks on the station are suicide and must be stopped immediately. According to fact-checkers, Guterres did not make any statements regarding Ukraine's attack on his station. "Any attack on a nuclear plant is an act of suicide. I hope these attacks stop. At the same time, I hope that the IAEA will be able to gain access to the station and apply its competence," he emphasized. It will be recalled that on March 4, the Russians attacked the Zaporizhzhya NPP and shelled it, causing a fire. The US embassy called the Russian shelling a war crime. The occupier still controls the station. On August 1, US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken stated that Russia uses the ZNPP as a "nuclear shield": they say, the Russian army has placed a military base there with the confidence that the Armed Forces of Ukraine will not fire on it. Instead, Russian propaganda systematically accuses Ukraine of striking the Zaporizhia NPP. As the Center for Combating Disinformation writes, in this way the occupiers intimidate the EU countries with a "new Chernobyl" and commit nuclear terror themselves. The Russians are deliberately firing at the ZNPP, creating a risk of violating radiation and fire safety standards and the operation of the plant. Also, the occupiers purposefully destroy the station's connections with the Ukrainian power system to leave the South of Ukraine without electricity. 

Russian media write about this with reference to the online magazine The Federalist article "As Ukrainians Defect To Russia, We Should Ask Whether Our Billions Are Saving Democracy Or Aiding Corruption".

The Federalist publication consists of a series of manipulative theses, which ultimately build a propaganda message about the civil war in Ukraine.

Since 2014, Kremlin propaganda through some American and Western journalists has been actively trying to impose the opinion of the internal confrontation between the Ukrainian citizens, the "civil war" in Donbas, and the "genocide of Russian speakers".

According to a May survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on the perception of the Russian-Ukrainian war among Ukrainian citizens, only 1% of Ukrainians have a "predominantly pro-Russian position". Another KIIS survey, also conducted in May, showed that only 2% of Ukrainian citizens have a good attitude towards Russia, while 92% have a bad attitude. More details.

 Anonymous Telegram channels write about this with reference to The Guardian article. Allegedly, the Western publication "without mincing words" describes "all the weakness of the remnants of the Ukrainian army." Like, the Western military is trying to teach Ukrainians at least something. This is manipulation.

Ed Rahm's article for The Guardian makes no mention of "anti-Russia". Messages that the West wanted to create an "anti-Russia" out of Ukraine are spread exclusively by Russian propagandists. The article is devoted to the story of how a "Mozart Group", volunteers, former foreign soldiers, conducted training for the Ukrainian military in the use of Western weapons. Ed Rahm is indeed talking about separate problems regarding financial support and insufficient training of Ukrainians. However, the article talks about this not as the "weakness of the remnants of the army", but in the context of the fact that people from various professions joined the army and stood up to defend their country. The author notes that only every tenth of the current defenders was a soldier before this war, but due to Russian aggression, they had no other choice but and took up arms. Speaking to the journalist, foreign instructors say that Ukrainian troops lack experience, but they make up for it with enthusiasm and determination. They respect the Ukrainian military, who, despite the circumstances, study, train, and do not lose their sense of humor. Russians systematically use out-of-context and distorted quotes from Western media to spread manipulative messages. 

Russian media write about this. Like, in any tragedy that takes place in Ukraine, the West always unjustifiably blames Russia. But, in this case, American weapons were allegedly used, so the Western press keeps silent. It is not true. Fact-checkers of the StopFake project checked the reaction of the Western press to the events in Olenivka. In particular, publications such as CNN, The New York Times, Guardian, AFP, Le Monde, Il Fatto Quotidiano, and others quoted the representative of the European Union for foreign affairs and security policy, Josep Borrell. He said the EU condemns the atrocities committed by the Russian military, which are "inhumane, barbaric acts and seriously violate the Geneva Convention". The European versions of Politico published the words of French President Emmanuel Macron that France would support the investigation of the events in Olenivka and would seek to hold Russia accountable for the mass murder of prisoners of war. Information about the involvement of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the investigation in Olenivka was covered by Reuters, The New York Times, and Deutsche Welle. Materials on the killing of Ukrainian prisoners of war were published by The Guardian and CNN. Therefore, the report of the Russian media about the "silence of the West", which allegedly confirms the Ukrainians’ guilt, is false. Earlier, propagandists were convinced that the US justified the Ukrainian strike on Olenivka, using a distorted quote from a Pentagon representative. In this way, Russia tries to hide its crime. 

Propaganda media wrote that Ukraine is evicting city residents, and turning off water, gas, and electricity. They said that the Ukrainian authorities are forcefully evicting citizens from the territories where the Russians will soon rule. That's what propagandists call the "forced" evacuation, which the Ukrainian authorities called "mandatory". On August 2, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine issued an order "On the mandatory evacuation of the population of Donetsk region". According to it, mandatory evacuation takes place following the Procedure for Evacuation in the event of the threat of occurrence or emergency occurrence, which was adopted by the government back in 2013. In addition to cases of man-made disasters and natural disasters, the document mentions military conflicts with the clarification that it is about mandatory evacuation from areas of possible hostilities to safe areas. The document prescribes the institution responsible for the evacuation, its order of duty about the territory, payments, and the procedure for resettling the evacuees. The Order does not mention coercion or sanctions against those who refuse to go. In a video message, Volodymyr Zelensky also emphasized that everything depends on people's decisions. Instead, the lack of basic communications in the Donetsk region is a consequence of hostilities, not a method of forced evacuation, as propagandists claim. In particular, problems with gas supply began in May due to intense fighting, MythDetector writes. In July, the mayor of Kramatorsk, Oleksiy Goncharov, explained to the townspeople that they should prepare for a severe winter due to communication problems. As of August 2, according to the local administration, 342 settlements in the Donetsk region remained without electricity. Please note that the words "forced", "forced", and "evicted" used by propagandists are intended to influence the emotional state of the reader. 

According to the wife of the President of Ireland, the Kremlin media write that "the conflict in Ukraine will continue until Moscow and Kyiv agree on a ceasefire." Through the ex-chancellor of Germany, Gerhard Schröder, the Kremlin is trying to inform Western society that Russia is ready to sit down at the negotiating table. This is manipulation.

Russian propagandists called the Ukrainian attempt to trade from the Odesa port a crime against Ukrainians, who "could get a real Holodomor-2". At the same time, they are distributing a video that allegedly shows a queue of several hundred Odessans for bread. In other videos, the queue is mistaken for the Mykolaiv queue, writes the project "On the other side of the news".

On August 1, for the first time in more than five months, a ship loaded with Ukrainian food (26,000 tons of corn) left the port of Odesa. The export of Ukrainian grain is, first of all, another step towards preventing world hunger. Unblocking the ports will provide at least a billion dollars in foreign exchange earnings for the economy and an opportunity for the agricultural sector to plan next year's sowing, fact-checkers write.

Secondly, export is an annual routine, and Ukraine is among the top ten grain exporters. In the ports of Odesa, 16 more ships blocked by Russia are waiting for their turn.

Russian media are manipulating about the transfer of T-72 "third generation" tanks to Ukraine, Insider writes. They said that they are transferring scrapped equipment from the 70s to Ukraine.

The T-72 tank was developed in the USSR in the 1970s, but it has undergone at least 14 modifications that are still relevant today. Modified T-72s are still in service in more than 40 countries of the world (among them Serbia, Poland, the Czech Republic, Finland, Uzbekistan, Syria, and others).

North Macedonia announced plans to dispose of its 31 T-72 tanks but linked it not to their unsuitability, but the transition to NATO standards. Ammunition for the main armament of the T-72 — 125 mm guns — is not produced in NATO countries. 

Russian media wrote that Egypt canceled contracts for the purchase of 240,000 tons of Ukrainian grain, which were supposed to be delivered in February-March, but was never shipped due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Allegedly, this was decided after the visit of the head of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Sergey Lavrov, to Egypt. The reason, they say, is Ukraine's unreliable information about the volume of grain storage.

According to Reuters, Egypt canceled the contract because Ukraine did not fulfill its contractual obligations in March-April 2022 due to the blockade of the ports by Russian troops. Egypt officially assured the Ukrainian ambassador that it does not refuse cooperation and is ready to continue purchasing grain, writes StopFake.

"Egypt will conclude a new contract with Ukraine for the grain supply, as the Ukrainian side was unable to fulfill its contractual obligations in March-April, 2022, due to the blockade of the ports by Russian troops," said Mykhailo Nepran, the first vice-president of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry. He added that the previous agreement did not provide for a force majeure clause, so they canceled the contract, which cannot be fulfilled, to conclude a new one and make the purchase under it. 

This is what social media users write about. Like, the presidential couple in a country where war is going on should have more important things to do than meetings with public figures, attending concerts, and photo shoots. Apparently, all this is just PR for the president and his wife. It does not.

Fact-checkers of the Logically project write that the statement about a "staged" war is the personal opinion of individual social network users, so it cannot be used to generalize public opinion.

Photographer Annie Leibovitz shot Elena Zelenska for the cover and feature story of the October issue of Vogue magazine. In the interview, the first lady talks about "women's voices of war that also need to be heard". Communication of the presidential couple with foreign celebrities and their interviews for foreign media is an important component of Ukraine's support in the global information space.

Russian media write about this regarding the report of the NATO Defense College. They said that NATO analysts "confirmed" that Russia "uses only a small part of its resources and does not use its main trump cards" in the war against Ukraine. This is manipulation.

On July 27, the NATO Defense College published an analytical report on Russian tactics of waging war against Ukraine. However, there is not a single mention in the report that Russia is not fighting at full strength in Ukraine. Instead, it says that Russia has limited use of certain military tactics against Ukraine, but this is explained by the intention to preserve part of the forces for attacking NATO countries. The main point is that Russia did not properly prepare for the invasion of Ukraine and made a significant miscalculation regarding Ukraine and its Armed Forces. Experts write that during the invasion of Ukraine, the Russian army showed a strong material weakening of the troops and significant discipline violations. Now, Russia is deploying older weapons more often to strike the territory of Ukraine, which may indicate both the gradual depletion of the stock of high-precision weapons and the planning of a future war against NATO. The report also states that as of July-August 2022, Russia has probably reached the limit of conducting major offensive operations.

Analysts conclude that despite Russia's current apparent inability to defeat Ukrainian forces, the Kremlin still has an opportunity to correct its mistakes, strengthen its army and attack NATO countries in the future. Therefore, the Alliance needs to actively strengthen its defense, because "Russian strategic ambitions are not limited only to Ukraine."

Russian media with reference to the Ukrainian edition "European Truth" write that the new head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium, Aji Lyabib, was banned from entering Ukraine due to a trip to Crimea. At the end of July 2021, Aja Lyabib, being a TV journalist at the time, went to the "Global Values" festival, which was held in Sevastopol under the supervision of Putin's daughter Kateryna Tikhonova.

The article in "European Pravda" entitled "The Dodon Effect. How the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium refuses to apologize for a visit to the occupied Crimea" is not about the fact that Ukraine does not allow Aja Lyabib to visit Ukraine. However, Ukraine expects an apology from Lyabib for his illegal visit to the occupied Crimea.

The author, Serhiy Sydorenko, notes that Lyabib flew to Crimea via Russia, thereby violating Ukrainian legislation. This visit was financed by the host country - Russia. After returning to Belgium, Aja Lyabib also resorted to statements that cast doubt on Crimea is Ukraine. At that time, almost no one paid attention to this event. However, after the former TV journalist became the new head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Belgium, the fact of an illegal visit to Crimea cannot remain unnoticed. More details.

Russian propaganda will spread the news that The New York Times (NYT) has stated the failure of anti-Russian sanctions. He said, "the West's attempts to stifle the export of Russian oil are returning to him with a boomerang." But it is manipulation, writes VoxCheck. In July, the NYT published an article analyzing the effect of anti-Russian sanctions. In reality, they have not worked as well or as quickly as Western governments had hoped. But this does not mean that the sanctions do not work at all or will not affect the Russian economy in the future. The authors of the NYT article admit that it has not yet been possible to stop the war, as hoped in the West. But not all sanctions have already started to take effect, and the action of some will be effective in the future. Therefore, the thesis of Russian propaganda about the "recognition of defeat" of the sanctions policy is another manipulation.

Russian propaganda media spread the news that Ukrainians are calling on the country's leadership to negotiate with Russia "for the sake of saving the lives of peaceful people." As proof of this news, they cite a single petition that was created on the website of the President of Ukraine on July 26.

The petition exists, in almost two days it has received less than 500 votes, but even if it receives the necessary 25,000 votes, it does not reflect the real picture of public sentiment in Ukraine.

As reported by StopFake, a recent study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) shows that the absolute majority of Ukrainians are not ready for territorial concessions or compromises with Russia, even if this prolongs the war and threatens the country's independence. In July, the number of people not ready to compromise with Russia even increased: in May, 82% were not ready to make concessions, and in July - 84%. So, despite the existence of the petition, Ukrainian society does not currently perceive compromise as a possible option for ending the war.

In addition to spreading this manipulation, the Russian publication "Izvestia" simply lied: it claims that the petition gathered 30 thousand votes.

Propaganda telegram channels spread the message that rocket strikes by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on the Antoniv bridge in Kherson are irrelevant - it is "a matter of three beams and two liters of concrete." These messages were recorded by the Center for Strategic Communications in its study of propaganda telegram channels.

In fact, although the bridge is currently standing, it is closed to all types of vehicles. Moreover, according to the standards of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, the army must stop moving on the bridge in the event of any, even minor, damage. However, according to satellite images, the bridge cannot be patched with "two liters of concrete", it has significant surface damage.

The other two bridges are a single-track railway bridge across the Dnipro and a bridge over the Kakhovska HPP dam in Nova Kakhovka. The latter was also shelled earlier, the Russians tried to repair it. Also, the Armed Forces of Ukraine previously attacked the Daryiv Bridge across the Ingulets River, which connects two parts of the right-bank Kherson Oblast occupied by the Russians.

It is obvious that all these bridges are now under the fire control of the Armed Forces and the supply of equipment to the occupiers in the region has been substantially closed. That is why the Russian army is trying to build a pontoon bridge instead of the closed Antoniv bridge. At the same time, propaganda tries to convince the audience that the destruction of bridges will not affect the situation in the region.

Such a thesis is spread on Russian social networks and the Kremlin's propaganda media pages. The reports claim that panic has allegedly started in Europe after Gazprom announced a cut in gas supplies.

Propagandists draw such conclusions after reading columnist Jacob Paul's column for the Express publication. But it is manipulation. In fact, there is nothing in the article on the Express website that there is panic in Europe due to the reduction of Russian gas supplies. As StopFake writes, the author of the material describes Russia's current situation with "gas blackmail" and writes about the European Union's plan to reduce dependence on Russian energy carriers gradually. The article analyzes the case of Germany, which received 55% of its gas from Russia. Still, at the same time, the article discusses ways to get the country out of energy dependence.

Russian propaganda media and social networks spread this thesis. The reports say that in Norway, they allegedly declared that Ukrainian refugees "have to survive at the expense of sex work."

Kremlin media refer to the Norwegian television company NRK. However, such statements are gross manipulation. As StopFake writes, the Russian mass media made a manipulative generalization based on the third-party opinions of several women standing in line for food at a volunteer center in Norway.

The Norwegian media did not write about it as a dominant trend among Ukrainian refugees or as confirmed cases of sex work "for survival." At the same time, international organizations point out that Russia's war in Ukraine has increased the risk of human trafficking when vulnerable groups of people become victims, particularly refugees.

Information is spreading on social networks that the UN has allegedly published an article justifying world hunger and urging us not to fight it. It is manipulation.

As VoxCheck writes, the article with the title "The benefits of world hunger" exist, but it was satirical and was published back in 2008. It was written by George Kent, a professor of political science at the University of Hawaii. The article reflects on the factors that cause and maintain hunger worldwide. For example, he writes that the conventional wisdom is that low-paying jobs cause hunger.

At the same time, it is the hunger that leads to the appearance of low-paid jobs. According to VoxCheck, the official Twitter account of the UN Chronicle magazine, in which the text was published more than 10 years ago, clarified that the article "Advantages of World Hunger" was intended to be satirical. "This article appeared in the UN Chronicle 14 years ago as satire and should never have been taken literally. We realized this was a mistake, even in the form of satire, and removed the article from our site," the message reads. However, now the article's topic has been raised again in the media space against the background of Russia's war in Ukraine and the food crisis that may arise due to hostilities. In this way, Russian propaganda wants to create the appearance that international organizations and the countries of the West do not care about the consequences of the war, and it is allegedly beneficial for them to continue the war as long as possible. In fact, Russia started the war in Ukraine, and the Russian Federation is also responsible for all the consequences caused by the war.

The Russian media spread this thesis after the occupiers restored power lines between the Kherson region and Crimea, blown up in 2015 during the energy blockade of the occupied peninsula. Petro Kotin, president of the national energy generating company Energoatom, said that Ukrainian electricity, particularly from the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP, does not reach occupied Crimea. "If there is a threat of stealing electricity from the Ukrainian power system or supplying it from the Zaporizhzhia NPP (to Crimea), appropriate measures will be taken in advance and will need to be carried out by our Armed Forces so that this never happens," he explained to Radio Svoboda. Kotin specified, "Crimea is connected to the Russian energy system; its frequency does not coincide with the Ukrainian one, so the automatic connection is impossible without additional expensive equipment."

In addition, Russian propaganda calls the restoration of power lines "an important step towards the economic integration" of the occupied territories of southern Ukraine in the Russian Federation. The representation of the President of Ukraine in Crimea reported that despite the statement of the occupiers about the readiness of Crimea to "become a transit region" for the supply of electricity to the captured territories of southern Ukraine, the situation would likely be the opposite. "The energy system of the temporarily occupied Crimean peninsula was never self-sufficient and always required the supply of electricity from other regions. It is extremely likely that in the conditions of the occupation of certain territories of southern Ukraine, particularly the city of Energodar and the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the restoration of high-voltage power lines between the Kherson region and the occupied Crimea can be used precisely to meet the needs of Crimea at the expense of the occupied Zaporizhzhia NPP," the Representation noted and added that the theft of electricity by the occupiers could create a shortage of electricity for the needs of the population of the region.

Information that the government has changed the terms of payment of 30,000 hryvnias to the military was spread on social media. In messages are written that the money will not be paid to everyone; but only to defenders who are "in the zone of hostilities or temporary occupation and encirclement."

The government changed the conditions for the payment of 30,000 hryvnias, but this resolution does not apply to service members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ministry of Internal Affairs also noted that the changes provide only a different approach to paying additional remuneration and not its cancellation.

Information is spreading in social networks that several regions in Ukraine will be cut off from gas supply. In particular, such reports are spread about the Volyn region - gas will not flow there, so Ukrainians may "have to leave their homes."

The fact-checkers of the Brekhunets project denied this information, noting that there is no mention of this on the website of Naftogaz of Ukraine, a gas supplier for Ukrainian consumers. At the same time, Naftogaz refuted information from the Association of Energy Suppliers that the company "left about a third of Ukrainians without service": "Exactly 18 companies operating under the brand "Tviy GAZZBUT," "Odesagaz-postachannya" LLC, "KyivGazEnergy" SOE, "LUBNIGAZ-TRADING" LLC, "GAZ RESOURCE COMPANY" LLC and "Ternopilmiskgaz" LLC left their customers without natural gas. These company did not inform people about the termination of supply and received money from them for gas that was not provided," the report says.

The Russian media spread information that the Prime Minister of Moldova, Natalia Gavrilita, said that the country's government was afraid of "the transition of the conflict from Ukraine." This manipulative thesis is part of the message that Ukraine threatens neighboring states.

In fact, the Russian media distorted and twisted the words of the Prime Minister of Moldova. According to StopFake, Natalia Gavrilita said in an interview with CNN that the government of Moldova is concerned about a possible invasion of Russia on the territory of its state. Ukraine is mentioned only in the context; if Russia's hostilities against Ukraine move towards Odesa, then "this will also become a cause for concern." In addition, according to the version of Russian propaganda, Havrylitsia calls Transnistria a "territory," but in reality, it says "separatist region."

On social networks were spread the video of a concert in Mariupol, at which the residents allegedly celebrated en masse and sang along to "a white swan on the pond..." of the soloist of the Russian group "Lisopoval." Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels distributed photos and videos of the "very massive" participation of citizens in the concert from the "press service" of the so-called DNR. Then these videos were shared on Facebook. It is manipulation.

Indeed, July 17 is celebrated in Ukraine as the Day of Metallurgical and Mining Workers. A similar holiday is also celebrated in Russia, Belarus, and Kazakhstan. As NotaYenota writes, the occupiers decided to hold several events for Metallurgist's Day, including a concert with the participation of a special guest, Serhiy Kuprik. In the comments to the video of the show, Ukrainian users write, "who are our guys fighting for," "look, we felt sorry for them," etc. It is precisely the effect the occupiers sought — to convince the Ukrainians of the "treason" of the Mariupol's residents.

More than 400,000 people used to live in Mariupol. Probably, among them, some have pro-Russian views. However, at least 22,000 Mariupol residents died due to the hostilities. The occupiers forcibly removed thousands of people through the so-called "filtration camps" to Russia. Many citizens left for safer places earlier. According to the adviser to the mayor of Mariupol, Petro Andryushchenko, 50-100 people still leave the city every day. Therefore, the information of the occupiers that the city's population is now 220,000 is invalid. There are no more than a thousand people in the "holiday" video, but there is no evidence that these are Mariupol residents, not specially brought actors. From another perspective, the picture of the crowd of the event is significantly different. The event is sparsely populated compared to videos from previous years. Probably some of the people were collected by distributing food packages because there are problems with food in the city. The propagandists also attracted Russian bloggers, who, in their comments, talk about the support of the residents of Mariupol by the residents of Russian cities and talk about the "peaceful" life in Mariupol.

It was stated by the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Sergey Lavrov. The Russians and Ukrainians allegedly will continue to live together.

According to the Constitution, Ukraine is a sovereign, independent, democratic, and legal state. The only source of power in Ukraine is the people. Using their rights, Ukrainians elected Volodymyr Zelensky as president. Therefore, the popular results will refute the thesis about the "anti-people's regime" in Ukraine. As a foreign state, Russia should not interfere in Ukraine's internal processes at all. Lavrov's words "the historical unity of the Ukrainians and Russians" are one of the cliches of Russian propaganda, built on the history and communist ideology rewritten by the Soviet authorities.

According to the sociological survey, only 2% of Ukrainians have a good attitude towards Russia, while 92% have a bad attitude. Therefore, Lavrov's statement about the further "common life" of Ukrainians and Russians does not correspond to reality.

Russian media write about this concerning the article by The New York Times with a comment from an unnamed source. They said that Russia did not promise not to shell those parts of Ukrainian ports that are not directly involved in exporting grain. It is not true.

Such a message contradicts the statement of Secretary General Antonio Guterres, who unconditionally condemned the shelling of Odesa port. The international community also unanimously pointed to Russia's violation of its obligations regarding the safe operation of the port infrastructure to export grain. According to Radio Svoboda, the UN assured that the unofficial comment of an "unnamed source" to The New York Times does not reflect the position of the UN. Antonio Guterres' words are official. The spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Oleg Nikolenko, noted that the use of "unnamed sources" is a provocation.