It was said by the European Police Office (Europol) spokesman, Jaap Op Gen Oort. His comment was spread by German, Ukrainian, Russian, and other mass media. According to the spokesman, investigators from EU countries have found "signs of trade in heavy military weapons" on the black market and "a risk that the weapons will end up in the hands of organized criminals or terrorists." His statement caused a significant response.

A few hours after the information "dump," Europol clarified that they were discussing a potential threat and not specific cases. "Europol works closely with Ukrainian officials to reduce the threat of arms sales to the European Union. We have full confidence in them as they implement new measures to monitor and trace these firearms," ​​Europol said in a statement.

According to Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs Mary Hakobyan, information about the potential risks of arms smuggling from Ukraine against the background of the war may be a fact of dishonesty or unprofessionalism of the media or deliberate action of the Russian special services.

Publications are circulating online that the British allegedly condemned Volodymyr Zelensky's "inappropriate" performance at the Glastonbury music festival and "complained about being tired" of him. It is not true.

The publication summarized the opinion of all UK residents, using one user's comment on the Daily Mail article. It talks about Zelensky's speech at the festival and a call to spread the truth about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and help Ukrainian refugees. After Zelensky's address, the audience supported the president with applause. Russian media chose one comment for manipulation. According to VoxCheck fact-checkers, it is unknown whether its author was a participant in the festival and whether he is a citizen of Great Britain because anyone can leave a comment on the site. In addition to the above, there are other negative comments about Zelensky's speech, but they are not enough to objectively assess the level of support for Ukraine in Great Britain.

Russian propaganda systematically uses messages about the "fatigue" of foreign citizens from Ukrainians to discredit international partnerships and aid Ukraine. This technique was also used to generalize the "negative attitude" towards Ukrainians among the French, Germans, Poles, etc.

Telegram channels spread the news allegedly about the call of the youth group of the "Polish Crown Confederation" party to tear down Ukrainian flags around the city with the slogans "we do not want to make Ukropoliya out of Poland," "Ukrainians go to Ukraine," "there is no common future with Ukraine in Poland." Reports say that this protest allegedly spread to Warsaw and border cities. It is not true.

In fact, in Wroclaw, four guys organized a press conference at the "City Transport Company" headquarters due to dissatisfaction with the Ukrainian flags that the company displayed on Wroclaw's buses and trams and offered to submit a petition to replace them with Polish flags. Young people talked about Ukrpolia, but in the context of the party rhetoric of the Confederation of the Polish Crown, a Eurosceptic party that advocates for a "traditional" Poland. "We want a Polish, not a rainbow, left or serf Poland under the dictates of Brussels Eurocrats. We also do not want to turn Poland into Ukropolia, and we will not allow those in power to do so," the message reads.

According to the fact-checkers of "On the other side of the news," the company president, Krzysztof Balawejder, came to the young people and informed them that the mayor of Wrocław had agreed upon the initiative. He added that the blue-yellow flag is a meaningful gesture of solidarity, and the Polish flag is a reason for pride. The company's office also has the flags of Ukraine and the European Union. After that, the "rally" ended. There is no information about similar protests in Warsaw or other cities. Reporting protests over Ukrainian flags in Poland is a manipulation of pro-Russian Telegram channels to worsen Ukrainian-Polish relations.

Russian media write about this. They say the official allowed the Ukrainian authorities to bid for the territories. However, Crimea can be left as part of Russia in exchange for an annual payment of 500 billion rubles. It is not true.

On June 23, Anton Gerashchenko published a post on his Telegram channel in which it is said that the Crimean peninsula will be Ukrainian, but "it will be a matter of negotiations and further sanctions pressure." Gerashchenko wrote: "Let Russia pay 500 billion dollars of unearned income for Crimea every year. ... And then sooner or later the peninsula will return to us due to sanctions pressure." He meant that due to sanctions, Russia would lose 500 billion dollars (not rubles, as the Russians write) each year, forcing it to de-occupy Crimea. There is no question of the direct sale of Crimea to Russia. More details.

Russian Foreign Minister Serhiy Lavrov said that due to the supply of long-range weapons to Ukraine, Russia changed the offensive's objectives on Ukrainian territories, expanded the geography of hostilities, and decided not to limit itself to the capture of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. In particular, he mentioned HIMARS, saying that because of this weapon, Russia should "move away from the current line" of the front.

In fact, the fighting is currently taking place in those regions of Ukraine that the Russian military attacked back in February-March 2022, except for the Kyiv region. It's about Donetsk, Luhansk, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Kharkiv regions. Therefore, theses about the "expansion of geography" through HIMARS is a manipulation, which is part of the message that the supply of weapons by the West seems to indicate the desire of Western countries to "continue the war in Ukraine for their benefits." In this way, Russia tries to demonize the "collective West" and present itself in a "positive" context, saying that it is "defending itself, not attacking."    

Russian media spread information that the Germans are demanding the launch of Nord Stream 2 by the German authorities. Russian propagandists note that the demands of German citizens are caused by alleged fears after Vladimir Putin's statement that the freezing of the gas pipeline took place at the initiative of the German side. This article consists of comments on a German newspaper Die Welt report.

In fact, it is manipulation and one of the tactics of Russian propaganda - to publish comments under foreign publications articles for society's " opinion. " In 2021, Cardiff University's Institute for Crime and Security Research investigated this operation of the influence of Russian propaganda and concluded that the comments of readers who published pro-Kremlin content showed signs of "inauthenticity and coordination." So, the work of the commentators is organized and supervised. This study shows that Russia uses provocative pro-Russian or anti-Western comments in response to articles in Western media, including Die Welt, for its propaganda. "Then these comments are used by many Russian-language mass media, which take them as a basis for materials about politically controversial events. "Marginal mass media" and websites with experience spreading disinformation and propaganda also write about them. This influence operation was uncovered as part of an investigation into online activity amid tensions between Ukraine and Russia in early 2021. But researchers believe that the use of this tactic has been spreading since 2018," the Institute said.    

The Russian media spread such messages concerning CNN publications. It is not true.

The Administration of the President of the USA did not make such statements. It is the personal opinion of some officials. VoxChek fact-checkers investigated the manipulation. In fact, the author of the CNN article, Natasha Bertrand, regarding anonymous comments of White House officials, writes about the doubts of some representatives of the Biden administration about the possibility of returning territories to Ukraine. However, this opinion is only the "internal discussions" of the advisors of the US president. The article emphasizes that the US will not pressure Ukraine for territorial concessions and hopes that Ukraine will return the territories during the counteroffensive. The opinion of individual officials cannot be considered the official position of the Administration of the President of the USA. Russian propaganda systematically uses distorted quotes from Western media to discredit the world's support for Ukraine and devalue the actions of its partners regarding military aid to Ukraine.

The Russian mass media distorted the quote of Jair Bolsonaro, who said that he knows how to settle the military conflict between the Russian Federation and Ukraine. The president of Brazil announced a telephone conversation with Volodymyr Zelensky and noted that the decision could be similar to how the war between Argentina and Great Britain in 1982 ended. The politician did not specify details, stressing that he would only share his opinion with the Ukraine President.

The Kremlin media reported that the president of Brazil is talking about Kyiv's surrender as a solution because of the Falklands conflict. Then, in 1982, Argentina abandoned negotiations and invaded the Falkland Islands, which Britain had controlled since 1833. The conflict began in April and ended in June with the capitulation of Argentina, whose military leadership discredited itself. Since 1983, democracy has been restored in Argentina, and the Falkland Islands are now British and under the protection of the British military. Therefore, the identification of Argentina with Ukraine is the work of the Russian mass media, not the statement of the Brazilian president. The call between Zelensky and Bolsonaro should take place on July 18. Read more at StopFake.

Russian propaganda media spread information that the EU is preparing to strengthen the fight against "arms smuggling and drug trafficking" from Ukraine. There were similar, and sometimes even more manipulative, headlines in articles in European and American publications. It is a manipulation in which the narrative about the alleged sale of weapons provided by the West of Ukraine to other countries is once again spreading. "We have some data, but experience suggests that weapons often move during or after wars. We know how many weapons there are in Ukraine now and, of course, not all weapons are always in the right hands," Russian media quoted the European Commissioner for Internal Affairs Ylva Johansson as saying on July 11 during an informal meeting of the Ministers of Internal Affairs of Moldova, Ukraine and the EU in Prague.

However, there are no such words in the official press release posted on the website of the European Commission. At the same time, the release mentions Russia's military aggression against Ukraine and the joint work of Ukraine, Moldova, and the EU to prevent drug trafficking, cybercrime, human trafficking, and illegal circulation of firearms.

There are always risks of an increase in such crimes during the war, but it is about coordinating the work to prevent such crimes - Ukraine, like Moldova, is the partner of the EU in such a fight and not an accused party. Ukraine also denied such manipulation: "The information that Ukraine is becoming the main center of arms smuggling is not true," said the advisor to the Minister of Defense of Ukraine, Yuriy Sak. He suggested those who make such statements "may be part of Russia's information war to prevent international partners from providing Ukraine with the weapons necessary for our victory."

Read more about this manipulation in the StopFake material.

Russian and Georgian media spread the information that at the crash site of the Ukrainian helicopter, they found an HGU-56/P ABH helmet used by pilots of NATO member countries and the US Armed Forces, and the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not have them. At the same time, Russian propagandists are distributing photos of the helmet and saying that it indicates the participation in the war of current or former NATO service members.

Fact-checkers at Mythdetector have reported that this information is false. They said the helmet manufacturer Gentex Corporation first published the photos. In this post, the company wrote that the pictures were sent to them by the Air Force of Ukraine as a sign of gratitude for the fact that the helmet saved their lives. It is not the first time that Kremlin propaganda has tried to prove that NATO troops are participating in the Russian-Ukrainian war.

The Russian mass media spread the information that the Ukrainian military is allegedly shelling Enerhodar near the infrastructure facilities of the Zaporizhzhia NPP, which "endangers not only Ukraine but also the whole of Europe." These statements are attributed to the head of the military-civilian administration of the Zaporizhzhia region. In reality, it was said by a former People's Deputy of Ukraine, collaborator, and protégé of Russia, Yevhen Balytskyi.

The mayor of Enerhodar, Dmytro Orlov, reported that there were indeed explosions in the city's industrial zone. At the same time, he called the attempts of the Russians to blame the Armed Forces of Ukraine for them a provocation to sow panic among the local population and provoke people to simultaneously leave the city en masse. "The occupiers in Enerhodar continue their provocations. On their propaganda channels, they spread statements that the Armed Forces of Ukraine shelled the city's residential quarters as if in broad daylight. Shots and explosions are indeed heard again today in Enerhodar. They echo the industrial zone of the city. But the armed forces have nothing to do with them. When the Armed Forces of Ukraine go on a counteroffensive, Enerhodar will find out about it. Moreover, it will not happen in the way the Rashists are now painting," he said.

In addition, Energoatom reported earlier that Russian occupiers with assault rifles and a representative of Rosatom broke into the premises of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to film a propaganda video there. "This is how the occupiers are creating for the Russian audience a propaganda myth about one of the main achievements of Russia in this war - the successful operation of the stolen ZNPP for the needs of the aggressor country," Energoatom noted.

The Russian media spread such messages regarding the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Great Britain, Liz Truss. However, it is not true.

Russian propaganda used the comments of social network users for "news." As VoxCheck writes, the network cites a statement by Liz Truss dated June 23, 2022, that Britain and Turkey are cooperating on the issue of grain export from Ukraine. From this, social media users conclude that the partners are planning to buy Ukrainian grain much lower than the market price, thereby dooming Ukraine to famine. Commentators are also convinced that Russia "provides humanitarian aid to Ukrainians." At the same time, the West, on the contrary, "delays the end of the war by providing Ukraine with weapons and economic support."

Turkey and Great Britain really buy Ukrainian grain. However, this export will not lead to starvation. In May 2022, the Minister of Agrarian Policy said that 20 million tons of grain from last year's harvest remained in Ukraine, which is not needed for domestic consumption and is intended for export. Because of the war, the cultivated area in Ukraine has decreased by about 25%, but even under such conditions, Ukraine will fully provide for its domestic needs. Russia blocked Ukraine's seaports, through which 90% of grain was exported before the invasion. Great Britain and Turkey are interested in lifting the Russian blockade of Ukrainian ports and resuming grain exports, as this will prevent or at least alleviate a world food crisis. The food crisis is closely related to the economic crisis, which affects all countries, including Turkey and Great Britain. There is also no reason to believe that in exchange for the help of these countries in lifting the blockade, Ukraine will agree to sell them food at a reduced price.

Russian propaganda spread such disinformation. They said that Kyiv granted Poland the request to provide Ukrainian passports to citizens of Ukraine. It does not.

The statement contradicts the norms of Ukrainian legislation, which clearly defines the list of state institutions that have the right to issue documents. In fact, it is a pilot project, thanks to which foreign divisions of the State Migration Service of Ukraine (SMS) can give documents to citizens of Ukraine outside the country. The first branch of the Dokument state enterprise was indeed opened in Warsaw. From August, Ukrainians can issue an ID card and a foreign passport. SMS reports that the Polish government has nothing to do with the new foreign project. In addition, they plan to open such centers in other countries; the list is agreed upon with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

It is not the first time that Russian propaganda has spread information that Poland threatens the subjectivity of Ukraine or plans to occupy part of Ukrainian territories. This way, propagandists try to discredit the Polish government and the Polish. More details.

Similar messages are spreading on social networks that allegedly Ukrainian refugees created a massive swastika on an area in the suburbs of Brandenburg. The reports refer to German journalist Julian Röpcke and Bild newspaper. But it is manipulation. According to the German newspaper Bild, their reporter Julian Röpcke noticed a swastika with an area of ​​about 360 square meters during a flight over Brandenburg and reported it to the local police. The police suspect a resident who, according to neighbors, has repeatedly hung the Reich flag in the window of his house to create the prohibited symbol. The German law enforcement officers do not have any information that Ukrainians were involved in creating the swastika. As StopFake writes, the message about the involvement of Ukrainians in this situation is deliberately spread by Russian propaganda to discredit Ukrainian refugees in Germany. Previously, fakes were spread that Ukrainian refugees, trying to burn the Russian flag, caused a fire in the house of a German family that sheltered them.

The Russian propaganda media spread such messages concerning The New York Times materials. They said that the capacity of the USA and Europe to provide Ukraine with weapons is already running out. But it is not so.

Experts whose opinions are given in The New York Times talk about the need to consolidate the West's efforts to help Ukraine and speed up the pace of providing heavy weapons as part of military aid. In particular, it is said that the US defense industry is currently working for the needs of Ukraine, and President Joe Biden is negotiating with the countries of the Middle East to provide Ukraine with stocks of Soviet-made weapons. According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, Russian media reports about the lack of weapons among Ukraine's allies are aimed at destabilizing the situation inside our country. Russian propaganda systematically uses out-of-context or distorted quotes from Western media to convince Ukrainians that the world has left Ukraine to fend for itself and that without Western aid, Ukraine will not be able to withstand such a "strong adversary."

Mykhaylo Onufriyenko, a pro-Russian journalist and blogger from Ukraine, said this on the TV channel of Kremlin propagandist Volodymyr Solovyov "Solovyov Live." He believes that "the Anglo-Saxons, of course, are ready to fight to the last Ukrainian, but Europe does not want to fight." And allegedly, the West does not want to help Ukraine because it thinks about the heating season and whether there will be gas. However, it is not true. Even though the EU is preparing for a complete gas blockade by Russia, support for Ukraine does not stop. Western countries help Ukraine defend itself against Russia and provide humanitarian aid. In addition, the other day, Ukraine received a German grant of 1 billion euros. On July 7, the European Parliament supported the provision of European macro-financial assistance to Ukraine for 1 billion euros.

Such a statement was made by the Deputy Chairman of the Security Council and former President of Russia, President of Russia Dmytro Medvedev.

It follows from Medvedev's words that the previous history of post-Soviet Russia was not taken seriously in the West. He gave the example of the meeting of the leaders of the states in the G8 format turned into the G7 because Russia was not invited there.

"If they ignore you, things are bad as in childhood, when neighbors came to fight in your yard. If you get scared and run home, you are nobody and will not be called anywhere else. And if you hit first, the chances of defending your position become significantly higher," wrote the former president of Russia.

Materials with this content appeared in Russian propaganda media. Reports claim that UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet announced during the 50th session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. It is said that Bachelet accused the Security Service of Ukraine of violating the norms of humanitarian law in the eastern regions of Ukraine and expressed her fears about the arrests of pro-Russian collaborators. The military commissar reported on the war in Ukraine. Still, the main complaints about human rights violations and humanitarian law in the context of the military actions that Russia is conducting in Ukraine were addressed to the Russian military.

According to StopFake, among the facts of such crimes, the report mentions shelling of civilians, destruction of the civilian infrastructure of cities and villages, murders not related to hostilities, arbitrary detention of civilians, and cases of rape. However, the pro-Kremlin mass media drew attention exclusively to violations of international humanitarian law by the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the eastern regions of Ukraine to discredit Ukraine and the Ukrainian military. Fact-checkers emphasize that the report on the Ukrainian military mentions only the problem of pro-Russian collaborators, the guarantee of their rights, and the problem of Russian prisoners of war.

In social networks, a manipulative thesis is being spread to a foreign audience that the British are allegedly being deceived about the increase in fuel cost after the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine. As an "argument," they use a comparison of the price of fuel in Ukraine and Britain, and they also call to "wake up and do something."

Fuel prices in Ukraine are lower than in Britain. However, according to Reuters Fact Check, it is due to fuel taxes. At the same time, in both countries, retail fuel prices rose after the outbreak of the Great War. Head of the research department of The Global Economy Project Neven Valev, RAC spokesperson Simon Williams, and Wood Mackenzie chief analyst Isabelle Gilks ​​explained that countries with lower excise taxes on fuel have lower prices. Williams added that Ukrainian gasoline "currently has no excise tax and only 7% VAT." According to Gilks, taxes on petrol and diesel in Britain "include 20% VAT and fuel duty of almost 53p per liter". So the difference in the cost of fuel in Ukraine and the UK is affected by taxation, which does not prove that the public is being deceived about the prices in the UK. This manipulation is being spread to fuel the message of "general war fatigue" and cause the British to mistrust their government, and in the future to encourage them to oppose the government's initiatives to support Ukraine.    

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov spread a manipulative thesis about Western countries, accusing them of blocking mass media that allegedly "tell the truth about the events of Ukraine." He did not specify which media it was about. It is known that the EU and Britain block Russian state propaganda media such as RT or Sputnik. These publications are financed by Russia and systematically spread Russian disinformation; Ukrainian and foreign experts have repeatedly written about this. In particular, the Council of Europe explained that on March 2, the European Union urgently banned the broadcasting of Sputnik and Russia Today on the territory of the Union until the Russian Federation and its related mass media "cease actions of disinformation and information manipulation against the EU and its member states." In addition to the direct blocking of the activities of these media, the Facebook accounts of these publications are also blocked in Britain and EU countries (with this request, the governments of the countries addressed to Meta). On the other hand, several foreign publications have recently been blocked in Russia: Voice of America, BBC, Radio Liberty, Euronews, and The Telegraph. They were blocked precisely because of informing about Russia's actions on the territory of Ukraine and the course of the war.

Such a reaction of the illegally installed "authority" in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region was caused by the arrest of a Russian ship that left the port of Berdyansk and was transporting grain. The Russian media spread a flurry of criticism of the Turkish authorities' decisions. For example, Russia is accused of causing world hunger, and at the same time, they are not allowed to sell their own grain. However, it is manipulation.

The Turkish authorities had proper legal grounds to decide to arrest the cargo ship "Zhibek Zholy" in its territorial waters. According to the message of the Ambassador of Ukraine to Turkey, Vasyl Bodnar, at the beginning of July, the Turkish customs detained the ship based on a letter from the Office of the Prosecutor General of Ukraine with a request to inspect the ship and take samples of grain for laboratory examination, as there is a suspicion that the ship carries out illegal export of grain from the port in temporarily occupied Berdyansk. Berdyansk is a Ukrainian city, so there cannot be Russian grain there. Based on the inspection results, Ukraine expects further confiscation of grain for its benefit and punishment of those guilty of the crime. The ship's owners - the Kazakh National Company "KZHT" - reported that a Russian company is currently leasing the ship for grain transportation and cooperating with Ukraine and Turkey to comply with the norms of international law. StopFake writes about it in detail.    

Russian mass media and individual users of social networks are spreading information that allegedly, due to the upcoming mobilization of women in Ukraine, they are launching the production of women's military uniforms. It is manipulation.

Tailoring women's military uniforms is a volunteer initiative of Kyiv City Council member Iryna Nikorak. She was motivated by the fact that currently, service members are forced to wear men's uniforms and shoes since there is no women's field uniform in the Ukrainian army. Almost 90% of women sew the received form on their own if at all there is such an opportunity. The volunteer believes that in the conditions of war, it is necessary to provide men and women with comfortable and functional uniforms that consider the peculiarities of physiology. The issue of providing military servicewomen with appropriate uniforms has been repeatedly raised for eight years. Due to the full-scale war, the problem became more acute. According to Deputy Defense Minister Hanna Malyar, 37,000 women serve in the Ukrainian army and must perform daily tasks at the front. Therefore, tailoring women's military uniforms is in no way connected with the "mass conscription of women into the ranks of the Armed Forces." In this way, Russian propaganda presented the volunteer initiative to help servicemen as an action of the authorities in the context of the fake "future mobilization of women." By the way, we have also repeatedly talked about the spread of other fakes regarding the mobilization of women.    

This news is spread by the Russian propaganda media, referring to the minister's interview with SkyNews. It is actually not true.

As the StopFake fact-checkers write, Russian propagandists spread a quote taken out of context and distorted by Oleksiy Reznikov. "Please do not feel any fatigue! Please continue your support! Do not be afraid to reach a new level of escalation with the Russians because, quite frankly, the third world war began on February 24 of this year. It is sincere, and it is real life... We are the first battlefield in this war. If we all fall, the next battlefield will be European countries. Therefore, we will win together," said Reznikov, addressing the NATO countries. Reznikov did not declare war but only stated that it began. From what has been said, it is clear that Russia is responsible for this. However, the Russian propagandists did not like it, so they left the words out of context.

Such a thesis is spread in the Russian-speaking and Georgian-speaking segments of Facebook. In particular, a post with such a message appeared on the "Global Politics" page.

The post refers to the words of NATO Deputy Secretary General Dan Mircea Geoana regarding Ukraine. According to the post, Geoana said in an interview with "European Truth" on June 27 that NATO's task is not to help Ukraine, so the Alliance is not obliged to do so.

According to the post, Geoana also refuted Kyiv's accusations of insufficient aid, noting that the Alliance is doing everything possible to prevent war with Russia. However, it is manipulation. According to fact-checkers from Myth Detector, the information spread by Global Politics is partly false. In fact, Mircea Geoana did state that the Alliance's priority is to avoid escalation with Russia, adding that various forms of assistance to Ukraine remain NATO's responsibility and that this process will continue. Commenting on the criticism of the Ukrainian leadership, Geoana said that he would probably have done the same in their place.

This manipulative thesis, spread by the Russian media, is part of the fakes about the supposed "ineffectiveness of Western sanctions against the Russian Federation" and that "anti-Russian sanctions hit Europe more painfully than the Russian Federation." This time, Russian propagandists used the New York Times article as "proof" that "Russia was almost unaffected by the sanctions." However, this thesis is not there.