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.

This manipulative thesis is spread by various pro-Kremlin speakers, followed by the Russian media. Russian propaganda also says that, in addition to Ukrainians, the "collective West" allegedly intends to sacrifice residents of the Baltic states and Poland.

As StopFake writes, the call to "fight to the last Ukrainian" is attributed to British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. In fact, Johnson did not call on the Ukrainians to die; on the contrary, he warned the Russians that they would defend their country - and if necessary - to the last drop of blood. The leaders of the G7 also did not push Ukraine to fight "to the last Ukrainian"; instead, they expressed their readiness to share the burden of this struggle and pledged to provide Ukraine with indefinite support in defense against Russian aggression.

The Russian propaganda media spread this thesis. Pro-Kremlin media reports say that the American media CNN emphasizes the superiority of the Russian army over the Ukrainian one and talks about some of the successes of the Russian offensive in Donbas.

From these points, Russian journalists conclude that Russia's success will lead to the division of Ukraine. At the same time, the propagandists ignore the statements that such tactical victories of the Russian army can only be a fleeting achievement in the absence of heavy offensive weapons in the Armed Forces. As StopFake writes, CNN states that the Russian military commander Yuriy Kotenok himself believes that the Russian troops do not have enough human resources to surround the heavily fortified cities of Slovyansk and Kramatorsk. In fact, according to fact-checkers, referring to CNN, Russian propaganda tells about the fact that the international media allegedly recognized the successes of the Russian army and prophesied "the division of the territory of Ukraine." But in the CNN article, there are no statements or evaluative judgments that territorial division awaits Ukraine in case of further military successes of Russia. More details.

The Kremlin mass media spread information that allegedly, all residents of the Ukrainian city Lysychansk dream of the arrival of Russia and are looking forward to it. As StopFake writes, in their reports, the Kremlin mass media refer to the French channel "France 2" report from the combat zone in Lysychansk.

According to propagandists from RT and other pro-Kremlin resources, "most residents of Lysychansk are hostile to the Armed Forces and are waiting for the Russian army." However, this is manipulation. In fact, the TV channel "France 2" report, which Kremlin mass media referred to, was not about all the residents of Lysychansk but only about the majority of those who remained in the city with whom the journalists managed to communicate.n There were 100,000 residents in Lysychansk, and only 15,000 people stayed in the town, most of whom, according to the report's authors, was allegedly waiting for Russia's arrival. The rest of the residents evacuated to other settlements in Ukraine where there were no hostilities. More details.

Russian propaganda media spread such information. Reports claim that refugees from Ukraine have been expelled from hotels in Riga since July 1. In such messages, propagandists refer to the statement of the mayor of Riga.

They said that from this day on, the authorities plan to terminate contracts with hotels for the free accommodation of Ukrainian refugees, so they will have to find a roof over their heads and pay for it on their own. However, it is manipulation. In fact, the Mayor of Riga, Martins Stakis, said that from July 1, there might be problems with the resettlement of refugees, but now the authorities are actively looking for ways to solve these problems. According to the mayor of Riga, the municipality provides part of the housing for refugees. Currently, about 2,080 Ukrainians are living in the city. Some of them were moved to more modest accommodation a few weeks ago. More details.

Petro Andryushchenko reported to this fake in his Telegram. According to him, "secret" information about the houses in Mariupol, which are subject to demolition, has been distributed by Russian-controlled media. The information spreads quite quickly and causes a frenzy of resonance among the evacuated residents of Mariupol.

Petro Andryushchenko believes that this information is a deliberate fake.

"Having analyzed the list of buildings, we can confidently say that at least 30% of this list have no damage at all.

The purpose of spreading such disinformation is the same. Through the psychological influence and the fear of losing the last thing, to force the residents of Mariupol from the evacuation to return home to Mariupol, where for the occupiers, there is a catastrophic lack of working population," Andryushchenko emphasized and urged residents of Mariupol not to panic.

Such messages are distributed on pro-Russian Telegram channels. In particular, propagandist Anatoliy Shariy, whose party is also banned in Ukraine, claims this. However, ше is manipulation. Ten pro-Russian political parties have been prohibited in Ukraine since the beginning of the war. As for seven, the ban process is still ongoing.

However, as StopFake writes, banned parties can be called left-wing only partially. Most of them did not identify themselves as leftists before and came up with this argument after the ban. Furthermore, the reason for the ban is their anti-Ukrainian activities. "The grounds for restricting the activities of these political forces are anti-Ukrainian political and organizational activities, war propaganda, public statements and calls to change the constitutional order by violent means, the threat of violation of the territorial integrity of the state, actions aimed at illegal seizure of power, demonstration of manifestations of cooperation with the enemy, spreading information regarding the justification or recognition of the legitimacy of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine," the Security Service of Ukraine reports. Therefore, those parties that worked against Ukraine were banned, and the ban will in no way affect the accession to the EU.

Information that the nine-year-old son of the Ukrainian president is his "military adviser" is being spread by Russian propagandists. In propaganda messages, they refer to the words of Olena Zelenska about how her son reacts to what is happening in the country. However, it is manipulation. Zelenska did not call her son Zelensky's military adviser.

As EU vs DISINFO writes, such statements "distort the comments of the first lady of Ukraine, Olena Zelenska, to show that the Ukrainian leadership is incompetent and humiliate Ukraine. In fact, Olena Zelenska told the Daily Mail about how she communicates with her children about the war and how the reactions of the eldest daughter Oleksandra and the youngest son Kyrylo differ. Russian propagandists are trying to pass off the reactions of a nine-year-old boy to the war in his country as military advice to the president. In this way, Russian propaganda seeks to ridicule the military leadership of Ukraine to show that he is allegedly so incompetent that he needs childish advice.

Russian propagandist mass media write about it. For example, the publication "RIA Novosti" claims that the sanctions allegedly forced Austria to return to the "coal age" and reduce the use of gas. In their messages, the propagandists refer to Bloomberg, but the headline says the opposite.

Fact-checkers from StopFake found out that Austria's decision was not caused by sanctions against Russia but by the desire to minimize the risks provoked by Russia. As StopFake writes, Austria is not "returning to the coal age." However, it is only diversifying its sources to protect itself if, due to the fault of Russia, gas supply interruptions may begin in the country. The reason for this decision of the Austrian government is not sanctions against Russia, as propagandists write about it, but Russia's unilateral decision to limit the supply of natural gas to European consumers to blackmail and intimidate Europeans to force the European Union to lift sanctions against the Kremlin.

This manipulative thesis was spread on the Russian military-propaganda TV channel "Zvezda," namely: the program "Glavnoe with Olga Belova" came out with this "theme." The program repeats several fakes and manipulations, in particular, regarding the split between the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces Valeriy Zaluzhny; also about Zelensky's surrender of "western Ukraine" to Poland and riots of units in the Armed Forces and requests of captured servicemen of the Armed Forces not to return them to their homeland. The plot also contains fakes about the mandatory mobilization of women in Ukraine to "replenish the ranks of the Armed Forces due to combat losses" and manipulations on the topic of Zelensky signing a decree on sending territorial defense fighters to the front. Propagandists are convinced that both ideas "are not supported by Ukrainian civilians and the military." Most of these manipulations and fakes have already been refuted by "Media Detector."

Russian propaganda promotes the manipulative thesis through social networks that some universities and colleges in Mariupol are resuming work and preparing for the admissions campaign. In particular, various reports refer to three educational institutions - Mariupol State University, Pryazovskyi State Technical University, and the College of Pryazovskyi Technical University. These messages are mainly distributed through telegram channels created in the occupied territories. Read more about the work of "occupation telegram channels" here.

This thesis, referring to an article in The Washington Post, is spread by pro-Russian Telegram channels and media. In fact, it is manipulation. On June 17, The Washington Post published an article titled "With limited options in Ukraine, the US and allies are preparing for a protracted war." The authors of the article wrote that "the US and its allies are preparing for a long war in Ukraine, although the Biden Administration is trying to prevent Putin from winning by sending military aid to Ukraine while trying to reduce the impact of this war on world hunger and the global economy." . Therefore, in terms of "preparation for a long-term conflict," according to the context of the article, it is more about preparing a plan in case of one of the possible variants of the development of events. Furthermore, this is quite logical from the view of responsible state leadership. However, it is the context that Russian propaganda leaves out of the discussion.

The same applies to the "dead-end for Ukraine" issue. The article does include the following sentence: "But analysts say that despite the surge in foreign aid and the strong morale of Ukrainian troops, Kyiv and its supporters can hope for little more than a stalemate with Russia's much larger, better-armed army." And again Russian propaganda took the sentence out of context. In this case, we are talking about the battles in Donbas essentially in "real-time." That is, the assumptions of experts relate to the state of affairs on the part of the front at a certain point in time and do not generalize the opinion about the war as such. Also, the events in Donbas are compared with the Ukrainian army's successes in the Kyiv battle. So, it is generally about certain successful actions of both warring parties.

Russian propaganda media spread such information. Reports say that British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is allegedly tired of Ukraine, as evidenced by his words in one of the interviews.

"The world is tired of Ukraine. (…) The topic of Ukraine is getting boring; British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said about it in an interview with Sky News," the propagandists write. However, this is manipulation. In fact, the Prime Minister of Great Britain expressed his full support for Ukraine in the war with Russia and warned against "a little fatigue" that began to appear in the world around the topic of Ukraine.

As StopFake writes, Johnson also emphasized how important it is now to show that "we are with Ukraine for the long term" and to ensure the "strategic stability" that Kyiv needs. He added that even a theoretical success of Russia in the war against Ukraine would be a disaster.

Citing an article in The Economist, Russian media tell their audience that even Western experts admit that Russia has increased its oil exports despite sanctions. However, this is manipulation. In fact, as the Center for Combating Disinformation writes, economists emphasize that Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia have increased their purchases of Russian oil. At the same time, according to the same experts, Russia is forced to sell the surplus at huge discounts and, therefore, to its detriment.

The use of certain theses in the Western media creates a false impression among the Russian population about Russia's successes on the economic and military fronts. They are trying to convince Ukrainians of the same, spreading such messages through social networks and messengers. It should be noted that this is not the first time Russian propaganda has tried to convince its citizens and the outside world that the imposed sanctions are not working, although it is not true.

Suppose such a thing is reported on social networks; in that case, it is a provocation or deliberate information sabotage - write the fact-checkers of the "NotaYenota" initiative, referring to the Kyiv City Blood Center.

In messages, the enemy tries to appeal to emotions: first, to point out that the army lacks something; secondly, to summarize significant losses. Mention of a specific group is pseudo-specific, fact-checkers write. Instead, people spread fake emotional messages out of a desire to help.

It is necessary to understand that there is never an urgent and acute need for blood due to the lack of a particular group and rhesus, the Center's experts explain. They added that blood is always needed to replenish the blood bank, so the call to become a donor is always relevant.

The Kremlin media is spreading disinformation that Liz Truss insists on returning Ukraine to the negotiations and connecting the Baltic countries and Poland to the negotiation process, the Center for Countering Disinformation at the NSDC warns.

In fact, on June 16, Liz Truss announced the UK government's support for Ukraine.

An excerpt of Liz Truss' direct speech from the released statement: "We must also support Ukraine in the negotiations. So far, Russia has shown that it is not serious about the negotiations. We cannot allow Ukraine to be pressured to give up territory in a way we would never agree to. Through the G7 and NATO, we are doing everything possible to strengthen the hand of Ukraine. We also need to make sure our Baltic and Polish friends are involved. Sanctions should be in force as long as Russian boots are on Ukrainian soil. Moreover, we have to keep increasing the pressure."

Resorting artistic images when government politics do not allow the use of a direct term is a classic propaganda technique. In particular, the image of a "loop" is used in the absence of an environment, which is a clear concept despite the definition.

For example, pro-Russian telegram channels from the "SBU list" increasingly call the combat situation in Severodonetsk a "loop." Propagandists refer to closed data obtained from British intelligence, according to which the Russian army is allegedly deliberately not closing the loop so that more Armed Forces soldiers fall into the trap. We cannot deny or confirm this information, but we pay attention to the manipulative nature of the concept used.

They also compare the situation to the "Anaconda Plan" concept during the American Civil War, which aimed to "suppress" trade by cutting off the connection between the east and west of the Confederacy. In fact, the famous name was invented by journalists, and historians are debating the effectiveness of the plan.

Resorting artistic images when government politics do not allow the use of a direct term is a classic propaganda technique. In particular, the image of a "loop" is used in the absence of an environment, which is a clear concept despite the definition.

For example, pro-Russian telegram channels from the "SBU list" increasingly call the combat situation in Severodonetsk a "loop." Propagandists refer to closed data obtained from British intelligence, according to which the Russian army is allegedly deliberately not closing the loop so that more Armed Forces soldiers fall into the trap. We cannot deny or confirm this information, but we pay attention to the manipulative nature of the concept used.

They also compare the situation to the "Anaconda Plan" concept during the American Civil War, which aimed to "suppress" trade by cutting off the connection between the east and west of the Confederacy. In fact, the famous name was invented by journalists, and historians are debating the effectiveness of the plan.

The Kremlin media is spreading disinformation that Liz Truss insists on returning Ukraine to the negotiations and connecting the Baltic countries and Poland to the negotiation process, the Center for Countering Disinformation at the NSDC warns.

In fact, on June 16, Liz Truss announced the UK government's support for Ukraine.

Suppose such a thing is reported on social networks; in that case, it is a provocation or deliberate information sabotage - write the fact-checkers of the "NotaYenota" initiative, referring to the Kyiv City Blood Center.

In messages, the enemy tries to appeal to emotions: first, to point out that the army lacks something; secondly, to summarize significant losses. Mention of a specific group is pseudo-specific, fact-checkers write. Instead, people spread fake emotional messages out of a desire to help.

"News" under this title was published by Russian and Belarusian publications concerning the mayor of Riga, Martins Stakis. Allegedly, he stated that the hotels in the capital may soon stop accepting Ukrainian refugees for free and that on July 1, the agreement between the Latvian government and representatives of the hotel business may terminate. On June 15, Martins Stakis gave an interview to Latvian Television (LTV) and spoke about Ukrainian refugees.

He said the state should provide more compensation for hosting refugees in hotels. Otherwise, they will no longer provide these services, and refugees will have to find new accommodation.

Russian media are actively spreading the news that the Americans have accused the United States and Ukraine of stealing $ 40 billion in military aid. In particular, RIA-Novosti wrote about it. Do reports say that under the news of allocating a new tranche of aid, Americans ask the authorities where the previously given money went? Also, Americans under this post seem to be concerned about the use of taxpayers' funds and financial responsibility for government actions. Russian propaganda turned the comments of anonymous users into loud headlines such as: "Where did the money go?", "Ukrainians spent the previous 40 billion too quickly!" etc. However, all this is manipulation. According to StopFake, the news was made based on the comments of seven anonymous users of the social network Twitter. Their authors are not opinion leaders, experts, or analysts. In addition, comments were added almost simultaneously, which is a sign of the activity of bots. Therefore, it is evident that such an opinion cannot reliably reflect Americans' views. Russian media often use this technique to create news and mislead readers artificially. It is not the first time Russian propaganda has tried to discredit US aid to Ukraine. Earlier, we wrote about how similar attempts were made based on extracted citations from an article published in The Wall Street Journal. Similarly, during the week, propaganda used comments from individual social media users from France and Germany to spread the idea that citizens of these countries did not support and "dislike" Ukraine.

Such messages were spread by Russian telegram channels and the media on the eve of the visit of EU leaders to Ukraine. Russian propagandist Vladimir Solovyov quoted French President Emmanuel Macron to support his thesis, saying that Ukraine should negotiate with Russia on its own. We should notice that Russia has repeatedly used manipulation to pressure the world to change the situation in its favor. These manipulations are refuted by statements made at a joint press conference of Germany, France, Italy, and Romania leaders after they visited Ukraine. "We always support the dialogue because one day the conflict will end, and negotiations must begin. But the terms of the talks must be determined by Ukraine: France and Germany will never be mediators behind Ukraine and will never demand conditions from Ukraine," he said. President of France Emmanuel Macron. "Russia is trying to force the borders inside Europe. And this is unacceptable. Therefore, Germany and other countries have sided with Ukraine from day one," said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. "Italy wants to see Ukraine as part of the European Union. So, it will support Ukraine's status as a candidate and in the future accession to the EU. This path involves deep reforms," ​​said Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi. "Today in Kyiv with my European colleagues - Chancellor Olaf Scholz, President Emmanuel Macron, and Prime Minister Mario Draghi - to show our strong support and full solidarity with President Volodymyr Zelensky, the Ukrainian people," said President Ioannis. It should be noted that after such statements by EU leaders, the Russian media again began to actively threaten Russia's use of nuclear weapons, which is also an element of pressure and intimidation.

The Russian newspaper Izvestia published an article stating that more than 100,000 Zaporizhzhia residents had already applied for Russian citizenship, and thousands had prepared the necessary documents. The publication refers to the statement of the collaborator Vladimir Rogov, appointed by the occupiers as the head of the so-called council of the military-civil administration of the Zaporizhzhia region, on the air of the Russian propaganda TV channel "Solovyov Live."

"There are already more than 100 thousand people - this is 100% who are now in queues. And thousands of people who have already prepared packages of documents," Rogov said. The article also mentions the following: "In the first three days, the city's passport office [Berdyansk] processed 25 applications for Russian citizenship. There are 70 more people on the list… Several residents of Melitopol have also already been given Russian identity cards, Rogov said on June 11. On the same day, Vladimir Saldo, the head of the Kherson region's Military-Civil Administration (MCA), received Russian citizenship. In addition to him, the first passports of the Russian Federation that day were handed over to 25 more residents of the region."

The high-profile title of the article is another fake propaganda machine. First, Zaporizhzhia is not occupied but is part of Ukraine. Therefore, mentioning Zaporizhzhia in the title is already a manipulation to attract attention. Secondly, in addition to the actual regional center, there are two large cities in the region - Berdyansk (population - of 109 thousand people as of 2020) and Melitopol (almost 150 thousand people as of 2021), which are now temporarily occupied. That is, when the occupiers talk about 100 thousand inhabitants of Zaporizhzhia, it is rather about the number of Ukrainians who remained in the temporarily occupied part of the Zaporizhzhia region for various reasons.

In addition, the occupiers are actively spreading information that obtaining Russian passports has also begun in Kherson. However, for Kherson (a regional center with a population of almost 280 thousand as of January 2022), they show much more modest figures - there only 1.5 thousand people "expressed a desire to change citizenship."

Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Russian president, gave an interview to the Russian newspaper RIA Novosti, in which he accused the United States of deliberately prolonging Ukraine's predicament. "The United States is prolonging the troubles of Ukraine. The United States is prolonging this bad period for Ukraine, for the people of Ukraine," Peskov said. The statement was widely circulated in the Russian media. For example, RT wrote that the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmitry Peskov announced that America was prolonging Ukraine's troubles and delaying the process of arms supply, which was terrible for the country. In fact, Peskov's words are manipulation and an emotional reaction to the unprecedented assistance the United States provides to Ukraine. It is almost 54 billion dollars allocated by the US Congress. The total amount of aid includes the cost of weapons that the United States supplies to Ukraine. Also, in his statement, Peskov "forgot" to say that it was because of Russia that "all the troubles" and the "bad period" arose in Ukraine. Silencing the root causes and shifting one's responsibility for war crimes against Ukraine to anyone else (Ukraine, the United States, the collective West) is part of the information policy of the occupiers. Of course, it is more advantageous for Russia to leave Ukraine without help and support because, unfortunately, we will not be able to resist such an enemy on our own. Also, in this way, Peskov is somewhat intimidating, saying that even Ukraine's partners in this war are only harming it. Hinting that as long as the United States sends weapons, the war will continue. However, the war in Ukraine began not because of actions but because of an attack by Russia, which, in particular, with the help of American weapons, Ukraine is resisting.