Telegram channels controlled by Russian intelligence are spreading the thesis that Kentucky Senator Paul Rand blocked a bill to allocate $40 billion to Ukraine, ostensibly because the West "sawed off" humanitarian aid to Ukraine. The thesis is also spreading that the West is tired of the war in Ukraine, so it has only started to pay lip service to the country - but will in fact block real aid to the Ukrainians.

This is manipulation. First, there is no doubt, that $40 billion will be allocated to Ukraine – Senator Rand did not block, but only delayed the vote for the bill. The U.S. media is confident, it will be voted on next week.

Secondly, Rand's proposal to amend the bill to create additional control over how that money is spent in Ukraine will not be accepted, political analysts and politicians in the US are sure: in general they consider such a mechanism useful, but it will take more time to develop, and Ukraine needs help as soon as possible. And one last thing: Rand has many times slowed down the adoption of any decisions in the Senate, adding his own amendments to the bills at the time. This has involved not only Ukraine, but also bills on sanctions against Russia, preventing a federal government shutdown, the U.S. defense budget, and enhancing the security of judges and their families. His position is related solely to the internal political struggle in the U.S.

This thesis is spread by telegram channels administered by Russian special services. Russian propaganda promotes the manipulative message that the Ukrainian political top brass is enriching themselves on agribusinesses while Ukrainians are forced to consume in short supply and spend a lot of money on food. At the same time, these propagandists do not mention the fact that Russia steals and exports food from Ukraine. According to the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, stolen grain from Ukraine can be exported to Russia, occupied Crimea and Syria (from where it can be smuggled to other Middle Eastern countries).

In fact, back in March 2022 the government banned the export of oats, millet, buckwheat, sugar, salt, rye, cattle, meat and by-products from cattle, frozen brine, etc. because of Russia's war against Ukraine. This was done to prevent a humanitarian crisis in Ukraine, market stability and meet the needs of the population in critical food products. Under certain conditions (with informing the government and issuing a free license) it is possible to export: wheat and a mixture of wheat and rye (meslin), corn, domestic chicken meat, domestic chicken eggs, sunflower oil.

According to the Anti-Disinformation Center, the Russian propaganda actively spreads this thesis. The messages also say that Pekin is a fierce critic of the sanctions against Russia and does not condemn Moscow. "Indeed, the Kremlin only dreams of such a partnership as the basis of a new anti-Nazi bloc against the U.S. and NATO. There is no alliance between the countries. Since the early 1980s China has followed a diplomatic policy of independent self-sufficiency and lack of alliances. Reluctance to condemn the "special operation" Russia has strained relations between China and the United States, its allies. This disrupted the supply of goods from the PRC and led to the cancellation of export orders from Chinese companies. The underlying principle of the China-Ukraine Treaty of Friendship and Cooperation states that China supports Ukraine's policy aimed at the unity of the state and its territorial integrity", the Center's statement reads.

Back in March this year, almost at the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, Bloomberg agency wrote that China will rely on Russia's attempts to involve it in the war against Ukraine and will not provide substantial military and material assistance. At the same time, the Chinese government does not want to pressure Russia to end the war. But there is no reason to call China an ally of Russia in this war.

Russian propaganda media once again manipulated the topic of Victory Day, which was celebrated there yesterday, May 9. According to StopFake, Russian propaganda media have once again spread a series of manipulative materials saying that the Ukrainian authorities "finally banned people from celebrating May 9," and in some regions "deliberately" imposed a curfew because of "fear" that "many people will get. May to honor the feat of the Soviet soldiers who defeated fascism." Such reports add that the Ukrainian authorities allegedly "officially cancel Victory Day and drive people home." In fact, there were no mass events in 2022 due to Russia's large-scale invasion and heightened danger of missile attacks in Ukraine. However, we are not talking about "banning Victory Day." Previously, the thesis of the abolition of May 9 was dispersed by Russian propagandists. In particular, Vladimir Solovyov reported in his telegram channel that in Ukraine they decided to cancel May 9, and in confirmation of this fact he added that the Verkhovna Rada allegedly registered a bill according to which May 8 is Memorial and Victory over Nazism Day, and May 9 is a working day. Apparently, we are talking about the bill "On amendments to some laws of Ukraine on the commemoration of the victory over Nazism in World War II," which MPs registered on April 18. The bill indeed proposes to commemorate the Day of Remembrance of all victims of Nazism during the Second World War on May 8, and to celebrate Europe Day on May 9 together with other EU countries. In fact, Ukraine is not cancelling May 9. However, this time in Ukraine, as in the past few years, they did not celebrate Victory Day, choosing to celebrate May 8 - Memorial Day.

Russian propaganda media and telegram channels reported that many in Poland, and according to propagandists, over 50%, allegedly support the introduction of troops into Ukraine. However, only 33% are against this scenario. "It seems that Warsaw has finally decided on its intention to occupy the western part of Ukraine," the propagandists claim. However, such claims are manipulative, because the Russian media write about the introduction of troops to invade Ukraine, not about the possible participation of the Polish military in a NATO, UN or EU peacekeeping mission in Ukraine, as in fact, if, of course, such a decision is any. ever made. As StopFake writes, Polish officials have repeatedly stated that they respect Ukraine's sovereignty and support its integrity. Read more.

This information is spread by the Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels, citing anonymous sources who allegedly "have data" that "the level of sanitary losses from tuberculosis is more than 10% of the personnel. In 2020, Russian propagandists also spread a fake story about an epidemic among the Ukrainian military, but then the story was about COVID-19.

In fact, the Center of Public Health of the Ministry of Health does not record any increase in the number of tuberculosis cases in Ukraine in 2022. At the same time, advisor to the mayor of Mariupol Petro Andryushenko said in early May that one case of tuberculosis had already been recorded in a filtration prison in the village of Bezimennoye, temporarily occupied by Russia. According to him, Mariupol authorities received a video from this Russian filtration prison: "People sleep on the floor. They are not provided with medical care, so the first case of tuberculosis has already been recorded among the detainees in Bezymyannyi school. One of the men held in the club in the village of Kazatskoye died because the Kafirs refused to call him an ambulance. Olexander Sluzhyvyi, head doctor of Vinnitsa regional clinical phthisiopulmonology center, told "20 Minutes" that an increase in the incidence of tuberculosis may indeed be recorded in Ukraine. According to him, there are two reasons for this: "First of all, there is a migration of population from regions where active military operations are taking place. And also during the coronavirus pandemic, less attention was paid to tuberculosis, people were isolated from being able to get to medical facilities, seek help and the like." The Counter Misinformation Center also noted that this information was not true and was created to demoralize and spread panic among the military.

This thesis was disseminated by the militant leaders Leonid Pasechnik and Denys Pushilin. The Center to Counter Disinformation reported that the codes of unrecognized mobile operators Phoenix and Lugakom, operating in the occupied areas of Donetsk and Luhansk regions, have indeed changed, but their subscribers cannot use their SIM cards in Russia. "Subscribers report that from "Phoenix" you can only call to Russian "MegaFon", and from "Lugakom" - only to Russian "MTS". "Phoenix and Lugakom are still unrecognized operators, with which no country, not even the Russian Federation, has signed a roaming agreement," the Center said and added that there is also no agreement between Phoenix and Lugakom.

This is not the first time Russia has tried to engage NATO to "justify" its aggression against Ukraine, including civilians. This time the fake was spread by Russian President Vladimir Putin during the May 9 parade. He explained the war against Ukraine, which Russia still calls a "special operation," by saying that allegedly "NATO and Ukraine were preparing for a punitive operation in Donbass, for an invasion of Russian historical lands, including Crimea," and he mentioned "possible nuclear weapons. Ukraine." Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the Office of the President, refuted these statements: "The NATO countries were not planning to attack Russia. Ukraine was not planning to attack Crimea. The Russian military is dying, not defending its own country, but trying to occupy another. There were no rational reasons for this war other than the painful imperial ambitions of the Russian Federation."

It is noteworthy that Putin said nothing new in his speech, nor did he mention "denazification and demilitarization." Except for the parallels with World War II. The Ukrainian media recently wrote that according to Russian sociologists, most Russians do not understand the meaning of the word "denazification. According to TSN, this information is confirmed by the broadcasts of propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov: in the first program, after the start of the full-scale war, he spent about seven minutes explaining the meaning of "denazification," but in the April broadcasts Kiselyov either did not use the term at all or did it once during the program.

This is the claim that Russian propagandists go around to explain that there was no air part of the parade on May 9 in 2022. In fact, there were bad "weather conditions" on May 9 before, but Russia made up its mind by "airing" thousands of millions of rubles. The Center to Counter Misinformation reminded that in 2020 Russia spent more than 540 million rubles on cloud dispersal for the safety of military aviation flights, and in 2021 - 417 million rubles. "Therefore, the story about "bad weather" is just a manipulation, because for Russia to spend 500 million rubles on Putin's sacred date is not a problem. Especially since, according to various estimates, the Russian Federation spends between $500 million and $20 billion daily on 'special operations' with Ukraine," the Center noted. According to InformNapalm, the reason for the cancellation of the aviation part of the parade could have been a malfunction of the Il-80 aircraft. The command of the Air Force of the AFU reported that as of May 9, Russia's estimated losses were 199 aircraft and 158 helicopters.

This slogan, supposedly commemorating all those who died in World War II, became popular in the post-war times in the USSR. However, it is a myth. The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance noted that how many people actually died during World War II was not counted in the USSR or later in Russia. The official list of war victims is not complete: the USSR did not recognize the events before June 22, 1941, so participants in the so-called "border conflicts" were "forgotten"; the defeats of 1941-early 1942 were "forgotten" and not mentioned; prisoners of war, Holocaust victims, and the remaining workers were not mentioned either; disabled war veterans were purposely removed to boarding camps away from sight.

"How many people really died during World War II was not counted in the Soviet Union or later in Russia. After all, only those families who received death certificates received payments for the dead. There were no families of the missing. The authorities simply saved on these families. It is noteworthy that today Russia's attitude toward its dead has not changed. In the war with Ukraine, too, they are keeping the casualties quiet. Many soldiers will remain missing, it's more convenient and cheaper for Russia to do so," said the UINP.

Pro-Kremlin media and Telegram channels spread information that "the Kiev government is once again engaged in a 'culture of cancellation,'" as the Ukrainian Ministry of Culture allegedly plans to withdraw Russian literature from Ukraine's library collections. In particular, the propaganda publication RIA Novosti reported that "works of Russian literature, which is considered propaganda," will be withdrawn. In fact, these statements are manipulation, reports StopFake.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Culture and Information Policy said that Ukraine will launch a process of removing Russian books from libraries, but it is not talking about all works of Russian literature, but only those that promote war and the elimination of Ukrainian statehood. The Council for the Development of Librarianship under the Ministry developed criteria, according to which books will be withdrawn. First of all, the works that meet one of these criteria will be withdrawn:

• whose content is aimed at eliminating the independence of Ukraine, propaganda of violence, inciting interethnic, racial, religious enmity, committing terrorist acts, encroaching on human rights and freedoms;

• propaganda of war, national and religious discord, changing the constitutional system or the territorial integrity of Ukraine by violence; contain justification, recognition as legitimate, denial of armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, including by presenting the armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine as an internal conflict, civil conflict, civil war, denial of temporary occupation of part of the territory of Ukraine; glorify persons committing armed aggression of the Russian Federation against Ukraine, present;

• publishers, as well as authors to whom restrictive measures (sanctions) have been applied in accordance with the Law of Ukraine "On Sanctions";

• authors who publicly supported the aggression against Ukraine, information about which is publicly available on the Internet.

Apparently, the Russian language of the work is not a criterion according to which the Ministry of Culture will withdraw literature from library collections.The Council for Library Development, founded in April 2022, is engaged in the process of developing the criteria according to which literature will be withdrawn. They regularly publish information about their meetings on the official Facebook page of the Ukrainian Library Association. According to the press service of the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, libraries can create advisory bodies, which will give recommendations on how to update the library collection in the conditions of Russia's armed aggression against Ukraine.

The Ukrainian Library Association says that the issue of removing propaganda literature from the libraries of Ukraine will be approached carefully and in a balanced way. Deputy Minister of Culture and Information Policy Larysa Petasyuk confirms this: "Propaganda is a dangerous weapon. Today Russian lies poison everything around us. We have all the means to fight this phenomenon. The Ministry has defined clear criteria according to which Russian literature will be withdrawn from Ukrainian library collections. We approach this question carefully and in a balanced way. We hope that all this will have a positive effect on the development of Ukrainian book publishing.The Ministry of Culture reports that the withdrawn books will be replaced by Ukrainian works and books of Ukrainian publishers.

Kremlin media spread misinformation that "Kyiv will sign a peace treaty with Russia only if Russia agrees to fully or partially divide its own territory. According to their version, Major General Kyrylo Budanov, head of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ukrainian Defense Ministry, said this in an interview with the Ukrainian publication NV.

As StopFake reports, in fact, Kyrylo Budanov spoke only about two possible consequences of the war for Russia and not about the conditions of signing a peace treaty. The very title of the "NV" interview states that it is about the future of Russia - "The Chief Military Intelligence Officer of Ukraine - about the future of the dictator and Moscow's plans.In the interview itself, in the commentary used by the propagandists, there is a phrase: "This war will end. There are only two ways it can end."

Kyrylo Budanov goes on to elaborate: "The first is the division of Russia into three or more parts. And the second is the relative preservation of the territorial integrity of the Russian Federation with a change in the country's leadership. In the latter case, the new leader will say that Russia has nothing to do with all these processes, it was a sick dictator, and the country has nothing to do with it. In this case, Russia will give up all its occupied territories - from the Japanese islands to Königsberg, which belongs to Germany. Previously, Volodymyr Zelenskyy has already repeatedly stated the position of Ukraine in any agreements with Russia. In particular, in an interview with the Associated Press, he noted that "Russia's war against Ukraine should be ended by a treaty, but not at the cost of surrendering its independence or national interests." First and foremost, the Ukrainian president notes that the agreement should be signed on the "terms of Ukraine's independence."

On April 16, Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that a peace treaty with Russia could consist of two documents, one of which would be a treaty on security guarantees for Ukraine, and the other would be a bilateral agreement on Ukraine-Russia relations. Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the presidential office and a member of Ukraine's delegation to talks with Russia, added in an interview with Radio Liberty on April 29 that it is not a "treaty of friendship and peace" with Russia, but "red lines" for that country. "We need to fix positions that will be red lines for Russia, that at no time will this country be able to enter the territory of Ukraine again," Mykhaylo Podolyak said.

One of the key aspects of the peace agreement between Ukraine and the Russian Federation, which will be concluded after the negotiation process, according to Mykhaylo Podolyak, is an immediate cease-fire and the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukrainian territory. Consequently, none of the representatives of the Ukrainian authorities consider the partition of Russian territory as a condition for a peace treaty. The primary goal of the agreements with Russia is the preservation of Ukrainian independence and sovereignty.

Interesting explanations for the fact that the war in Ukraine did not end in 48 hours, as the propagandists promised, and clearly did not go as planned are provided by the Russian intelligence-controlled telegram channels that pretend to be Ukrainian. And they come up with all new means to convince those who began to doubt the existence of even any plan other than the total destruction of Ukraine and Ukrainians.

That's why the Legitimny channel today spread the message that "Putin's denazification" of Ukraine is not a fiction of the propagandists, but a real plan. Which now, writes "Legitimny", will be obvious to everyone, as Russian missiles, aviation, DRGs and drones will be destroying monuments to Stepan Bandera.

According to Wikipedia, monuments to Bandera are located only in 5 regions of Ukraine - Ternopil, Lviv, Khmelnytsky, Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. None of them were damaged. So far Russian intelligence has not provided an explanation for this and has not figured out why the detailed "denazification plan" began with the destruction of Kharkiv, Mariupol, Volnovakha and other Russian-speaking cities, and on the 70th day of the war they remembered the monuments to Stepan Bandera.

Recently, the Russian press wrote that polls requested by the Kremlin showed that Russians do not understand the term "denazification" and the "denazification" plan itself.

Russian propaganda media and anonymous telegram channels occasionally report that the weapons that Ukraine receives from allied countries are outdated and bad and do not meet modern characteristics: this thesis benefits Russia, because by showing that Ukraine allegedly has old weapons that were provided to it by EU countries and the US, propagandists seek to discredit Ukraine's allies and devalue their support and assistance to Ukraine in this war.

Also in this way Russia wants to create the appearance that even with weapons from allies Ukraine will be weak, because the equipment is supposedly not suitable for fighting in modern warfare, however, according to the Center to Counteract Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, there are samples of artillery transferred by Ukrainian allies. As an example, experts of the Center compare characteristics of two howitzers - Soviet-Russian Msta-B and American M777, which are transferred according to the lend-lease from the USA. "Msta-B versus M777: caliber 152 mm versus 155 mm; barrel length - 47 caliber versus 39 caliber (52 newest); range - 3VOF45/ERFB shell: 24.7 km versus 30 km (40 km with 52 caliber barrel)," the Center reports. On the basis of these characteristics it is clear that the new American howitzer hits 5 km further than the Soviet-Russian one. Consequently, this weapon is not obsolete and unsuitable for military operations, on the contrary, it will have a counter-battery advantage. The M777 also has a digital fire control system for M982 Excalibur ammunition with GPS targeting.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, this thesis is spread by Russian propaganda through the head of the Guild of Interethnic Journalism of Russia, a member of the commission on patriotic and spiritual and moral education of children and Margarita Lyange, who promotes a narrative about "the oppression of national minorities in Ukraine".

In particular, the propagandist claims that Ukrainian state policy does not allow Ruthenians in Transcarpathia to use their native language, Russian, and that Ruthenians themselves are allegedly persecuted for refusing to call themselves Ukrainians. The Center reports that according to the 2001 census, only 10,000 Transcarpathians, or less than one percent of the region's population, called themselves Ruthenians. In addition, Ruthenians do not communicate with each other in Russian, but refer to their language as so-called Ruthenian. Ukrainian scientists are inclined to believe that the so-called Ruthenian language is one of the many dialects of Ukrainian and not a separate language. In everyday life, Transcarpathians and, in particular, Ruthenians can communicate in a comfortable dialect .

This is the thesis spread by the Russian propagandist media allegedly referring to The Washington Post. The reports claim that most Americans are "dissatisfied with Biden's policy toward Ukraine." As fact checkers at StopFake write, for example, propaganda resources presented the results of a poll conducted among Americans in late April 2022. The propagandists claim that Americans are dissatisfied with both the sanctions imposed against Russia and the amount of military aid to Ukraine. According to StopFake poll by The Washington Post-ABC News, the number of Americans who support Biden's activities related to the war in Ukraine has increased. The percentage of those who do not support the policy, however, has not changed. "This survey showed that a majority of Americans, despite concerns about the war, agree that Ukraine needs even more help. Other surveys conducted at different times and by other organizations also show broad support for Ukraine among Americans and assistance," - the fact checkers write.

The Russian media, followed by the state-run Belarusian media, disseminated a statement by Mikhail Mizintsev, head of the Russian National Defense Control Center, that the Russian military allegedly "observes the silence regime," while "Ukrainian nationalists" allegedly "shell humanitarian corridors. In fact, there have been numerous recent instances of Russian troops shelling convoys of civilians, in particular, a convoy of volunteer vehicles that on May 2 evacuated people from the village of Russkaya Lozovaya in the northern suburbs of Kharkivwas hit by mortar fire. In addition, Mariupol mayor Vadym Boychenko said, on May 3 that Russia had blocked the evacuation of 2,000 Mariupol residents from seized Berdyansk for two weeks. Oleksandr Starukh, head of the Zaporizhzhya regional military administration, also said that Russian kafirs blocked the evacuation of people from other places in Zaporizhzhya Region upon the arrival of convoys of civilians from the Azovstal plant.

This manipulative thesis is spreading on social networks along with part of the material of the German publication Redaktions Netzwerk Deutschland (RND). This is not the first attempt by Russian propaganda to show that anti-Russian sanctions hit the countries that imposed them more than Russia itself. In fact, as StopFake points out, the RND material tells of ways to save money, in particular listing ways to save water due to the country's rising inflation. The article also gives tips on how to use water sparingly when showering, washing vegetables and dishes, and doing laundry. There is no mention in the article that Germans suffer from "anti-Russian sanctions. Regarding inflation in Germany, it started rising long before Russia's war against Ukraine.

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Anonymous telegram channels controlled by Russian special services spread a manipulative thesis that the AFU General Staff allegedly decided to collect civilians in Severodonetsk in the basement of the Azot plant, where the AFU is located. In particular, "Legitimny" spreads this, comparing it to the Azovstal plant in Mariupol. This manipulation is part of the narrative that the Ukrainian military "uses civilians as human shields. Similar manipulations were spread about Kramatorsk, where the train station, from which civilians were being evacuated, was hit by the Russian military; as well as about foreigners and Mariupol. Regarding Azovstal, by the way, the Russian media spread fakes, assuring that there were no civilians at all at the plant in Mariupol. In general, Russian propaganda and official agencies then use these reports to justify strikes on civilian objects and civilian casualties. In fact, the head of the Luhansk Regional Military Administration, Serhii Haidai, had previously warned, that Russia would try to encircle Severodonetsk. At that time, he said that the civilians had better evacuate the city.

Citing the results of an Ipsos study called "Worrying the World," anonymous telegram feeds write that the problem of war in Ukraine is only 11th in the rankings, with war-induced inflation at the top. The manipulation is based on several points.

First, the study, which has been conducted for years using the same methodology in 27 countries, reports that the item "War Between the Nations" did not exist before and was introduced because of the war in Ukraine.

Second, countries in Europe and the U.S. are in the top 50 of those who care about the war in Ukraine. South American and African countries express 1-2% concern, which is natural given the geopolitical features of the world. "Concern is greatest in Europe. Poland has the highest level of worry, with four in ten (38%) saying it is one of the biggest problems in the country. Other countries show high levels of worry: Germany (35%), Sweden (30%), Britain (28%), and Italy (26%). There is less anxiety in Latin America," the study said. It also noted that in none of the countries respondents named war as their main concern, but in Germany the figure is only 2 points behind inflation, which was among the biggest worries. Instead, according to a local Ipsos survey in Denmark, which is not part of the Worrying World rating, in March, war in Ukraine was second with 30 percent, and climate change was first. In April, both problems topped the rating; only the numbers changed. Instead, according to a local Ipsos survey in Denmark, which is not part of the Worrying World rating, in March, war in Ukraine was second with 30 percent, and climate change was first. In April, both problems topped the rating; only the numbers changed.

Third, according to the study, inflation was among the top five global concerns in March for the first time since January 2013. The global rate in March was 32%, although at the beginning of the year it was 20%. Argentina takes it the most - 64%, where the war in Ukraine worries 1%.

Social networks are spreading data that the Russian ruble has become the second fastest-growing currency among developing countries, and the reason for this strengthening is exports. Mesegee - sanctions are inactive or working in the opposite direction.

Since late March, the ruble has really begun to recover from the collapse caused by the outbreak of war and sanctions, says Yurii Haidai, senior economist at the Center for Economic Strategy, in a commentary for the DM. Although now its official exchange rate for world currencies corresponds to the pre-war values, and the rate on the black market is somewhat lower, in the long term artificial holding of the exchange rate will harm the Russian economy, the expert added. "The first reason for the paradoxical persistence of the ruble is the trade balance. 60% of Russia's foreign exchange earnings come from oil and gas exports, which have largely persisted. The EU cannot quickly bring these purchases down to zero, and the decrease in demand from the EU is offset by high prices and attempts to redirect some exports to other countries.

In the first two months of the war, Russia received 62 billion euros in energy exports alone, of which 44 billion came from EU countries. At the same time, against the backdrop of sanctions and declining consumption, imports to Russia collapsed, which means that Russia spends much less currency than before the war. The trade surplus in the first quarter of 2022 was 55 billion euros, twice as much as in the past.

Combined with other steps, such as the obligation for exporters to sell 80% of foreign currency earnings, a sharp increase in the discount rate of the Central Bank of Russia, and a de facto ban on foreign investors exiting assets in Russia, this has created a significant demand for the ruble, leading to its appreciation.

Artificial keeping of the ruble exchange rate on the medium and long term will additionally damage the budget revenues and the economy of Russia, as it was admitted publicly by Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Central Bank of Russia. But until the Western countries introduce a full-fledged oil embargo, one should not expect a significant depreciation of the ruble," explained Yurii Haidai.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, this thesis is promoted by Russian propaganda. In particular, according to Russian State Duma deputy Matveichev, "Putin deliberately creates for Ukraine and the West a sense of their imminent victory. The latter will not strike decisive blows yet, but will continue to create the illusion as if a little more and Russia is defeated." "According to the "expert", such a strategy will force the measure to provide all possible weapons to Ukraine. After that, Russia will "dispose of all NATO weapons" and "deliver a decisive blow." The population of Russia "should understand this and fully trust the commander-in-chief. But in reality, these theses are only used by Russian propaganda to try to justify military defeats with the Russian Federation in front of its own population, first of all in the North of our country, from which the enemy has disgracefully retreated," reported in the Сenter. Thus, Russia is also trying to create the illusion of controlling the situation, and by reporting that Russia still has not delivered a decisive blow, propaganda is trying to justify the defeat of the Russian army.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, this thesis is spread in the media by Russian propagandists and, in particular, by foreign ex-officials, not for the first time supporting Russia and its aggressive policies. For example, former New Zealand Foreign Minister Matt Robson thanked Russia for standing up to NATO. According to the Center, an "expert" from New Zealand in the English-language news segment spreads the propaganda thesis of Russia that "NATO has always wanted to encircle Russia and China." "On April 29, a number of New Zealand media outlets published a commentary by M. Robson in which he expresses gratitude to Russia for the war with NATO in Ukraine in a manipulative manner. Since the beginning of Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine, M. Robson has regularly made such statements, completely repeating the disinformation narratives of Russia's leaders. In February and March, the former Foreign Minister of New Zealand stated that "NATO provoked the Putin. In April, Robson repeatedly stated that "NATO had promised not to expand its geographic presence. In reality, only Russia unleashed the war on the territory of Ukraine and NATO had nothing to do with it.

This is the information spread by the Russian media. Their message says that by this cutoff, Ukraine gave up part of the territory that was temporarily occupied by the Russians. This is a lie. In fact, it was the Russians who cut off communications and the Internet in the Kherson and part of the Zaporozhye regions, the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection of Ukraine said in a telegram.

On April 30, residents of Kherson and part of Zaporizhzhia regions first felt interruptions with the Internet and mobile communications, then these services disappeared in significant areas. It became known that the reasons for the lack of communication were fiber-optic trunk lines breaking and the blackout of operators' equipment in these regions. "The problems that occurred simultaneously at all mobile operators, as well as providers of fixed Internet services, are nothing but another attempt by the occupant to leave Ukrainians without access to truthful information about the course of the war that Russia has unleashed against Ukraine; and to make its false propaganda a source of information without alternative, as it is done in Russia itself," the State Service for Special Communications said in a statement.

Ukrainian authorities have always advocated maximum access to means of communication for Ukrainians. And the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Telecommunications Networks (NCM) at tate Service for Special Communications both before the war and at the beginning of the invasion expressed an unambiguous position of the state - operators must provide Ukrainians with communication and access to information.

"Cutting off Ukrainian communications, as well as the introduction of the aggressor country's currency and the forced payment of taxes by businesses to the occupation entity, should create at least the appearance of the existence of a new quasi-establishment for domestic Russian consumption. And against this background to feed the Russians with fake results of a likely fake referendum, - noted in the tate Service for Special Communications . - Ukraine will never abandon its citizens to the mercy of fate. Our defenders drove the enemy troops out of Kyiv region, Sumy region and Chernihiv region, they will drive them out of other regions. All occupied territories within the internationally recognized borders of our country will be sacked."

All Ukrainians who are in the occupied areas are asked to move to other regions if possible. They urge everyone to be careful and not to put themselves in danger. In case the Russians have disabled Ukrainian broadcasting, communications and the Internet, it is possible to listen to Ukrainian radio on medium waves (1278, 1404, 873, 657 kHz) using old receivers. Also Ukrainian channels are decoded on satellite: Satellite: Hotbird 13; Frequency: 11219 MHz; Polarization: H(horizontal); Symbol Rate: 29900; Error Correction: FEC 3/5.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said in an interview with Xinhua news agency that 1.02 million people have been evacuated from Ukraine to Russia since February 24, including more than 120,000 third-country nationals, including more than 300 Chinese citizens.

He said the hotline of the Russian Federation's Interagency Coordination Headquarters for Humanitarian Response had received a request for assistance to evacuate 2.8 million people to Russia, 16,000 of whom were foreign nationals and personnel of international UN and OSCE missions.

His statement was disseminated by a number of foreign media outlets, including Reuters. In fact, Lavrov isn't telling the truth.

According to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, more than 5.3 million refugees left Ukraine after Russia invaded. Most of them went to Poland - more than 2.9 million. More than 801,000 people left for Romania, more than 647,000 for Russia, 507,000 for Hungary, more than 439,000 for Moldova, more than 363,000 for Slovakia and more than 24,000 for Belarus.

Ukraine's permanent representative to the UN, Serhii Kyslytsia, said that more than 500,000 Ukrainians, of whom 121,000 were children, were forcibly removed to Russia from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. He noted that about 20,000 Ukrainians are being held in filtration camps on the Mangush - Nikolskoye - Yalta line and about 5,000-7,000 in Bezimenne in the Donetsk region.

Liudmyla Denisova, the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights, said that after the camps, Ukrainians are taken by bus to Taganrog, Russia, and from there they are transported by train to Omsk and Tomsk regions and the Perm region of Russia. There are cases of Ukrainians being taken to Sakhalin.

"Unfortunately, we have no lists of these people. There are only individual testimonies of relatives or people themselves who called our hotline and told us that they were forcibly removed and they are there in some kindergarten in the city of Taganrog, sleeping on the floor... Well all these horrors of their movements as long as they have communication," Denisova said, responding to a question from Radio Liberty about the availability of lists of Ukrainians taken out to Russia.

According to her, some time after crossing the border with Russia, communication with the taken out is broken, their phone is taken away from them and "they are given a view that they cannot leave the territory of the Russian Federation home for two years." The Russian side does not allow or shoot up humanitarian corridors from the blockaded towns, including Mariupol. According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, thousands of people - military and civilians - remain blockaded in Mariupol. Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Iryna Vereshchuk added that the Russians do not want to go to any negotiations on the Azovstal enterprise, where there are more than a thousand women, children and more than 500 wounded. "Now it is impossible to go there, much less create a humanitarian corridor: Russia is bombing, rocketing, shelling the approaches," she said.