This is the information spread by pro-Russian telegram channels. However, according to the UN Refugee Agency, as of March 30, 4 million people - about 10% of Ukraine's total population - had left Ukraine abroad, and at least 6.5 million more had been forced to leave their homes and moved to other areas of Ukraine. . Therefore, the statements from pro-Russian telegram channels cannot be trusted, because it is not known where the propagandists got the figure of 8 million from, and as of what date they recorded such data. Recall that in such cases, only data from official sources should be considered. In addition, according to a Razumkov Center survey, as of April 5, 79% of refugees from Ukraine plan to return home after the war ends. In reports that many propagandists also claim that this is the so-called "Zelenskyy arithmetic," as if blaming the Ukrainian authorities for this situation. However, people did not leave Ukraine en masse until Russia launched a full-scale invasion and began killing Ukrainian civilians and military personnel.

Russian propagandists began spreading such a thesis after publicizing the crimes committed by the Russian military in Bucha. According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, this line of behavior was developed by Russian propagandists before the UN Security Council meeting on the crimes of the occupiers in Bucha, when the Kremlin tried to shift responsibility for the torture of civilians onto the Ukrainian military. .

"On April 5, Russia's UN post-appointed representative voiced Russia's official made-up position that "the Russian military left Bucha in vain as agreed upon with Kiev." After the UN did not respond to Russia's pseudo-version of events, Dmitry Peskov continued to spread the "agreement" thesis. However, there was no agreement. Russia, in particular, has repeatedly pointed this out. The occupiers retreated under the onslaught of the AFU. Now, in order to cover up the defeat, the Kremlin is trying to misinform the world 'retroactively,'" the Center said in a statement.

This is the thesis of pro-Russian telegram channels referring to the words of the mayor of Russian-occupied Kherson in an interview with Ukrainska Pravda. They say that the head of the city, who "drowned for Kiev and Ukraine," supported Russia for the first time, saying that the Ukrainian government ignored the city's problems during the entire period of independence and did not send any budgetary funds to Kherson, and since 2014 (i.e. after the Revolution of Dignity and the annexation of Crimea) the situation has become even worse. In fact, the head of Kherson Ihor Kolykhaiev in an interview with Sevgil Musaeva does say that Kherson region has "sagged" economically over the past 8 years, but he says nothing about how the situation in the region has deteriorated throughout the years of Ukraine's independence. Also Ihor Kolykhaiev did not take the Russian side and there is no mention in the interview of his commitment to the Russian army. With the interviewer, he discusses the situation in the city, the probable causes of the occupation, and why he did not leave the city at the beginning of the war, as some local officials did. He also added that he "always asks the President's Office not to forget about the city," but one cannot conclude from these words that Ihor Kolykhaiev defected to Russia.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Russia promotes in the English-language information space the thesis that Africa allegedly actively supports Russia's military actions on the territory of Ukraine.

""The Moscow Times Russian website published an article about Africa's increased support for Russia thanks to pro-Kremlin propaganda in social networks and the media. In particular, the author refers to "authoritative" figures loyal to Putin - African pan-Africanist politician Cami Sebu, as well as Ugandan Lieutenant General Muhozi Kainerugabu," according to the Center.

However, the fact that there is mass support for Russia in African countries is a manipulation. On March 2, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution demanding that Russia immediately cease military action in Ukraine, the Center reported. Then out of 54 African member states, only Eritrea voted against it, so one cannot speak of any mass support, given this. "In addition, according to the ITU, as of 2021, only 33 percent of Africa's population used the Internet, so the effectiveness of Kremlin propaganda in the region is somewhat exaggerated," the Center notes.

Russian media disseminated a quote from EU High Representative Josep Borrel that the Russian ruble allegedly "resists sanctions well. на своей специализированной радио COPE." Это , Borrel did не express a passion для российской экономики," Center explained.

Anonymous telegram channels controlled by Russian special services have been circulating reports that President Vladimir Zelenskyy is allegedly being guarded by foreign mercenaries - supposedly he does not trust Ukrainian ones. This report, as well as the manipulative conclusions, rests entirely on the fact that one of the defenders accompanying the president to Bucha has the Ukrainian flag upside down on his chevron. There could be many explanations for this, from "the wrong chevron" to "the identification mark of a certain group" (e.g., the inverted Ukrainian flag is used by Azov) or "an indication of the state of war." The military also confirms this to Media Detector. In fact, the Ukrainian flag we are used to - blue on top, yellow on the bottom - approved only in 1918. There is also an opinion that the flag is turned upside down as a sign of distress or war. More about this myth was written by "On the other side of the news". In addition, the footage from Bucha shows Zelenskyy's security guard, the first deputy head of the Department - the head of the Security Service of the President of Ukraine of the State Security Directorate, Maksym Donets, constantly visible.

Russian propaganda spreads a fake that "Western countries supply low-quality and outdated weapons to Ukraine," or that "it is simply impossible to stop cruise missile strikes with Javelin and Stinger. The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council denied these reports, recalling that since February 25, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has regularly reported on downed Russian cruise missiles: over the Vinnitsa, Kherson, Kharkov, and Nikolaev regions. "In this way the aggressor is trying to sow panic among the population. Having met resistance in the temporarily occupied territories, the enemy resorts to information terrorism in order to demoralize Ukrainians and stop their resistance, the Center said. - In this way, the enemy is probably already preparing the information field for victorious messages about "new liberated settlements in Donbass, which will be presented as territories under temporary occupation since 2014".

Anonymous telegrams controlled by Russian special services spread the message that "Ukraine has already lost those who were forced to go abroad. These manipulative messages state that "data from sociologists" show that Ukrainians who were forced to leave for Western countries because of Russia's war do not plan to return. In fact, Razumkov Center polls show that 79 percent of refugees plan to return to Ukraine after the war ends, 11 percent of Ukrainians are hesitant and only 10 percent do not plan to return. According to the UN, as of April 3, the number of Ukrainian refugees exceeded 4.2 million.

This thesis is spread by the Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels The Center to Counter Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine warned that another attempt by Russia to prepare an information field to justify war crimes and an attempt to intimidate the population against the background of redeployment of occupation troops to Donbass and the south of Ukraine. "A similar disinformation campaign in the Russian media was recorded on February 27 to spread panic among the population. The enemy reported alleged Ukrainian provocations with phosphorus in Gostomel. On March 25 and April 2, the Kafirs used phosphorus in ORDLO. Then the Kremlin media tried to shift responsibility for the use of banned weapons to the Ukrainian armed forces," the report said.

Letters are sent to Ukrainians with calls to overthrow the government allegedly from the defenders of Mariupol. The letters come from Volodimir Azov's email volodimir_azov@justiceua.org. "GromadaVostok now" reported that the email was created on March 22, 2022. The domain is registered in Iceland, the registry address is Icelandic Prutnya Museum, and the mail service host is Mexican. The letters are written in Ukrainian, but with a lot of mistakes. In particular, the media drew attention to - "capitalshow", "shanovnyy Anastasiya", "for the sake of" and "po nad use".

Social networks spread manipulative messages that the mailing from "Ukraine" with a link to mywar.mkip.gov.ua is a phishing attack. "Do not open, delete this in order to obtain data", the purpose of the mailing is "to obtain data (contacts and chats in messengers)" - said in messages that were distributed to Ukrainians in social networks. In fact, the Ukraine account, from which the mailing is performed, belongs to the State Service for Special Communications and Information Protection. The website mywar.mkip.gov.ua was created by the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine so that citizens could tell their war stories to the world.

Putin especially stressed that they were not doing it for money. The BBC Arabic Service found out that Russia has deployed 14 recruitment centers in Syria to send Syrians to the Donbass. Eighty percent of them go to Ukraine to feed their families: All of those who agreed to tell journalists about themselves said they were going to their deaths, but saw no other way to feed their families in the war-torn country. Many of them have no combat experience, and none of them go to Ukraine "for the sake of the idea" - only for money, meaning they are mercenaries, not volunteers. The groups that recruit mercenaries offer 1,500 euros per month (other publications say $300 per month). Even earlier it became known that Syrian generals sabotaged the sending of regular units of their army to Ukraine, although representatives of the Russian army insist on it.

According to the Command of the Air Forces of the AFU, such information is spread in the media and social networks. They say that Ukraine does not need to close the sky, because our forces are already enough to win. In fact, this is a manipulation, because the advantage in the air is a decisive factor in this war.

"'Airspace control has played a key role in all wars since World War II. Air dominance is quick and precise strikes on enemy troops, centers of their logistics support and other important objects, it is an extremely powerful fire support for our own ground troops and naval forces," the Air Force Command of the AFU said in a statement.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, such information cannot be considered true, because Russia is not "withdrawing" troops: the Kafirs are fleeing because they received stiff resistance from the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainians. "In addition, the enemy is overturning its forces to the Donbass and is preparing to deliver a crushing blow to the territory of our country from there. Secondly, no agreements have been reached between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. All the stories about the alleged end of the "special operation" are just an attempt to avoid further implementation of sanctions against the aggressor country. In fact, the Kafirs are trying to organize incomprehensible structures on the temporarily seized territories and introduce the ruble into circulation there," the Center said in a statement.

Russian propagandists disseminate the thesis that a fake history has been created for Ukrainian children. They draw such conclusions from the statements of Russian specialists who allegedly conducted a study and found that more than 300 Ukrainian textbooks contain false, fake historical facts. As ZMIST fact-checkers, who pointed out these reports, write, Russian propagandists complain that the modern Ukrainian educational system has been stripped of the remnants of Soviet propaganda and presents students with real historical facts.

For example, the Russian education minister said in a statement that Ukrainian schoolchildren are even "deprived of the opportunity to know that they can be proud of the shared history of Ukraine and Russia and figures like Yuri Gagarin" or proud of the feat of "common victory." "The argument about the 'inability to know about Yuri Gagarin' makes no sense at all, because the two most important people in the Soviet space program, the people who enabled Gagarin's flight - the Korolyov and Glushko - were Ukrainians, and whole sections of Ukrainian history textbooks are devoted to them," write ZMIST fact checkers. Ukrainian textbooks also have sections devoted to World War II. However, there are also sections about the crimes of the Soviet government against Ukraine and the Ukrainians. For example, we are talking about the subject of the Holodomor.

Russian media and telegram channels have spread information that Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba is calling on the world to ban the Latin letter Z because it symbolizes Russian war crimes. However, this is not true. Dmytro Kuleba did speak out about the letter Z, but in his tweet he suggested criminalizing the use of the letter Z as a symbol of support for the Russian invasion: "Z symbolizes Russian war crimes, bombed cities, thousands of murdered Ukrainians. Public support for this barbarism should be banned," the minister wrote. As the ZMIST fact checker wrote, no one suggests banning the letter itself, it is a blatant manipulation of Russia, which has the discredit of Ukraine's official representatives.

This information is spread by Russian propagandists, who claim that the well-known pacifist slogan "No War" is, in fact, "Nazi". In particular, such a statement was made by "expert on strategic communications" Trofim Tatarenkov.

According to the Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council, he claimed that this slogan "echoes" the slogan on Nazi leaflets thrown in besieged Leningrad, and the Ossetian slogan always sounded like "We are for peace" and "No war" is that propagated by the Nazis. However, this is not true. According to the Center, the content of Soviet-era anti-war propaganda posters was based mainly on the slogan "No War." However, they were against the "wars of aggression of the US imperialists."

Telegram channels spread information that the government had approved a certain amount of payments to each Ukrainian during the war. According to the fact-checking project "Liar", in particular, the reports were published by the channels "All about the war" and "News of Ukraine 24/7".

However, this is a manipulation, as the authors of the reports note that it seems that the Ukrainian government has approved a certain monthly amount of cash benefits that all citizens will receive without exception. Some publications have stated that the number of payments will depend on the age group of people. There are several of them. Volodymyr Zelensky announced a large-scale program of assistance to Ukrainians, covering three main areas: money, housing, and work. However, according to the official statement of the authorities, it will apply to those citizens who were forced to leave their homes due to the fighting, and not all, without exception, Ukrainians.

This information is being disseminated by Kremlin propagandist media. In particular, they publish articles with the headlines “Rally Held in New-York in Support of Russia”. “The protesters were carrying posters “Russia is not enemy for us! NATO and Ukrainian nazi are!”, the articles say.

However, this is manipulation. According to the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, the material doesn’t point out any references to the source of the information; it goes that “the rally has been reported by the local mass media”. They only share a piece of text and a photo with 5 people in an unidentified place (3 persons are holding the poster and 1 person is holding the symbol of the Temporary Occupied Territories of Donetsk and Luhansk). The monitoring has shown that on February 27 propagandist media already shared similar news about the rally in New York with no photo from the scene.

Such information is spread in the Volyn region segment of Facebook. According to the fact-checking project "Brekhunets" (‘Liar’), there are indeed categories of men who can go abroad, but men who do not meet these criteria cannot cross the border.

According to the State Border Guard Service of Ukraine, the exceptions are men of the age of recruitment from 18 to 60, who: have a certificate of deferment of conscription and notification of enrollment in special military registration; who have conclusion on the unfit for military service by the military medical commission; persons who have three or more dependant children under the age of 18; those who raise a child (children) under the age of 18 on their own; who have dependent child with a disability; who are adoptive parents, guardians; whose close relatives died or went missing during the anti-terrorist operation.

Telegram channels controlled by the Russian secret services spread mesages that after the attack on the Yavoriv military base, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine decided to permanently change the location of the military and ordered the military and territorial defense to be stationed in schools, kindergartens and hospitals. Some pro-Kremlin telegram channels also report that Azov fighters are already allegedly deploying their forces in civilian infrastructure. These statements are then used by the Russian authorities as an excuse for their air strikes on schools and hospitals. For example, as it was in the case with the maternity hospital or the Drama theater in Mariupol.

Russian propagandists actively spread such a message. This information was announced during a regular briefing by the adviser to the head of the President's Office, Oleksiy Arestovych.

""The new topic is the alleged speculation that Ukraine renounces its demands or loses the negotiations. I want to remind you that the principled position of the President of Ukraine is that Ukraine must first be recognized at the international borders as of 1991. Secondly, everything we agree on must be better than before the war. Because then what is the meaning of the victims of the Ukrainian people" — the adviser of President's Office

Russian propaganda spreads these narratives in different languages, trying to sow panic among Ukrainians and convince them that the world can change its mind about Russia because of its dependence on Russian oil and gas. The Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine refuted these reports and reminded that the world already has experience overcoming the oil crisis. In 1973, Europe and the United States successfully abandoned Arab energy. The Center also noted that Germany, Poland, the Norwegian company Equinor, the European Union, the United States, the United Kingdom, and the German company Uniper have decided to stop financing the construction of Russia's Nord Stream-2 gas pipeline.

The Mariupol City Council pointed this out. "There is various information about the number of people killed in Mariupol by the hostile actions of the Russian occupiers - from several hundred to tens of thousands of people. But the official and confirmed information as of the end of March 14, 2022, is about 2357 dead Mariupol. All other data related to this are not true. Therefore, we ask you to trust only official information from verified sources," the statement reads.

Such information in the media is disseminated by Kremlin propaganda. For example, such reports say that leaflets calling for the "expulsion of Ukrainian Nazis" are distributed in Poland. According to StopFake, pro-Kremlin propaganda has been using the same illustration with the same appeal since 2016, which only confirms the systematic and purposeful approach to inciting hostility towards Ukrainian citizens.

"Agitprop assures that anti-Ukrainian leaflets are being pasted in Poland. However, the same illustration propagandists try to pass off as such "leaflets" is repeated in all reports. The message is mostly spread in anonymous groups Telegram, the Russian social network "VKontakte". The fact that these actions are planned is evidenced by the fact that dozens of profiles of seemingly ordinary users and groups publish messages of the same content. At the same time, some of the users who spread it, according to their information about themselves, are related to the Russian armed forces," the fact-checkers note.

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