Former colonel of the US Army Douglas McGregor, known for his pro-Russian position, stated this in an interview with foreign media. According to him, the Russian army has already rested and is ready to deliver a devastating blow to Ukraine. Since the start of the full-scale war in Ukraine, McGregor has been talking about "Russia's invincible army" and intimidating the world with "Putin's nuclear button."

According to his forecasts, Russia was supposed to capture Ukraine in mid-March 2022. Such statements are an element of Russia's informational and psychological operation aimed at a Western audience. In this way, Russia is trying to prevent supplying heavy weapons to Ukraine from allied countries.

Anonymous Telegram channels promote the message of Ukraine's inability to rebuild, showing how the Russians are allegedly repairing the Melitopol-Berdyansk highway and building houses "even without a referendum."

The purpose of such a message is likely to be psychological pressure on the residents of the occupied territories, as well as to spread the message that Ukraine will not have enough funds to rebuild the country.

The British Daily Mail published a story about armed migrants entering Great Britain through the English Channel. The Center for Combating Disinformation draws attention to the fact that the Kremlin media referred to this material, although there is no mention of Ukrainians. The Russian mass media added the assumption that due to the increase in the supply of weapons to Ukraine, Great Britain would have to face armed Ukrainian refugees in the future.

The purpose of such a message, according to the conclusion of the CPD, is to create the impression that helping Ukraine with weapons will threaten the security of allied countries. The official position of Great Britain to support Ukraine remains unchanged, as does Russian propaganda on the British front. In particular, messages about fatigue from Ukraine and Zelensky are spreading on social networks.

According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, the Russian media spreads such a message concerning Russian politicians' statements. According to the Center, such information by Russia arose after Ukraine began calling on the world community to recognize Russia as a terrorist state due to war crimes committed in Ukraine.

Russian propagandists spread this thesis. In their materials, they allegedly refer to an article in the American edition of Politico. Propagandists claim that Europe will have to make concessions to Russia to get gas during the heating season, allegedly due to anti-Russian sanctions.

In fact, as the Center for Combating Disinformation writes, Ukraine's allies continue to work on another package of anti-Russian sanctions, and German Economy Minister Habek, whose comment is cited by Politico, said that he would be the first to advocate for another tough package of European Union sanctions.

The Russian propaganda media spread this message.

As the Center for Combating Disinformation writes, similar messages are being spread in the media space of Russia after the terrorist attack in Vinnytsia. The Center believes that the occupiers struck the city center, not by accident, and that these actions are revenge for the successful use of HIMARS surface-to-air missiles, due to which the Russians suffered losses along the entire front line. "The destruction of Russian weapons depots, oil depots, and disruption of their logistics routes caused panic in the ranks of the Russian army. Because of this, the enemy resorted to terror tactics to cause a riot in Ukraine, which would force the leadership of our country to sign "peace" on the terms of the Russians. Moreover, Russian propaganda uses methods of intimidation and blackmail to stop the supply of HIMARS surface-to-air missiles, as well as other heavy equipment," the Center reports. President Zelensky called on Ukraine's partners to recognize Russia as a "terrorist state" as soon as possible and to approve new sanctions against Russia after the attack on Vinnytsia.

Anonymous pro-Russian Telegram channels continue to modify the message about Russia's lightning victory. Now, referring to unknown sources, propagandists write that the war will be long since it is precisely what benefits Russia. Allegedly, the Russian Federation will not stop until it cuts off Ukraine from the sea to reduce its role in the international arena. The continuation of the message that "Odesa is more important than Kyiv" was predicted by the Center for Combating Disinformation.

In addition, propagandists returned to accusing Volodymyr Zelensky of unleashing wars because he allegedly "renounced the Minsk agreements." In fact, it was Putin who "tore the Minsk agreements to pieces," US Ambassador to the UN Linda Thomas-Greenfield said when he recognized the LDR/DNR terrorist group.

Russian propaganda uses quotes from Polish historian Tomash Jankovsky to discredit Ukraine on the international stage. In particular, during an interview on the air of the Russian propaganda program "Solovyev Live," Yankovsky stated that "extreme nationalism is flourishing in Ukraine," and Poles "do not actuallyn support Ukrainians," they are "forced to do so by the European Union." Jankovsky also believes that the change of power in Poland will not improve relations with Russia since many Polish politicians have received a Western education and have "Russophobic views." According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, Jankovsky repeatedly expressed anti-Ukrainian theses; in particular, he talked about "wild Ukrainians" in Europe and that Ukraine as a state poses a danger to Poland.

In this way, Russian propaganda tries to create a false impression of Ukraine's isolation in the international arena, neutralize the importance of the growing military aid of the West to Ukraine, and demoralize Ukrainians.

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels combine three messages into one:

Such a combination, similar to an ultimatum, aims to demoralize Ukrainians and further promote to Europeans the idea of ​​the need for peace talks. At the same time, we draw attention to the fact that according to the classic scheme, propagandists base their messages on gossip and anonymous sources. In addition, anonymous telegram channels are moving the dates of occupation referendums in this way: before that, they were announced for September 11.    

The Center for Combating Disinformation called this message the main narrative promoted by the Russian media today and predicts that similar provocations will continue to appear in the media space to destabilize society and as an explanation for missile attacks. CPD writes that propagandists describe the need to cut Ukraine from the sea completely. The CPD explained the reasons for such statements: "Firstly, Russia is afraid of basing the naval forces of the collective West in the future. Thus, propagandists reinforce the disinformation campaign that Russia is actually at war with NATO and that the Armed Forces are just a proxy army. Secondly, the Kremlin understands that they cannot and will not be able to take Kyiv.    

The Chairman of the State Duma of Russia, Vyacheslav Volodin, spread the information that the USA is allegedly involved in creating COVID-19; therefore, it must compensate for the damages to the countries affected by the coronavirus pandemic. In this statement, he again spread a fake about "US biolaboratories."

In fact, the WHO commission, which investigated the circumstances of the beginning of the epidemic in China and studied the possible origin of the new virus, reported that COVID-19 has a natural birth - the natural source is bats. The WHO did not detect any cases of coronavirus disease before December, so the first place of the spread of the virus was Wuhan (China). Moreover, experts consider it "extremely unlikely" that the virus escaped from the Wuhan Institute of Virology. There is no evidence that this virus, or a similar one, was studied in Wuhan laboratories. In addition, as VoxUkraine previously reported, various studies had confirmed that the MERS-Cov virus most likely originated in bats and was transmitted to camels before it acquired the ability to transmit to humans - the same with the SARS-CoV-2 virus. "Most scientists and the WHO are inclined to think that the virus arose due to a natural mutation and passed to humans from animals. It is confirmed by more recent studies of samples of the new coronavirus," the fact-checkers said. Fakes about the so-called "American biolaboratories," particularly in Ukraine, were repeatedly refuted by "Media Detector" - read more here.    

Russian propaganda spreads such messages in its media and Telegram channels. At the same time, propagandists refer to Western media - The Sunday Time, Daily Banner, BB-CNTV, and others. For example, the Western press wrote that the lack of agreement in NATO caused "the defeat of the idea of ​​deploying small contingents of the Alliance's troops in Western Ukraine." But it is not true. In fact, the Russian media only used the article's headline, which refers to the "division" of the alliance countries, not the "split," to spread a manipulative message.

The original source of the publication, which was reprinted by Western publications, is the British weekly The Sunday Time. The article tells that the countries of the North Atlantic Alliance are conditionally divided into three groups based on their views on the Russian-Ukrainian war and assessments of options for developing the situation. The first group is the so-called "hawks" - countries bordering Russia. They believe that NATO should do everything possible to help Ukraine regain control over its territory. Russia's defeat should be so devastating that it will no longer claim the territory of neighboring states. The second group is "doves," which includes countries that want a ceasefire and consider Kyiv's territorial concessions in favor of Moscow acceptable. Such an "agreement is unfair but practical." The third group - "ostriches," are those states that do not pay much attention to the conflict in Ukraine, although they support the documents adopted by NATO. Despite such a division of opinion, at the end of June, the leaders of the NATO member states adopted a new strategic concept, in which Russia is officially recognized as the biggest threat to the security of the North Atlantic Alliance. The main factor influencing the decision of the alliance was the military actions in Ukraine, which shook Euro-Atlantic security and "caused untold suffering and destruction." Such a decision testifies to the strategic unity of NATO countries. Russian propaganda systematically uses distorted or out-of-context quotes from Western politicians and media to promote individual messages, fakes, and manipulations. In this way, they are trying to destroy partnership relations between Ukraine and the world.    

This information was announced, on July 3, in the program "Moscow. Kremlin. Putin" on the TV channel "Russia 1" by the press secretary of the President of Russia, Dmytro Peskov. He noted that now the demand for initiatives to calm the situation around Ukraine has decreased. Still, sooner or later, common sense will prevail, and the turn of negotiations will come again. According to him, Ukrainians should agree to Russia's terms, sit at the negotiating table, and record a document that had already been decided mainly upon earlier. Peskov believes that the West is currently preventing a peaceful settlement.

Earlier, Peskov stated that the war could be stopped by the end of the day. They said that to end the war, it was enough for the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to order the military to lay down their arms and fulfill all of Moscow's ultimatums.

Then Mykhaylo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the President's Office and a member of the Ukrainian delegation to the negotiations with Russia, answered him: "Ukraine did not start this war to stop it "on orders." The war can be ended in Moscow at any time, simply by returning to adequacy: stop sending rockets to cities, withdraw troops, and abandon "nuclear propaganda." The position of Ukraine has not changed since that time.    

Ukrainian refugees who fled due to the large-scale war unleashed by Russia and, besides found refuge in European countries, are haunted by Russian propagandists. On July 2, pro-Kremlin Telegram channels and mass media exploded with many reports: "Great Britain, Belgium, Slovakia, Poland are tired of Ukrainians and will drive forced migrants out into the street."

Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council, Dmytro Medvedev, compared Ukrainian refugees and Poland to a crisis in marital relations: "It seems that the stormy romance between Europeans and Ukrainians is coming to an end. They no longer want them; they are tired of them. Crazy Poles remembered their crazy nationalism. And now they are shouting to almost four million Ukrainians who have settled in their country that they are in Poland." He believes that "fading feelings should not be rekindled by any promises of a future slow and unequal marriage (mythical accession to the EU)" and that Ukrainians should "for their own happiness to break this marriage union forever."

Anonymous channels on Telegram shared a video with a woman who called to throw Ukrainians out of Poland with their bare hands because, they say, they got a swelled head. In other materials in the Russian media, it is described that Ukrainians in Europe "look at bread as garbage" and "demand luxury." Moreover, Europeans and Britons are outraged by the drunkenness and rudeness of Ukrainian refugees. And they must emphasize that from July 1, the Polish government will no longer pay aid to Ukrainian refugees.

Fact-checkers from Mythdetector reported that from July 1, aid would stop only for those Ukrainian refugees who have lived in Poland for 120 days; the aid payment will continue for the rest of the refugees. The Deputy Minister of Internal Affairs of Poland, the Government Commissioner for Refugee Affairs, Pavlo Schefernaker, noted that four months after the beginning of the Russian-Ukrainian war, the Polish government moved to a new stage of helping refugees. He said that among Ukrainian refugees, about 1.2 million people received PESEL (identification number), of which more than 500,000 are currently of working age. The Polish government will help them to adapt and work. According to Schafernaker, more than half of the non-disabled refugees have already started working.

According to UN data, as of June 28, 4,312,612 Ukrainian refugees have arrived in Poland since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. As part of the assistance from Poland, a regulation came into force on March 16, 2022, according to which the Polish government will help residents who provide housing and food to Ukrainian refugees at the rate of 40 zlotys per day per adult. Aid is valid for 120 days.

It was stated by the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Oleksandr Lukashenko, at a meeting on the occasion of the country's independence, Belta reports.

"The goal is to deal with Russia and Belarus in one fell swoop. They are allegedly worried; they declare from Ukraine that they would not like Belarusian troops to invade Ukraine through the northern border. Don't listen to them! They would be happy," Lukashenko said.

He believes that the invasion of Belarusian troops is necessary for Ukraine so that Ukrainian politicians and Volodymyr Zelensky can "shout" more about the atrocities of fascists from Russia and Belarus.

"Once again, I repeat what I said a year or more ago: we do not seek to fight in Ukraine," - Lukashenko. In June of this year, Lukashenko assured us that the West is trying to involve Belarus in the war in Ukraine and that Belarus should not get involved "in this conflict and not create a "military group." In fact, Lukashenko is deceiving.

On May 26, he announced that Belarus would create a new operational command in the southern direction, that is, on the border with Ukraine. The next day, May 27, Lukashenko ordered the formation of a people's militia, which was supposed to strengthen the country's security and defense capabilities.

At the end of May, the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine announced that the Belarusian military began removing tanks and combat vehicles stored from the bases. In addition, Belarus is working on the creation of strike groups.

In early June, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus suggested that Belarusian troops may have to fight for Western Ukraine so that it is not "pulled away by the West."

On July 3, Oleksandr Lukashenko once again reminded us, "Belarus is the only country that supports Russia in the fight against Nazism, and it will continue to do so." It is worth noting that as of May, since the beginning of Russia's invasion of Belarus, 633 rockets have been launched in Ukraine; such data was made public by the "Belarusian Gayun" initiative.

On June 25, about 30 missiles were fired at the Zhytomyr region from Belarus.

At the end of June, the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine announced that Russia was increasing its military presence in Belarus.

According to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Belarus is being drawn into the war more actively than at the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and "everything has been decided" in the Kremlin.    

It was said by the President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, speaking at the celebration of the 100th anniversary of illegal Russian intelligence. In this way, he said, the "collective West" is trying to maintain its dominance and restrain the development of Russia based on "traditional values."

This statement was made at the same time as statements by world leaders about increasing military aid to Ukraine after the G7 summit. In particular, US President Joe Biden announced that more than 50 countries would provide Ukraine with a new military aid package. NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg also expressed support for Ukraine and confirmed the intention to supply a large number of modern weapons, particularly heavy weapons according to NATO standards, including modern Western equipment. It is not the first attempt by the Russian president to convince Ukrainians of the hostility of the actions of the "collective West" and Russia's "loyalty" to Ukraine. However, while Russia launches missile strikes on the civilian population daily, the world is united in helping Ukraine.    

Dmytro Peskov, Press Secretary of the President of Russia, stated this at another briefing. They said that to end the war, it was enough for the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelensky, to order the military to lay down their arms and fulfill all of Moscow's ultimatums. Peskov added, "the special operation is going according to plan, and the terms of its completion are still unknown."

The Office of the President of Ukraine reacted to this message. "Ukraine did not start this war to stop it "on orders." The war can be ended in Moscow at any time, simply by returning to adequacy: stop sending missiles to cities, withdraw troops and abandon "nuclear propaganda," commented Mykhailo Podolyak, adviser to the head of the OP and a member of the Ukrainian delegation at the negotiations with Russia.

Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov said in an interview with The Economist that Russia is explicitly trying to sow panic and fear to force Ukraine to capitulate, but this tactic did not work. According to him, the people of Ukraine will never make territorial concessions to Russia, which has shed so much Ukrainian blood. "They [Russia] are trying to create enough chaos, panic, and fear to get us to sign the surrender. It did not work. We did not even come close to such a mood," Reznikov noted.

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy calls on partners to recognize Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. He also repeatedly stated in his speeches that Ukraine would not surrender.

Russian propagandists used various fake justifications for the missile attack on the Kremenchuk, Poltava region shopping center. At first, anonymous Telegram channels did not rule out that the Russian Federation could have carried out the attack, but later they began to look for evidence that the Ukrainians were to blame.

Some wrote about pre-planned provocations in Kremenchuk and called the tragedy a "fire." "The explosion in Kremenchuk may become the largest-scale Ukrainian provocation, which can only be compared with Bucha," writes the Telegram channel, which allegedly found evidence of a planned provocation. This proof consists in the fact that the authors of the channel allegedly found the newly created channel "Who is being followed on Twitter," in which they published videos and a list of accounts of foreign politicians just after the events in Kremenchuk.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels from the "SSU list" promote the message that the mall caught fire due to an explosion at a nearby factory, referring to "numerous videos" from the scene of the events. Instead, they note that "the place of impact is not shown." Propagandists have already resorted to these scenarios after shelling residential buildings in Kyiv and Odesa, the railway station in Kramatorsk, and the genocide in Buch and Irpen.

The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported in a summary that a strike from a high-precision weapon took place at the plant warehouses, and the flames spread to the shopping center, which was not working. After this statement, anonymous Telegram channels began to spread messages, allegedly Ukrainians "bleached" to the Russians that "there is something" at the object, and the shopping center was deliberately not closed during the alarm.

On June 27, around 4:00 p.m., the Russians fired missiles at the largest shopping center in Kremenchuk, Amstor, which was visited by hundreds of people. The information about the missile attack was confirmed by the head of the Central Security Agency of the region, the mayor of Kremenchuk, and the video was published by the official telegram channel of the President of Ukraine.

The Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that the shopping center was hit by X-22 missiles fired from long-range Tu-22 M3 bombers. "The planes of the Rashists took off from the Shaykovka airfield, and the launches were carried out from the Kursk region," the post reads. The Russians fired the same missiles at an oil refinery in Kremenchuk on May 12, the "Poltavshchyna" publication writes.

With such statements, pro-Russian Telegram channels reacted to Ukraine's obtaining the status of a candidate country for joining the EU. In fact, such a message is a development of manipulation on this topic. At first, Russian propagandists spread the idea that Ukraine would never be accepted into the European Union. "European leaders do not need Ukraine as part of the European Union," propagandist Solovyov said. Further, before the official decision of the EU leaders appeared, the Russian media was convinced that the candidate status did not guarantee anything for Ukraine because it was unknown when after that it would be able to join the European Union and whether it would become a member of the union at all. Propagandists have now emphasized that other countries felt "pity" for Ukraine because of the Russian invasion, although Russian politicians deny the "invasion" and call it a "special operation."

Russian mass media spread the thesis that "Ukrainian pilots consider the use of American MQ-1C Gray Eagle attack drones dangerous, and the Turkish Bayraktars - actually useless." The seemingly significant strengthening of Russian air defense forces prompts the Ukrainian military to this opinion. Such messages appeared after the information about the "Narodnyi Bayraktar" initiative from the Serhiy Prytula Foundation. Within a few days of work, the fund reports collecting a record amount of donations from Ukrainian citizens, businesses, and even politicians for purchasing three such aircraft for the Armed Forces. So, we can assume that spreading such messages is a way to devalue the help of the Ukrainian army and discredit the work of volunteers.

Messages of this content are actively spreading on the network after the news that the European Parliament adopted a resolution supporting granting Ukraine and Moldova the status of candidates for EU membership. The final decision on this has not yet been made.

However, many reports on the network have already written that resolution would not guarantee anything for Ukraine. Because it is unknown when it will be able to join the European Union and whether it will become a member of the union, such reports cite as an example Turkey, which has been a candidate for EU membership for over 20 years. He wrote that the same situation could be with Ukraine. Turkey really received the status of a candidate for joining the EU back in 1999. Currently, the status of a candidate for joining the European Union is held by: North Macedonia (since 2005); Montenegro (since 2010); Serbia (since 2012); Albania (since 2014). However, they are still quite far from the goal of joining the EU. In the case of Turkey, in 2018, the EU General Affairs Council stated that "Turkey is moving further away from the European Union.

Therefore, negotiations on Turkey's accession have effectively reached an end, and further chapters for opening or closing, as well as further work on the modernization of the EU-Turkey Customs Union, cannot be considered. That is, we can say that Turkey's accession to the EU has been going on for more than 20 years because the country does not fulfill the requirements set before it as conditions for accession. It is too early to talk about how long Ukraine's candidacy may last, and there is no reason to assume that the process may drag on for more than 20 years, as in the case of Turkey. However, obtaining the status of a candidate for EU membership is a significant step for Ukraine on the way to European integration.

According to the Center for Combating Disinformation, Russian propaganda, with the help of Japanese parliamentarian Muneo Suzuki, is trying to persuade Ukraine to negotiate with Russia and surrender. In particular, Suzuki, in a comment to the Russian "RIA Novosti" on June 22, blamed Ukraine for the fact that Russia unleashed a full-scale war. According to him, "Kyiv is responsible for the non-fulfillment of the Minsk agreements." As the Center reports, such a statement by a Japanese politician is a continuation of his rhetoric that Ukraine should urgently surrender. "On June 16, Yahoo News Japan published an article by Suzuki, in which the politician stated: if Ukraine cannot fight without the help of the West, "honorable surrender is important to save lives," the Center claims.

Such information spreads in anonymous pro-Russian Telegram channels. First, thanks to such statements, Russia is trying to justify its defeats in Ukraine.

They said that the Russian army had not yet used all its forces, methods, and weapons, so the Armed Forces of Ukraine managed to give them a decent rebuff. In particular, we are talking about the well-known "taking Kyiv" in three days and other unsuccessful operations of the Russian army in Ukraine. Secondly, such messages also perform the function of intimidation.

For example, if you do not surrender and do not make concessions to Russia, the Russian army will fight even more fiercely. However, the Russian military commits war crimes in Ukraine daily: they destroy infrastructure and kill civilians. The fact that the Russian army is suffering losses and gradually losing ground in certain locations is not because it is not fighting at full strength but because the Armed Forces of Ukraine are repulsing it with dignity.

Anonymous pro-Russian Telegram channels distribute information with such a message. Their authors are convinced that if the West prolongs the supply of weapons to Ukraine, it will start using them to attack Russia.

However, representatives of the Ukrainian authorities have already repeatedly explained that Ukraine uses weapons provided by allied countries exclusively for self-defense - to fight off the enemy that attacks our territory and protect its sovereignty. In particular, the head of the German Ministry of Defense, Christine Lambrecht, said about the non-use of weapons in the attack on Russia: "We did not need to demand this from the Ukrainians; they clearly stated it. We are confident that Ukraine will use weapons only for defense."

Ukraine is a peaceful country and does not attack other countries; in the case of a Russian-Ukrainian war, it only defends itself. Therefore, weapons are needed precisely for defense. However, using such a message, Russian propaganda wants to convince our Western partners that giving weapons to Ukraine can be dangerous. It is beneficial for Russia that its partner countries do not provide Ukraine with weapons for defense.

Russian propaganda spreads an article by the Chinese political scientist Minxin Pei, talking about the "powerlessness" of the West in front of the "union of Russia and China." In this way, Russia tries to create the impression that it has strong support in the international arena.

However, it is fake. According to the Anti-Disinformation Center, Minxin Pei's op-ed piece published by Bloomberg does say that China and Russia maintain a "strategic unity" that is a geopolitical challenge to the West. He also notes that China and Russia share "similar nationalistic values ​​and deep antipathy to the West." However, in the material, the author does not mention the "powerlessness" of Western countries before the union of Russia and China. In other publications, the author believes that Putin wants to involve China in a military conflict. However, China is trying to support Russia without directly participating in the war and crossing the "red lines" of the United States.

According to Minxin Pei, China is in a difficult situation due to the statement on the strategic partnership with Russia signed on February 4, 2022. At the same time, Russian propaganda uses an exclusively beneficial part of the Chinese political scientist's statements to form the image of China as its reliable partner, rejecting part of the statements about China's efforts to maintain neutrality.