The term “saucepan heads” dates back to the Euromaidan era, but today its use has been intensified by Russian propagandists due to the protests in Georgia. Thus, now they use this word disparagingly not only to Ukrainians, but also to Georgians who are participating in the protests provoked by the statement of the Prime Minister of Georgia Irakli Kobakhidze to stop the European integration process by 2028.

On January 16, 2014, during the Euromaidan, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a number of resonant laws known as the Laws of January 16, Dictatorship Laws, among which was a ban on wearing protective helmets during protests. In response, Ukrainians began to hang saucepans, pots and other objects on their heads to ridicule this law and demonstrate its absurdity. In turn, the Russians began to call Ukrainians “saucepan heads”.

Today, Russian propaganda claims that Georgia “took over the baton from the Ukrainian saucepans, who brought betrayal, devastation, and death upon themselves in 2014”. Propagandists also believe that the protests in Georgia are being paid for by the West, and that a “Tbilisi-Kyiv saucepan deja vu with the distribution of European muzzles” is currently taking place.

By using the term “saucepan heads”, Russian propaganda simultaneously discredits both Euromaidan and today’s events in Georgia, as well as Ukrainians and Georgians who have an active civic position.

Russian Ombudsman Tetiana Moskalkova accused Ukraine of delaying prisoner exchanges and unwillingness to take back its servicemen who have been held in Russia for a long time. However, this is not true.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security writes about this.

Ukrainian Ombudsman Dmytro Lubinets categorically denied these allegations. He emphasized that Ukraine is ready to return all its citizens, particularly the seriously wounded and seriously ill, for which a mixed medical commission has been created. However, the Russian side is still ignoring the process of creating this commission, effectively blocking the possibility of exchanges. Such behavior of Russia, according to Lubinets, is a conscious and cynical tool of pressure on those who expect the return of their loved ones.

Lubinets also noted that Russia systematically uses disinformation aimed at manipulating public opinion and accusing Ukraine of disrupting the negotiations. The Ukrainian side remains open to dialogue and is ready to cooperate, in order to speedily return all its citizens home.

On November 29, the Russian Defense Ministry announced that it had allegedly shot down 10 ATACMS missiles in a week, adding this to the total “successes” in November: 15 ATACMS missiles and 37 HIMARS. Moreover, the Russian Defense Ministry regularly reports about the “destruction” of HIMARS launchers, the number of which has already exceeded the number received by Ukraine. However, this is not true.

This is reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. These kinds of statements are aimed at supporting Russia’s illusions, because Russian propaganda has long operated on the principle of quantitative exaggeration. For example, back in 2017, Serhii Shoihu reported on the “liberation” of 500,000 km² in Syria, although the area of ​​the country is only 185,000 km². At the same time, the real facts remain outside the official reports. November 2024 was the deadliest month for Russia since the start of the war: during that month the Russian army lost 45,720 soldiers, in both killed and wounded. But this data remains unnoticed by propagandists who focus on creating illusory victories.

Russian fake “reports” not only create a false picture of reality for domestic audiences, but are also designed to distract attention from Russia’s massive losses and failures on the front.

Russian propaganda claims on social networks and other media that GSC Game World, developers of the game S.T.A.L.K.E.R. 2: Heart of Chornobyl, has allegedly been cooperating with Ukrainian authorities to mobilize citizens. According to the propagandists, the game allegedly collects personal data of players, such as IP addresses, names, locations, including without their consent, and then transfers this information to Ukrainian military recruitment centers. This fake was accompanied by the use of the Wired magazine logo, which was supposed to give the information an appearance of authenticity. The propagandists also claim that the game development studio received funding from the Ukrainian government in exchange for such activities. However, this is fake news, as reported by the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security.

In fact, the studio GSC Game World raised a significant amount of money ($800,000) in support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine through crowdfunding, and transferred it to the Ukrainian charity foundation “Come Back Alive”. In response, Russia launched a campaign against the game, including releasing statements about the possibility of it being banned in Russia.

This case is another example of the spread of disinformation aimed at discrediting Ukrainian achievements, particularly in the field of video games. It is also a continuation of a campaign similar to the previously recorded disinformation about fake trailers from Netflix, called Matrioshka. The main goal of such fakes is to undermine trust in Ukraine and its initiatives on the world stage.

Propagandists are writing on social media that former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg allegedly stated that “if the ceasefire line provides for the preservation of Russian control over the territories, this means that Ukraine must permanently give up these territories”. However, this is not true.

The experts of the Center for Countering Disinformation were the ones to debunk this. They found out that in fact, in this interview for Table.Briefings, Stoltenberg emphasized that if the ceasefire line means that Russia continues to control all occupied territories, that does not mean that Ukraine has to give up the territory forever. Propagandists distorted his words, claiming that the West allegedly agreed to territorial concessions.

This manipulation is aimed at sowing despair among both Ukrainians and Ukraine’s Western allies, as well as at discrediting the position of NATO and the international community, which supports the territorial integrity of Ukraine and condemns Russian aggression.