The pro-Russian segment of the Internet is spreading information that Ukrainian doctors allegedly removed a healthy kidney from a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who was wounded near Sudzha as a result of a Russian drone attack. In claiming this, the propagandists refer to a message on Facebook from the Ukrainian soldier's “girlfriend”, who announced a collection for the man's rehabilitation and allegedly reported that he “no longer has a kidney”.

However, the information about the removal of the Ukrainian soldier's kidney is not true - the propagandists edited the original message of a Facebook user under the nickname Victoria Pendeliuk. The woman did announce a collection for the rehabilitation of the man, but did not report the disappearance of his kidney. So, if one looks at the screenshot of Victoria Pendeliuk's message, which is being distributed by propagandists, and the real message, one will notice that the original publication does not contain the words “and he no longer has a kidney”.

On Facebook, it would be noticeable if the post had been edited. In this case, when you click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the post, the option “View edit history” appears. Some of the posts by Facebook user Victoria Pendeliuk were indeed edited after publication, but no changes were made to the post announcing a fundraiser for the man's rehabilitation. Accordingly, the option “View edit history” is not displayed on it.

After all, Facebook user Victoria Pendeliuk is in fact the wife, not the girlfriend, of the wounded Ukrainian serviceman, and she has already managed to publish a new message refuting the “news” about her husband’s “disappearance of a kidney”.

This fake is intended to feed the Russian narrative about the alleged flourishing of black transplantology in Ukraine. They say that black transplantologists are profiting from the war in Ukraine. We have previously analyzed a number of fakes on this topic. For example, we wrote about disinformation that the heart of a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier is allegedly being sold on the darknet for 70 thousand dollars.

Pro-Russian sources, citing the Polish publication Gazeta.pl, are spreading information that from November 20, 2024, paper hryvnias will allegedly be printed only in Poland. According to the propagandists, the reasons for this decision are power outages, a shortage of materials, and the expensive logistics of producing the national currency in Ukraine.

However, in reality, this is a fake, journalists from the StopFake project write. First of all, the gazeta.pl website did not disseminate the relevant information. In addition, the publication publishes materials exclusively in Polish (the fake material is in English), and does not create video content (the source of the fake is a fabricated video). In the end, neither the National Bank of Ukraine itself, nor any authoritative media published the relevant “news”.

By spreading such fakes, Russian propaganda is trying to undermine trust in the Ukrainian banking system. We have previously recorded disinformation concerning the National Bank of Ukraine. For example, we refuted information that cryptocurrency payments were banned in Ukraine.

On November 1, 2024, the US Department of Defense announced another security assistance package for Ukraine worth $425 million. It included ammunition for HIMARS, NASAMS, and artillery systems.

In response to this, Russian telegram channels began writing that, given the allegedly colossal losses of specialists in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and the reduction in the training periods for Ukrainian military personnel, it is becoming clear that NATO personnel are sitting at the control panels of this military equipment. Therefore, as the propagandists claim, the appearance of North Korean military personnel in the Russian-Ukrainian war is natural, and this should not be surprising.

By reporting on “NATO members” controlling Western military equipment, propagandists are trying to feed the narrative of Russia’s alleged war against the entire NATO bloc, and not just against Ukraine. That Ukraine is allegedly just a puppet in the hands of “NATO masters”, and that “NATO bases and troops” are located on its territory.

In addition, in this way, propagandists try to justify the involvement of North Korean troops in the war. They say that NATO members are fighting on the side of Ukraine, and accordingly, soldiers from the DPRK can allegedly fight for Russia.

The pro-Russian segment of the Internet is spreading information that the head doctor of a medical institution in Cherkasy refused to provide medical assistance to parishioners of the UOC MP. This allegedly happened after a scuffle between representatives of the OCU and believers of the UOC MP near the Cherkasy St. Michael's Cathedral due to the fact that some parishioners were unhappy with the decision of chaplain Volodymyr Pedko to transfer the church to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The propagandists write that as a result of the clash, about 20 people with serious injuries sought hospital treatment, but the head doctor Oleksandr Fedoruk forbade documenting the injuries of some of the victims, providing them with first aid, and hospitalizing them. So this is allegedly “evidence of religious intolerance” towards Orthodox believers in Ukraine.

In fact, this information is false, StopFake journalists report.

The Third Cherkasy City Hospital of Emergency Medical Care published a refutation of this news on its Facebook page: “On October 17, 2024, 10 people who were injured during these events turned to the Third Cherkasy City Hospital of Emergency Medical Care. Six were provided with outpatient care, two were hospitalized in the traumatology department, two in the neurosurgery department. All who sought help received it in full. The information about the refusal to provide assistance is false and discredits our establishment”.

Soon after the incident occurred, law enforcement agencies began investigating it: the regional national police opened a criminal case under Part 4 of Article 296 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine - hooliganism. The maximum punishment that can be threatened under the sanction of the article is imprisonment for a term of two to five years.

The religious community of Cherkasy voted and made a decision to transfer the church to the subordination of the OCU back in June 2024, and on October 17, the process was finalized. The corresponding order was issued and signed by the Cherkasy Regional Military Administration. As a result, the UOC community is no longer registered at this address and has also lost its property rights. “The Russian Orthodox Church has occupied the territory of St. Michael's Cathedral and hypocritically calls itself the Ukrainian Church, so today we did it. We must liberate all of Ukraine from the Russian occupation and the spiritual Russian occupation”, said military chaplain Father Nazarii in a commentary to Cherkasy Suspilne (Public) about the transfer of the church to the subordination of the OCU.

This fake is intended to feed the Russian narrative that Ukraine is allegedly persecuting people on religious grounds. We previously recorded disinformation that an OCU priest refused to perform the funeral service for Ukrainian defenders baptized in the UOC MP.

Russian propaganda Telegram channels are distributing a video in which a friend of a Ukrainian soldier, who was posthumously awarded the Order of Courage, 3rd degree, allegedly shows the state's assistance to the family of the deceased. The video says that the family was given toothpaste, antiseptic, seasoning, and a sheet. The man in the video concludes that this is not the kind of assistance that the family actually needs.

However, this is a fake, the VoxCheck project writes. Despite the fact that the order shown in the video is real, the aid shown in the video was unlikely to have been provided by the Ukrainian authorities. After all, among the items shown, there is not a single one that was produced or sold in Ukraine. For example, OraLine Bubble Gum toothpaste for children is produced and sold in the USA. The antiseptic is also not available for sale in Ukraine, but can be ordered from the UK. The manufacturer of the bed sheet is the Finnish company Sakupe, its products are also not available for sale in Ukraine.

Accordingly, it is unlikely that the Ukrainian authorities would purchase household items, such as toothpaste or bed sheets, from foreign companies to help the families of fallen defenders. Perhaps these items were transferred to Ukraine as humanitarian aid, and propagandists passed it off as state support for the families of fallen soldiers.

Families of Ukrainian soldiers killed at the front receive a one-time payment of 15 million hryvnia from the state. If a soldier died during his service, but not during combat, his relatives receive financial assistance in the amount of 750 subsistence minimums. As of January 1, 2024, the subsistence minimum is 3,028 UAH for able-bodied individuals. That is, the family of a fallen soldier receives almost 2.3 million hryvnia. However, this amount may change with the change in the subsistence minimum. These amounts, 2.3 or 15 million, are equally divided between all members of the deceased's family. The following are entitled to receive the funds: the parents of the deceased; one of the spouses who has not remarried; children under 18; dependents.

Also, families of missing soldiers, in addition to maintaining monthly payments for the soldier (official salary, salary for military rank, allowances for length of service, other monthly additional types of monetary support), are provided with an additional payment, which was assigned to the soldier for participation in military operations, in the amount of 100 thousand hryvnia. The family is deprived of such payments if the soldier voluntarily surrendered, deserted or arbitrarily left the military unit or place of service.

We have previously recorded similar fakes from Russians. In particular, they spread disinformation about a dead Ukrainian soldier buried in an anonymous grave, as well as about the alleged theft of personal belongings of a Ukrainian soldier at his funeral.