Propagandists claim on anonymous Telegram channels that Ukraine allegedly created concentration camps in the Sumy region, and these camps contain not only Russian civilians captured in the Kursk region, but also local Ukrainians, allegedly “awaiting the arrival of the Russian army”. However, this is a fake.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes about it. Its specialists found out that Russian sources came up with different versions to explain the purpose of these camps. Among them are the use of civilian prisoners as human shields, their forced participation in demining minefields or for creating staged videos. At the same time, Russian propaganda does not provide any evidence to support its claims.

The purpose of this disinformation is to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine and distract attention from the war crimes that Russia itself is committing in the occupied territories, including forced measures to filter out civilians and kidnap children. Such fakes create a false impression of events in Ukraine and try to justify Russia's actions by manipulating fears and distracting from responsibility for its crimes.

According to propagandists, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, by giving orders to attack Russia's energy, fuel and transport infrastructure, has unleashed an “infrastructure war”. It consists of Ukraine shelling Russian critical infrastructure facilities, such as oil refineries, and Russia, in turn, “hits back”. Zelenskyi allegedly started the “infrastructure game”, knowing full well that he was exposing his people to a large-scale crisis. Accordingly, after this, according to propagandists, the Kremlin seems to have every reason to completely destroy Ukraine's energy infrastructure. However, this is not happening, since Putin “does not want Ukrainians to suffer”.

Propagandists claim that Russia is already engaged in an “infrastructure war” due to Ukraine's fault. But Ukraine, unlike Russia, allegedly cannot attack long-range targets due to a lack of long-range weapons, so it attacks border targets: bridges, energy facilities, railroads, and the like. According to Russian propaganda, once the Ukrainian Armed Forces have this capability, the Ukrainian military will “definitely” attack thermal power plants and thermal power plants in Russia.

According to Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Ukraine never attacks Russian civilian infrastructure. Ukraine uses its drones and UAVs to attack precisely those Russian infrastructure facilities that allow it to continue waging a war of conquest. By attacking the same oil refineries, Ukraine aims to destabilize the domestic Russian fuel market, as well as reduce Russia’s income from oil exports, the only major source of income for this state, which bypasses sanctions from the US, EU, and other partners of Ukraine. According to Bloomberg, in 2023 alone, Russia's net budget revenues from oil and gas amounted to about $99.3 billion. And revenues specifically from oil exports are about 27.5% of the total, which in 2023 amounted to $360 billion, according to one Russian media outlet.

Russian propagandists use the idea of ​​an “infrastructure war” to intimidate people with new Russian attacks on Ukraine's infrastructure in the winter. And they shift the blame for the attacks to Ukraine. They say that the Ukrainian authorities made a mistake when they started hitting Russia's critical infrastructure, so now ordinary Ukrainians will pay for it. That is, the propagandists completely deny Ukraine's right to defend itself. At the same time, Russia began shelling Ukraine's critical infrastructure two years ago, on October 10, 2022.

Propagandists are spreading information on social networks that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly bought Hitler's ceremonial car for $15 million. However, this is a fake.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council reports on this. Its experts found out that this fake comes from the Seattle Tribune website, created just five days ago, and the article with this information does not have an indicated author. The material presents a photo of a car allegedly parked near the President's Office, and claims that it was published by a well-known Ukrainian Telegram channel. However, there is no such photo on the aforementioned Telegram channel.

This fake is one of many aimed at personally discrediting the President of Ukraine and his family. Propagandists are trying to present Volodymyr Zelenskyi as a person making wasteful and provocative purchases during the war, undermining his reputation and reducing the level of trust in him. By spreading fake news about the leadership's misconduct, propagandists are trying to sow distrust among Ukrainian society and reduce support for government institutions. The choice of Hitler's car in the fake is intended to evoke associations with Nazism, which is part of Kremlin propaganda that constantly tries to create an image of the Ukrainian government as “neo-Nazi”.

Propagandists claim that Warsaw allegedly has territorial claims on Western Ukraine. They say, if the Polish army enters Volyn, the Lukashenko regime will support the local population, since Belarusians will be next. The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security writes about it.

They indicate that this message has been used by propagandists since the very beginning of the full-scale invasion. Poland has been a reliable ally of Ukraine since the beginning of the war, and there is no evidence to support its territorial claims. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Belarus has become a base for Russian attacks on Ukraine. In addition, the so-called allied relations between Moscow and Minsk are considered a “diplomatic occupation of Belarus”, since Putin actually controls both the power bloc and military structures in Belarus, which indicates the loss of its sovereignty.

This misinformation is being spread to create distrust and tension between Ukraine and Poland, two key allies in the fight against Russian aggression. Russia and Belarus use this message to weaken the support of Ukraine from Poland and other Western countries, which provide significant military, humanitarian and economic assistance. This fake is also trying to blow up internal unity in Ukraine. In addition, its dissemination aims to distract attention from the real role of Belarus in the war as an ally of Russia and a participant in the aggression against Ukraine. In a broader context, such fakes help to create an image of an external enemy for Belarusian society, amplifying the rhetoric of fear and mobilization around threats to sovereignty in order to justify Lukashenko's political actions and strengthen Belarus' dependence on Russia.

Propagandists claim on social networks that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly hid from the Russian army in bunkers for two days. They say it was impossible to reach him by phone. Russian propaganda is spreading this information with reference to a statement by former NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg. However, this is manipulation.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Security draws attention to it. Its specialists found out that Russian propaganda distorted Stoltenberg’s words in an interview with the FT, in which he actually spoke about communication difficulties and enhanced security measures that had to be resorted to in the first days of a full-scale invasion, when Russian troops were in close proximity to Kyiv. Commenting on Zelenskyi’s behavior after the start of the full-scale invasion, Stoltenberg admitted that he “completely underestimated” the Ukrainian president.

Propaganda is trying to present the Ukrainian president as a weak, indecisive leader who allegedly hides at critical moments rather than acts. Russian propaganda is also trying to deflect criticism of Volodymyr Putin, who is often called a bunker dictator due to his isolationist tendencies and fears for his own safety. The spread of fake information about Zelenskyi aims to remove this image from Putin and reduce the severity of criticism directed at him.