A fake news story with a link to a Euronews video appeared on a number of pro-Russian platforms, claiming that Ukrainians in Europe are illegally connecting to power grids in order to get (earn) cryptocurrency. According to the claim, these activities were motivated by the rising value of Bitcoin. The report alleges that over 400 Ukrainians were arrested last month alone and that their actions even caused energy shortages across the continent.

However, this is fake news: the video with such content was not published on the official Euronews website or its social media platforms. Many other details betray the falsity of this story: in particular, it is suspicious that this report did not even name the country where these attackers allegedly operated, but used the abstract wording “Europe”. Moreover, an online search for news about similar incidents did not yield any results either.

This fake news is part of a broader propaganda effort aimed at portraying Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, both a cultural and economic threat to European society, attempting to reduce support for Ukraine. As noted in our prior findings, Russian propaganda has consistently sought to discredit Ukrainian refugees since the start of the large-scale war in Ukraine.

Propagandists regularly spread fakes about them—they call refugees dependents, claim that these Ukrainians went abroad not for safety, but for profit, that they spread various diseases, and so on. Propagandists find these means necessary to perpetuate the idea that Ukrainians are bad people who do not appreciate the help that residents of other countries provide them and that they take advantage of the kindness of people from other countries.

For example, we recently reported that people online spread a fake story allegedly from the French publication Le Figaro, which talked about a Ukrainian refugee accused of murder.

A video with the logo of the Ukrainian media outlet United24 is being distributed online. It claims that 40 doctors in Ukraine were arrested for allegedly breaking men’s limbs for money. According to this video, the injuries were intentionally severe enough to require over a year of rehabilitation, allowing these men to evade mobilization. Now the Verkhovna Rada is supposedly considering the issue of criminal liability for such doctors and for Ukrainian individuals buying this service.

However, United24 Media has not published any such report. Propagandists falsely attribute the video to United24, but no such content exists on the official website or the media outlet’s social media platforms, including Instagram, Facebook, Twitter (X), or YouTube.

The claim also states that police have already arrested 40 doctors involved in this activity. Yet, the National Police of Ukraine has made no such announcements, and there’s no information of this sort in Ukrainian media. This story seems to have first appeared in the Russian Telegram channel Voiennyi Obozrevatel (Military Observer).

Furthermore, the Verkhovna Rada has not registered any draft law proposing criminal liability for doctors allegedly breaking limbs for money or for clients attempting to evade military service through such means.

Russian Telegram channels are spreading a video in which a man says that Ukrainian stores sell dry rations intended for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the video, he shows soup packed in a khaki-colored vacuum-sealed bag as supposed evidence.

However, the label of the soup shown in the video differs from the label of the original dry rations of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The manufacturer of the soup is the company Veres, which sells these products legally, and both civilians and military personnel can buy them in Ukrainian stores.

The packaging clearly indicates that the producer of the buckwheat soup with pork is Veres. This soup, along with other ready-made meals by Veres, is available for purchase at stores like Epicenter and other retail chains in Ukraine. Nowhere on the packaging does it state that the product is exclusively for military use.

While AFU rations do include liquid meals, the packaging of the Veres soup is distinctly different from the standard military rations. Ukrainian military ration packaging typically features a minimalist design with white labels and black text. The khaki-colored vacuum-sealed packaging in the video is the only resemblance to the AFU rations.

A purported December cover of TIME magazine is being circulated online, showing a nuclear mushroom cloud with the headline “Third World War First Nuclear War”. The post claims that unlike TIME, other outlets are intentionally stoking fear with headlines suggesting scenarios like Russia using nuclear weapons, NATO opening a second front, and the inevitability of World War III.

However, TIME magazine has not published an issue with such a cover. The official TIME website does not feature any such cover. As of the publication date of this clarification, TIME had announced only one December 2024 issue. Its cover features a photograph of Elon Musk, highlighting his achievements and potential future plans.

Additionally, a reverse image search on Google reveals that the nuclear mushroom cloud cover is primarily shared on pro-Russian Telegram channels. One such post links to a Telegram channel titled TIME | Finance. This is a closed, anonymous channel mimicking the visual style (name and logo) of the authentic TIME magazine.

Russian propaganda sources are spreading information claiming that the President's Office is preparing for elections. Allegedly, state institutions in the Kharkiv region have been sent questionnaires containing questions related to support for and approval of President Zelenskyi.

However, the President's Office does not have a specific department responsible for conducting surveys. If government agencies were to organize social surveys, they would most likely hire specialized companies capable of providing such services. The inaccuracies in the questions further suggest that the forms were fabricated.

For example, according to Ukrainska Pravda, the President's Office regularly commissions private, closed surveys from sociological services. Meanwhile, the alleged survey forms do not include the name or address of the organization conducting the survey. Instead, at the bottom of the form, the address of the President's Office — Bankova Street, 11 — is listed, which points to this being a fake.