Fake emails from the State Emergency Service of Ukraine have started arriving in Ukrainians' email inboxes. These emails talk about the so-called “rocket attack” on the Rivne NPP, which resulted in increased radiation levels. The emails contain evacuation instructions and links to unknown resources.

Experts advise the Center for Countering Disinformation to mark such letters as spam and not to follow the links under any circumstances. If you do follow the link, contact the Cyberpolice.

Russia is speculating on the use of a “dirty bomb” to sow distrust in Ukraine and force the world to spend resources on refuting the accusations of propagandists. An IAEA commission came to Ukraine to check whether a “dirty bomb” was really being developed at the sites that Russia claimed to be developing – the Eastern Mining and Processing Plant in Zhovti Vody and the Institute for Nuclear Research of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine. The result of the inspection was that the Agency did not find any signs of such a weapon at Ukrainian nuclear sites.

The fake news about Ukraine creating a “dirty bomb” is a mirror response from Russia, the purpose of which is to try to convince the world that it is Ukraine that is acting as a terrorist group. This, by the way, is one of the most common messages of Russian propaganda, constantly trying to accuse Ukraine of terrorism, saying that it itself is shelling Ukrainian civilians and launching missile strikes on its own critical infrastructure.

Read more: “Dirty Bomb”: What is it and why did Russia come up with this fake?

Experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation have recorded an information campaign by Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Citing the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, they claim that Ukraine, “at the instigation” of the United States, is preparing a staged Russian missile strike on one of the children's institutions in Ukraine.

The fakers were unable to provide any evidence to support their false thesis. That is, Ukraine is not planning any “shelling”. Russia shells Ukraine almost every day, destroying civilian infrastructure, residential buildings, hospitals, schools, and kindergartens. The propagandists explain that Moscow allegedly does not resort to terrorist attacks, but targets “decision-making centers”. They say that the Kremlin only attacks facilities where military equipment is located or servicemen are present, and therefore does not violate any norms and customs of warfare.

In fact, Russia is trying to hide its criminal actions against peaceful Ukrainians, hiding behind the term “decision-making centers”. But it finds an excuse that shelling military facilities is the norm for war. However, Ukrainian cities are suffering from Russian missiles and drones.

But the infidels do not aim at “decision-making centers”, but purposefully commit genocide against Ukrainians, killing them in their homes, in public places. At the same time, Moscow tries to whitewash itself and deny any crimes. But documented cases of Russian terror show what the terrorist country is actually doing.

By spreading disinformation that speculates on the life of children in war conditions, in particular the so-called children of Donbas, Russian propaganda seeks to discredit Ukraine and the Ukrainian government in the eyes of both its own and Western society. In the stories of Russian propaganda about the life of children in the occupied territories and in the combat zone, the Ukrainian authorities and military are portrayed as ruthless “punishers” whose goal is to exterminate the so-called people of Donbas, who “voluntarily chose to be with Russia”. By telling such stories, Russian propaganda seeks to turn reality upside down and show that nothing will stop the Ukrainian authorities and armies from achieving their goal.

Read also: Ukrainians whom Moscow is turning into enemies: how Russia justifies the deportation of Ukrainian children

Some pro-Kremlin resources have spread information that 58-year-old American Ryan Wesley Routt, suspected of the second attempted assassination of Donald. The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

In fact, this information is not true. The International Legion of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine wrote about this in an official message on its telegram channel: “US citizen Ryan Routh has never served in the International Legion of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine and has no relation to the unit. The rumors spread about this in some media outlets are not true”.

Raut came to Ukraine after the full-scale invasion of Russia. In an interview with Romanian NewsWeek, he said his initial goal was to “come and fight”. But at 56, he had no military experience and, as Raut put it, “was not an ideal candidate for a real war”. So his plan B was to come to Kyiv and promote the idea of many others joining the International Legion. “We need thousands of people here to fight alongside the Ukrainians”, Raut said.

With this manipulation, Russian propaganda seeks to dissuade the United States from providing military and financial support to Ukraine in the war against Russia.

Russian Telegram channels have spread the news that a Ukrainian refugee shot at a church icon in Zurich. The publications are accompanied by a screenshot from the woman's Instagram profile, where she shared a photo in yellow and blue colors with the hashtag #standwithukraine.

But the person pictured is Sania Ameti, a Swiss politician of Bosnian origin with no ties to Ukraine. She is a member of parliament for the Green Liberals and heads the political movement Operation Libero.

Amethi shared a photo on her Instagram in which she was shooting at an image with Christian iconographic motifs online. Following a flurry of outrage, Sania Amethi deleted the post and apologized.

As a result, the Green Liberals leadership determined that the politician's actions did not cause a reputational blow to the entire organization, and will continue to ask Ameta to leave the party.

Russian media, citing a statement by the so-called “representative of the military administration of the Kharkiv region”, are disseminating information that the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly cutting off water and electricity to those residents of the Kharkiv region who refuse “forced evacuation”.

“The Ukrainian authorities have resumed the forced evacuation of the population in the Kupiansk district of the Kharkiv region; local residents who do not want to go are being disconnected from water, electricity and gas”, the propagandists write.

However, the Ukrainian authorities allegedly intend to cut off electricity, gas and water to those who refuse to evacuate, as stated by the representative of the Russian occupation administration in the Kharkiv region, Yevhenii Lisniak, who is accused of collaboration. In the Russian media, he is called “deputy head of the military-civil administration of the Kharkiv region for defense and security”.

It is known that Yevgenii Lisniak lived in Kharkiv until 2014 and worked in the police with the rank of junior lieutenant. From 2015 to 2022, he lived in occupied Luhansk, where he worked in the so-called “Ministry of Internal Affairs of the LPR”. In April 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine reported in absentia that Lisniak was suspected of voluntarily taking a position in an illegal law enforcement agency created in the temporarily occupied territory.

On May 10, 2024, the Russian army launched an offensive in the north of the Kharkiv region. Due to the threat to the lives and health of local residents, the evacuation of the population from the city was accelerated on the same day.

Kremlin media is spreading information that more than 50% of workers in brothels in Germany are Ukrainians. This is reported by the German publication Die Welt, which allegedly interviewed a sex worker.

“There are about 400,000 registered sex workers in Germany, so there are 200,000 Ukrainian women officially working for the European economy? And how many more are unofficial? This is the result of the war and Zelenskyi's policies”, the propagandists add.

However, the Die Welt article does not cover all of Germany, but only the capital, Berlin. The text cites the words of a social worker who hides her name.

She notes that in Berlin brothels, about half of the workers, according to her own feelings, are Ukrainian. That is, the information provided is not even official data, but is based only on the words of an unnamed social worker.

The title of the article from Die Welt is called “There are about 50% Ukrainian women in brothels now”, but it is based on anonymous comments and no official statistics are provided. That is, such a title can be considered manipulative and created to attract the attention of readers. After all, even the article itself is about Berlin, and not the entire Federal Republic geographically.

The interview also raised the issue that some of the Ukrainian women who were invited to live for free in German apartments at the beginning of the full-scale invasion were later forced to “pay for housing with sexual services” and even engage in prostitution. At the same time, those who lured them with false offers of housing blackmailed women from Ukraine and exploited their vulnerable social status in an unfamiliar country. That is, the material also points out the problems due to which many Ukrainian women were forced to engage in prostitution in Berlin, often against their will.

Thus, propaganda tries to diminish the role of Ukrainian women in society as a whole; to hint that they can only work as sex workers. And this is caused by the fact that, supposedly, a Ukrainian refugee is lazy and worthless. She can only dress “daringly” and “wander” around Europe.