Photos of city lights are being distributed in the Russian segment of the Internet, which depict a soldier with two flags flying above him: the national flag of Ukraine and the flag of the LGBTQ+ community. The response advertising is allegedly accompanied by the slogan “We have something to protect”. Some of the messages distributed by the propagandists claim that the city lights were placed all over Kyiv, while other publications write that this advertising was placed in Sumy.

However, in reality, such advertising does not exist in Kyiv, Sumy or any other city in Ukraine. This is a photo fake. Having paid attention to the details in the photo, in particular, to the building in the right corner in one of the photos, fact-checkers from the Bez Brekhi (Without Lies) project noticed that this building is a residential building for workers of the M. V. Frunze Machine-Building Plant. In reality, a completely different city light is located near this building - not with an advertisement for service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but a memorial one - dedicated to the deceased soldier from the Sumy region, Serhii Myronchenko.

Earlier, we refuted the information that KharkivPride allegedly created an advertising campaign “Better a gay Ukrainian soldier than a straight draft dodger”.

Russian sources are spreading information about alleged “atrocities” by Ukrainian soldiers from the 61st separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. The propagandists write that a Ukrainian serviceman allegedly “bragged” online about a photograph depicting “tortured peaceful resisting residents”.

However, this is a fake. The Center for Countering Disinformation found the original message, and it turned out that it had a completely different context. Russian propagandists made certain manipulations with the real correspondence, changing its text in a photo editor and, finally, presenting it as the real one.

The purpose of the fake is to present Ukrainian military personnel in a negative light. That is, it is about discrediting Ukrainian soldiers, in particular those carrying out combat missions in the Kursk region. Earlier, we documented a fake that Ukraine allegedly created “concentration camps” in the Sumy region.

Russian Telegram channels are spreading information that Ukrainians are allegedly risking their lives en masse and registering in the frontline Pokrovsk in Donetsk region. They are doing this in order to become Russian citizens after the city is occupied. In reporting this, the propagandists refer to the corresponding words of former Ukrainian MP Ihor Mosiichuk.

However, such statements are unfounded. This is written about in the VoxCheck project. Using keywords, the project's analysts found the original interview of former MP Mosiichuk, part of which was taken by the Russians. In the video, he really says that Ukrainians are allegedly registering in Pokrovsk because they want to become citizens of Russia. He calls them “waiters” waiting for Russia to come, so that they can then receive a Russian passport and payments. At the same time, Mosiichuk calls “friends who live in Kyiv but have connections in the occupied territories” the source of this information. That is, the former MP does not have any real statistical information, but only operates on guesses. In general, there is no official data regarding Ukrainians who are registering in Pokrovsk.

It is worth noting that in Ukraine there have been cases when the SBU exposed people who were expecting occupation by Russia and spreading Kremlin propaganda, but this is not a widespread phenomenon.

Before the full-scale invasion, Pokrovsk had a population of over 82,000. After Russia stepped up its offensive in Donetsk region and the threat of occupation of the city, people began to leave, and on August 19, 2024, local authorities announced the forced evacuation of families with children. As of September 6, 2024, there were fewer than 25,000 residents in Pokrovsk. On October 4, 2024, the city council reported that about 13,000 people remained in the city.

Ihor Mosiichuk is an unreliable source, he has repeatedly spread Russian propaganda. For example, he misinformed that the irretrievable losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly exceeded 500 thousand people.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels are spreading photos of the board game “Try to explain”, which is sold in Ukraine. In it, players are asked to explain words on cards, in particular “Moskal (Russian) in captivity” and “deoccupation”.

However, in reality, this is a fake, as reported by the VoxCheck project. Using Google's reverse image search function, it was possible to find out that when creating the fake, the propagandists used the visual design of the Russian board game “Say if you can”. After all, the images of the characters in the fake game completely match the original cover. It is likely that the fakers printed the box with the fake game using the illustration of the real game.

Although there are indeed games called “Try to Explain” or other similar board games sold in Ukraine, there are no games with such visual design.

This is not the first fake concerning board games. For example, we previously analyzed how propagandists manipulated the board game “Risk” for their own interests.

On October 14, 2024, the Russian propaganda media school RT (Russia Today. - Ed.) Academy launched its first educational course for African journalists. The training is conducted by media experts, in particular employees of the RT and Ruptly channels. According to RT, representatives of 35 African countries are participating in the project.

In turn, the Center for Countering Disinformation writes that in fact, through such media projects, Russia is trying to expand its connections and influence in African countries. It is also about recruiting African journalists who, after training, can spread pro-Russian narratives in their countries.

This is not the only project aimed at strengthening Russian influence in the region, the CPI adds. Russia is also increasing so-called cultural cooperation with African states, opening “Russian houses” that are in fact a cover for conducting information operations and promoting Kremlin propaganda.

In addition, RT signed a memorandum with the Egyptian TV channel Sada El Balad, which broadcasts statements by Russian officials and manipulative materials about Ukraine.

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