Anonymous propaganda telegram channels are spreading a statement by a former Ukrainian MP that the losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces have allegedly already exceeded half a million people. This figure is confirmed by the state of cemeteries in large cities. However, such claims are unfounded.

This was reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Its experts emphasize that this former MP has long been known for his provocative and false statements, regularly used by pro-Russian propagandists. In particular, in September 2024, the man spread lies that “the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly downplaying the number of victims” after a missile strike on a military school in Poltava. In July, he claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi was allegedly preparing a bloody provocation to save US President Joe Biden. In April, the former MP spread a fake about Russian missiles allegedly hitting a military unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which was allegedly located in a hotel in Chernihiv.

Propagandists try to use such information, especially inflated figures of Ukrainian Armed Forces casualties, to demoralize Ukrainian society and create disillusionment about the army’s ability to defend the country. This fake news also aims to accuse the Ukrainian leadership of hiding real losses and failing to effectively manage the army. Russian propaganda uses such statements to strengthen support for the war among Russians, claiming that the Ukrainian army is allegedly suffering catastrophic losses.

Social media users are spreading a video that says that Ukraine has allegedly adopted a new law requiring all women between the ages of 18 and 60 to register for military service. The woman in the video says: "Okay, girls, line up, stand at attention! Ukrainian women are now subject to military service on an equal basis with men”.

In fact, the video was manipulated, as the StopFake project writes. It takes out of context footage from the ICTV channel's “Emergency News” program from December 23, 2021, which discussed expanding the list of professions according to which women aged 18 to 60 must register for military service. At the same time, according to Ukrainian law, only female doctors and pharmacists must register for military service. However, mobilization for them, like other women, remains voluntary.

By manipulating information, propagandists are trying to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine and claim that the personnel situation at the front is allegedly so bad that women are already being mobilized. We have previously recorded such leaks. For example, we analyzed disinformation that Ukraine has created bulletproof vests for pregnant women, because they are supposedly going to send them to the front.

An image of a postcard allegedly developed by the British Embassy in Ukraine is being circulated online. It recommends that Britons avoid meetings with representatives of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers when visiting Ukraine. If they are unable to avoid a meeting, they should not “give in to provocations, racism, pushes, or look them in the eye”. And if they “force you into a minibus”, they recommend not to panic, not to sign anything, to call the embassy, and to wait for help.

In fact, this is a fake. In a comment to StopFake journalists, the British Embassy in Ukraine reported that they did not print such a postcard, and the information about it on the Internet is false. In addition, the embassy noted that official recommendations for British citizens on traveling to Ukraine can be found on the website of the British Foreign Office. Finally, citizens of other countries are not subject to mobilization in Ukraine.

With this fake, propagandists are trying to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine. Earlier, we refuted the information that the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center workers beat up an ethnic Hungarian in western Ukraine.

Russian propagandists claim that Kyiv is allegedly going to demolish dozens of churches belonging to the UOC MP. Citing an investigation by Ukrainian journalists, the Russian propaganda writes that “journalists are inspecting the capital's UOC churches and pressuring the Kyiv City State Administration to demolish those they consider illegally built”.

However, propagandists manipulate information, StopFake reports. Journalists from Sledstvie.Info investigated the situation with illegally built UOC-MP churches in Kyiv. Thus, back in May 2023, they drew attention to the fact that the city authorities were not reacting in any way to three illegal buildings used by the UOC-MP. All the buildings listed in the investigation were built in circumvention of the law, and they also do not represent any historical value.

In response to a request from journalists, the Kyiv City State Administration noted that employees of the Department of Land Resources of the administration surveyed the indicated areas, drew up survey reports, and sent them to local prosecutor's offices and to the relevant executive body of the Kyiv City State Administration so that they could respond within the limits of their authority.

In fact, it is Russia that is massively destroying UOC MP churches in Ukraine. According to data for 2023, during the full-scale war, Russia completely destroyed about 80 UOC MP churches and damaged about 200 more.

Previously, we wrote about the messages that Russia is promoting in response to the ban on the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine.

Russian propagandists write that “the Ukrainian Armed Forces are recruiting unstable and dangerous people” and “supporting Ukraine is for psychos”. In making this claim, the Russians cite an article in The Washington Post. In this context, they are talking about a 58-year-old American who attempted to assassinate US presidential candidate Donald Trump. As it turns out, Ryan Rout was a supporter of Ukraine for some time, tried to join the International Legion and even launched his own drone production. However, a few months later, he became disillusioned with volunteering, returned to the US and wrote a book, The War That Cannot Be Won. In it, Rout accused Ukraine of stealing international aid and escalating the war.

In fact, the propagandists manipulated the material published on the Washington Post website, StopFake reports. Its title is “OPINION: Ukraine has been a magnet for unstable characters like Ryan Routh”. That is, it is a column, and its author is Malcolm Nance, a former American military man who joined the ranks of the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in March 2022. The man writes that in the first months of the war, many foreign “volunteers” came to Ukraine, who did not provide any real assistance, and sometimes even harmed the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The author explains this by the fact that, unlike other areas of active hostilities, such as Iraq and Afghanistan, ordinary life continues in Ukraine, cafes and establishments are open. Accordingly, unscrupulous foreigners feel comfortable in the country, imitating volunteer activities. Sometimes these are people with a suspicious or even criminal past. Malcolm Nuns admits that despite meticulous checks, the International Legion discovered an American wanted for double murder and an Australian financial fraudster. However, in both cases, these individuals were immediately fired and sent home. That is, there is no talk of any deliberate recruitment of “dangerous and mentally unstable people”, but on the contrary, the Armed Forces of Ukraine are trying to prevent such incidents.

At the same time, Ryan Routt, accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump, came to Ukraine with the real goal of helping, but had no competence. The man tried to independently recruit foreigners to the International Legion (which he had no right to do), and also wanted to open his own drone production.

Malcolm Nuns continues to support Ukraine, condemn Russian aggression and run a charitable foundation that strengthens the activities of the International Legion within the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The military man is convinced that Ukraine will win if its allies provide all the necessary weapons, and also believes that after the war, Ukrainian soldiers will train their Western colleagues.

Earlier we wrote about how propagandists manipulated an article in The Times newspaper, claiming that wounded Ukrainian soldiers were being transported to Europe “as biomaterial for experiments”.

German media outlets Süddeutsche Zeitung, NDR and WDR, as well as the Estonian online publication Delfi, have gained access to leaked internal documents of the Agency for Social Design (ASD), an organization under EU and US sanctions. According to US law enforcement agencies, this agency works on behalf of the Russian presidential administration.

Journalists from Schemes (Radio Liberty), together with a number of European editorial offices, examined thousands of files obtained as part of the leak. As part of the Fake Factory project, they found out that ASD, under the leadership of Russian political strategist Illia Gambashidze, is engaged in disseminating disinformation to discredit Ukraine, its leadership and citizens, as well as Western leaders who support Ukraine. At the same time, the agency promotes Russian interests and supports European politicians who promote these interests.

Some of the documents from this leak were published by American law enforcement in early September, when they filed a motion to seize Internet domains associated with ASD. According to anonymous sources in Western intelligence, the files obtained by journalists are authentic.

ASD positions itself as an organization providing customers with full media support, including analysis of the Western information space, identification of potential threats, proposal of solutions and their implementation. The leak contains a video presentation of the company, presumably created for customers, where its director, Illia Gambashidze, appears. In the presentation, Gambashidze takes off his glasses and hood, stating that there is no point in hiding anymore, since the Doppelganger campaign was exposed by French intelligence.

The Doppelganger campaign involved creating fake websites of well-known publications, such as France's Le Monde and Germany's Der Spiegel, to discredit Ukraine. The fake news also covered Germany, the US, and Israel. Meta called Doppelganger the largest Russian information operation since 2017.

American law enforcement directly accuses ASD of working for the Kremlin and names its activities as being supervised by Serhii Kiriienko, deputy head of the administration of Russian President Volodymyr Putin. In addition, Sofiia Zakharova, an employee of the Putin administration, who, according to American intelligence agencies, took part in planning disinformation campaigns, was also involved in the Doppelganger campaign.

According to the documents, the ASD’s activities are carried out in three main areas:

Monitoring – analysis of the media space and opinions of more than 1000 public opinion leaders in six languages.

Analytics – studying the target audience and creating topics for further use.

Creative – creating fake articles and visual content that looks authentic to the target audience.

According to the leak, between January and April 2024 alone, the SDA created 39,899 pieces of content, including posts, videos, articles, memes, and special messages that are part of disinformation campaigns. The agency is also involved in distributing fake official documents.

In the leak, the journalists of Schemes found examples of forgeries of Ukrainian government documents. Among them are orders allegedly from the Office of the President of Ukraine and the Ministry of Defense, which were aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian government and military, accusing them of censorship and concealment of information.