Pro-Russian telegram channels are spreading information that mercenaries from Colombia have been transferred from the Ukrainian side to the Kharkiv direction. As “proof” of this, propagandists add the corresponding first-person video recording, allegedly of a Colombian firing from a dugout.

However, the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council reports that this video is an orchestrated fake of Russian propaganda. First of all, there is no direct evidence or symbols in the video that indicate the person is a “Colombian mercenary”. There are also no documents, symbols, or evidence that could confirm this information. And the location of the shooting does not give any reason to claim that this is the Kharkiv direction. After all, the video doesn't show the face of the person filming, nor does his accent sound Colombian.

This fake video was created as part of a Russian disinformation campaign against “foreign mercenaries” in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Previously, we denied information that the Ukrainian Embassy in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire allegedly recruits mercenaries to participate in the war against Russia.

Information is being spread on social networks that the President of Ukraine allegedly overdosed on cocaine during a flight to a meeting with the leader of Singapore. As proof, propagandists add a photograph where Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly cannot stand on his own and is supported by two high-ranking officials. However, this is fake.

Fact-checkers from VoxCheck noticed that the photo was processed in a graphics editor. In fact, the original photo was taken in Portugal on May 28, 2024. It shows Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Souso and Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, with whom Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed a bilateral security agreement later that day. For the sake of creating a fake, the hand of Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the hands of Portuguese President Marcel Rebelo de Sousa were reflected and increased in size.

By the way, Volodymyr Zelenskyi was indeed in Singapore at a meeting with the President of this country Tharman Shanmugaratn on June 2, 2024, where the prospects for deepening Ukrainian-Singaporean relations were discussed. The President of Ukraine also took part in the Shangri-La Dialogue conference. However, the fabricated photo distributed by propagandists is not from Zelenskyi’s visit to Singapore, as we noted above.

This photo fake is part of a systematic distortion of the image of Volodymyr Zelenskyi due to his alleged drug use, discrediting him as a person who cannot represent Ukraine and is an unreliable ally. Previously, we wrote about another fake, that Zelenskyi was invited to speak at a rehabilitation center for drug addicts “as a good role model”.

Pro-Russian sources are disseminating information that the United States is allegedly using hallucinogenic drugs, in particular ketamine, on Ukrainian military personnel. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the corresponding article by The Economist.

However, this information is untrue, write experts on the VoxCheck project. Thus, The Economist did publish an article about the use of ketamine therapy by Ukrainian fighters. However, it was primarily about military personnel with neurological or psychological problems caused by injuries or experiences in war. At the same time, there is no mention in the material that the United States is promoting the spread of ketamine therapy in Ukraine or elsewhere. That is, neither in this article nor in other reliable sources there is information that Ukrainian clinics, at the direction of the United States, are testing ketamine or other psychedelic drugs on Ukrainians.

The Economist story cites the story of Ihor Kholodylo, a military psychologist and medic who, as a result of being wounded, began to stutter and was unable to speak clearly, and also had increased anxiety and nightmares. According to him, ketamine therapy was the only remedy that helped him cope with the trauma and get rid of the mentioned problems.

Also, according to Ukrainian legislation, ketamine is a psychotropic substance whose circulation is limited. In this case, the drug can be used as a medicine. Now in Ukraine one can get services using ketamine therapy in a number of clinics, but in none of the cases are we talking about testing the drug on patients. One can check information about clinical trials on the website of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The list of clinical trials conducted or ongoing in Ukraine does not include ketamine.

Previously, we analyzed a similar fake of Russian propagandists, which consisted in the fact that Time magazine allegedly published an article in which it was said that the Ukrainian military was “pumped up” with ketamine before the battle.

A network of pro-Russian telegram channels is distributing an alleged quote from the German Foreign Ministry, Annalena Baerbock: “Ukraine has managed to turn the swastika into a symbol of freedom”. Baerbock allegedly believes that Ukrainians who fight for independence and use Nazi symbols will rehabilitate it in the eyes of the Europeans. However, this is a fake.

According to information from VoxCheck experts, the fictitious quote was first disseminated by a Russian telegram channel, calling its news “a parody and satire on political reality”. However, propagandists picked up this message and began to disseminate it in their messages as true information, which later ridiculed the original source: “The trick was a success”.

Annalena Baerbock is the former leader of the left-wing German party Union 90/Green, professing the values of social democracy, pro-Europeanism and opposition to right-wing radical movements, including Nazism. Therefore, statements about Ukrainian Nazism would be completely contrary to the values of a high-ranking position.

This fake was also analyzed by German specialists from the publication Correctiv. They note that in the English-language segment of the social network “X”, along with this message, they are speculating on the alleged “genetic heredity” of the minister with her unnamed relative, allegedly a member of the NSDAP. Fact-checkers also requested a representative from the German Federal Foreign Office. The response noted that Annalena Baerbock did not make such a statement.

With this message, propagandists are trying to reduce the level of trust in the German authorities in the eyes of Ukrainians, speculating on issues of Nazism. At the same time, they seek to denigrate German officials in the eyes of European society and undermine confidence in the German Green Party. Previously, we refuted the information that Annalena Baerbock allegedly asked Ukraine not to call Leopard tanks German.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that in Vovchansk the Russian army allegedly seized an aggregate plant, leaving on a “starvation ration” the Armed Forces of Ukraine, holed up in high-rise buildings in the city center.

However, this information is not true, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Speaker of Kharkiv Operational and strategic grouping of troops Yurii Povkh said on Radio Svoboda (Liberty) that the Russian military remains blocked at the aggregate plant. He added that other Russian forces are trying to get through there, making attacks, but to no avail - the Ukrainian Defense Forces are repelling them.

Earlier, military observer and coordinator of the Information Resistance group Kostiantyn Mashovets claimed that about 200 Russian military personnel were surrounded by the Vovchansk aggregate plant after attempts to cross the Vovcha River.