Russian media and anonymous Telegram channels are actively spreading the statement of the Kremlin press secretary Dmytro Pieskov that Ukraine is allegedly striking civilian targets in Russia using drones. At the same time, they claim that the Russian army is allegedly striking exclusively military targets. However, this is disinformation.

This was noted by experts from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. They emphasize that in fact, Ukraine strictly complies with international humanitarian law, while Russia systematically attacks civilian infrastructure. Since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Russia has destroyed 227 medical institutions and damaged 1,714. Also, 3,798 educational institutions have been seriously damaged, of which 365 have been completely destroyed. Particularly egregious examples are the airstrike on the maternity hospital and children's hospital in Mariupol on March 9, 2022, and the missile strike on the Okhmatdyt children's hospital in Kyiv on July 8, 2024, when 627 children were in the hospital. Russia uses attacks on civilian infrastructure as a tool to intimidate the population, which is a violation of the laws of war.

Russia is trying to create the impression that its actions in Ukraine are “defensive” or “responsive” to Ukraine’s actions, despite real evidence to the contrary. Claims of attacks on civilian targets are intended to portray Ukraine as violating international law in order to undermine its support in the international community. Disinformation is used to strengthen domestic propaganda, motivate Russian citizens, and justify continuing the war. Distortions are intended to create doubts among Ukraine’s allies about providing further military and humanitarian aid.

On Telegram, Russian propagandists are spreading that the Banknote and Mint of the National Bank of Ukraine in Kyiv was allegedly damaged as a result of a Russian drone strike on November 12, 2024. They provided precise coordinates that match Google Maps data, which was supposed to add credibility to these claims. However, this information is not true.

StopFake reports this. The project's experts found out that the images used were indeed taken from old news: most of these photos are related to the June 3 fire at a warehouse in the Desnianskyi district of Kyiv on Zakrevskyi Street, and not to the attack on the NBU facility. Official sources also do not confirm this information: as of November 12, none of the messages from the Kyiv City Military Administration (KMV), Kyiv Mayor Vitalii Klychko or the State Emergency Service of Ukraine contained information about damage to the Banknote and Mint. In addition, this facility is located on another street, which once again refutes the claims of its defeat. Another image that they are trying to link to the attack was actually taken on April 28, 2022, during the shelling of the Shevchenkivskyi district of Kyiv.

This disinformation is yet another attempt by pro-Kremlin media to sow panic and create the impression that Ukraine’s financial infrastructure is under constant threat.

A Polish pro-Russian Telegram channel has spread information that Hezbollah has struck Israel with “rockets” allegedly signed by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. A fragment of a 155-millimeter artillery shell found near the Israeli city of Haifa allegedly contains Zelenskyi's signature. In reporting this, the propagandists cite “local media”, in particular The Jerusalem Post.

The response message adds that Zelenskyi had previously visited a military ammunition plant in the American city of Scranton, where he inspected the work of the military-industrial complex and called for an increase in ammunition supplies to Ukraine. At the same time, as the propagandists report, ammunition from this plant was delivered directly to the Hezbollah warehouse or was resold by the Ukrainian side.

In fact, there is no real evidence that Hezbollah fired shells with Zelenskyi's signature at Israel. The Ukrainian president did visit the Scranton Army Ammunition Plant in September 2024 during a visit to the United States and left his signature on some shells. However, these shells could not have reached Hezbollah, since the Scranton plant is fully loaded with Ukrainian supplies.

After all, The Jerusalem Post, which the propagandists cite, did not report on its website or social media that Hezbollah had fired shells at Israel with Zelenskyi’s signature.

Russian propaganda telegram channels have been spreading a message that on September 26, 2024, a Russian missile strike on the airfield in Starokonstiantyniv allegedly killed a career US Air Force soldier. As ‘proof’, the propagandists are publishing a corresponding message from a certain Melanie Malwin-Parker, allegedly the soldier’s wife.

However, this is a fake, as reported by VoxCheck. Fact-checkers were unable to find a single account named Melanie Malwin-Parker not only on Facebook, but also on the Internet as a whole.

Also, the photo itself, supposedly of the dead soldier, shows some editing – part of his left ear is missing.

Screenshot of the fake message

In addition, the fake publication, apparently by the wife of a military man, indicates the geolocation as “Altus Air Force Base”. This is a U.S. Air Force base located in Altus, Oklahoma. The official website of the base indicates that the 97th Airlift Wing is located there. It consists of the 58th Transport Squadron, the 54th and 56th Air Refueling Squadrons. The units carry out their tasks on the military transport C-17 Globemaster III and on the KC-135 Stratotanker and KC-46 Pegasus tanker aircraft. The list of equipment does not include the F-16 fighter, so there was no need for a specialist for this base in Ukraine.

Russian propaganda is spreading this fake to fuel the narrative about the alleged presence of “foreign mercenaries” in Ukraine. We previously analyzed disinformation that partners allegedly provided Ukraine with faulty F-16 fighters.

On September 3, 2024, Russian troops launched a missile attack on the Institute of Communications in Poltava. The Ukrainian Defense Ministry points out that the time interval between the alarm and the arrival was short and caught people during their evacuation to a bomb shelter.

As of September 5, 55 people were killed and 297 were injured.

Russian telegram channels are spreading information that as a result of Russia's missile strike on the Military Institute of Telecommunications and Informatization in Poltava, the number of victims is allegedly actually 600-700 soldiers killed. This is allegedly confirmed by unnamed Ukrainian sources. The strike allegedly occurred during the formation of personnel.

But fact-checkers VoxCheck noted that the number of 600 was voiced by former Ukrainian MP Ihor Mosiichuk. Although he mentions 600 injured and dozens of dead, this does not coincide with the official data.

At the same time, Ihor Mosiichuk is not a reliable source. He has already been noticed in the dissemination of fakes and narratives of Russian propaganda. In particular, Mosiichuk promoted theses about the illegitimacy of Zelenskyi, accused the Ukrainian authorities of the Russian invasion, and claimed that the war could have been avoided through diplomacy.

The pro-Kremlin media spread the ‘news’ that the attack on the Poltava Institute of Communications was successful thanks to information passed to Russian intelligence by the Ukrainian military themselves. The propagandists claim that Forbes wrote about this: “The publication notes that the Main Intelligence Directorate of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces pays well for such services. Thus, a fee of up to 500 thousand dollars was allegedly paid for information about Poltava”.

However, this information is not true. This is reported in the StopFake project. In the Ukrainian and English versions of Forbes, apart from the news about the Russian attack on the Institute of Communications in Poltava, no other materials on this topic were published. Also, in the Russian version of the magazine there is no corresponding ‘news’.

The propaganda resources that spread this disinformation did not provide any links to supporting materials. No other authoritative media published this ‘news’, although such information would have been immediately picked up by many sources, because any information about spotters, collaborators immediately appears in the Ukrainian news. For example, about the spotter of the Kharkiv military administration, who was sentenced to life imprisonment.

That is, this is another invention of the Russians, in which they used the brand of a famous magazine to make the fake more credible.

On September 3, 2024, Russia launched a missile attack on the Poltava Military Communications Institute and a hospital located nearby. According to official data, 55 people were killed and more than 320 were injured as a result of the ballistic missile strikes.

Russian forces have announced a strike on a temporary deployment point of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at the University of Sumy. One of the propaganda Telegram channels claims that a temporary deployment point for Ukrainian troops located in the building of the local university, where reserves were allegedly located for dispatch to the Kursk region, was allegedly destroyed in Sumy. However, this is a fake.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security writes about this. The information in them does not correspond to reality. No Ukrainian military personnel were stationed in universities or dormitories near the front. The representative of the Operational-tactical grouping Kharkiv Colonel Vitalii Sarantsev emphasized that such reports are part of Russian propaganda aimed at justifying possible terrorist attacks on civilian objects and spreading fear among the population.

Also, the Prosecutor General's Office reported that a 64-year-old security guard was injured as a result of a bomb attack on one of the university buildings in Sumy. The Sumy Regional Prosecutor's Office has launched a pre-trial investigation into the violation of the laws and customs of war (Part 1 of Article 438 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine).

This is a typical Russian propaganda technique. Russia deliberately attacks civilian objects in Ukraine, committing acts of terror. Every time a Russian missile hits a hospital, school, shopping center or post office, propagandists claim that it was a “military object” or “Azov base”. In this way, the occupiers try to shift responsibility to Ukraine, claiming that “the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly use civilian objects and the population as a “human shield””.

Propagandists are spreading information on social networks that massive missile strikes on the Rivne NPP have damaged all power units and significantly increased radiation levels. In particular, rumors are being spread that the radiation background in the area of the NPP allegedly exceeds permissible levels by many times. However, this is a fake.

This was noted by specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. In particular, the photo of the fire, actively spreading on the Internet, was taken during a fire at a warehouse in Tashkent in 2023, and not at the Rivne NPP. This was confirmed by journalists from the Raion.Varash publication, who conducted their own investigation. In addition, National Atomic Power Generating Company Energoatom, the Ukrainian company responsible for nuclear energy, officially denied these rumors. They confirmed that no emergency situations occurred at the Rivne NPP, and all nuclear units are operating normally, without exceeding the radiation background.

The dissemination of such fakes serves to sow panic among the population, cause fear and destabilize the situation in Ukraine. Such fakes are used by the enemy to reduce the morale of Ukrainians, increase social tension and undermine trust in official sources of information.

On social networks in the Russian segment, they add that the American authorities “expect” the Ukrainian Armed Forces to use ATACMS long-range missiles “against Russian cities”. Thus, propagandists concluded that the United States was “forcing” Ukraine to attack Russia. The messages also refer to CNN material.

StopFake fact-checkers explained that even in the article they write how the United States “does not want to give permission” to Ukraine to use American long-range weapons against enemy targets on Russian territory.

Regarding the Kursk region, the United States officially denied involvement in organizing the operation in the Kursk region. For example, as Reuters writes, the United States still considers Ukraine’s invasion of the Kursk region of Russia unexpected.

The Biden administration is now working to determine Ukraine's goals in its offensive, which U.S. officials say has taken Washington by surprise.

Moreover, the American government has not lifted absolutely all restrictions for the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the use of weapons on Russian territory: neither in range nor in use. Actually, the country's leadership is still determining the feasibility of using weapons in the Kursk region. That is about the fact that the United States was not informed about this offensive.

Russian propaganda resources, citing the US Embassy in Ukraine, disseminated a message that Russia is preparing an attack on government facilities in Kyiv in the near future. In this regard, the United States allegedly calls on its citizens to urgently leave Ukraine.

In fact, this information is distorted and untrue, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation. Propagandists referred to one of the messages from the US Embassy in Ukraine from 2022.

As of August 22, 2024, the last message on the department’s website is dated August 21, 2024. The US Embassy in Ukraine issued this warning: “Over the next several days and into the weekend, there is an increased risk of both night and day Russian drone and missile attacks throughout Ukraine in conjunction with Ukraine's Independence Day on August 24”.

US citizens were advised to monitor local media reports, find out the locations of shelters and hide there in the event of an air raid warning, and follow the instructions of Ukrainian officials and first responders in the event of an emergency.

However, the message from the US Embassy does not talk about any attacks on government facilities or recommendations to leave Ukraine. The CPI adds that the danger of Russian missile and drone attacks on Kyiv and other cities of Ukraine exists constantly, regardless of holidays and ‘circular dates’.

Russia regularly spreads disinformation about strikes on Ukraine in an attempt to intimidate Ukrainians. For example, on August 12, 2024, we documented a fake by Russian propagandists that local authorities in Kyiv were allegedly calling on citizens to leave their homes if they lived near “decision-making centers”.

Russian telegram channels are distributing a screenshot of supposedly one of the house chats in the capital. According to it, the Pechersk district state administration in Kyiv calls on citizens to evacuate if they live near “decision-making centers”.

However, the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council, after verifying this “news” in the Pechersk district administration, reported that it was a fake. The administration did not send out any similar messages.

This disinformation was spread against the backdrop of a publication in one of the foreign media about a possible missile strike on “decision-making centers” in response to an operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. And the head of the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council, Andrii Kovalenko, responded to this in particular on his telegram. He called on Ukrainians to read less loud headlines about massive shelling.

Pro-Kremlin media are disseminating information that the Ukrainian military allegedly attacked a residential building in Kryvyi Rih in order to provoke another tragedy.

However, in fact, Russian propaganda creates such cynical fakes after each Russian shelling of Ukraine, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Moscow Institute of Industrial Property.

On June 12, 2024, it was Russia that carried out a terrorist attack with an Iskander-M missile on a residential area of Kryvyi Rih, resulting in the deaths of nine people. As of the morning of June 14, the number of wounded increased to 37 people, including 5 children. In addition, as a result of the Russian terrorist attack in the city, 41 apartment buildings, a gymnasium and two colleges were damaged.

The head of the city's Defense Council, Oleksandr Vilkul, said in his telegram channel that June 14 has been declared a day of mourning for the victims in the city. Previously, we refuted the information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly occupied kindergartens and hospitals in the Kharkiv region and were preparing to flood Kharkiv.

Russian propaganda resources, citing an article by Stephen Bryan in the Asia Times, claim that the Ukrainian strikes on Crimea have no actual purpose, but as these attacks intensify, one can expect Russia to respond harshly with shelling of Kharkiv, Odesa or Kyiv.

However, first the readers should pay attention to the author of the article, Stephen Bryan. It is regularly marked by the “washing out” of Russian narratives about the need to establish peace on Russian terms, “demilitarization”, etc. Brian also published a lot of pro-Russian materials on the social network Substack, from where Asia Times took them.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine writes that the temporarily occupied peninsula is an important logistics, command center and the location of concentration of Russian occupation forces, aviation and navy attacking Ukraine. Ukrainian strikes against these targets cause significant damage, reduce pressure on the Ukrainian Defense Forces, exhaust the Russian military and spare civilian lives.

And the promotion in the West of narratives about the supposed “unprofitability of attacks on enemy targets in Crimea” and “escalation” is intended to sow doubts in international public opinion about the need to maintain and increase support for the Defense Forces. We previously refuted information from another article by Stephen Bryan in Asia Times that France had allegedly made an official decision to send its troops to Ukraine.

Propaganda resources, after Russian rocket attacks on the sorting depot and the Nova Poshta office in Odesa on May 1, 2024, began to promote the version that in fact there was a warehouse with ammunition produced by NATO countries.

However, this information is fake. This is reported in Nova Poshta itself. The company's press service claims that the depot and department together had 904 items worth almost 3 million UAH. “And according to the enemy, weapons were stored here”, Nova Poshta adds. The company also promised to fully compensate customers for the cost of their parcels.

We are dealing with yet another Russian justification for a strike on the city’s civilian infrastructure, as a result of which 14 people were injured. It seems that it was in the parcels of the Ukrainians that the Russian military saw an unprovoked threat. We previously wrote about how the Russians justified the attack on Sloviansk on April 15, 2024.

Propagandists in the Russian media say that the energy sector in Ukraine, as they claim, was “protected with sandbags worth 2 billion hryvnia”, and this is supposedly why the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant (TPP) in the Kyiv region was destroyed. They say that corruption and the lack of desire to truly protect the country’s energy structure were the reason for the destruction of Ukrainian thermal power plants, and not targeted missile attacks by the Russian army. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They remind us that on the night of April 11, Russian troops completely destroyed the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant in the Kyiv region, as reported by the Chairman of the Supervisory Board of Centerenergo PJSC Andrii Hota in a commentary to Interfax-Ukraine. Centerenergo added that Trypilska Thermal Power Plant was the largest supplier of electricity to the Kyiv, Cherkasy and Zhytomyr regions.

After the destruction of the thermal power plant, information began to spread on social networks that last year Centerenergo PJSC claimed that the Trypilska station was 100% equipped with physical protection from shelling, and money was allocated for this from the budget (we are talking about 9.7 billion hryvnia - note ed.). Based on this, the Russian propagandist began to write that this defense was “sandbags” worth 2 billion hryvnia.

Centerenergo OJSC responded to this information and explained that Trypilska Thermal Power Plant did not receive 9.7 billion hryvnia from the state budget for the construction of protection against drones and missiles, and that this amount was allocated by the Cabinet of Ministers to protect the entire critical infrastructure of the country’s fuel and energy sector, and not just separately for the Trypilska station. In addition, Centerenergo added that the company, through its efforts, ensured 100% physical protection of the station, but this protection can only protect against fragmentation damage, and not against direct missile hits.

The head of the State Agency for Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Development, Mustafa Nayyem, said the same, explaining that the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant is a very large facility, and it is impossible to completely protect it only with protective engineering structures without the use of appropriate air defense systems.

Later, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, in an interview with the American media PBS, said that the Trypilska Thermal Power Plant was destroyed by the Russians because Ukraine had no missiles left to protect it. Commenting on the problems with weapons by the allies, Zelenskyi gave an example of the situation with thermal power plants: “I’ll give you one example, very simple: at the Trypilska station, the light in the Kyiv region depends on it. 11 missiles were flying. We destroyed the first seven, the next four destroyed TPP. Why? Because there were zero missiles”.

Centerenergo also adds that at the moment, the resumption of thermal power plants without providing Ukraine with air defense systems is “surprisingly useless”. This was stated by the head of the supervisory board of PJSC Centerenergo Andrii Hota on the air of the Ukrainian Voice of America service.

Such statements are yet another example of Russian propaganda manipulation aimed at spreading narratives of massive corruption in the country in order to discredit Ukraine’s efforts to ensure the security of its critical infrastructure. At the same time, Russian propaganda misses the fact that it is the Russian army that is committing war crimes, shelling the energy infrastructure of Ukraine and causing significant damage to the civilian population.

Russian propagandists on anonymous telegram channels and media, as well as through diplomatic channels, are distributing materials according to which Ukraine allegedly staged a provocation at the temporarily occupied Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant (ZNPP), attacking it with drones. They say that the International Nuclear Energy Agency (IAEA) condemned Ukraine for such actions in its recent statements and is ready to hold a meeting of the Board of Governors at the request of Russia on this situation. However, this is only the interpretation of propagandists.

The other day, drones actually exploded at the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant, but the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine noted that this was a provocation by Russia in order to discredit Ukraine. At the same time, the IAEA did not blame Ukraine for the attacks in its statements regarding the situation.

In Agency circles, the Russian narrative was actively disseminated by the Permanent Representative of the Russian Federation to the UN in Vienna, Mikhail Ulianov. In particular, on his telegram he repeated the messages of Russian propaganda regarding the incident. On April 8, he sent a note to the current Chairman of the Board of Governors, Permanent Representative of Argentina to the IAEA Federico Martinsen, and IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi with a request to convene an urgent meeting on “the recent attacks and provocations of the Ukrainian armed forces against a Russian nuclear facility” not later than April 11. The note notes that it was created “according to instructions from Moscow”. Later, Ulianov confirmed in the same telegram channel that the IAEA would still hold a meeting on April 11 at the request of the Russian delegation.

This was also stated by Reuters sources, who at the same time note that they do not expect the IAEA to accept Russia’s position and that the meeting is more of a formal nature, where all parties will present their position.

The Russians are spreading such disinformation ahead of the meeting to try to lead a favorable message in countries where the position on Russian aggression has not yet been fully formed. In addition, this is an attempt to influence both foreign and domestic audiences, thus showing that Russia is actively represented in the international arena.  Detector Media previously wrote about what methods and techniques Russia uses to spread disinformation in international organizations using the example of the OSCE.

Russian propagandists are spreading claims about the “accuracy” of Russian airstrikes in Ukraine, interpreting the Financial Times article in their own way. They claim that the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry allegedly acknowledged the “sharpness of Russian operations” aimed “against Ukrainian military targets” and again accused Ukraine of “blackmail for the sake of obtaining weapons from the West”. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found a Financial Times article cited by propagandists about Russia's use of Soviet-made guided bombs in the war with Ukraine. The article describes how these bombs are upgraded with the addition of cheap wings and a GPS system and released from Su-34 and Su-35 aircraft capable of hitting targets along the front line. The article quotes a comment from the head of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba, who notes Russia's intensive use of these bombs to attack Ukrainian military positions, noting that damage to a bomber carrying such a bomb is the only possible defense. However, the Financial Times refutes the myth of the “high precision” of Russian attacks, pointing to their use against civilians and examples of significant destruction and civilian casualties.

The author of the article also criticizes Russian claims about the “precision” of strikes, recalling the large-scale use of missiles and kamikaze drones against civilian infrastructure in Ukraine and emphasizes that such actions can be qualified as war crimes, considered in international courts. In the context of these charges, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Russian army officials.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to justify Russian attacks against civilians.

Propaganda telegram channels write that on the morning of March 25, 2024, Russia launched a strike on Kyiv with Zircon hypersonic missiles. As a result, two Patriot air defense systems were allegedly destroyed in Zhuliany, at the Kyiv airport. The Russians also seem to have managed to strike the headquarters of the Main Intelligence Directorate and the “decision-making center” of the SBU.

In fact, this information is not true. Propagandists have not decided among themselves what Russia “destroyed” during the morning attack on Kyiv - one false version contradicts the other, they write in the Center for Strategic Communications at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

In reality, air defense forces destroyed both of the two ballistic missiles that the Russians launched at Kyiv from temporarily occupied Crimea. The debris of one of the downed missiles destroyed part of the Boichuk Kyiv State Academy of Decorative-Applied Arts and Design.  The building containing the gym, assembly hall and congress hall was damaged, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reported. In general, destruction as a result of the attack in Kyiv was recorded in the Pecherskyi, Solomianskyi and Holosiivskyi districts. According to the mayor of Kyiv Vitalii Klychko, ten victims are known, two of them were hospitalized.

Russian propaganda deliberately exaggerates Russia's achievements in the war against Ukraine, trying to spread another victory story for Russians. That is, propagandists engage in eye-catching activities and publish fake information. Previously, we refuted the report that the Russians allegedly destroyed a batch of missiles for the Patriot air defense system and warehouses with Storm Shadow missiles.

Russian media said that Jens Stoltenberg allegedly admitted NATO's involvement in attacks on the Russian Black Sea Fleet. However, this is not true.

StopFake analysts investigated this case and found that the fake was based on the speech of the NATO Secretary General on March 14, 2024. Then Jens Stoltenberg presented his 2023 report, which covers all aspects of the Alliance's work over the past year.

Reflecting on NATO's support for Ukraine, Stoltenberg noted that in 2023, a number of member countries sent long-range systems to Ukraine for the first time - the British Storm Shadow missiles and the French SCALP. The allies also agreed to supply F-16 aircraft to Ukraine. Stoltenberg emphasized: “Ukraine needs even more support, and it needs it now. Ukrainians are not running out of courage. They're running out of ammunition”.

Stoltenberg emphasized that all this testifies to the high level of professionalism of the Ukrainian defense forces. And he noted that Ukraine’s successes in the Black Sea became possible, in particular, thanks to the support of NATO member countries, which provided the Ukrainian Armed Forces with modern weapons as important tools for countering Russian aggression in the Black Sea.

The Russians used these words to mean that NATO allegedly “confirmed involvement” in the Ukrainian attacks although it was exclusively about the supply of weapons.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine reports that the Kremlin has intensified its disinformation campaign against Ukraine in the Middle East.

Russia is intensively using its diplomatic missions and intelligence network, and various means of propaganda.

The task of the Kremlin’s next hybrid special operation:

● justify a war of conquest;

● discredit Ukraine and Western countries;

● impose unacceptable terms of negotiations;

● improve your own position in the region;

● achieve a reduction in the economic and political pressure that Moscow experiences due to aggression and the commission of war crimes.

Employees of the Russian embassy in Egypt, for example, received instructions from the Kremlin to hold a series of meetings under diplomatic cover to spread disinformation about the war and carry out recruitment activities.

Also, as part of this operation, the Russians are sending propaganda materials to the embassies of other states in Cairo, which justify waging war against Ukraine.

It is, in particular, about two “documents” entitled “On the role of the West in the conflict in Ukraine” and “On the situation around Ukraine”. These materials present a pro-Putin version of the history of Ukraine since the collapse of the USSR. And Russia, of course, is presented as a victim.

The key idea that Russia is promoting in the Middle East is that there is no alternative to the scenario it has imposed for ending the war.

Unverified lists of French soldiers who allegedly died as a result of rocket attacks on hotels in Kharkiv have appeared on social networks and publications in both Russian and Western media. The Russians, by distributing such lists, are trying to confirm the thesis about the presence of “foreign mercenaries” in Ukraine. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the Beyond the News project drew attention to it. They found that in justifying missile attacks on civilian targets in Kharkiv, in particular on the Kharkiv Palace and the Park Hotel, the Russians claim that they eliminated “200 mercenaries”. However, the GUR calls this nonsense.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, on January 10, as a result of rocket attacks at the Park Hotel, 13 civilians were wounded; not a single military man was in the hotel. Among the victims were media representatives from Turkey and Georgia.

Despite this, the Russians continue to support the thesis of killed “French mercenaries” to justify the shelling of civilian targets. On January 16, they again attacked the city center, damaging a private hospital and residential buildings and injuring 17 people. This fiction appeared again in the media after rocket attacks on Kharkiv on the night of January 22-23.

Russian propagandists are disseminating information about the supposedly dead “French artillerymen” in Kharkiv, but the project’s fact-checkers have not found any truthful evidence in this. In addition, the published names of the “dead” turned out to be part of the list that Russian propagandists published back in April 2022 as a list of “foreign mercenaries in Ukraine as of 2021”.

Propagandists spread such fake news to justify attacks against civilian infrastructure. Such actions qualify as a violation of international humanitarian law and constitute the legal basis for future liability of the Russians.

Russian telegram channels report that as a result of Russian missile attacks on the western regions of Ukraine on January 13, 2024, they managed to destroy a batch of missiles for the Patriot air defense system and warehouses with Storm Shadow missiles at the airfield in Kolomyia.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes that this information is false. According to a message from the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on January 13, 2024, “Russian missiles are getting worse and are flying to God knows where”. On that day, air defense forces managed to shoot down eight missiles, and more than 20 more did not reach their targets as a result of active countermeasures by electronic warfare.

This disinformation campaign seeks to reassure everyone that Russian “high-precision weapons” cause damage and destruction exclusively to “legitimate targets”, such as missile trains. Russian propaganda systematically spread fake news about the destruction of Patriot air defense systems, Leopard tanks, or even F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine in order to exaggerate Russia’s successes in the war.

Enemy telegram channels are spreading the fake news that the missile attack on the Park Hotel in Kharkiv on January 10, 2024 was directed against the Foreign Legion, whose fighters allegedly lived in the complex. It was also noted that the strikes did not lead to casualties. “Unfortunately, the strike did not lead to any result (only the facade was damaged, and the mercenary unit lived on the ground floor). Therefore, the Ukrainian media promptly made a story about how the Russians were shelling peaceful hotels. Immediately after the strike, units of the International Legion and foreign mercenaries who lived in similar buildings began to be notified throughout Kharkiv”, said one of the anonymous telegram channels disseminating pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It's fake.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, thirteen people were injured as a result of a rocket attack on the Park Hotel in Kharkiv. In total, there were 31 people in the hotel complex: eight employees and 23 guests. All these people were civilians; there was not a single military man in the hotel. Representatives of foreign delegations, journalists, and documentarians often stayed here, in particular. According to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, the Russian military fired two missiles from the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system at Kharkiv at about 22:30 from the direction of Belgorod. One rocket hit the ground near the facade of the hotel, the second hit the roof of the building, which led to a fire. According to preliminary data, among the victims in the hotel there was one Turkish citizen, one Georgian citizen, both represented the Turkish media. One man's condition is serious. Most of the victims suffered from shrapnel wounds and traumatic brain injuries. “There were no military mercenaries, there were no military people here. This is a civilian facility, civilian infrastructure. We have always settled our friends, guests who were in Kharkiv, and foreign delegations here”, said the mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov, in a comment to Suspilne (Public) Kharkiv. “The military never lived in this hotel, almost all of Kharkiv knows this. This hotel was used by journalists. This was a well-known fact. At the time of the attack, there were foreign journalists in the hotel, in particular from Turkey. Therefore, I believe that the Russian Federation dealt this blow specifically to the media”, said Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv region police. Serhii Tomilenko, head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, notes that Russia is targeting journalists in Kharkiv: “In October - Reikartz, this New Year - Kharkiv Palace and at night - Park Hotel. These hotels were constantly used by journalists from national and international media to stay. And with every shelling, journalists were injured”.

Russia attacks civilian targets, cynically presenting them as legitimate military targets, but they are not. Such attacks are a flagrant violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians, including attacks on civilian buildings, in particular hotels.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that the United States allowed Ukraine to use HIMARS for “strikes” against Russia. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the US Embassy in Ukraine, Bridget Brink, who allegedly made a corresponding statement.

In fact, this information is fake. Brink did not make such a statement - it was invented by propagandists of one of the Russian media, who subsequently published a refutation. This was reported by checkers from the StopFake project. To create the fake, they used a quote from Brink from June 2022 - then the United States provided Ukraine with a package of military aid, which included, in particular, ammunition for HIMARS: “This will help Ukrainian forces aim more accurately, as well as have a greater range. What range will the Ukrainian forces determine?” However, those ammunition could hit targets at a distance of up to 70 km, and not 300 km, that is, there was no talk of any strikes on Russian territory.

By spreading this disinformation, Russian propaganda seeks to create the image that “the United States and Ukraine are aggressors because they are going to attack Russia”, so Russia is supposedly a victim of the confrontation and is forced to defend itself. Thus, Russia “demonizes” Ukraine and its allies. Previously, we refuted information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could allegedly use any NATO weapons on Russian territory.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks claim that Ukraine allegedly deserved the shelling of military infrastructure in Kyiv and Kharkiv on January 2. They say that this is an equivalent response to the attack on Belgorod by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on January 1. In addition, they say that the information about the downing of Russian hypersonic missiles is allegedly untrue, since this is not technically possible. None of this is true.

First, a number of visual materials confirm that Russia is once again targeting civilian infrastructure. This is a violation of international humanitarian law and contradicts official statements of the Russian authorities. Moreover, even from the point of view of war tactics, an attack carried out in self-defense in response to numerous rocket attacks on Ukraine on New Year's Day and a targeted mass missile attack using 99 missiles, including 10 hypersonics, are not equivalent phenomena. Moreover, back in May 2023, the Ukrainian Armed Forces announced that they were using the American Patriot system to successfully shoot down Russian Kinzhal hypersonic missiles. In the English-language segment of the Internet one can find a large amount of information about the downing of hypersonic weapons, in particular about methods for determining them in space and neutralizing them.

Propagandists continue to justify the crimes of Russians in various ways. They want to create a false impression that their actions are fair. However, in reality we are talking about searching and creating reasons for the continuation of the aggression that Russia started. In particular, under far-fetched pretexts, such as the fight against the Nazis and US biological laboratories in Ukraine.