A video is being circulated online that allegedly shows the work of so-called “language patrols” in Ukraine. In the footage, a group of activists addresses vendors at a book market in Kyiv, urging them to hand over Russian-language books for disposal and to promote Ukrainian literature. In reality, this is a manipulation, as no official “language patrols” exist in Ukraine. The video captures a personal initiative by activist Veronika Olshanska, as reported by VoxCheck.

A reverse Google search shows that the original source of the video is the YouTube channel “Movnyi” (“Language”), which belongs to Veronika Olshanska – the founder of the nationalist community “Ukrainian Ukraine”. The activist organizes peaceful actions in support of the Ukrainian language, draws attention to language policy, and initiates petitions calling for a ban on the Russian language and Russian content in Ukraine.

In 2023, Ukraine adopted Law No. 2309-IX, which restricts the import and distribution of publishing products from Russia, Belarus, and temporarily occupied territories. The law requires publishers and distributors to produce and distribute books in the Ukrainian language, the languages of Indigenous peoples, or the official languages of the European Union. Violations are punishable by fines and confiscation of the products. At the same time, the sale of Russian-language books imported before 2023 does not violate the law if they do not contain anti-Ukrainian propaganda, while certain publications from Russia and Belarus are banned regardless of the date of import.

Russian media are spreading false claims that “Nazi crosses” are being installed at the National Military Memorial Cemetery in Ukraine, allegedly similar to those used at German military graves during World War II. This claim is not true.

This was reported by VoxCheck.

The design of the National Military Memorial Cemetery includes the installation of the Cossack cross – a traditional Ukrainian symbol that has no connection whatsoever to Nazi burials. Cemeteries of the Third Reich used a completely different symbol – the Iron Cross.

The National Military Memorial Cemetery was established in 2022 and officially opened in August 2025. According to the government-approved project, two types of gravestones are developed: the Cossack cross and a memorial plaque. These forms were officially approved by the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.

The Cossack cross is an element of Ukraine’s military and spiritual tradition. It has been used in the burial of warriors since Cossack times and symbolizes honor, remembrance, and faith. This cross is part of the symbolism of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the State Border Guard Service, the Security Service of Ukraine, as well as certain state awards and departmental insignia.

By contrast, the Iron Cross (Eisernes Kreuz), which was indeed used in German military burials, has a completely different origin. It was established in 1813 in Prussia as a military decoration. In 1939, Nazi Germany reinstated the award and added the swastika to it – an element that became a symbol of totalitarian ideology.

The Cossack cross and the Iron Cross differ in both form and symbolism. The Cossack cross has straight edges and a simple geometric design, while the Iron Cross is characterized by curved edges, a dark core, and a silver frame. The former is a religious and cultural symbol, while the latter is a military decoration that was later used by the Nazis in their propaganda.

The Cossack cross has existed for centuries, long before the emergence of Nazism, and contains no ideological elements associated with the Third Reich. Moreover, modern Russia also has awards in the shape of a cross – for example, the St. George Cross, whose form may visually resemble the German order. This further demonstrates the groundlessness of accusations of “Nazism” based solely on the external similarity of symbols.

Russian media and pro-Russian Telegram channels have begun spreading screenshots of a fake job advertisement allegedly posted by a Ukrainian territorial recruitment center.

This was reported by Ukrinform.

The posts claim that a vacancy was supposedly published on the Work.ua website by the Zaporizhzhia District Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support (TCC and SP). According to the screenshots, the center is allegedly looking for a “candidate relations specialist”, with requirements listed as “attractive appearance”, “experience in the modeling business”, and “exotic dancing”. The circulating posts are accompanied by claims that Ukrainian TCCs are allegedly recruiting sex workers for enlistment purposes.

However, this is fake, created by Russian propagandists. No such job posting has ever appeared on the Work.ua website. In reality, Russian actors falsified existing TCC vacancies – for a paramedic and a clerk – by changing the job titles and adding fabricated requirements.

The title of the fabricated position – “candidate relations specialist” – is a calque of the Russian “spetsialist po rabote s personalom” and was likely created using automatic translation.

In addition, a visual analysis of the screenshot reveals signs of forgery. For example, the column widths in the fake listing exceed the standard layout used on the Work.ua website, and the text describing the candidate requirements is an obvious insertion that is absent from the original vacancies.

This case is yet another example of the information war Russia is waging against Ukraine, using fakes to discredit state institutions and spread distrust among the public.

A fake story has been circulating on pro-Russian Telegram channels since 1 October 2025. It claims that the German government allegedly canceled the Oktoberfest festival in Munich because visitors enthusiastically sang the Russian song “Kalinka”. Analysts from the Gvara Media project drew attention to this disinformation.

As “evidence”, posts cite a video showing people dancing to this melody. The captions claim: “The German authorities were frightened by the people’s love for Russian culture. While some are dancing to Kalinka, others understand that friendship between our peoples contradicts Berlin’s Russophobic policy”. This information was also actively spread in various languages on X, TikTok, Instagram, and YouTube.

Analysts checked information about Oktoberfest 2025, which took place in Munich from 20 September to 5 October. It turned out that on 1 October the festival was indeed temporarily suspended, but not because of Russian songs. The pause was due to suspicion of a possible explosive device on the festival grounds. Police conducted an inspection, and after it was completed, the festival resumed the same day at 17:30, as reported on the official pages of Munich police and Oktoberfest.

As for the video being circulated as proof, analysis showed that it was filmed in the Augustiner Festhalle tent, which is characteristic of Oktoberfest. However, the video is not from 2025 – it dates back to at least 2022. It was actively circulated by Russian media and social media users in October 2022, including on the YouTube channel “UNS – UNITED PEOPLE OF SERBIA” (published on 2 October 2022).

This story is fake and was created as part of a Russian information and psychological operation. It promotes narratives about the “Russophobia” of European countries and the alleged widespread support for Russian culture among Europeans. In reality, Oktoberfest 2025 went ahead as planned, and the temporary suspension was solely related to security measures.

The acting governor of Russia's Kursk region, Khinshtein, claimed that 17 cultural heritage sites were damaged in Rylsk on December 22 due to missile strikes, accusing the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU). “The Nazi regime is trying to destroy not only peaceful residents but also our historical and cultural heritage…”, he stated.

This was reported by the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security. Its experts found that the scale of the damage Khinshtein described appears minimal, with the circumstances surrounding the alleged incidents remaining unconfirmed. In contrast, Russia is actively destroying Ukraine's cultural heritage. As of December 2024, 1,222 damaged landmarks have been recorded across 18 regions of Ukraine. In November alone, Russia carried out 43 new strikes on such sites, including in the Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, and Khmelnytskyi regions. The Kharkiv region suffered damage to 322 such objects, while the Kyiv region and the city of Kyiv recorded 81. The most high-profile incident occurred on December 20, with the shelling of the St. Nicholas Catholic Cathedral in Kyiv. Ukraine is demanding an international investigation into these acts of cultural vandalism, which constitute violations of international law.

Russia spreads such disinformation for several reasons. First, it seeks to divert attention from the destruction it inflicts on Ukrainian cultural heritage by accusing Ukraine instead. This helps create an illusion of moral equivalence between the aggressor and the victim. Baseless accusations of damage to cultural objects aim to undermine the reputation of the Ukrainian military internationally and domestically. Russian propaganda appeals to emotions by exploiting themes of cultural heritage to mobilize support among its population. This disinformation also serves to justify Russia’s aggressive actions as “defending” its historical legacy. Moreover, such narratives are intended to sow doubt within the international community about the credibility of Ukraine's accusations of war crimes against Russia.

A video is being circulated online, purporting to be from UNESCO. It claims that Ukraine has destroyed more monuments than the Taliban in Afghanistan - 5,400 monuments to cultural figures and cultural heritage sites over two years. The Director of the UNESCO World Heritage Center, Mechtilda Rössler, allegedly stated in this regard: “Such an attitude towards monuments and history is typical of terrorist regimes, but not of European civilization”.

However, UNESCO did not publish such a video on its official resources. Mechtilda Rössler is no longer the director of UNESCO and did not make such a statement. The video was created from photos from open sources, not related to each other. And besides, Mechtilda Rössler is no longer the director of the World Heritage Center.

Using reverse search, it was possible to find out that propagandists used photos from open sources for the fake video. In particular, photos with Taliban militants were published on the official website of the AFP publication in August 2024.

The Taliban is a political and military group whose goal is to liberate Afghanistan from foreign military presence. The movement is made up of many different tribes and peoples inhabiting the country, with different views, including religious ones.

The movement's ideology was based on the religious movement of Islam, Ash'arism, which is part of the Sunni tradition. The Taliban's political program was based on calls to organize life in Afghanistan on the basis of the norms of Islamic law - Sharia - in its radically traditional interpretations. According to the Taliban, anyone who contradicts the ideology of Ash'arism is subject to persecution.

Their rule was characterized by religious intolerance towards non-believers and cruelty - for example, thieves had their hands cut off.

Information is circulating online that the Odesa City Council has unanimously decided to demolish the Pushkin monument, which is under UNESCO protection. It was allegedly built 135 years ago with funds donated by local residents.

“Of course, they can't build anything themselves, and there's no one to erect monuments to... but if they have to destroy and demolish something, it's a nice gesture”, Russian propagandists comment.

But UNESCO rules do not prohibit the demolition of the Pushkin monument, it was installed with the funds of the Russian propaganda union with the support of the local governor-general. And on December 4, 2024, the Odesa City Council did support the decision to allocate funds for the dismantling of a number of monuments with imperial symbols, including the bust of the Russian poet Oleksandr Pushkin on Prymorskyi Boulevard and his sculpture on Italiiska Street.

The deputies acted in accordance with the law On the Condemnation and Prohibition of the Propaganda of Russian Imperial Policy in Ukraine and the Decolonization of Toponymy. This law prohibits the honoring of figures who supported, glorified, or justified Russian imperial policy in monuments. Pushkin falls under the law, as he is part of the colonial legacy imposed on Ukrainians. In his works, he described Russian culture and people as superior to others, approved the aggressive policy of the Russian empire, and justified genocides.

The thesis that the bust was erected at the expense of Odesans is false. In fact, the collection for the monument was organized by the Slavic Charity Society, which was engaged in the propaganda of Russian imperialism and culture. A significant part of the collection was closed by the society itself with the support of the local governor-general. Ordinary Odesans did not show enthusiasm for the opening of the monument.

On social networks and pro-Russian websites, propagandists are actively spreading information that the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) has allegedly recognized the ban on the “St. George ribbon” in Ukraine as a violation of freedom of expression. However, this is a manipulation designed to discredit Ukraine and fuel Russian narratives.

This was written by experts from the StopFake project. They found out that in fact, in the case of Borzykh against Ukraine, the ECHR ruled that the ban on the use of the “St. George ribbon” was justified and did not contradict Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights. The decision emphasizes that the ribbon acquired a symbolic meaning associated with the aggressor in the context of the Russian-Ukrainian war. The ban was partial, allowing its use in awards until 1991. The claimant, Yurii Borzykh, a former military man, claimed that he wanted to wear the ribbon on May 9. He could not prove that the ban significantly affected his life or caused psychological suffering. The ECHR recognized Ukraine’s actions as falling within the state’s discretion, aimed at protecting national security during the war.

Therefore, the claim that the ECHR recognized the ban on the “St. George ribbon” as a violation of freedom of expression is untrue. This is an attempt by Russian propaganda to create a disinformation effect and discredit Ukraine's measures to counter symbols associated with hostile aggression.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels have spread information that the Lviv Klymentiy Sheptytsky Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life is holding a raffle for a museum exhibit to raise funds for the military. As “proof” of this, propagandists add a corresponding screenshot.

However, this information is false, the VoxCheck project writes. On November 11, 2024, Olesia Kopchak published a post on her Facebook page with a raffle for a gift one can win for their donation to the military to buy electronic warfare equipment. In turn, the Russians deliberately misinterpreted it. After all, Kopchak’s publication refers to a raffle for a gift from the store of the Museum of Folk Architecture and Rural Life. The woman did not mean a raffle for a museum exhibit. The photo of the jug is most likely illustrative.

After all, there are no museum exhibits for sale in the “shop” section of the museum’s website. There you can only find T-shirts, books, plates, and other souvenirs that have no historical value.

By distorting details and manipulation information, propagandists seek to create a false impression that Ukrainians are forced to sell museum items to support the military. Earlier, we refuted information that the Ukrainian government allegedly wanted to sell “Scythian gold” at an auction.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels are spreading a manipulative photo of the Transfiguration Cathedral in Chernihiv. It shows people standing in front of a large screen. The propagandists noted that the cathedral was allegedly turned into a cinema. They explained this by saying that the Orthodox Church of Ukraine “does not have enough parishioners” to fill the churches that have come “under its control”. That is why it allegedly resorts to such methods of attracting visitors to the cathedral.

“Ancient Orthodox churches are becoming victims of schismatics. Satanists came to power and that says it all”, the propagandists write.

But the information was manipulated, and this is reported in VoxCheck. The cathedral was on a long-term temporary lease to the UOC of the Moscow Patriarchate until November 2023. However, according to the conclusion of the Commission of the Ministry of Culture, the UOC-MP was deprived of the right to use the Transfiguration Cathedral and 17 other objects, which are also part of the National Architectural and Historical Reserve Ancient Chernihiv. They argued this by the unsatisfactory condition of the buildings and the need for restoration.

Currently, the Transfiguration Cathedral operates as a museum. And in fact, the photo shows the presentation of the first series of the project “Chernihiv Principality. 1000 Years”. The authors are a team from Public Chernihiv. They describe the project as a “three-part historical program in the format of an animated anti-lecture”.

Russian propaganda often speculates on the topic of the conflict between the OCU and the UOC-MP. Since the topic of religion is quite sensitive, and therefore convenient for the spread of disinformation and manipulative theses. The goal is to sow discord among believers of these two confessions and, thus, split Ukrainians into two camps. In addition, by controlling churches, representatives of the UOC-MP spread Russian propaganda narratives among Ukrainian parishioners and retain influence within the country.

Read more: How Russia blurs reality with the help of the newspeak: “sinners”.

The Internet is spreading information that the Ukrainian State Film Agency has allegedly announced a presidential grant competition for 2025. Its goal is to create projects where the authors must demonstrate a “positive image of the Territorial center of recruitment and social support”.

The Ukrainian State Film Agency website does indeed contain news about the announcement of a presidential grant competition in 2025. To participate, one must submit the relevant documents: an application, an estimate, a description of the film. Similar conditions were previously in 2023 and 2024. They do not mention positive coverage of the Territorial center of recruitment and social support actions. The purpose of the competition is to provide state financial support to young artists for the creation and implementation of socially significant creative projects. Clear restrictions on the topics of the projects are not specified.

The counterfeit indicated a sum of over UAH 1 billion for the creation of products, but the official website indicated only UAH 3.9 million. This is the amount of funds allocated for the payment of three grants.

Propagandists claim in their media that Ukrainians are allegedly destroying their own culture, committing “cultural self-genocide”, in addition to attempts to destroy Russian culture. They say that Russian culture in Ukraine is the culture of Ukrainians.

This was noted by specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Such statements are part of the information war waged by Russia, trying to confuse and distort reality. Russian propagandists deliberately use such statements for several purposes.

In this way, the Kremlin tries to justify its actions aimed at destroying Ukrainian culture and identity by distorting the facts and shifting the responsibility to Ukrainians themselves. In this way, they try to portray Ukraine as a self-destructive state. The use of the term “cultural self-genocide” aims to blur the concept of genocide and distract attention from the real crimes of Russia against Ukrainians. Russia seeks to downplay the significance of genocide in order to avoid international responsibility for its actions. Kremlin propagandists also try to create the impression that Ukrainians are solely to blame for their misfortunes in order to undermine the morale of Ukrainians, sow doubts about their own values, and create a sense of hopelessness. In addition, Russia tries to present Ukrainian identity as an artificial product of the Soviet era, allegedly created at the expense of “historical Russia”. This is an attempt to justify the colonial ambitions of modern Russia, which is trying to re-subjugate Ukraine and bring it back under its control.

Therefore, this message is not only far from the truth, but serves as a tool for continuing Russia’s information war against Ukraine and Ukrainians.

Information is being spread on the Internet that, according to some “statistical data”, the popularity of the Russian language is gradually growing in Ukraine. Some users cynically write: such a trend can be explained by the fact that “the number of Nazis has decreased - and nature has begun to clean itself”.

In fact, this information is not true. This is reported in the StopFake project. In their messages, propagandists do not indicate where they got such data, but manipulatively write “according to statistical data”. It was not possible to find any publicly available studies that could confirm this trend.

At the same time, on July 24, 2024, the sociological service of the Razumkov Center published a study “Identity of citizens of Ukraine: tendencies of changes”, which can be used to refute the claim of propagandists. According to the results of the survey, the popularity of the Russian language in Ukraine is not growing, but on the contrary, it is falling. Fewer and fewer Ukrainians believe that speaking Russian is prestigious. If in 2015 there were 21.5% of all respondents, then in 2023 they became 9.4%, and in 2024 this number decreased to 6.1%. At the same time, the prestige of the Ukrainian language began to grow: from 43.2% in 2015 to 75.5% in 2024.

A similar situation is also with the use of the Russian language “not at home”. If in 2015, 12.3% of respondents spoke only Russian, then in 2023 and 2024, this number increased to 3.2% and 3.8%, respectively. It is worth noting that a small growth of 0.6% using only the Russian language between 2023 and 2024 falls within the scope of sociological error, as the authors of the study pointed out. Also, 11.4% used mainly Russian in 2015, but already in 2023 - 4.5%, and in 2024 - 3.8%.

Earlier, we analyzed the manipulation of propagandists, as if the UN recognized the Ukrainian language as a dialect of Russian.

The Kremlin continues to pour a lot of resources into propaganda aimed at children in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. Thus, one of the tools for promoting Russian propaganda is the so-called “youth forums”, in which Russians and collaborators try to attract as many young people as possible, promising children great career prospects and obtaining “competencies for self-realization in Russia”. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

These days, in the temporarily occupied Berdiansk, Zaporizhzhia region, preparations are underway for the second “Young South” forum, where the organizers intend to bring children from all temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine. According to the occupiers’ estimates, 800 participants should attend the “forum” in Berdiansk, writes the Center for National Resistance. Russian propagandists from actors, bloggers and other Kremlin figures should also come there.

The real purpose of such measures is:

– ideologically indoctrinate children in the TOT, promoting hatred of Ukraine among them;

– strengthen control over teenagers and young people through a network of youth organizations;

– promote loyalty due to promises of illusory “prospects”;

– strengthen the influence of the occupation administrations on all spheres of life in the TOT.

Russia continues to implement policies aimed at changing the national self-identification of Ukrainian youth. For example, in February 2024, the Russians took Ukrainian children from the TOT of Ukraine to the so-called World Youth Festival, where, in particular, they promoted the idea of joining Russian youth organizations “on a voluntary-compulsory basis”.

The Russian occupiers systematically erect memorials to their fallen soldiers in populated areas of the temporarily occupied regions of Ukraine. Such memorials have already appeared in the villages of Rykove, Stavky, Mykhailivka and other places in the Kherson region. Specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council drew attention to this.

Usually these are plates with the names of the occupiers, stylized as Soviet monuments of the Second World War. Sometimes old Soviet monuments are repurposed as these war memorials. The opening of such facilities is accompanied by propaganda campaigns with the participation of officials of the occupation administrations and relatives of the victims.

The main goal of these actions is to reinforce the message “Russia is here forever” and try to legitimize the occupation. Propagandists strive to create the impression that “the land watered with Russian blood” supposedly belongs to Russia, thereby sacralizing the Russian presence. In addition, such actions are aimed at increasing the morale of Russian troops and the population, showing the “heroism” of the dead occupiers, as well as an attempt to impose on the local population the opinion of the inevitability and duration of the occupation.

Russian propaganda telegram channels are spreading information that Poltava police have allegedly created a sample statement of apology for citizens listening to Russian music. In particular, it says the following: “I sincerely apologize to the citizens of Ukraine for listening to a Russian song. I condemn Russian aggression and am ready to be punished to the fullest extent of the law”. Propagandists add a photo of the corresponding “statement” as proof.

However, this is a primitive fake. The main department of the National Police in the Poltava region denied this news. This is reported by VoxCheck. In addition, a reverse photo search on Google showed that images with the “statement” are mostly distributed by Russian publications and telegram channels. Also in the text of the forgiveness they use the expression “to apologize”, which is uncharacteristic for the Ukrainian language, whereas the correct way to write it is “to ask for forgiveness, to apologize”.

In June 2022, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted a law banning Russian music in Ukrainian media and public space, but it does not provide for a specific fine. In August 2023, a bill was submitted to the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine to establish fines for the use of songs or videos of banned Russian performers in trade, public catering and service establishments in the amount of 5,100 to 7,500 UAH. Repeated violation will be punishable by a fine of 17,000 UAH. This bill is at the familiarization stage.

Propagandists are disseminating information in the Russian media that the representative of the Netherlands at the Eurovision 2024 international song contest, Joost Klein, was disqualified precisely because of his public statements about his love for Russia and complaints from Ukrainians. Although they themselves clarify that the “Ukrainian theme” was not the main reason for this decision. This is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that even if Ukraine had complaints about the performer's past actions, such as releasing a song about “loving Russian women” or concerts in St. Petersburg after the start of a full-scale invasion, this did not cause his disqualification. Organizers said he was eliminated due to an incident backstage in which Klein allegedly attacked a crew member.

The Dutch delegation indicated that, in its opinion, Klein's disqualification was too severe a measure for the offense committed. The European Language Union, which organizes the competition, has determined that Klein's participation is no longer appropriate given the legal process in this case.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to discredit Ukrainians, create conflict between viewers from different countries and replace the true reasons for the exclusion of a participant with politically motivated ones. Detector Media conducted an online text broadcast of the grand final of Eurovision 2024, where he explained the details of the situation with the disqualification of the Netherlands.

Journalists from the Finnish publication Yle claim that in May the Russian Federation seeks to use Eurovision and the World Hockey Championship as a platform for propaganda. Then the Russians plan to use similar narratives in the summer at the European Football Championship in Germany and the Olympic Games in France.

The publication adds that a similar campaign was previously recorded in the Latvian segment of social networks. Then a group of hockey players from Latvia took part in a tournament organized by Putin in Kazan. After this, the Hockey Federation introduced a number of bans, and thousands of bots suddenly appeared on social network X, speaking out in defense of hockey players and demanding to “separate sports from politics”.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine reports that Moscow is going to take advantage of large-scale measures in EU countries to weaken Europe and slow down support for Ukraine. Previously, Detector Media wrote about how Russian propaganda reacts to the exclusion from the 2024 Olympic Games.

Australia's national broadcaster ABC has released a documentary “The Ukrainian War: The Other Side”, in which British journalist Sean Langan covers the war through the eyes of the Russian side.

In particular, the film disseminates the following Russian propaganda narratives:

- in 2014, a coup d’état took place in Ukraine;

- Ukrainians from Donbas wanted to go to Russia;

- Ukrainians are Nazis supported by the West;

- Bucha is a fake;

- The Ukrainian Armed Forces use civilians as “human shields” and fire at civilians;

– Russia did not start the war, it is ending it.

That is, in attempts to show the “other” side, Sean Langan actually provided the Russians with a platform to justify their aggression against Ukraine. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes about this.

The dissemination of such materials to an international audience is promoting Russia and humiliating the Ukrainians, who today are fighting with blood for the right to freedom and independence. We previously wrote that the Ukrainian Ambassador to Australia Vasyl Myroshnychenko called the film “the equivalent of a bowl of vomit”, contacted the country’s Ministry of Communications and asked for an explanation from the TV channel.

Also, in February 2024, a British journalist filmed a similar documentary with the occupiers near Avdiivka, which also turned into an oasis of Russian narratives.

The project Beyond the News published a publication about a new youth subculture called Essence, which is added to the name of the city on the corresponding telegram channels. At first, it seems like just another online hangout for teenagers, where members publicly express their opinions about a certain person by suggesting new photos to the administrators. However, in reality it turned into public bullying. Some messages shock adults: “spit on them”, “circumvent them by the tenth road”, “tell them to fu*k off”, “beat them with your feet” - these are just some of the calls that can be seen on these telegram channels.

Most of the publications there resemble revenge on friends or acquaintances or collective bullying of a classmate. In order to insult or frame someone, it is enough to send a photo of the person causing hostility through a special bot and tell nasty things about him. The worst photos are chosen to highlight the victim's abnormality even more. Information is taken from open sources, because teenagers often publish their own photos on social networks, where they can look amazing - this is a kind of teenage trend. Or customers can wait for their victim and photograph him like a paparazzi.

Administrators of such channels are not responsible, since all messages are anonymous. And there were not even cases of punishment for this. Some channels offer victims to find out who ordered them and/or delete the message, but this costs 200-400 hryvnia. Not much, but for a child it can be noticeable.

According to project specialists, not everyone has forgotten the calls for child suicides due to the Blue Whale “game” and mass brawls between teenage participants of the “Redan PMC” in Ukrainian cities. The children first saw them as ordinary communities or subcultures that they wanted to be a part of. In both cases, this happened first in Russian cities and then spread to Ukrainian ones.

The national police then stopped the actions of the teenagers and blocked 30 channels and groups of the Redan private security company in Ukraine. According to official data from law enforcement officers, “the artificial spread of such a subculture is an attempt by Russian propagandists to conduct another information and psychological operation and attract teenagers to illegal activities”.

Specialists from Beyond the News analyzed dozens of telegram channels under the Essence brand. Many of them form one network and are administered by the same people, but there are also autonomous ones. They were unable to find unconditional evidence that this is part of Russian Internet propaganda. Most subscribers are Ukrainian teenagers; communication channel administrators indicate the numbers of Ukrainian mobile operators. There are no suspicious connections with Russian curators. If most of the channels of PMC Redan operated in Russia, then Essences operated primarily in Ukraine. Although investigators found “Entities” with references to Moscow and St. Petersburg in the title, the number of their subscribers is very small.

However, this does not mean that Russia cannot use them with bad intentions. Even if these channels are created and managed by Ukrainian ones, nothing prevents Russian propagandists and FSB agents from buying them out. Subscribers of such resources are a good audience for introducing the necessary enemy narratives. Teenagers in them are deeply involved in the Russian cultural, social and information space. They are well aware of Russian trends, music, the latest rumors, quotes from Russian rappers, sharing sticker packs with their images and Russian “voice memes”. Communication takes place predominantly in Russian, even in the “Essence of Lviv”.

It’s hard not to notice a certain cyclicality: in 2022, Blue Whale returned to Ukraine (the first mentions date back to 2017), in February 2023 – “PMC Redan”, in February 2024 – “Essence” (in fact, back in the summer of last year, however, they have gained popularity only now). This may indicate both natural changes in trends and subcultures among teenagers, and an artificial increase in attention to this phenomenon. Detector Media published a detailed analysis of how Russia actually came up with the subculture “PMC Redan” based on the cultural phenomenon “Redan”.

Propagandists on anonymous telegram channels that spread pro-Russian rhetoric are publishing a video that in the United States a student was allegedly expelled from the University of Florida because he publicly sang a song about Volodymyr Putin in Russian. A deduction letter is included with the video. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. Based on the phrase “Did a brave thing at Campus Square today”, which is shown in the video, they found the original video on Tiktok. In it, the man sings a different song, not in Russian, and the video does not contain any mention of expulsion from the university.

In the tags for the video, the singer indicated that there is a South African singer, University of Johannesburg and UJ student, which indicates that he is likely a student at the University of Johannesburg in South Africa.

In addition, in the video, the man noted that he performed the song near Campus Square. A Google Maps search revealed that there is a shopping center with the same name in the city of Johannesburg. The image of the location on Google Maps matches the location in the video - this is indicated by blue and black signs and inscriptions on them, a black iron fence and the presence of sand on the street.

Therefore, there is no talk at all about the University of Florida or expulsion from it because of the performance of the song. To forge the expulsion letter, Russian propagandists used a real university admission letter, which can be found in open sources. This is confirmed by identical signatures on both documents.

Propagandists spread such fake news to discredit Ukraine’s Western partners and create a false impression of a better situation in Russia. They say America is a hypocrite because it censors its students.

Anonymous telegram channels are distributing a video allegedly from the European media Euronews, which states that a Ukrainian refugee in a Paris museum broke the statue of the Swedish artist Anna Uddenberg “Journey to Self-Discovery”, imitating sexual intercourse with it. It's a lie.

The case was investigated by VoxCheck analysts, who determined that Euronews did not create such a story, and the video was simply assembled from different photos and videos that were not related to each other. For example, no information about such an incident could be found on the official media pages on social networks: on the media website, Facebook, Instagram, X (formerly Twitter) and YouTube.

Using a reverse search on Google, it turned out that all the footage was used in the so-called story - can be found in the public domain. In addition, according to the information presented in the video, the statue was damaged and its limbs (arm and leg) were broken off. However, this was not shown on the video. No additional information about the destruction of the sculpture was found in other media.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own research.

A video allegedly belonging to the British magazine New Musical Express is being circulated online. They say, according to YouTube Music statistics for 2023, Ukrainian musicians have been supplanted by Russian performers, in particular Basta, Aigel, Katia Lel, Instasamka and American singer Taylor Swift. However, it turned out to be a fake video.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found that New Musical Express magazine had not released such ratings. In fact, Ukrainian performers are leading the official YouTube Music rankings in Ukraine. It's important to note that Taylor Swift does not appear in this ranking.

The VoxCheck 2023 study showed that in January and February, Russian artists temporarily made it into the top 5, but throughout the year, the leadership belonged to Ukrainian artists. This indicates that the statement about the advantage of Russian musicians is not objective. Also, according to public research, most Ukrainians avoided Russian-language content, indicating changes in cultural preferences during the war.

Propagandists spread such fake news to create a false impression of the superior status of Russian culture compared to Ukrainian culture, even in times of war. Like, Ukrainians really love Russian more because Ukrainian is a surrogate.

Users of social networks are again spreading information that the ex-husband of singer Kamaliya, Pakistani Mohammad Zahoor, bought fighter jets for Ukraine. However, this is a fake.

Specialists of the NotaYenota project drew attention to it. They found out that Zahur did not actually buy fighter jets for Ukraine. Kamaliya personally denied this information. This story begins with an interview with Kamaliya in 2022, where the singer stated that she received permission from Zahur to talk about the fact of providing two fighter jets to Ukraine, but without specific details. As it turned out, the singer was referring to military assistance from Pakistan. However, the quote is defaced on a number of websites and social networks, attributing to the Kamaliya man the acquisition of aircraft.

Project specialists drew attention to this situation due to the peculiarities of its reappearance in the Ukrainian media space. They found out that the fake was spread again in early January through one of the Facebook pages, which has more than 440 thousand subscribers. The comments to the message provide a link to the main article, and the domain name of the site distributing this fake is located in the .su zone - the national top-level domain for the former Soviet Union. Even after the Union ceases to exist, the SU domain remains Russian. They note that since 1993, the administrator of this domain has been the Russian Institute for the Development of Public Networks (RosNIRSM), located in Moscow. Since 2009, technical maintenance of this domain has been carried out by the Internet Technical Center, also in Moscow.

The most interesting thing is that the page distributing this stuff through .SU is administered by three persons located in Ukraine. Taking this into account, according to NotaYenota, through pages publishing “good news” about “support for Ukraine” from famous people, fakes can be launched, which test the audience for their reaction to various types of influence.

Pro-Kremlin media are disseminating information that Ukraine has allegedly banned the use of costumes for the characters Father Frost and Snow Maiden, and a fine of 20 thousand hryvnia has been introduced in case of violation. The publications also add a “memo” in which they write: “Father Frost’s clothing (robe, hat, boots, long white beard) is prohibited”, because “St. Nicholas walks with an angel”. It's a lie.

The StopFake analysts analyzed this case and explained that there are no official prohibitions on the use of costumes for these characters. And the Kremlin’s minions could easily create the “attraction” using graphic editors, and then spread the “news” about the ban on costumes. Moreover, as the StopFake experts explain, this information was disseminated only in the Russian segment of social networks, that is, no Ukrainian media published such news.