Kremlin media state that territorial recruitment centers announced free evacuation from Kramatorsk and Sloviansk, and then workers handed out draft notices to men leaving these cities. In the message, the authors attach a screenshot with evacuation vehicles and a phone number - 050 444 1005.

VoxCheck specialists analyzed the case and came to the conclusion that the number in the screenshot belongs to the Good Deed charity organization. The organization is engaged in free evacuation of people from front-line territories (Kharkiv, Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kherson regions, etc.) to Dnipro. The photo shows cars with the name of the organization. Cars with the same stickers appeared in videos published on Good Deed’s social media pages.

That is, a charitable organization organizes the evacuation process and there is no talk of “handing out” draft notices; this is an invention of propagandists.

Information about the “evacuation” from populated areas of the Poltava region due to possible rocket attacks on the Kremenchuh hydroelectric power station is distributed by anonymous users in personal messages. In doing so, they refer to the State Emergency Service.

However, this is disinformation, as reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. At the same time, the State Emergency Service has already responded to this. They stated that such messages are “hostile information injection aimed at destabilizing the situation”.

The Center also urged to trust only verified sources of information. We previously wrote that unknown people, on behalf of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, announced a fake evacuation from Kharkiv.

Propagandists claim that the Ukrainian Defense Forces, according to them, are preventing the evacuation of civilians from the city of Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region. Russian media, citing Russian Ihor Kimakovskyi, claim that the Ukrainian Armed Forces are allegedly using people as human shields to stop the Russian offensive. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that Chasiv Yar in the Donetsk region was no exception to Russian propaganda. The invaders systematically destroy the city, shelling every meter of the populated area. Voluntary evacuation of the civilian population there began in 2022; in August 2022, the evacuation of Donbas residents became mandatory, and by March 2023, the Ukrainian military evacuated all children from the city.

As of April 2024, about 700 people remained in Chasiv Yar; by the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, 16 thousand people lived in the city. Therefore, speaking in such conditions about the Ukrainian military’s obstruction of the process of saving people is a cynical fake of Russian propaganda. According to Serhii Chaus, head of the mountain military administration of Chasiv Yar, explanatory work is carried out with these people every day, but the main argument for evacuation is the destruction of housing.

“We've actually seen a slight increase in evacuations in recent weeks. Every day the number did not change: one or two, maximum three people, but in fact every day people left... the moment may come when we simply physically cannot do this. We say this openly, we warn people”, Chaus emphasized in an interview with Radio Svoboda (Liberty) on April 15, 2024.

Any evacuation is carried out in close cooperation between the Ukrainian military, volunteers, human rights activists and international organizations, for example, people from the Donetsk region were evacuated under the auspices of USAID. The entire evacuation process takes place openly and under the supervision of Ukrainian and foreign observers. People are transported in organized columns, evacuated families are provided with free housing in safer regions of Ukraine, social guarantees, humanitarian assistance and psychological support are provided.

It is worth noting that Kimakovskyi, used by propaganda to create anti-Ukrainian fakes, cannot be a reliable source of information - a Russian citizen occupies a fictitious “position” in a non-existent “government body” of the temporarily occupied parts of the Donetsk region of Ukraine. In 2015, the Security Service of Ukraine accused a citizen of the aggressor country of spying for Russia. According to Ukrainian intelligence services, Kimakovskyi is an agent of the Russian FSB who collected information about the redeployment of Ukrainian military personnel in the Donetsk region. The Russian was also accused of interfering in the territorial integrity of Ukraine. In 2019, an FSB agent was exchanged for Ukrainian political prisoners, among whom were Oleh Sentsov, Oleksandr Kolchenko, Stanislav Klykh, Roman Sushchenko, Volodymyr Balukh, as well as a number of other illegally detained Ukrainian citizens, including sailors abducted by Russia in the Kerch Strait in November 2018.

Propagandists are spreading another fake about the Ukrainian military in order to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Russian propaganda systematically spreads disinformation about the evacuation of civilians from advanced Ukrainian settlements, traditionally keeping silent about the root cause of the complicated situation - Russian aggression against Ukraine, daily shelling, killings of civilians, destruction of critical infrastructure of settlements.

Users of such messengers as Telegram and Signal began to receive messages on behalf of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine that the Ukrainian authorities recommend that residents of Kharkiv evacuate from the city by April 22, 2024 due to its likely encirclement by Russian troops. In addition, these messages are accompanied by a reminder about what to do in case of evacuation.

In fact, the State Emergency Service stated that they did not send such messages to Ukrainians. The military leadership of Ukraine is constantly monitoring the situation and has not recorded any signs of Russia’s readiness to attack Kharkiv. They write about this in the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

The very messages about the evacuation from Kharkiv are informational stuffing aimed at destabilizing the situation in Ukraine, the State Emergency Service notes and urges not to trust dubious sources of information.

This is not the first time that disinformation about the “evacuation from Kharkiv” has been spread. Previously, we refuted the information that “panic sentiments allegedly prevail in Kharkiv - city residents are leaving en masse”, “Ukraine allegedly announced the deportation of Kharkiv residents, preparing it for defense”, or that “Kharkiv authorities are allegedly planning to flee the city”.

Information is being disseminated online: they say that China, Kazakhstan and India strongly recommended that their citizens urgently leave the Kharkiv, Kyiv and Odesa regions. However, this is not true.

The information was processed by specialists from the VoxCheck project and found that, in fact, the embassies of China and India in Ukraine did not publish such recommendations. The Indian Embassy last recommended citizens leave Ukraine back in October 2022. The Chinese Embassy did not encourage citizens to leave Ukraine even on the eve of a full-scale invasion, but also in October 2022 published advice on how to evacuate from Ukraine. In addition, Chinese state media also made calls for evacuation in the fall of 2022. In 2024, recommendations to evacuate from Ukraine did not appear on the official websites of the Foreign Ministries of India and China. In the end, there is no mention in the media of the recent calls of these states, allegedly addressed to their citizens, to leave the Odesa, Kyiv and Kharkiv regions.

At the same time, at the end of March, the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Ukraine actually recommended that citizens of their country consider leaving the Odesa and Kharkiv regions due to “increasing tensions and an unstable security situation”. However, even here there is a noticeable difference with a fake message, because a recommendation to “consider the possibility” of leaving the city and a “persistent recommendation to urgently” leave the city are still different things. Also, the Embassy of the Republic of Kazakhstan in Ukraine called on all citizens not to ignore the air raid warning and to go to shelter in a timely manner.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists are trying to sow panic in different regions of Ukraine. Previously, we refuted information that Ukraine allegedly announced the deportation of residents of Kharkiv, preparing it for defense.

Russia is silent about the situation in the Belgorod and Kursk regions - the Putin regime is not able to ensure security in the border areas. Russian authorities are hiding attempts by residents there to evacuate on their own, and are also blocking the evacuation.

That is, propaganda is doing everything possible to hide the truth about the security situation in the country. Russia’s goal is to use the population as a “human shield” and hold “elections” at any cost. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council.

Propagandists in the media are disseminating information that the Ukrainian authorities are allegedly removing archives and exhibits from Kharkiv, preparing for evacuation, due to the likely threat of a new Russian invasion. However, this is fake.

This was brought to the attention of the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. They found that no official statements about the “evacuation of the city” were published on the websites of the local regional military administration or city council. There is also no information on the communication channels of the country's top leadership. Moreover, Kharkiv is not in danger of a Russian occupation invasion.

Propagandists spread such fake news to intimidate the local population and discredit local authorities.

According to such reports, the next evacuation from Zaporizhzhia to “Odesa, Poland and Germany” was supposed to take place on December 11, 2023. However, after processing this information, the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council found out that in fact no evacuation is planned. Such messages are part of the Russian IPSO. By resorting to such cynicism, propagandists pursue the goal of sowing panic among the population of Ukraine. If such a notification is received, the Center calls on citizens not to click on the links and block the number from which the SMS came. More enemy speculation on the topic of evacuation of Ukrainians can be found here.

Pro-Russian resources claim that Olena Zelenska’s foundation is allegedly involved in various child trafficking schemes. They say that the foundation of the first lady of Ukraine, under the pretext of saving children, allegedly systematically sent orphans into the hands of pedophiles in different European countries - France, Great Britain, Germany. However, this is a fake.

The fact-checkers from the StopFake project analyzed this case. They investigated that one of the sources of disinformation picked up by the Russian media is the online publication The Intel Drop, which has already repeatedly disseminated fake news. In addition, the website of the mentioned online resource was created only in September 2022, presumably by Russian intelligence services to make the propaganda more credible. Another source of misinformation was the online newspaper The DC Weekly, which publishes a lot of conspiracy theories. The author of the article about the Zelenska Foundation on this resource is allegedly journalist Jessica Devlin. However, no information at all could be found about this author. Moreover, using a reverse Google image search, it was discovered that the photo purportedly of Jessica Devlin was an image of Canadian writer Judy Batalion.

Many first ladies around the world are involved in the protection of children, orphans, their education and healthcare. Olena Zelenska is no exception. Children are a vulnerable category of the population that needs special protection, especially in conditions of armed confrontation. The Kremlin aims to discredit Olena Zelenska, as well as Volodymyr Zelenskyi, because these people have influence in Ukraine. To blow up the people's trust in the spouses means to deal a powerful blow from within the country. We also analyzed previous attempts to discredit Olena Zelenska as disinformation, that allegedly the Russians found the Russian passport of the first lady of Ukraine in Crimea or Olena Zelenska spends tens of thousands of euros on accessories.

Pro-Kremlin resources claim that on the evening of October 29, mass riots at Makhachkala airport allegedly occurred as a result of information “stuffing” by telegram channels controlled from Ukraine. They allegedly announced the arrival of a flight with refugees - Israeli citizens - in Dagestan. In addition, propagandists claim that they have already established the probable involvement of Iliia Ponomariov, a former State Duma deputy under the control of the SBU, in the situation at the airport. One of their arguments is that Ponomariov even had an “interview on this topic” before.

Propagandists do not provide any evidence for their statements. They assume that a “provocation” was prepared, but for some reason their government allegedly deliberately did not notice the problem. At the same time, some opinion leaders in Russia do not condemn the actions of the Dagestanis, but rather dissociate themselves from the situation, which is another reputational blow for the Kremlin. For example, Russian blogger Yurii Podoliak says that activists behaved in a similar way on the Maidan in Kyiv. They say that everything happened according to the same method, and the participants in the riots seemed to be working for the “Kyiv regime”.

It should be noted that in this case, pro-Russian sources use one of the propaganda tactics called “scapegoat” - they make amends for the Dagestanis and shift responsibility for the events in Makhachkala to Ukraine. Previously, we wrote about how Russian propaganda uses anti-Semitic stereotypes against Ukraine.

On the Internet, propagandists began to spread information that Romania is in no hurry to help evacuate its “stranded” citizens in the Gaza Strip as a result of the Hamas attack on Israel. Bucharest is supposedly engaged in saving Ukrainians, that is, it puts them as a priority. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project looked into this case and found out that there is no information that Romania is prioritizing the evacuation of Ukrainian citizens. Evacuation from the Gaza Strip is not yet possible, so propagandists manipulate information when they write that the Romanian authorities are saving Ukrainians, but not Romanians. On October 8, 2023, Romania made its first flight, evacuating 346 Romanian citizens from Ben Gurion Airport (Tel Aviv, Israel), as reported by the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Almost a week later, the first evacuation plane to Romania with Ukrainians on board took off from the same Israel on October 14 - there were 207 Ukrainian citizens on board, mostly women, children and the elderly. Due to the fact that Ukrainian airspace is closed to aircraft due to Russia’s armed aggression, Ukrainian citizens are forced to fly first to Romania, a neighboring country, and only then travel overland to Ukraine.

Russia is trying to “create a quarrel” between Ukraine and its neighboring states, one of which is Romania, in order to reduce their support for the Ukrainian people from Russian aggression. Previously, pro-Kremlin media also spread disinformation about the rescue of Ukrainians from Israel in order to once again discredit the Ukrainian government for its inaction.

Russian media, broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric, are disseminating information that Ukraine refuses to evacuate Ukrainian citizens from Israel and Palestine. Russian propaganda refers to the words of Ambassador to Israel Yevhen Korniichuk, who allegedly said that there is no technical possibility to take Ukrainian citizens out of Israel. It's fake.

The case was investigated by the fact-checker of the StopFake project. In fact, a plan is now being developed to evacuate Ukrainians from Israel and the Gaza Strip, as reported by Yevhen Korniichuk. However, evacuation will occur according to different scenarios. The embassy has prepared the first plane to fly from Israel to Bucharest, and from the Gaza Strip, where the situation is difficult, because the region is blocked, people will be taken to Egypt.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and sow distrust in them. Allegedly it doesn’t care about the Ukrainians who find themselves in a difficult situation. Previously, we refuted the fake news that Hamas militants are using weapons from Mukachevo.

Russian media broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric spread information that the Ukrainian military is allegedly preparing the kidnapping of 523 children in the Kupiansk district of the Kharkiv region. The children are planned to be sold, and the money to be divided between Zelenskyi's officials and Western patrons. This is manipulation.

The case was studied by the fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. The Ukrainian military does not kidnap children, unlike the Russian military, but evacuates them from dangerous areas. After the shelling of the Kupiansk district became more intense, it was decided to evacuate part of the population. Precisely because Russian troops are shelling the civilian population and infrastructure, the issue of forced evacuation of minors is being considered, but only accompanied by parents or guardians. They are promised to be provided with free housing in Kharkiv or in the West of the country and all necessary assistance.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and the military, and also diverts attention from the crimes of Russians who are kidnapping children in the temporarily occupied territories. Earlier, we refuted the fake that Ukraine is taking away children from families living in the war zone.

Such information is disseminated by the Russian media, referring to the statement of Russia's permanent representative to the UN Vasyl Nebenzia. He made it on April 5 during the so-called “Arria Formula” meeting, an informal meeting during which UN member states can learn more information on international security issues. According to Nebenzia, the Ukrainian authorities “commit crimes against children”: they are kidnapped from parents who refuse to evacuate from the war zone. It's fake.

The fact checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case. Ukraine does not kidnap children. On April 4, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine supported the initiative of the Donetsk regional military administration on the mandatory evacuation of 126 children from 21 settlements in the region due to active hostilities. Children were evacuated from dangerous settlements in the Donetsk region in armored vehicles, accompanied only by their parents or guardians.

Also, 49 UN member states adopted a statement accusing Russia of “spreading disinformation about mass abductions and illegal forcible deportation of thousands of Ukrainian children”. UN member states note that Russia has been solely guilty of the deportation of Ukrainian children, and the International Criminal Court has a number of pieces of evidence that confirms this.

Russia needs such statements in order to legalize aggression against the Ukrainian people, present itself as a “peacemaker” and absolve itself of responsibility for these crimes. Detector Media has already investigated how Russia justifies deportation and other war crimes in Ukraine.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the so-called evacuation of Ukrainian children from the war zone and their further transfer to Russia allegedly cannot be considered a war crime.

This case was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project, who found out that such a thesis was not true. In fact, this is not an evacuation, but a deportation of the Ukrainian people. That is, Russia substitutes the concepts and calls the forced deportation “salvation”. People do not come back, they can go missing instead, in particular, children. At the same time, on March 15, 2023, UN international experts published a report that presents the results of the investigation of Russian aggression against Ukraine. The report contains war crimes committed by the Russian occupiers. A separate block of the UN report is devoted to the results of the investigation into the forced displacement and deportation of Ukrainian children by Russian occupiers. That is, this is indeed a war crime, which is why the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for Putin. Outside of Russia, Putin should be arrested and brought to trial.

According to the Ukrainian authorities, children are taken out not only from Donetsk and Luhansk regions, but also from other occupied territories of Ukraine. In particular, children were taken out of Kherson. As of December 29, it is known that about 13,876 Ukrainian children were expelled by Russia. Ukraine regards such actions as the abduction of its citizens. Analysts of Detector Media conducted their own investigation on how Russia justifies deportation and other war crimes in Ukraine. You can read it here.

Pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. They say that only 28 people from Kupiansk applied for evacuation, despite problems with heating and electricity. As if the same situation was in Izium. They say that only a “few dozen residents” also wanted to evacuate there. The propagandists conclude that people allegedly do not want to “move to the territory of Ukraine” because they had the opportunity to compare the Ukrainian and Russian authorities.

This was reported on the website of the Belarusian Border Committee. It is not true. A fake about the mass migration of Ukrainians to Belarus was released by Stanislav Zharyn, authorized representative of the Polish government on protecting the information space of the country.

According to him, “the graph reflects the falsified number of Ukrainian refugees who left for Belarus. According to the information on the migration movement, more than 60,000 Ukrainians arrived in Belarus, including almost 40,000 who had to go through Poland”.

Zharyn noted that Belarusian propaganda hints that Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression are seeking asylum in Belarus, perceiving this country as the safer one than the EU countries.

Russian media write about this with reference to the words of collaborator Rohov. Like, the Ukrainian authorities use people as a human shield to cover military facilities. Allegedly, even large families, the elderly, and students were banned from leaving. Allegedly, in Zaporizhzhia, the Armed Forces of Ukraine use the “layer cake” tactics, when the military live surrounded by civilians, and the military depots are surrounded by civilian objects. It is not true.

There are no restrictions for residents of Zaporizhzhia to travel within Ukraine or abroad. For example, there are available tickets on the Ukrzaliznytsia website. For the security of Ukrainians, there are restrictions on leaving for the occupied territories after the shelling of a column of civilians at the checkpoint on October 2. Propagandists also systematically report that supposedly Ukrainian servicemen are hiding behind the civilian population. However, such information is denied every time by local authorities.

Pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. They say that at first the evacuation of residents was carried out by Russia, now Ukraine. Therefore, the city supposedly will soon have no inhabitants left and it will become a ghost city.

After the de-occupation of the right bank of Kherson on November 19, the evacuation of residents began. There are problems with the supply of electricity, drinking water, heating in the city, there is also a danger of shelling the city, some of the objects in the city are still mined. Therefore, the Ukrainian authorities offered the citizens to evacuate to safer areas. However, this process is voluntary, people have the opportunity to leave the city according to their own will. Some citizens will still stay at home, despite the difficulties. Moreover, on November 19, the first train arrived in Kherson, by which Kherson residents, on the contrary, returned home, despite the danger. The city is recovering from the horrors of the evacuation and is trying to restore vital processes. In particular, Ukrposhta post office began to work, restoring communications and the Internet.

As for the “evacuation” carried out by the Russians, those who left the city were primarily those who collaborated with the occupiers in order to avoid responsibility for their actions.

Pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. They say that in big cities the situation is critical due to damage to energy, water and heat supply systems. However, the government is irresponsible, does nothing and is silent. This is not true.

The authorities have been talking about the difficult winter period for a long time. After rocket attacks on October 10, when 30% of Ukraine's energy system was damaged, such reports have become more frequent. The authorities, both at the central and local levels, informed the Ukrainians that it was necessary to stock up on drinking and technical water, candles and other essentials.

On the air of TV channels, radio stations and other media there are numerous explanations and recommendations for Ukrainians. The government also launched the state program "DrovaYe" (We have firewood) and exempted goods "important for the heating season" from VAT and import duties. At the local level, alternative sources of water supply are being developed in case of an emergency.

For the second week, the Kherson's residents have been informationally attacked with a series of messages, urging them to "evacuate" across the Dnipro to the left bank. Propaganda anonymous channels spread information about the Ukrainian military's alleged shelling of peaceful areas. The occupiers also offered "free vacation for children and adults in Russia," distributed leaflets "Save your family - leave for the left bank," and information with routes. Propagandists send text messages urging them to "evacuate" immediately because they say there will be shelling residential areas.

On October 22, they began to intimidate people by sending out audio in the Ukrainian language, allegedly on behalf of the Ukrainian military. In the audio, it is said that not a single surviving house will remain in Kherson.

As noted by the fact-checkers of the "NotaYenota" project, the man's Ukrainian language is perfect. It's probably a record of either a Ukrainian prisoner or one of the Kherson collaborators. Residents of Kherson and the right-bank part of the region, who were evacuated, will allegedly be able to receive a payment of 100,000 rubles and a certificate for purchasing housing in Crimea. Such messages aim not only to intimidate the people of Kherson and force them to evacuate but also to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The Ukrainian military never targets civilians and never sends anything that could threaten Ukrainians or discredit the army.

After a significant part of the population left Kherson, the Russian occupiers changed into civilian clothes and settled in the homes of the evacuees. As reported by the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it is how the enemy is preparing Kherson for street battles.

The Kherson regional military administration calls on residents to ignore the "evacuation."

Such information is distributed in social networks and messengers. It is not true.

The secretary of the city council, Anatoly Kurtev, said that now there are no reasons for the mass evacuation of citizens. The other day, the city authorities started an information campaign to clarify the rules of behavior of the population during an emergency, including during evacuation. However, the official says, these are only preventive measures, because, in the conditions of a full-scale war, such knowledge should be available not only to Zaporizhzhia but also to the entire country. Kurtev urged residents to remain calm and trust only official sources of information, not speculations and rumors on social networks.

Recently, fake reports about the evacuation of residents of Odesa were also spread. Local authorities denied these rumors.

Anonymous telegram channels write about it. Allegedly, such an instruction was given to local authorities. It is not true.

Russian media write about this with reference to the online magazine The Federalist article "As Ukrainians Defect To Russia, We Should Ask Whether Our Billions Are Saving Democracy Or Aiding Corruption".

The Federalist publication consists of a series of manipulative theses, which ultimately build a propaganda message about the civil war in Ukraine.

Since 2014, Kremlin propaganda through some American and Western journalists has been actively trying to impose the opinion of the internal confrontation between the Ukrainian citizens, the "civil war" in Donbas, and the "genocide of Russian speakers".

According to a May survey by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS) on the perception of the Russian-Ukrainian war among Ukrainian citizens, only 1% of Ukrainians have a "predominantly pro-Russian position". Another KIIS survey, also conducted in May, showed that only 2% of Ukrainian citizens have a good attitude towards Russia, while 92% have a bad attitude. More details.

The Russian mass media disseminate information concerning the "Zaporizhzhia government" (separatist Volodymyr Rogov). Allegedly, children are taken away because they do not finish their meal or eat portions too quickly, because of an extreme emotional attachment to their parents, and because the mother shouts loudly at the child. It seems that such cases occur most often in Germany.

In Zaporizhzhia Region, since the beginning of the full-scale war, power has been represented by the regional military administration, whose head is Oleksandr Starukh. He did not make any statement about the removal of children from refugees.

Volodymyr Rogov is a separatist and collaborator who declared himself the so-called mayor of temporarily occupied Melitopol. The National Police opened a criminal case against him. On July 21, the European Union imposed sanctions on Rogov.

Such fakes are spread so that mothers with children do not dare to flee from the war to Western countries, where they are actually provided with social assistance and help children adapt.