The Russian Defense Ministry said that on the night of August 14, they attacked Odesa “at the places of production and storage of unmanned boats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”. It is not true.

The case was studied by the fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. The agency, headed by Serhii Shoihu, circulates similar phrases in reports of attacks on Odesa and the Odesa region, which have intensified since Russia's withdrawal from the “grain agreement”. In fact, the Russians did not fire at “places of production and storage of unmanned boats”, but a supermarket, a hostel, a gym for a local youth sports school, apartment buildings, pharmacies and cars.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to convince the whole world that the Russians are not shelling civilian targets, but only hitting military infrastructure. So they are trying to hide the genocide of Ukrainians. Earlier, we talked about the message that Ukrainian officials pass off military facilities as civilian ones.

On the Facebook of the Operational Command “South” they said that somebody is allegedly distributing information about their official pages and channels on telegram, Tiktok, Instagram and YouTube. And they explained that unknown people use the authoritative name of the official source and create fake pages in order to spread their agenda first of all.

In the message, the communication specialists noted their official pages in social networks. We also add links to them:

Facebook

Youtube

Telegram

American journalist Ann Garrison, who writes for The Grayzone and is known for her publications with anti-Ukrainian rhetoric and conspiracy theories, actively maintains her account on the X social network (formerly Twitter). These messages were analyzed by specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation.

They found out that the journalist actively criticizes US military assistance to Ukraine and distributes Russian propaganda in the Western media. In particular, in 2022 she wrote that the no-fly zone is equal to the “air war” between the US and Russia. In 2023, Garrison spoke about the alleged presence of the CIA on the territory of Ukraine and attributed the bias to the American edition of Newsweek due to its coverage of this topic in an insufficiently condemning form. Ann constantly repeats Russian propaganda clichés, such as US “willingness” to fight to the last Ukrainian, the abduction and sale of Western weapons by Ukrainians, and the “high threat” of nuclear war. Garrison blames the Ukrainian government and the United States for everything, without calling Russia the aggressor. She also does not add links and evidence to her publications.

The journalist is one of the “useful foreigners” for Russian propaganda. Using their comments, publications and statements, Russian propagandists nourish the false impression that the whole world really believes that they are right, and that Russia is not really to blame. By discrediting Ukraine and its Western partners, they want to create skepticism about support for Ukraine and stop it.

Such information was disseminated in social networks and propaganda media. The reports say that the commander of the Kherson military unit A3056 allegedly issued an order to detain all male persons. The order notes that the military will create checkpoints where they will patrol around the clock and inspect personal belongings and documents. All men passing through checkpoints (in the direction of Kherson) will allegedly be detained and handed over to the SBU.

The case was noticed by the fact-checkers of the NotaYenota project; they found out that this “document” was false. In particular, the following errors indicate the fakeness of the document:

The “document” misspelled the name of the head of the military unit. For example, in a false document it says “KUZMYCH”, although the real name is “KUZMICH”.

The fake document also does not comply with the formatting rules. So the last name and first name are written on the right, and the last name is in capital letters. These requirements in the “document” are not met.

Military unit A3056 is subordinate to the National Guard. And the fake makers indicated the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine in the document.

Russian propagandists are distributing a video containing a fragment of a social survey, where Ukrainians say that they allegedly listen to Russian music: Instasamka, Hryhorii Leps, Artik & Asti, Basta. When the interviewer told one of the poll participants that Hryhorii Leps supported the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he got angry and called the interviewer a provocateur.

The case was investigated by the VoxCheck fact-checker. In fact, the video distributed by Russian propagandists is a humorous sketch of members of the Ukrainian group Kurgan and Agregat, Ievhen Volodchenko and twin brothers Amil and Ramil Nasirov. They themselves starred as an interviewer and a few “passers-by”. At the end of the video, these “passers-by” apologize and promise not to listen to Russian music anymore.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to show that Ukrainians actually listen to Russian songs, and music is out of politics. And the Ukrainian government and some Ukrainians allegedly infringe on the rights of other people. Earlier we wrote about how Russian sport serves the Russian state propaganda system.

On July 27-28, St. Petersburg will host an economic forum within the framework of the Russia-Africa summit. The mention of the economic forum in the media began to appear a few days before the summit and only after Russia withdrew from the Black Sea Grain Agreement. Moreover, at first only niche media reported on the summit.

Brand Ukraine analyzed such world media as New York Times, Associated Press, The Washington Post, Politico, Independent, Newsweek, Voice of America, Financial Times, The Guardian and highlighted the main messages about this event.

Putin has a precarious position in relations with African countries.

The fact that Russia is under great pressure, writes Politico and Voice of America. According to them, Russia's shaky position in relations with African countries is due to three events that occurred the day before: Russia's withdrawal from the Black Sea Grain Agreement, an attempted rebellion by the Wagner group, and the decision of the Supreme Court of South Africa to arrest Volodymyr Putin if he appears at the summit in Johannesburg .

Russia does not play an important economic role for Africa.

Despite the Kremlin's statements and high status in Africa, Russia invests little in this country and does not provide humanitarian assistance. And according to Steven Gruzd, an analyst at the South African Institute of International Affairs in Johannesburg, “China and the European Union are much bigger trading partners with Africa” than Russia. This was written by the Associated Press and Voice of America.

African countries strive to be full-fledged players in the political arena.

African leaders “cannot afford to look like they are sitting on the sidelines”, despite the fact that they have no leverage over Moscow or Kyiv. “They [African countries] should be seen as proactive”. This was stated by Priyal Singh, a senior fellow at the South African Institute for Security Studies, to the Financial Times. And analyst Cameron Hudson of the American Center for Strategic and International Studies told the Associated Press that “the continent of 1.3 billion people is becoming more confident on the world stage”, so if African countries leave the summit with the feeling that Russia does not hear them, they can distance themselves from it.

South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is using the summit to advance the peace plan.

The Financial Times wrote that “South African President Cyril Ramaphosa is using his presence at the summit to advance the peace plan”. It was this plan that Ramaphosa, along with three other African presidents, presented during his visits to Kyiv and Moscow. It implies not only free trade in the Black Sea, but also the importance of territorial sovereignty.

After withdrawing from the grain deal, Russia may be under criticism from African countries due to rising food prices.

Due to the withdrawal from the grain deal, world food prices will rise, so African leaders may begin to criticize Russia for this move. Also thanks to this, some African countries are becoming even more dependent on Russia. Politico wrote about it. The Guardian also wrote about the Russia-Africa summit and noted that Volodymyr Putin is afraid of public criticism.

On July 11-12, a NATO summit was held in Vilnius, as a result of which Ukrainian officials received assurances from NATO leaders that Ukraine would become a member of the Alliance after the victory. However, Ukraine has not yet received an official invitation to NATO membership. Also, as a result, Ukraine received a new weapon, a program for training pilots on the F-16, a new body - the Ukraine-NATO Council, coordinating relations between Ukraine and NATO. Fact-checkers of the project “Beyond the News” found out that during the summit, pro-Russian activists distributed brochures with the “peace plan of the Ukrainian people” through bookcrossing boxes. This, they say, was organized by the “representation of the Ukrainian people”, which acts on the “name of the Ukrainian people”, who do not agree with the policy of the current government. However, such an organization does not exist, it is fake. As experts explained, the theses written in a brochure repeat the pro-Kremlin agenda. That is, all of them are propaganda. So they gave an example of “harassment of the Russian-speaking population” or the so-called legal referendums in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions. Among other things, the brochure broadcast the following messages:

In the last 9 years, a totalitarian regime has been formed in Ukraine. Ukraine does not take into account the opinion of the people, but follows its own separate path.

Russian propaganda hints that Ukrainians allegedly did not choose the path of Europeanization, and the Revolution of Dignity and its political consequences were the work of nationalists. Publicity and free-thinking reign in Ukraine, Ukrainians declare their national identity, moreover, they often emphasize this, for which propagandists equate Ukrainians with the so-called “nationalists”. The latter (their minority) allegedly monopolized the right to publicly express their civil position and oppress the opinions of others. Fact-checkers add that since 2014, many independent publications and investigative journalism centers have appeared in Ukraine, and cooperation with European media has intensified. In the world ranking of freedom of speech, Ukraine took 79th place among 180 countries. And, for example, Russia took 164th place this year.

The Ukrainian authorities are destroying the “Russian-speaking population” and are engaged in linguocide. 

Knowing the state language as the language of one's citizenship is the duty of every citizen of Ukraine. At the same time, every citizen of Ukraine is free to choose the language or languages for private communication. Propagandists systematically speculate on the language issue, arguing that Ukraine discriminates against the Russian language. Although it has the same rights as other minority languages. Ukrainian is the main one in public communication. But the law “On ensuring the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the state language” provides an opportunity to serve customers in other languages at their request.

“Russian-speaking population” is just a political term used by Russia to achieve its own goals. In particular, to destroy Ukraine as a state, and Ukrainians as a nation. According to a sociological survey of the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology, 84% of Ukrainians believe that there are no problems with the use of the Russian language in Ukraine and Russian-speaking citizens do not experience harassment and persecution, only 8% are convinced of the opposite. A slice of public opinion proves that the reproaches about linguocide are propaganda speculation.

The referendums held in Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions are absolutely legitimate. 

Russia is positioning the referenda as the key to the return of historical justice. However, the Russians substitute the concept, calling “reunification” the annexation of the territories of another, sovereign state. In fact, Russia is holding illegitimate referendums, seizing land, destroying cities.

The fictitious referendums in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine are not the will of the Ukrainians, but only try to give legitimacy to Russia's attempts to seize part of another state, the UN says. Their results, except for Russia itself, recognize other “brother states” of Russia as the DPRK. A decision on the issue of changing the territory of Ukraine can only be taken on the basis of an all-Ukrainian referendum. In general, the issue submitted to the referendum cannot call into question the territorial integrity of Ukraine. That is, changing the territory of Ukraine in an illegal way. It is no less important that voting should take place voluntarily, and not at gunpoint (when the armed occupiers, together with members of the “electoral commissions”, collected votes from apartments).

Ukrainians have always been in favor of an alliance with Russia and against Euro-Atlantic integration.

Ukraine entered into relations with NATO as early as 1992 when it joined the North Atlantic Cooperation Council (later to become the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council). In 1994, Ukraine became the first among the post-Soviet states to sign a framework agreement with NATO as part of the Partnership for Peace initiative. Ukraine first declared its desire to become a member of the North Atlantic Alliance in 2002. Then, according to a poll by the Razumkov Center, 32% of Ukrainians supported Ukraine's entry into NATO and 32.2% were against it. Over the years, attitudes towards joining the Alliance have changed dynamically. Russia's aggression in 2014 had a significant impact on public opinion: since then, the level of support for membership has stabilized and has not been below 40%. According to the May 2023 NDI poll, more than 90% of respondents support Ukraine's accession to the EU. And 89% would like to see Ukraine in NATO. That is, the thesis that Ukrainians support Russia and strive to “reunite” with it is not true.

Ukrainians have chosen their path since 2014.

Users of the Russian segment of Facebook and TikTok are spreading a video in which a man in a shiny suit dances a belly dance and claims that this is Volodymyr Zelenskyi. One user put an emoji with the flag of Ukraine and wrote: “Every time you need more money… you should put on a good show for them!”, alluding to Western partners. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the Reuters media drew attention to the case. In fact, it is not Volodymyr Zelenskyi who is dancing in this video, but belly dancer Pablo Acosta. The dancer posted similar videos on his Instagram on July 1.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to humiliate and laugh at Volodymyr Zelenskyi, saying that the President of Ukraine has to go even to such extremes in order to get weapons from Western partners. Earlier, we wrote that the Spanish magazine El jueves published a cover on which the Ukrainian military allegedly abandoned the counteroffensive and refuted the fake that the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine wrote that Zelenskyi was a “naked clown”.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric have circulated a video showing a man posing as a priest trying to obstruct Volodymyr Zelenskyi's motorcade during his visit to Bulgaria. He said: “anathema” and “fascist Ukraine”, and also rushed at other officials getting out of the car. The video shows how this “priest” is detained by the police.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project investigated the case. They note that the Bulgarian media Telegraph wrote an article about the man. The video shows Atanas Stefanov posing as a priest. In fact, he is the head of the public association “Friends of Russia” and a supporter of Patriarch Kiril.

Earlier in March 2023, during a visit to Yordanka Fandakova, mayor of Sofia, Atanas Stefanov dropped the Ukrainian flag. Such actions discredit Bulgaria, as if it supports Russia and is against Ukraine. It may be concluded that Ukraine is not welcome in the West, and the country itself is considered Nazi.

Earlier, we refuted the fake that during a visit to Bulgaria, Volodymyr Zelenskyi was denied the supply of weapons.

This was recorded by the fact-checkers of the “Brekhunets” (Liar) project. They explained that in the Ukrainian segment of social networks, in particular, in the local Volyn telegram channels, they disseminate information about the payment to Ukrainians in the amount of 6,600 hryvnias. As the authors note, one only needs to have a Ukrainian passport to receive a reward. The posts also contain a number of references allegedly to regional banks, while at the same time, the authors urge people to follow their links.

Fact-checkers assured that such information is not true. There are no payments “to all Ukrainians”. The links themselves in the publications lead to random telegram channels that have nothing to do with this or that regional bank. It is most likely that in this way channel administrators seek to artificially recruit and increase the audience.

The fact-checkers also found out that the Ukrainian Government and the UN International Organization for Migration will pay a one-time assistance in the amount of 6,600 hryvnias. This will apply to people affected by the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP made by Russians. Perhaps the authors manipulated precisely this information, luring people into their telegram channels. However, channel administrators did not provide any official information on such an initiative.

The propagandists devalued and manipulated news stories to increase Ukraine's mistrust of its partners.

On July 12, a two-day NATO summit ended in Vilnius. The summit adopted a package of decisions of three elements on Ukraine. In particular, the allies confirmed that Ukraine will become a member of the Alliance and agreed to remove the requirement to fulfill the Membership Action Plan (MAP) from the entry procedure. According to them, this will change Ukraine's path from a two-step process to a one-step process. Propagandists could not get around such a large information drive. Detector Media prepared a selection of their messages.

1 The summit was a failure for Ukraine

Russian propagandists reacted to statements by Western leaders at the summit with cries of “Failure!” and blamed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi for this. Propagandists promoted the view that the NATO summit brought nothing to Ukraine. Like, they didn’t let them into NATO, didn’t give them new weapons, and Zelenskyi, with his harsh statements, alienated everyone so much that they didn’t even want to be photographed with him. Propagandists snatched from the stream of news only those pieces of news that were convenient for them.

Let us remind that although at the summit there were no specifics regarding when and according to what clear plan Ukraine can join NATO, however, our state was allowed to bypass the procedure of the Membership Action Plan. That is, theoretically speed up the flow. In addition, the summit adopted the Declaration of the G7 countries, which deals with security guarantees for Ukraine, to which the propagandists reacted with cries of “external control” and “surrender” of Ukraine to the West. We also received new types of weapons from a number of countries participating in the event.

2. Foreign press ignored the summit

The propagandists tried to show that the foreign press allegedly ignored the summit, which means they were tired of the topic of Ukraine as a whole.

They regularly use collections of fake and genuine covers from foreign media or distort materials from foreign publications. The main purpose of such collections is to confirm by allegedly independent sources that the picture of the world that the propagandists paint is true. On the eve of the NATO summit, for example, they quoted an article by the Finnish public broadcaster Yle about Ukrainian refugees who are being denied social assistance. At the same time, propagandists did not give links to the source. And the latest publications on the Yle website, in fact, were supportive of Ukrainians who received asylum in Finland.

In general, the topic of the NATO summit in foreign media has become a noticeable news drive. And they would write about it even if they did not talk about Ukraine there, since this is an international meeting of the highest level. In particular, the media actively wrote about him both in the United States and in European countries.

3. At the summit, Zelenskyi lobbied for the introduction of Polish and Lithuanian troops into Ukraine, but NATO did not agree to this

During the NATO summit, the traditional message of propagandists about Poland, which supposedly wants to take over Ukraine, took on a new shade. In particular, they frightened their audiences with the likely introduction of Polish and Lithuanian troops into Ukraine. Like, Zelenskyi demanded this from NATO, but he was refused.

This is another invention of propagandists. First, they are trying to convince Russia's supporters that Russia is not the only aggressor. Secondly, to emphasize that the Ukrainian Defense Forces no longer have the ability to confront Russia, which means that Russian victory is close. Thirdly, to play on the Ukrainians' fears of losing independence. Fourth, to devalue the help of Poland and Lithuania, which are one of the main partners of Ukraine in countering Russian aggression. Detector Media has written about this before.

4. NATO reduces funding for Ukraine as a result of the “failed counteroffensive”

Propagandists claimed that Western leaders, whose names they did not name, allegedly announced at the NATO summit that they planned to cut the amount of aid to Ukraine. Like, this is the result of a “failed counteroffensive” that began in February.

It's fake. Neither Ukrainian nor foreign media have any information about such statements. The topic of the counteroffensive was rarely heard in official speeches and publications of the NATO summit participants.

By spreading such fakes, their authors tried to undermine the confidence of Ukrainians in NATO.

5. Citizens of NATO countries do not want to see Ukraine in the Alliance

Propagandists spread the assertion that Ukraine did not receive guarantees of joining the Alliance, because the citizens of the countries-members of the Alliance do not want to see it there.

In such publications propagandists refer to the results of opinion polls. In this case, in particular, they manipulated a survey commissioned by the Polish newspaper Rzeczpospolita. In the original article, 47% of respondents did not agree with the results of the survey that Ukraine should be immediately accepted into NATO. However, the infographic from the article in Rzeczpospolita is only an illustration of one question on a sociological survey. And the original article goes on to say that the Poles recognize the importance of Ukraine as part of the NATO security architecture and are not against Ukraine joining the Alliance later. This is quite in tune with the positions of the top officials of the NATO member states. At the summit in Vilnius, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said that all NATO members and their allies are unanimous that Ukraine will sooner or later become a member of NATO.

This was recorded by the fact-checkers of the Beyond the News project. They say that fake fundraising ads are being created on Facebook, which are allegedly launched by Ukrainian commanders. Unknown individuals publish ads (in this case, an account with the nickname Nataliia Shumakova). They are accompanied by photographic evidence. And they are adding the “story” of the fighter, trying to play on the emotions of social network users.

The fact-checkers explained that in this way the scammers simply defrauded people of money by creating an emotional text about the Ukrainian military. After all, scammers play on feelings of compassion and guilt. Attackers often provide personal phones and bank cards in such cases. However, the absence of references to official representatives of volunteer communities may hint at the falsity of such an announcement.

This was recorded by the fact-checkers of the “Brekhunets” (Liar) project. They say that unknown persons are allegedly calling on behalf of the chairman of the Volyn Regional Military Administration, Yurii Pohuliaiko, and sending a fake letter to Viber with a request to send funds. The report says that the funds will allegedly be directed to equipment for the Ukrainian army.

The Volyn Regional Military Administration noted that they did not send such letters and did not make phone calls. Karina Marynevych, the head of the information policy department of the Volyn Regional Military Administration, assured that such fraudulent schemes do not appear for the first time, and they know how to deal with it. It also conveyed this information to the head of the Volyn RMA, and he will soon come out with a statement about the fake on his pages of social networks.

A subscriber to the NotaYenota project shared her own exposure of a fraudulent scheme aimed at missing and uncommunicative relatives of the Ukrainian military. The scheme is implemented in chats to search for relatives.

In particular, a person represented by the military is attached to them. She or he can give a name or numbers to a brigade on the basis that no one will check this information. According to legend, this man or woman came to a psycho-neurological dispensary in a certain Ukrainian city (different cities are called) and there they allegedly found a department with shell-shocked Ukrainian soldiers who were being held against their will without access to contact with their relatives. Like, he or she visits these chambers and gives bribes for their dismissal. This is preparing the ground for the fact that people in the chat will have to pay the “military” for the release of relatives.

Further, this person sends the names of the military, whom they allegedly found. People call this person, send photos of their relatives, hoping that they are off the list. In personal conversations, this person does not allow the interlocutor to speak and assures that he or she spoke with the soldiers and that they are in a terrible state. Allegedly, the doctors do not want to tell anything and demand a bribe because of the “order from above”. At the end of the first day, the military man assures that he will not leave this business, because he also has a mother and he does not want her to look for him the same way. After that, he sends a photo of the warriors in the ward. As it turned out, this is a photo taken many years ago in Pskov (Russia).

Further, the military sends new names and states that the chief doctor allegedly called the military prosecutor's office against him, but he will not leave this case unfinished. He subsequently sends a “legend” voicemail that has prison slang in the background. In addition, there are several “accomplices” in the chat who send messages of gratitude to the “military” for “saving” their relatives. And chat participants who have doubts and questions about its activities are encouraged to be removed from the chat.

This is a scam that plays on people's emotions. There is a Russian trace in it and coincidences with the messages of Russian propaganda. It was propagandists who repeatedly tried to discredit the Ukrainian military, deliberately exaggerating the scale of the problem and manipulating their mental state. Like, the authorities are silent about everything, and Ukraine leaves its military to the mercy of fate. Media Detector has already written about Russian fakes about the mental health of the Ukrainian military.

This was recorded by the experts of the Center for Counteracting Disinformation. They say that unknown people send SMS messages to Ukrainians on behalf of the Ministry of Health, allegedly about the outbreak of cholera in certain regions. However, this information is not true. The department of the Ministry of Health also stated that the information about the outbreak of cholera is a fake.

According to this, no messages from the Ministry of Health could be sent. Representatives of the Ministry of Health also added that currently in Ukraine, on the territory of Zaporizhzhia, Kherson, Mykolaiv, Dnipropetrovsk and Odesa regions, not a single confirmed case of cholera has been registered.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric have circulated a photo of journalist Roman Vintoniv, also known as Michael Shchur, with a chevron flag of Canada. But they wrote that French sources allegedly report that “in recent days, the Russian army has intensified its strikes against the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine formed from foreign mercenaries in the territory of the Luhansk region”. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project drew attention to the case. They found a photo of Roman Vintoniv on Twitter, he posted on May 8, 2022, thanked Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau for the recent visit and tagged him in the message. Roman Vintoniv serves in the 112th brigade of the Territorial Defense Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and is a citizen of Ukraine, not a foreign volunteer.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to create the appearance that Russia is fighting against the collective West. Previously, Detector Media explained how Russia blurs reality with the help of a newspeak calling foreign fighters “foreign mercenaries”.

Such a message is spread by anonymous telegrams, channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric; and disseminate information that the Office of the President is working on the creation of a nuclear bomb. And the Russian propaganda media, citing the head of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service, Serhii Naryshkin, write that Ukraine may have returned to creating a “dirty bomb”. It is not true.

Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar said on the air of the United News marathon that the occupiers “used the entire arsenal of weapons, both military and informational. That is why the enemy is returning to the only tool of blackmail - nuclear weapons”. As Hanna Maliar notes, the Russians are trying to spread panic among Ukrainians, so they use the topic of nuclear weapons as an instrument of blackmail, pressure and intimidation.

In October 2022, Russian propagandists were already spreading the word that Ukraine was building a “dirty bomb”. Then Dmytro Kuleba tweeted: “Russia’s lies about Ukraine’s alleged plans to use a “dirty bomb” are as absurd as they are dangerous. First, Ukraine is a committed party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons: we do not have any “dirty bombs” and do not plan to have them. Secondly, Russians often blame others for what they themselves plan”.

On November 16, 1994, Ukraine acceded to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons. This Treaty is sometimes interpreted as a system of three principles: non-proliferation of nuclear weapons, disarmament, and the right to the peaceful use of nuclear technology.

On June 17, Putin met with the leaders of African countries, where he presented a “pact on the neutrality of Ukraine”. This agreement was allegedly initiated by the Ukrainian side during negotiations in the spring of 2022.

The “document” was noticed by the fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications, who found out that it was not real. This is indicated by the following facts:

the Ukrainian side did not initiate any “neutrality treaties”; Putin showed the working materials of the Russian-Ukrainian negotiation process in 2022 under the guise of a treaty; after the facts about the crimes of Russia in Bucha were revealed, after the evidence of the genocide of the Ukrainian people, the negotiations were terminated; no agreements were reached in the negotiations, and the Ukrainian side rejected the veiled form of surrender promoted by Russia; after the discovery of the facts of the massacre in Bucha and other evidence of the Kremlin's implementation of the genocide of the Ukrainian people, the negotiations lost their meaning and were terminated.

So, Putin showed a fake document to African leaders, counting on their ignorance.

The Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council reports that Ukrainians are receiving SMS messages urging them to send information about the Armed Forces of Ukraine in exchange for a monetary reward.

The CPI recalls that any cooperation with the enemy can be equated with treason and punished under martial law with imprisonment for up to 15 years or life imprisonment.

By sending out such messages, the Russians want to get important information and use it against the Ukrainian army. In addition, by offering money for this, they feed their message of “Ukraine's extreme poverty”. Like, Ukrainians are ready for anything for the sake of money. However, if Ukrainians have become poorer (although this problem is exaggerated), the reason for this is solely Russian aggression against Ukraine.

The information was recorded by journalists of the Ukrainian studies project Ukraїner, who found out that unknown people create clone pages of their publication and distribute advertisements about cash payments. So far, fraudulent activity has been recorded on Facebook. Attackers launch advertisements in which, on behalf of Ukraine, they urge people to go to outside resources in order to receive a cash payment. Journalists of the publication note that they do not publish any news about receiving financial payments. And now Ukraine does not hold any active public meetings.

This is a fraudulent scheme by which attackers can steal your personal data. If such advertising happens, Ukraїner  recommends to complain about it. Today, journalists have contacted Meta technical support and are waiting for a prompt decision.

Residents of the Russian-occupied part of the Kherson region receive SMS messages from supposedly Ukrainian military men asking them to tell them about the positions of the Russians. The press service of the Kakhovka city military administration on telegram urges not to provide information if one does not know the person personally, because “most likely these are provocations”. The message also noted that information about the movement of the enemy should be transmitted only through official chats and verified channels, and it should not yet been discussed the movement of Russian equipment over the phone, one shouldn’t get too close to the infidels, delete the history of correspondence with the bot and photos from the smartphone. The Ministry of Digital Affairs urges citizens to continue using the “Yevoroh” (There is an enemy) chat and report on Russian technology using it.

The network recorded a number of fake Facebook pages of the heads of various Regional Military Administrations. It is likely that such accounts can expand disinformation and discredit regional authorities. The fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation investigated these accounts and created an exhaustive list of fake pages. In particular, the propagandists created fake pages:

Kyiv Regional Military Administration; 

Lviv Regional Military Administration; 

Volyn Regional Military Administration; 

Dnipropetrovsk Regional Military Administration; 

Luhansk Regional Military Administration; 

Ivano-Frankivsk Regional Military Administration; 

Mykolaiv Regional Military Administration. 

Fake pages may have characteristic features: few subscribers and posts, created recently and spreading unverified information. Some Regional Military Administration leaders have verified accounts with a special tick mark. Above, we have added genuine Regional Military Administration pages.

Tucker Carlson, a fired FOX News host and pro-Russian propagandist, has tweeted the first episode of his new show. In it, he claims that the Ukrainians blew up the dam at the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant, and the American government controls the media and hides important stories from the Americans. The video was distributed among others by Elon Musk, and as of now it has already been viewed more than 50 million times. Detector Media singled out the main propaganda messages in the video.

1 Ukraine blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant

The TV presenter claims that Ukraine, at the direction of Zelenskyi, blew up the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. His argument is that if Volodymyr Putin ordered it to be done, it would be absurd because it harms Russia itself. Carlson is ironic that, despite the fact that everyone is used to thinking that Ukraine does not have the resources to do this, this does not negate the fact that it can do it.

Ukrainian members of the government and public organizations, in particular the organizations of the coalition Ukraine. The Fifth Morning claims that it was Russia that purposefully undermined the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant. The destruction occurred from the inside as a result of the detonation of explosives. Ukraine has no motive to destroy the dam, especially now.

2. The US should stop supporting Zelenskyi as he is doing bad things

Further, the TV presenter begins to be ironic towards the President of Ukraine, calling him “almost a saint”. He criticizes the information noise around Zelenskyi and his support among Western countries. In addition, Carlson hints that Zelenskyi is allegedly the real evil in the war against Ukraine, but it is easy for everyone to say that Russia is committing crimes. The TV presenter reproaches the President for choosing clothes for official meetings and calls him rat-shaped, almost accusing him of destroying Christian values. Therefore, according to Carlson, the United States should stop supporting Ukraine.

Although such statements are the subjective opinion of the TV presenter, among them there are objective accusations against Zelenskyi. However, reality proves otherwise – it is Russia and its army that daily commit war crimes against Ukrainians, including the forced deportation of children, the mistreatment of prisoners of war and the destruction of civilian infrastructure. Even the example of the dam blowing is indicative - while in the settlements controlled by Ukraine, people are being evacuated and given the necessary assistance, in the flooded temporarily occupied territories, the so-called “local authorities” have left civilians to fend for themselves with tragedy.

3. The American government is hiding “really important topics” from Americans due to “puppet media”

Trying to explain the appearance of his new show on Twitter, Carlson accuses US President Joe Biden and his team of censorship and silence on important topics. In particular, he appeals to the fact that the “puppet media” allegedly too actively covers the aggression against Ukraine, the problems of broadcasters and the topic of global warming, so the Americans do not know what is really happening in the world. The TV presenter compares the situation with freedom of speech in the last years of the USSR, recalling foreign radio stations listening “under the covers”. According to him, this new show will be analogous to those stations so that Americans know about “really important things”. For example, a former American intelligence officer allegedly announced the shooting down of an unidentified flying object with unknown creatures on board.

Tucker Carlson deliberately substitutes the concept, reinforcing the message about “conservative censorship”, which is quite popular in certain circles. Like, corporations deliberately block conservative figures just because they have conservative views. However, in fact, most of these cases of blocking the accounts of conservative figures are related to the fact that they disseminated information dangerous to the lives of social network users. For example, when they publicly spoke out against vaccines, called the coronavirus a global conspiracy, or called on people to protest on January 6, 2021 to take over the Capitol by force.

By the story of the former intelligence officer and the UFO, Carlson means the testimonies of David Grush, which he gave to NewsNation yesterday. The man claims that the US government allegedly has a special secret program to collect UFOs and the remnants of persons on board. Tucker Carlson condemns the fact that many American media like The New York Times have not published any material on this topic, so it can be considered hushed up. A Google search shows that a number of leading conservative media and tabloids not only in the US but also in the UK wrote about this “sensation”. It is currently difficult to verify the credibility of Grush's testimony, but both the FBI and NASA have UFO pages on their official websites.

We recall that Tucker Carlson regularly distributes Russian propaganda messages. Previously, he claimed that Volodymyr Zelenskyi is a “Biden puppet”, Ukraine is “not a democracy”, and Volodymyr Putin is “America's true friend”.

Such rhetoric around the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant is beneficial for Russia and resembles the situation with the loss of the Boeing-777 flight MH17, since it dilutes responsibility and creates ambiguity. In fact, Carlson is helping Russia justify its aggression against Ukraine, confusing foreign audiences about Russia's role in this war, and further destabilizing American domestic politics.

According to the statements of the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, Russian troops blew up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant last night. Ukrainian officials claim that because of this, about 80 settlements are at risk of flooding. Since the reservoir of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant is connected with the operation of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant, temporarily occupied by Russia, the propagandists did not leave this topic aside.  Detector Media highlighted the main messages of the Russian propaganda on undermining the dam.

1. The dam collapsed by itself due to shelling / outdated design

Anonymous telegram channels spreading pro-Russian rhetoric claim that the dam collapsed on its own due to shelling by the Ukrainian army. There is also a version that the Ukrainian authorities did not properly care for the state of the dam and therefore they have now collapsed. As evidence, the authors of such reports cite the German newspaper Bild, which allegedly removed the phrase “Russia blew it up” from the title of its report on the bombing.

These versions were refuted by the Ukrainian authorities. The office of the president, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine and a number of other state structures indicate that it was Russia that committed the targeted undermining. If one considers the situation with Bild, the report on the events at the Kakhovka HPP on the newspaper's website now has a completely different name.

2. Ukraine purposefully blew up a dam

Propagandists also accuse Ukraine of undermining. Allegedly, the goal is to ease the conditions for a counteroffensive or “deliberate escalation” for the “whims” of Western partners. Also, according to one version of the propaganda, the Office of the President needs this as an information drive in order to block other problems and crises. Like, this is indicated by numerous materials published in the Ukrainian media about the incident. They draw attention to a number of comparisons and emotional messages from Ukrainian opinion leaders. Allegedly, this is too dramatic and theatrical, and for this you need to prepare for a long time.

Such conclusions are groundless, since it is inappropriate to draw them on the basis of publications in social networks. Ukrainian civil society is a dynamic environment that can quickly and comprehensively respond to current events. Given this, the accusation of “staging” on the basis of the reports of his representatives cannot logically explain the situation. In addition, we are talking about people and the threat to their lives, some tend to express their opinion emotionally in a crisis situation.

Using these two messages, propagandists want to shift the responsibility for the actions of the Russians to Ukraine, looking for various excuses and explanations for undermining the dam.

3. Nothing happens in the temporarily occupied territories, everything is under control

The so-called leaders of the temporarily occupied territories, not far from the dam, report that the situation there is normal, and the so-called local authorities keep everything under control. Like, no flooding will occur, evacuation is also not planned.

Taking into account the fact that most of the settlements in the temporarily occupied territories are threatened with flooding due to explosions, such positioning is cynical and looks like a disregard for the lives of civilians. In addition, in this way Russia shows its true attitude towards the threat of an ecological catastrophe caused by undermining.

4. Ukraine is in a panic, and the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant will soon burst

While, according to propagandists, “everything is calm in Russia”, Ukraine is panicking. Like, drinking water is already being bought up in Kryvyi Rih, and Ukrainian officials are allegedly talking about the critical state of the threat to the ZNPP, which could cause it to break out.

Such reports about the situation with drinking water in Kryvyi Rih can only be found in anonymous channels with pro-Russian rhetoric. In addition, Energoatom officially announced that the explosion of the Kakhovka HPP, although it is an additional threat to the ZNPP, is currently under control, since water for cooling the plant is used from internal storage facilities. Local authorities of territories in the flood zone organize the evacuation of civilians and provide support.

Using these two messages, propagandists want to play on a false contrast and show Ukraine in a worse light than Russia. They say that in Ukraine they only panic and neglect their lives, while Russia calmly saves people. However, in reality, the situation is the opposite - the Russians are silent about the scale of the threat, and the Ukrainians are trying to cope with the consequences of the explosion.

On June 10-11, an international summit For Peace in Ukraine is scheduled to be held in Vienna. It will be attended by representatives of “Russia, Ukraine and various NATO countries that support the goals of peace” in order to “put an end to the war and prepare for negotiations”. However, the “summit” will be the responsibility of an organization whose leadership, in their statements, spreads the messages of Russian propaganda, like most of the people on the list of participants. The goal of the summit is to prepare an appeal “Vienna Call for Peace”, which is planned to be submitted to the Embassies of Russia, Ukraine and NATO countries, as well as international organizations for further work on a “peaceful settlement of the war”.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project drew attention to the event. They analyzed the official program of the summit and found many repetitions of Russian propaganda in it. For example, the organizers note that they “condemn Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine”, but then they write that NATO is responsible for it. Like, NATO provoked Russia to attack. The program of the event does not include meetings on the return of temporarily occupied territories to Ukraine, reparations or punishment of war criminals - these topics are simply ignored.

The event is organized by a number of public organizations, including the International Peace Bureau and the Alliance for Peace, Neutrality and Non-Violence. Former International Peace Bureau Executive Director Rainer Braun is spreading Russian propaganda, VoxCheck analysts have found. In particular, he said that the expansion of NATO is the reason for the invasion of Russia, and sanctions against it will make the Europeans suffer. Despite being fired from the organization in 2019, it continues to invite him to its events. In addition, the Bureau itself publishes statements that Ukraine allegedly “violates the right to refuse military service”, although it does not mention forced mobilization in Russia and the occupied territories. The Action Alliance promotes the ideas of “neutrality”. using for this purpose the statements of persons accused of treason, in particular Ruslan Kotsaba, who has now joined the new project of Viktor Medvedchuk Another Ukraine. The event will also be financed by organizations spreading Russian rhetoric.

Among the speakers, one can find the theoretical linguist and philosopher Noam Chomsky from the United States, who promotes the messages of Russian propaganda in his speeches. In particular, he believes that NATO provoked Russia into a war against Ukraine. Member of the US House of Representatives Dennis Kucinich is also represented at the plenary session of the summit. Since 2014, he has been condemning US sanctions against Russia, and has also been spreading messages about “Ukrainian Nazis” and a “coup d'état”. Last year, Kucinich accused Joe Biden of starting World War III, and this year he organized a rally against aid to Ukraine. Speakers include Jeffrey Sachs, an American economist, Yurii Sheliazhenko, executive secretary of the Ukrainian Pacifist Movement, and others spreading Russian rhetoric.

In fact, holding this event will help Russian propagandists to further spread their disinformation and strengthen its anti-Ukrainian messages. Like, the whole world is behind Russia. However, the military and political support of NATO countries is larger than such events.