A video is being actively circulated on social media that allegedly “exposes” the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine for using computer graphics, footage from old World War II films, and recordings of U.S. Tomahawk launches instead of real footage of the Ukrainian FP-5 “Flamingo” cruise missile.

Analysts from the VoxCheck project drew attention to this.

In reality, this is deliberate disinformation. Neither the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine nor the missile’s developer, Fire Point, has ever published any such video presentation.

The fake was created by propagandists themselves: they took a real video by The Wall Street Journal about the characteristics of the “Flamingo”, changed the color scheme from orange to blue, added footage from other sources, and generated the narrator’s voice using artificial intelligence.

Fact check:

Frame comparison:

According to the authors of the VoxCheck report, the audio in the fake video shows clear signs of AI generation: a monotonous, robotic voice, numerous grammatical mistakes, and phrases atypical for a native Ukrainian speaker (“velyko dalnosti” instead of “velykoi dalnosti”, “novoho pokolynna” instead of “novoho pokolinnia”, etc.). Analysis using the Hive Moderation service confirmed a high probability that the voice was synthesized.

Thus, instead of “exposing a fake”, the propagandists themselves created a fake in order to discredit Ukrainian weapons developments.

For three years now, Russian propaganda has been repeating the message: “Ukraine is poor, incapable, everything has been stolen”. When evidence to the contrary appears – new missiles, drones, electronic warfare systems – It destroys this narrative. That is why they have to shout “fake!” and produce so-called “exposés”, so their own audience does not start asking uncomfortable questions. While Ukrainian missiles (“Neptune”, RK-360MC, and now “Flamingo”) are in fact sinking Russian ships and striking Crimea and oil refineries, it is psychologically easier for Russians to convince themselves and their audience that “none of this really exists”, that it is all just “cartoons”.

On social media, particularly in the Polish segment of Facebook, alleged photos of an overweight man in a Ukrainian military uniform are being actively shared. The authors of these posts claim that he is an officer responsible for mobilization in the Ukrainian army, and that his appearance supposedly proves that international aid “does not reach those who truly need it”. Such posts have attracted hundreds of comments and shares. In reality, no such person exists, and the image was generated by artificial intelligence with the aim of fueling anti-Ukrainian sentiment. The fake was debunked by Polish fact-checkers from Demagog.

The image comes from a video that originally appeared on TikTok. A closer look at the clip reveals signs of AI generation: for example, the chair blends into the background, the shadows on the clothing “move” unnaturally, and the positioning of the character’s hands looks artificial. In the video, the supposed “officer of the Zhytomyr Territorial Recruitment Center” says, “Our team is against a ceasefire”. At the same time, the audio is out of sync with the movements of the lips in the footage.

To confirm this, Demagog fact-checkers analyzed the frame using the specialized tools Hive AI and Sightengine – both indicated a probability of over 90% that the content was generated by artificial intelligence.

The TikTok account that posted this video is filled with similar content of a pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian nature. The profile description contains a link to a closed Telegram channel called “MATRYOSHKA”. When attempting to join it, users are asked provocative questions, such as “Whose is Crimea?”, which indicates the channel’s propagandistic nature.

Posts featuring this image gained significant traction: one of them received more than 1,000 reactions and over 200 shares. In the comments, many users perceive the photo as real. One commenter wrote: “This person is sick, and only people like this serve in the Ukrainian army, because the healthy and strong are in Poland”. Another added: “This war is strange—they stuff themselves with food, relax at resorts, drive luxury cars, carry money in shopping bags, get positions without rights, and want to be in our government”.

Such fakes are aimed at undermining trust in Ukraine and spreading anti-Ukrainian narratives within Polish society.

False information about the alleged death of former Prime Minister of Ukraine Volodymyr Groysman is being actively spread on social media and some news websites. This publication is accompanied by a loud, emotional headline and often a black-and-white photo of the politician, creating the impression of tragic news. The fake clickbait was debunked by VoxCheck experts.

However, this is fake. In reality, Volodymyr Groysman’s father – Borys Isaakovych Groysman – has died. He was a deputy of the Vinnytsia City Council and passed away on January 6, 2025, at the age of 78. Volodymyr Groysman himself wrote about this on his official Instagram page, which later became a pretext for creating manipulative content. Although Borys Groysman died back in January 2025, purveyors of fakes decided to bring the story back and use it as a pretext for clickbait right now.

How the clickbait works

The message about the “death of the former prime minister” is a classic example of clickbait aimed at artificially increasing traffic and reach.

Check information sources and read the full text carefully so you don’t become a victim of clickbait.

Kremlin media outlets, Telegram channels, and bots on the social network X are actively spreading a fake cover of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo. It features a caricature of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy and Hollywood star Angelina Jolie, who recently visited Ukraine. The caption on the illustration reads: “The tomb raider has arrived to see the looter of the European treasury”. The fake was debunked by fact-checkers at Ukrinform.

However, this is a fake. No such cover can be found on Charlie Hebdo’s official website or on the magazine’s social media accounts, where new issues are normally announced.

The forgery lists the date as November 13 and issue No. 1741, but the magazine did not publish an issue on that day. The two most recent issues were released on November 5 and November 12 under issue numbers 1737 and 1738. The covers of those editions featured completely different cartoons unrelated to Ukraine.

Russian propagandists regularly fabricate covers of popular foreign satirical magazines. Among their “creations” are fakes allegedly from Germany’s Titanic, Newsweek, France’s L'Hémicycle and Charlie Hebdo, as well as other outlets.

The purpose of this fake is to smear the Ukrainian president in the eyes of Western audiences and to divert attention from the humanitarian aim of the actress’s visit. Angelina Jolie came to draw global attention to the atrocities committed by Russian forces in Kherson and Mykolaiv, where drones are being used to hunt civilians.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels and public pages are actively spreading a photo allegedly showing that, in one of the schools in Kryvyi Rih, a teacher made a schoolgirl sit at a desk with a sign reading: “I will sit at this desk until my dad returns from AWOL” (unauthorized absence from a military unit). The post is presented as “proof” that Ukrainian schools punish children for having parents who are “draft dodgers”.

This fake was debunked by analysts from the StopFake project.

No Ukrainian media outlet, no local Telegram channel in Kryvyi Rih, and no official source has reported such an incident. Instead, the image is being widely circulated by accounts displaying signs of bot activity, in multiple languages at once: English, Spanish, Italian, Czech, Vietnamese, and others.

The photo itself was generated by artificial intelligence. This is confirmed by three independent services:

The original sources of the “news” were typical propaganda Telegram channels that regularly post fabrications and conspiracy theories. In other words, this is a classic AI-generated fake, created in a matter of minutes and widely disseminated to fuel yet another wave of mockery and hatred.

Propaganda Telegram channels are actively spreading a fake cover allegedly belonging to the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo and supposedly dedicated to French President Emmanuel Macron. It depicts Macron holding a glass of champagne on a battlefield among the bodies of Ukrainian soldiers in Pokrovsk, where he is allegedly “enjoying” the events. The text on the fake cover claims: “Why does Macron continue to help Ukraine? The smell of Ukrainian corpses reminds him of the aroma of the finest French cheese dairies”. However, as fact-checkers from StopFake have shown, this is a forgery.

Charlie Hebdo has never published such material. All recent issues are available on the magazine’s official website, and none of them feature a cover with Macron. The actual issue was released not on November 6 but on November 5, and it focused on a completely different topic – an investigation into a scandal involving the online retailer Shein and child-like sex dolls.

Moreover, comparing the fake cover with genuine ones easily reveals design discrepancies: Charlie Hebdo always places the issue number and publication date on the left, whereas on the fake they appear on the right.

According to the Osavul service, this forgery first appeared on November 6 in the propaganda Telegram channel “Republic of Odesa”. The purpose of such a publication is to promote a classic Kremlin narrative that Western military and financial support allegedly prolongs the war and prevents it from ending.

Russian propagandists did not stop at a single forgery and created another fake Charlie Hebdo “cover” dedicated to the fighting for Pokrovsk. It depicts the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Oleksandr Syrskyi, portrayed as a chef allegedly showing Volodymyr Zelensky a piece of “Ukrainian barbecue” – the head of a soldier.

However, there is no issue No. 1739 dated November 7, 2025, on the magazine’s official website – the issue under which this fake is being circulated. The image was most likely created using photo-editing software.

Russian propaganda regularly falsifies covers of well-known publications such as Charlie Hebdo, The Economist, Time, and others in order to make its messages appear more credible and to provoke an emotional response from the audience. Using a recognizable brand creates the illusion that Western media share anti-Ukrainian views, thereby reinforcing trust in false narratives about the “futility of supporting Ukraine” and the alleged “cynicism of the West”.

Russian Telegram channels are actively spreading fabricated information about alleged sexual violence committed by servicemen of the 58th Separate Motorized Infantry Brigade in Sumy Oblast, presenting a forged screenshot from a Ukrainian media outlet as “evidence”. The fake was exposed by experts from VoxCheck.

By comparing sources and searching by keywords, it was established that the headline of the original article published by The Sumy Post on November 5, 2025, was altered by propagandists.

The real content:

The genuine article does not describe cases of rape or investigations. Instead, it reports on a law that came into force on June 18, 2025, which establishes a mechanism for registering victims and providing compensation to those who suffered sexual violence as a result of Russia’s armed aggression. The text does not mention Ukrainian servicemen in any way.

Russian propaganda exploited news about the identification of victims of Russia’s war crimes in an attempt to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine by falsifying media content. Forging headlines of Ukrainian media outlets is a separate tactic in which agitprop regularly produces photo fakes.

A photo allegedly showing a veteran of the 72nd Separate Mechanized Brigade, known as “Uncle Tolya”, is being circulated on social media. According to the post’s authors, he was supposedly remobilized after 35 years of service, despite his advanced age and having three children. The post claims that the veteran had repeatedly asked his fellow servicemen to get him a captured Russian T-72 tank, but instead an aerial reconnaissance unit allegedly gave him two new British tank crew suits. This fake was debunked by VoxCheck.

In reality, the story is a photo fake. The authors edited the original post, changing both the text and the publication date. The man in the photo is named Anatolii Bezbah, and he voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine back in 2014.

As fact-checkers found, the screenshot shows that the alleged author of the post was Ukrainian serviceman and photographer Mykyta Zavilinskyi. His Facebook page does indeed contain a photo of “Uncle Tolya”, but it was originally published on November 1, 2014. On November 1, 2025, Zavilinskyi merely reposted it as a memory of the first combat missions. The original post stated that the 61-year-old Uncle Tolya had voluntarily joined the Armed Forces of Ukraine and commanded a T-64 tank.

According to Zavilinskyi, the veteran really did joke that he wanted a captured Russian tank. In his post, he quoted Uncle Tolya as saying: “You find it with your little helicopter, then we suddenly attack the checkpoint, they just need to be pinned to the ground with fire for two minutes, I’ll jump in and off we go!” Thus, this episode was described as a joke rather than a real combat plan. At the same time, the fact that soldiers from an aerial reconnaissance unit gave him two British tank crew suits is true.

The story of Anatolii Bezbah – known as Uncle Tolya – has been covered repeatedly by Ukrainian media. He was a native of Crimea who, after the sham referendum in 2014, moved to territory controlled by Ukraine and decided to join the Armed Forces. “I have grandchildren, and I want them to live freely, without knowing or seeing this war,” the tanker explained at the time. After the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion, no information about Anatolii Bezbah’s further fate could be found – the last mentions of him date back to 2017.

Russian propaganda Telegram channels are actively spreading an edited screenshot of an article from a Ukrainian media outlet, claiming that a serviceman of the 158th Separate Mechanized Brigade was allegedly detained in Chernivtsi Oblast for storing a TNT block. According to their version, the soldier supposedly planned to use the explosives to take revenge on his commander for “abuse”. This photo fake was debunked by experts from VoxCheck.

A check of the information source showed that the propagandists altered the original headline of the article.

The information about the alleged detention of a “serviceman of the 158th Separate Mechanized Brigade who stored explosives” is a deliberate disinformation plant and a manipulation aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and creating a false picture of internal discord.

Fake images of what is claimed to be a new LEGO construction set featuring military figures under the flags of Ukraine and Moldova are being circulated on Russian social media and pro-Russian Telegram channels.

This was reported by Ukrinform.

The posts are accompanied by claims that the set was allegedly created by Ukrainian designer Maksym Mitiakin, the author of a LEGO model of Kyiv’s “Motherland Monument”. According to the propagandists’ narrative, the project was supposedly intended to “honor the Moldovan army”, which they claim is fighting against Russia on Ukraine’s side.

In reality, no such project exists. Maksym Mitiakin has no connection whatsoever to the circulated images and did not create any such set – either independently or in cooperation with LEGO or the United24 platform. No reputable Ukrainian media have reported on such an initiative, and there is no information about it on LEGO’s official website.

Moreover, the circulated claims about the Moldovan army’s participation in combat operations in Ukraine are also false. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are fighting Russia independently. Foreign citizens may serve only within the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

This is not the only fake construction set being promoted by Russian channels. Images of an invented line of so-called “mourning bricks” in a LEGO-like style have also appeared online. They depict a scene with figurines of a mother and child who have supposedly come to the grave of a fallen soldier-father. With this fake, Russian propaganda seeks to create the impression that Ukrainian society has already come to terms with large-scale losses and is even “preparing” children for them.

This set is also fictional. No such trademark exists, and no information about it can be found in any open sources. The source of the fake was a Facebook post by former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov, who fled to Russia after the Revolution of Dignity and supports Kremlin disinformation.

Such narratives have a clear goal: to undermine trust in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and spread fear in society. At the same time, ahead of Moldova’s parliamentary elections scheduled for September 28, such fakes are being used to intimidate voters and strengthen pro-Russian political forces in the country.

Russian Telegram channels are actively spreading information claiming that police allegedly detained a serviceman of the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade in Kharkiv for robbery. According to the posts, a 36-year-old serviceman supposedly stole gold earrings from a 74-year-old woman in the Saltivskyi district of the city.

The spread of this fake was recorded by VoxCheck experts. The original article does not state that the detainee is a serviceman, and the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade is not mentioned at all in the reports.

How the fake is being spread

The fake is based on an article from the outlet Dumka describing a robbery. The time, date of publication, and the author match the original. However, the media text, citing the Kharkiv Regional Police, only reports the detention of a 36-year-old man, with no mention of any affiliation with the Defense Forces or any specific brigade. The issue of choosing a preventive measure is currently being decided.

Official-source refutation

The statement from the Kharkiv Regional Police also contains no mention of the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade or of the suspect belonging to the Defense Forces. The offender approached the 74-year-old victim and snatched gold jewelry from her ears. Police detained the man and served him with a notice of suspicion under Part 4 of Article 186 (robbery) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine.

Through such fabrications, Russian propaganda seeks to discredit fighters of Ukraine’s Defense Forces. This is not the first case of manipulating real news to spread fake narratives.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels are spreading disinformation claiming that a “50-year-old Ukrainian serviceman from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade killed his son during a drinking party”.

This was highlighted by analysts from the VoxCheck project.

This information is completely fabricated. According to VoxCheck, Russian propaganda distorted a real news story about a crime in Zakarpattia, where a 63-year-old man killed his 40-year-old son. Police reports contain no mention of any involvement of military personnel in the incident.

Moreover, the fake story contains blatant errors – for example, the word “serviceman” is misspelled as “viiskovyi”, indicating poor-quality editing of the text.

By spreading falsehoods about Ukrainian soldiers, Russian propaganda seeks to portray them as immoral or uncontrollable in order to undermine trust in the army both among Ukrainians and on the international stage.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels have circulated a fake story claiming that a 50-year-old Ukrainian serviceman from the 92nd Separate Assault Brigade allegedly killed his son during a drinking party. To “prove” this, a screenshot with a headline from the Ukrainian outlet Novyny Zakarpattia is being shared; however, the headline has been edited. In reality, no such news item was published, and the image is a photo fake.

This was reported by VoxCheck.

After checking keywords, it was possible to find the real news story on which this fake is based. It was published on 14 September 2025 on the Novyny Zakarpattia website. The report states that on the night of 14 September, a 40-year-old man was killed in the village of Ust-Chorna in the Tiachiv district. It was later established that the murder was committed by his 63-year-old father. The text contains no mention whatsoever that the suspect is a member of the military.

The report of the National Police of the Zakarpattia region, which is investigating the incident, also contains no mention of the man’s affiliation with the Armed Forces of Ukraine or any other security structures.

It is likely that Russian propagandists falsified the news headline using photo-editing software or edited the webpage’s code before creating the screenshot. In doing so, they made a mistake – writing “viiskovyi” incorrectly instead of the correct Ukrainian spelling, which further indicates artificial interference with the original material.

Thus, the claim about an alleged serviceman from the 92nd Brigade who killed his own son is a fabrication, created to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine and spread disinformation in the information space.

In the pro-Russian segment of social media, a fake image is circulating that allegedly shows the grandmother of European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen shaking hands with Adolf Hitler in 1940. However, this claim is a manipulation and yet another example of disinformation.

This was reported by StopFake.

In reality, Ursula von der Leyen acquired the surname “von der Leyen” after marrying Heiko von der Leyen. Her maiden name was Albrecht – her family belongs to an old German aristocratic lineage. Accordingly, she could not have had a grandmother with the surname “von der Leyen”.

According to public sources, including the genealogical service Geneastar, the politician’s grandmothers were named Adelaide Berg and Gertrud Ohlrogge. The name “Christina von der Leyen”, which propagandists attribute to the woman in the photo, does not exist in her family tree.

The photograph used by pro-Russian propagandists is kept in the East Prussian Library. It depicts Hildegard Zantop, a farmer from the town of Nauen. The photo was taken in 1937, not in 1940 as the authors of the fake claim. The event shown is the celebration of Harvest Day in the town of Bückeburg, organized by the Nazi authorities.

There is no information about the woman’s later life or her family. However, it is known for certain that she has no connection whatsoever to Ursula von der Leyen.

The spread of such fakes is a typical practice of Kremlin propaganda, which seeks to discredit European leaders through personal attacks and false historical associations.

Propaganda sources are circulating a screenshot from Donald Trump Jr.'s Instagram profile, allegedly sharing a publication from Newsweek. In it, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi is quoted as saying he does not plan to attend Trump's inauguration. Trump Jr. is supposedly commenting that “the funniest thing is that he [Zelenskyi - Ed.] unofficially asked for an invitation about three times, and each time he was refused. Now he pretends like he decided not to go... what a weirdo”.

In reality, this screenshot is fabricated, reports the StopFake project. Donald Trump Jr. did not post anything like this. The Instagram page of Newsweek, from which the publication was allegedly shared by Trump Jr., does not contain a post with Zelenskyi's quote.

Additionally, publications such as Politico and The Economic Times, which have previously reported on Trump Jr.'s criticism of Zelenskyi shared on his Instagram, did not mention this incident. Had the publication been genuine, at least one of these outlets would have likely drawn attention to it.

Ultimately, the fabricated screenshot is being spread exclusively in pro-Russian segments of the internet, and it has not been published by any credible foreign or Ukrainian sources.

Earlier, in an interview with American journalist of Ukrainian descent Lex Fridman, Zelenskyi said he would not attend the inauguration without a direct invitation: 

“I would like to, but I will look at what is happening right now. I cannot come, especially during the war, unless President Trump directly invites me. It would just be inappropriate”.

This fake is part of an effort by Russian propagandists to claim that Trump supposedly does not care about Zelenskyi. In this particular case, they are portraying the Ukrainian president as excessively persistent.

Russian propaganda Telegram channels have spread claims that Ukrainian media allegedly ‘photoshops’ smiles onto injured Ukrainian soldiers in photos with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. To ‘prove’ this claim, propagandists have shared a manipulated photo, alleging that photo editing is the ‘only tool for creating any kind of victory’ for the ‘Kyiv regime’.  

In reality, this information is false. The original photo, which propagandists edited using graphic design software, was first shared online on March 13, 2022. On that day, President Zelenskyi visited wounded Ukrainian defenders in a military hospital. The sudden reappearance of this photo in early 2025 is already suspicious.  

Moreover, using Google’s reverse image search function reveals that, at the time of its original publication, all media outlets shared the unedited version of the photo. The manipulated version propagated by Russian sources is not found in credible outlets. The original image is still available on the official website of the President of Ukraine.  

By spreading this fake claim, Russian propagandists aim to portray Ukraine as ‘losing at all fronts’ and suggest that Ukrainian authorities are artificially fabricating a ‘victory narrative’. Once again, this tactic seeks to discredit President Zelenskyi and undermine Ukrainians' trust in their government.  

Previously, similar disinformation included claims about Zelenskyi purchasing a €18 million villa and building an underground bunker there, which were also debunked. 

Russian sources have circulated screenshots allegedly from a French media outlet, TF1 Info, claiming to show graffiti by the French artist OakOak. The graffiti supposedly depicts Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi as a dog tied up next to French President Emmanuel Macron and former US President Donald Trump.

However, this claim is false, according to VoxCheck. TF1 Info has not published any such story, neither on their official website nor across their social media platforms like X, Facebook, or Instagram. Furthermore, the graffiti in question does not appear on the official pages of the artist OakOak.

In one of the screenshots, a beauty salon sign can be seen, written in both English and Korean. Using the Geo Spy Ai tool for image-based geolocation, it was determined that the building is located in Koreatown, Los Angeles, USA. Google Maps further confirmed the exact location where the photo was taken. As expected, no such graffiti exists at this address.

This incident follows previous debunked claims, such as fake information about a graffiti mural in Miami depicting Zelensky as a fly.

Russian sources claim that the news about the Ukrainian military capturing the first North Korean fighter is a fake, as the photo with him was allegedly distributed online on February 24, 2022. As proof of this, propagandists cite a screenshot of a reverse image search from Google, which indeed indicates that the photo was published on Reddit in the UkraineWarVideoReport community on the first day of the full-scale war.

However, this screenshot is disinformation, writes the StopFake project.

Yonhap news agency, citing South Korean intelligence, reported on December 27, 2024 that on December 26, the Ukrainian Armed Forces captured the first North Korean soldier in the Kursk region of Russia. However, the very next day, the soldier died from complications after being wounded. In the same days, photos of this prisoner of war began to circulate on the Internet.

In turn, the screenshot from Google Images that Russian propagandists are spreading is either edited or an example of a typical Google search technical glitch that occurs when searching for posts on Reddit. This issue has been discussed repeatedly on Reddit - a number of posts have been dedicated to it, but it is still unknown what exactly causes this glitch.

Moreover, the propagandists published a screenshot not of the publication itself, where the date is clearly visible, but of the result of a Google search query.

February 24, 2022 is the date of the creation of the UkraineWarVideoReport community on Reddit: it is a pro-Ukrainian resource where English-speaking users share information and materials about the Russian-Ukrainian war. The photo of the first captured fighter from North Korea was indeed published here, not two years ago, but on December 27, 2024.

We previously wrote about how Russia is hiding losses among the North Korean military.

Propagandists are circulating an image on social media that allegedly represents the cover of The Nation magazine with the headline: “Unequal duel. Volodymyr Zelenskyi failed to win - everyone is talking about Putin again. Including Zelenskyi himself”. However, this is not true.

This was reported by experts from the VoxCheck project. They found that the actual cover of the January 2025 issue of The Nation looks completely different. On the magazine's website, in the Archive section, all issues and their covers are available, but the one being shared online is not among them—neither on the official website nor on the publication's social media. The fake cover features images of Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Volodymyr Putin, along with the publication date—January 2025. However, according to the editorial team, this issue was finalized for publication by the end of 2024, and its cover does not reference the presidents of Ukraine or Russia.

The dissemination of a fake magazine cover with a critical headline aims to undermine Volodymyr Zelenskyi's reputation, portraying him as a weak leader unable to achieve victory or effectively engage in political confrontation. Such fabricated materials also attempt to suggest that international attention on Ukraine is allegedly fleeting or insignificant, contrasting it with the supposed constant focus on Russia and its leader, Volodymyr Putin. Spreading fake content resembling authoritative Western publications helps create the impression that Ukraine is not receiving the necessary support from its partners or that the international community is skeptical of its leadership. This could affect the morale of Ukrainians and their allies. Propagandists may use such fakes to create the perception that global attention is fixated on Putin rather than Zelenskyi or Ukraine, thereby reinforcing the notion that Ukraine’s struggle for independence lacks sufficient backing or prospects.

Propagandists are spreading an image on pro-Russian anonymous Telegram channels, allegedly taken in Miami (USA). It shows graffiti with a flyswatter in the colors of the American flag, which crushes the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi in the form of a fly. The author of the graffiti is allegedly the American artist Antigirl, as Al Jazeera allegedly wrote about. However, this is a fake.

There is no evidence that this graffiti actually exists in Miami. There is no information about it on the artist's official social media profiles, her official website, or Al Jazeera's website. In such cases, fakers often create images using graphic editors, adding political symbols to provoke.

The image of a “flyswatter” with an American flag and Zelenskyi’s “fly” is a derogatory metaphor that simplifies the complex context of the war in Ukraine and international support. It devalues the struggle of the Ukrainian people. Such fakes are spread to stimulate anti-Ukrainian sentiment among the American audience. Another goal of such fakes is to raise doubts among Ukrainians about international support and undermine their faith in the future.

Russian propagandists are circulating images of what is purportedly the new cover of Titanic magazine for December 2024. It depicts the head of the Presidential Office, Andrii Yermak, who is supposedly a footstool for the newly elected US President Donald Trump. The cover also contains captions: “Ukrainian leadership will be very useful to the new US president” and “Trump will appoint everyone to the right positions”.

The VoxCheck project reports that this is a fake cover. It shows issue number 4352. In fact, Titanic released a magazine with a different cover under this issue in December. It depicts the candidate for German chancellor, leader of the Christian Democratic Union, Friedrich Merz, with his wife Charlotte.

After all, all the covers that Titanic has ever created can be viewed on the magazine’s social media pages or on the magazine’s website in the Archive section. The cover with Trump and Yermak is missing there — an additional indication that the Russians created it themselves.

Also at the top right of the fake cover is the inscription “Internet-Aufgabe”. Presumably, the authors of the fake article wanted to use the word “ausgabe” (issue) instead of “aufgabe” (task). This mistake was also present on previous fake covers.

Titanic is a German satirical magazine that is published monthly and publishes mostly political cover images.

During the full-scale war, we recorded at least six fake Titanic magazine covers created by propagandists. A detailed analysis of each fabricated cover can be found on our website by typing the word “Titanic” into the search engine.

Propagandists are spreading information on anonymous Telegram channels claiming that the French satirical publication Charlie Hebdo allegedly featured a caricature of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi on its cover, depicting him as the Hunchback of Notre Dame, shunned by the leaders of France and the United States. However, this cover is a fake.

This is reported by the Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security. They discovered that the actual publication date of the magazine (every Wednesday) and the real cover with entirely different stories prove that the fake was created by Russian propagandists.

Fakes, similar to the fabricated Charlie Hebdo cover, aim to create a negative image of President Zelenskyi and the Ukrainian government, as well as to undermine international support for Ukraine. Fakes ridiculing Ukraine are designed to create the impression that Western countries are supposedly reducing their aid and support. These actions seek to erode Ukrainians' faith in international support and to sow discord among Ukraine’s allies. They are part of a broader information warfare campaign designed to weaken Ukraine.

A purported December cover of TIME magazine is being circulated online, showing a nuclear mushroom cloud with the headline “Third World War First Nuclear War”. The post claims that unlike TIME, other outlets are intentionally stoking fear with headlines suggesting scenarios like Russia using nuclear weapons, NATO opening a second front, and the inevitability of World War III.

However, TIME magazine has not published an issue with such a cover. The official TIME website does not feature any such cover. As of the publication date of this clarification, TIME had announced only one December 2024 issue. Its cover features a photograph of Elon Musk, highlighting his achievements and potential future plans.

Additionally, a reverse image search on Google reveals that the nuclear mushroom cloud cover is primarily shared on pro-Russian Telegram channels. One such post links to a Telegram channel titled TIME | Finance. This is a closed, anonymous channel mimicking the visual style (name and logo) of the authentic TIME magazine.

Anonymous Telegram channels are spreading a photo of a school board with an announcement supposedly banning the combination of blue, red and white, as they make up the Russian flag. The photo states that violators will pay a fine.

But this is a fake announcement. No such order exists. Moreover, only Russian and pro-Russian sources are spreading this fake. There is no such news on official government pages, school resources or reliable media outlets.

The announcement states a ban on the use of these colors in drawings, clothing and stationery. However, there are many mistakes in the text:

— they wrote “connection”, although initially they used the correct phrase “combination of colors”;

— “in one origination” — most likely an incorrect derivation from the Russian phrase “in one composition”;

— the phrase “money funds” is incorrect in Ukrainian. Money and funds are synonyms and are not used together. This is an incorrect derivation from a Russian phrase.

Real official orders would not contain so many mistakes.

Russian propaganda resources are distributing a photo of an alleged instruction for schoolchildren in Ukraine, which explains how to properly kneel to greet a fallen Ukrainian defender from the front.

In fact, this instruction is fake, the Kherson region media outlet Vhoru (Up) reports. The reverse image search function on Google helped establish that the drawing from this instruction is being sold on several stock photo sites. The description of the drawing says that these are football players protesting on their knees against racism and police brutality. This is how they express support for the Black Lives Matter movement.

The propagandists also added an excerpt from the poem On the Shield by Facebook user Oksana Lesyk-Paduchak to the fake instruction. It was published on January 26, 2024. Presumably, an excerpt from this poem was placed on the instructions to give greater credibility to the fake photo and because of the poem’s mention of “Bandera’s flag”, one of the “favorite” words of Russian propaganda.

In the end, the photo of this instruction was not published in any reliable Ukrainian or foreign sources, but was only distributed in the pro-Russian segments of social media.

In Ukraine, people honor the memory of fallen soldiers by taking a knee. This is a voluntary gesture of respect. In many cultures, people also kneel to pray and ask for forgiveness. However, the creators of this fake put a negative connotation into this symbolic action, which on their photo instruction can be perceived as an act of submission, humiliation or weakness.

Earlier, we refuted the information that in Lviv, first-graders are forced to kneel to honor the memory of fallen defenders.