Propagandists are spreading information in the media that French President Emmanuel Macron is funding Ukrainian military recruitment offices to mobilize Ukrainians for war. These statements are based on statements by Florian Philippot, a former MEP and populist politician known for his pro-Russian rhetoric. This is reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

They say Philippot was an ally of Marie Le Pen. He regularly voices theses that coincide with Russian propaganda, such as demands that Ukraine return military aid to the West. His statements are used to discredit Western support for Ukraine and to give the French a false impression of an allied relationship with Ukraine.

The idea of “using” Ukrainians for foreign interests undermines morale and destroys solidarity within Ukraine. Propagandists seek to create the false impression among the French that aid to Ukraine is a financial burden on their country. Statements such as “France is paying for mobilization” are intended to create the impression that the war in Ukraine is a burden for Europe, provoking anti-Ukrainian sentiment among European voters. The use of statements by politicians such as Philippot aims to reinforce disinformation with the authority of public figures, even if their positions are marginal and pro-Russian.

Such messages are part of a broader Kremlin information war aimed at undermining international support for Ukraine and creating conflicts between Ukraine and its Western partners.

Propagandists are spreading baseless accusations in the media that Ukrainian intelligence is allegedly recruiting radicals in Syria, Afghanistan and Mali to organize terrorist attacks on Russian territory. However, this information is yet another attempt to discredit Ukraine.

This was reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security. Such accusations are a typical tool of the Russian information war, aimed at forming a negative image of Ukraine in the international arena.

The purpose of spreading such fakes is for Russia to portray Kyiv as a country collaborating with terrorist groups, creating an image of a “dangerous” and “aggressive” state. Accusing Ukraine of collaborating with terrorists allows Moscow to distract attention from the real facts of its support for terrorist organizations such as Hamas and the Taliban, as well as the international activities of the Wagner PPK. Russia also tries to use such statements to legitimize its own aggression against Ukraine, justifying military actions and attacks on Ukrainian civilians. The Kremlin seeks to sow mistrust towards Ukraine among its international partners in order to weaken its support from Western countries and prevent further military assistance.

Russian propagandists are claiming in the media that Ukraine allegedly handed over drones to a radical Islamist group in Syria in exchange for a detachment of militants who will join the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to them, this information is based on “sources in the Syrian opposition”. However, this is an unfounded accusation that has no evidence.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security writes about this. Its experts emphasized that it is Russia that is actively recruiting Syrian mercenaries for the war against Ukraine. As reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine, Russia is recruiting the population of war-torn Syria, promising them Russian passports and paid work, from which few return alive. Russia has created a scheme by which Syrians are recruited through travel agencies to “work” in the protection of oil provinces, and then motivated to participate in military operations with promises of high salaries.

Pro-Kremlin media have begun spreading disinformation claims that Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal promised to make peace with Russia in exchange for EU membership. According to the propagandists, this statement was made during the Ukraine 2024. Independence forum.

But StopFake fact-checkers explained that Denys Shmyhal noted during the forum that Ukraine has good results in the area of European integration and is striving to become technically ready to join the European Union as soon as possible. According to the Ukrainian Prime Minister, Ukrainian legislation is already being screened for compliance with European legislation.

The Prime Minister said that Ukraine has ambitious plans to open all areas of negotiations on joining the European Union in the first half of 2025 – during Poland’s presidency of the EU Council. Shmyhal stressed that Ukraine’s European integration should become a prerequisite for a fair peace.

That is, there was no talk of any agreements with Russia.

Russian propagandists use threats of nuclear weapons in response to any strikes on Russian territory to intimidate the West and deter military support for Ukraine. They call for changes to Russia’s nuclear doctrine to legitimize the use of nuclear weapons even against non-nuclear attacks, increasing the rhetoric of escalation and attempting to deflect responsibility for the continuation of the war.

However, the main goal of such statements is to force the West and its allies to limit support for Ukraine and complicate the transfer of weapons, including long-range missiles. Russia is trying to create the impression that any strikes on its territory could lead to a global catastrophe due to the use of nuclear weapons, which in turn should demoralize not only Ukraine, but also the international community.

However, Russia's use of nuclear weapons against non-nuclear strikes is contrary to international norms. Such statements also indicate that Moscow seeks to avoid discussing its responsibility for the aggression against Ukraine and the course of the war, trying to justify aggressive actions and threats to global security.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels are spreading information that from September 1, Moldovan schools will allegedly hold Russophobia lessons, where schoolchildren will be taught hatred of Russia under the guise of solidarity with Ukraine. The propagandists claim that this is part of a manual developed by the Council of Europe, which the Moldovan Ministry of Education allegedly rewrote and made mandatory for all schools. However, this is manipulation.

In fact, the lesson “Together for Peace” aims to educate solidarity, compassion and peaceful coexistence, not to incite hatred. It will be held only once – on September 1 – as the first lesson of the school year. The Ministry of Education and Science of the Republic of Moldova noted in its document about the lesson that the topic was chosen on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the foundation of the Council of Europe, as well as the beginning of the process of Moldova’s accession to the EU. Propagandists also call any education of young people in the spirit of European values and support for Ukraine “brainwashing”, although in fact, the same document of the Ministry notes that teachers can adapt and change the educational objectives of the lesson and its activities in accordance with the needs and pace of learning of students, and should also encourage students to draw their own conclusions, not impose their views on them. Propagandists present this lesson as an attempt to set children against Russia, whereas the purpose of the lesson is to educate peace and solidarity among young people. There is no evidence that the lessons are about preparing for war or teaching hatred.

Propagandists are trying to turn Moldovan society against European values and institutions such as the Council of Europe, portraying their initiatives as aggressive and hostile. They are also trying to sow fear among the Moldovan population that their children are being taught to hate Russia, which could lead to increased social tensions and a loss of trust in their own government. The propagandists’ message also claims that Ukraine and its allies are using educational programs for military training of children, which is an absurd and completely baseless claim. This is aimed at discrediting support for Ukraine in the international community.

On the eve of the NATO summit in Washington, pro-Kremlin media disseminated an alleged statement by Alliance Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, who said that “no one gave guarantees for Ukraine’s entry into NATO”. The Secretary General also allegedly called China the main organizer of Russia’s war in Ukraine. Propagandists claimed that Stoltenberg’s statements were allegedly made in an interview he recently gave to the American television channel CBS.

However, in fact, Stoltenberg’s words were manipulated, distorting the context of what was said,  the StopFake project wrote.

As for the accusations of the alleged lack of promises to admit Ukraine to NATO, it is important to understand the context. Stoltenberg actually answered the journalist’s question: “Why such a long period for Ukraine’s accession, you talked about a 10-year period, why exactly 10 years, and not one, two or three years, because they were faced with war?” To which the Secretary General said: “Well, no one talked about 10 years, but it is obvious that this is a very serious issue for Ukraine. Because Ukraine is in a state of war. Ukraine was attacked by Russia. Therefore, the most important thing we must do is strengthen our support for Ukraine to ensure its victory. This is a precondition for any future membership of Ukraine”. That is, Stoltenberg did not say anything about the absence of guarantees for Ukraine to join NATO; the statement was invented by propagandists. He spoke about the absence of a clear time frame for Ukraine’s entry into the alliance, and that now the support of Ukraine in the war with Russia is more important.

As for China, Stoltenberg called the country “the main enabler of Russia’s war in Ukraine”, rather than its organizer: “The war in Ukraine demonstrates how closely connected Russia and China, North Korea and Iran are. China is the main leader of Russian military aggression against Ukraine. President Xi and President Putin all want NATO and the United States to fail in Ukraine”.

Russia is trying to counteract Ukraine's Euro-Atlantic integration by spreading disinformation about Ukraine's accession to NATO. As for China, by manipulating information, Russian propaganda seeks to antagonize NATO and Beijing for its own benefit.

The head of the radiation, chemical and biological defense forces of the Russian Armed Forces, Ihor Kyrylov, said that the Ukrainian regime allegedly “regularly violates the Chemical Weapons Convention”. However, this is not true.

This was brought to the attention of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine. Ihor Kyrylov did not provide any concrete evidence for his accusations. This tactic is typical of Russian propaganda, which tries to create an image of Ukraine as an aggressor. However, in the international community, such statements without backing them up with facts do not find support and only undermine confidence in Russian officials.

Without providing any evidence, Russian propaganda also uses deflection tactics, accusing Ukraine of crimes that are actually committed by the Russian army. Russian propaganda often uses tactics to divert attention from its own violations and create a perception that the war is symmetrical.

Despite the accusations against Ukraine, many messages from pro-Russian telegram channels and other sources indicate the use of chemical weapons by the Russian military. This includes the use of chemicals on the battlefield and violation of international conventions prohibiting such actions. These facts are widely known and documented, which casts doubt on any unfounded accusations against Ukraine.

Thus, attempts by Russian propaganda to discredit Ukraine based on unfounded accusations have no chance of success, since they do not correspond to real facts and only deepen Russia’s isolation in the international arena.

Propagandists are distributing in anonymous telegram channels a fragment of an interview with American economist Jeffrey Sachs for Bad Faith, a YouTube channel with 129 thousand subscribers. In this passage, Sachs argues that Ukraine is becoming the Afghanistan of Europe. However, such a comparison is not appropriate and plays into Russian propaganda.

According to the economist, the Americans were present in Afghanistan for years until everything from infrastructure to civic culture was destroyed. He says it's supposedly very American to “have a place on the chessboard” just to watch this destruction. According to Sachs, the same thing is happening in Ukraine. That is, the basis for Sachs’ comparison of Ukraine and Afghanistan is conditional American intervention in both countries.

The United States invaded Afghanistan as a result of the 9/11 terrorist attack, starting the War on Terror. The purpose of the invasion was to destroy the Al-Qaeda group in Afghanistan and overthrow the Taliban government, which was actively collaborating with terrorist organizations. Ukraine's war against Russia began with a full-scale Russian invasion. In this war, the United States is a partner country that openly supports Ukraine, providing financial and military assistance, but not sending its military to participate in hostilities. It is inappropriate to simply attribute these two cases to US foreign intervention.

For Russian propagandists, comparing Ukraine and Afghanistan is beneficial. Firstly, it helps to demoralize the Ukrainians, who, according to this logic, are fighting for the US to maintain hegemony. And the States do not seem to end the war instantly, although they are capable of doing so. Secondly, comparing Ukraine and Afghanistan gives pro-Russian propagandists reasons to demonize the United States and, accordingly, strengthen the idea that Russia is fighting for peace. Thirdly, drawing analogies between Afghanistan and Ukraine helps to reduce US citizens' support for financing Ukraine. A large number of Americans believe the invasion of Afghanistan was a mistake and support an end to American involvement. Therefore, Russian propagandists are interested in spreading the narrative about the gradual transformation of Ukraine into Afghanistan.

Russian media are disseminating information with reference to the Finnish news service Yle that the overwhelming majority of candidates for members of the European Parliament do not agree to accept Ukraine into the European Union.

“MEPs do not want to see Ukraine in the European Union, but they promised, as well as Moldova”, some netizens comment on the news.

On June 2, the Finnish news service Yle published the results of its survey, which it conducted in the run-up to the European Parliament elections. However, the data distributed online is significantly distorted.

This study does not say that the vast majority of candidates for the European Parliament do not agree to accept Ukraine into the European Union. In fact, the survey concerned the conditions under which Ukraine should gain membership in the European Union. Thus, according to a Yle survey, more than 80% of candidates for the European Parliament believe that Ukraine should not be admitted to the EU without meeting all conditions - that is, the question is not about whether it is worth admitting Ukraine into the union at all, but about whether it is necessary to provide Kyiv with exclusive conditions for EU membership

Russian propagandists claim that German Chancellor Olaf Scholz allegedly said that Ukraine may not become a NATO member in the next 30 years. “You know the solution, this will not happen in the near future. Perhaps not even in the next 30 years”, Scholz said during a meeting with Berlin residents. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that in fact Scholz noted at this meeting in Berlin that before the full-scale invasion, discussing Ukraine's entry into NATO, he assured Putin: “This is not being considered for the next 30 years”. Scholz also accused Putin of attacking Ukraine for “absolutely absurd” reasons, since “NATO has never posed a threat to Russia”.

After the old quote was again picked up by Russian propaganda, the German government commented on the information being disseminated. According to government spokesman Steffen Gebestreit, the situation “has completely changed, and therefore, no, 30 years are no longer relevant”.

During the decade of war in Ukraine, Russian propaganda regularly spread manipulations and fake news that Ukraine would not be accepted into NATO or the EU. Thus, they want to cause skepticism and panic among Ukrainians regarding the actions of their Western partners.

Propagandists are distributing a report allegedly created by the German television channel Deutsche Welle about the Gisec Global exhibition, which took place in Dubai from April 23 to 25. The video claims that robot Sophia, answering a question about Ukraine's victory, allegedly said: “It is obvious that Ukrainians need to surrender, because this is the only chance to save themselves as a nation. The Ukrainians have no chance of winning, but they create the opposite picture. I urge them to accept reality and do what the whole world expects of them”. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that there is no such video on the official website of Deutsche Welle and on the official accounts of the channel on social networks.

A reverse image search on Google showed that the fake video consisted of excerpts from various open sources. For example, the video with the robot Sophia is taken from an episode of the American talk show “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon”, which was released in April 2017. The footage of artificial intelligence researcher Ben Goertzel comes from an interview with Discover Crypto published in March 2024.

While the Gisec Global cybersecurity exhibition did take place in Dubai from April 23 to April 25, 2024, there are no reports of Sophia's work being included in the event. She attended The Global AI Show on April 16-17, which also took place in Dubai. The video, where the robot Sophia allegedly calls on Ukrainians to surrender, was assembled from excerpts of her interview with Aletihad during this exhibition. In the interview, Sophia did encourage the UAE to invest in research and development for AI innovation. She did not call on Ukrainians to surrender and did not mention Ukraine.

Propagandists spread such fake news to dishearten Ukrainians and convince them that the world no longer supports them.

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

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

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

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

Russian sources disseminate information that in 2022, during negotiations between Ukraine and Russia, the Ukrainian delegation allegedly could not “talk about itself” and was forced to coordinate its position with its allies. Representatives of Ukraine allegedly complained that they had “three bosses”. The negotiations themselves seemed to have been disrupted by Boris Johnson. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the statement of the assistant to the President of the Russian Federation Medynskyi.

This message is a component of the Russian narrative, saying that Ukraine is not a sovereign state, but just a “pawn” of the West, forcing Ukrainians to fight in the interests of NATO, the “Anglo-Saxons”, etc.

Ukraine is building partnerships with Western countries. And the format of these documents proves that Ukraine is an independent subject of international relations. In no country in the world does Ukraine have a subordination system in the “superior-subordinate” format, writes the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

The demonization of Boris Johnson is a Russian IPSO aimed at undermining Ukrainians’ trust in the West. It is for this reason that Russian propaganda came up with the myth that Johnson allegedly disrupted the negotiations in 2022. Thus, he allegedly plunged Ukraine into an “endless war” that will last “until the last Ukrainian”.

Russian resources are disseminating information that Ukraine is allegedly recruiting mercenaries abroad into the International Legion, thereby violating the 1961 Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the corresponding statement by the speaker of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, Mariia Zakharova.

In fact, this information is not true. Ukraine does not recruit mercenaries. They write about this in the Center for Strategic Communications and Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Indeed, according to international law, a mercenary is a person who is not part of the Armed Forces of a state and who participates in hostilities in order to receive material compensation. In addition, it significantly exceeds the remuneration of a combatant of the Armed Forces of the same rank and function. The International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is an integral part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine with material support at the same level as other formations.

With this fake, the Russian propaganda machine is trying to divert attention from the recruitment of mercenaries by Russia itself. Moreover, the message about the International Legion as “mercenaries” is being spread with the aim of removing its military personnel from the scope of the Geneva Convention, which protects combatants, in particular in captivity. We previously wrote about how Russia blurs reality using the term “foreign mercenaries”.

Propagandists quote Russian Defense Minister Serhii Shoihu, who at a meeting of the Russian Defense Collegium said that the Ukrainian military is fighting in the interests of the war between the United States and Russia. They say that during the full-scale invasion, almost half a million military personnel of the Ukrainian Armed Forces died. He also noted that during the counteroffensive, the Ukrainian military allegedly failed to achieve the goals that “NATO instructors” set for them, and thus were able to dispel the myth about the superiority of Western weapons. However, this is not true.

Now we do not have an accurately known number of dead, wounded and missing Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers for the entire time of the full-scale invasion. But on February 25 of this year, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi, during a large press conference following the results of the forum “Ukraine. Year 2024” answered this question. According to him, “31 thousand Ukrainian soldiers died in this war”, not counting the fighters of volunteer battalions and the missing. But we see that this figure is significantly less than what the Russian Ministry of Defense states.

Russian propaganda has been promoting the narrative of Ukraine's war in the interests of the United States for long enough to neutralize the fact that Ukraine is defending its own territory, interests and cultural heritage. Claiming failures in the counteroffensive and dispelling the “myth” of the superiority of Western weapons does not reflect the full picture. Ukrainian forces carried out successful defensive actions, repelling attacks and inflicting significant losses on the enemy. For example, in the summer of 2022, an agreement was reached with Russia on a “safe corridor” in the Black Sea through the UN and Turkey. However, this agreement lasted only a year, after which Russia threatened to attack Ukrainian ports. Ukraine responded with naval drone and missile attacks on September 13, 2023, forcing Russia to reduce its ambitions in the Black Sea region.

Also, the “largest tank battle”, according to The New York Times, which the Ukrainian side won, took place on March 2, 2023 and proves the opposite of Shoihu’s claims. The Russian army launched powerful offensive operations after defeats in the Kharkiv and Kherson regions. Despite successful actions at Bakhmut and Soledar, they were defeated at Vuhledar due to the effective resistance of Ukrainian troops. Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters hit several tank columns heading towards Vuhledar and subsequently inflicted significant losses on Russian troops.

Shoihu’s statements regarding the counteroffensive and losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces look like an attempt to distort circumstances and convince the public of his superiority on the battlefield, despite such a powerful “enemy” as NATO.

The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council has recorded a new information campaign by Russian propagandists to discredit the approval by the US Congress of a bill to allocate almost $61 billion in aid to Ukraine.

According to the Center, the key narrative of Kremlin propaganda is: “US assistance will have no impact on the situation on the battlefield”.

Russia also promotes the following messages:

“Assistance will only prolong the war and lead to more casualties among Ukrainians”;

“Most of the funds will remain in the United States. Americans are enriching themselves at the expense of the lives of Ukrainians”;

“The allocated assistance will be the last that Ukraine will receive”;

“The United States provided assistance during the harsh mobilization in Ukraine”;

“Now, after the decision to help Ukraine, is the best time to negotiate a truce”.

Propagandists disseminated information in the Russian media that the President of Ukraine, according to them, during his last visit to Odesa allegedly revealed the location of a secret base in the port area of the city, where, according to them, drones were being prepared for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, these statements are not confirmed.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this. They note that the meeting between the President of Ukraine and the Prime Minister of Greece was of an official nature and took place in the presence of many government officials and journalists. It is baseless to assume that a secret military base was included in the excursion program as part of such a visit.

The Greek Prime Minister confirmed that the delegation was near the port when the shelling occurred, but this has nothing to do with Zelenskyi's visit to any secret base.

Propagandists spread such fakes in order to discredit the President of Ukraine and quarrel between Western countries and Ukraine. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted fakes directed personally against Zelenskyi.

Russian propagandists spread such information. In some US stores, milk cartons allegedly posted notices about a missing boy named Elijah. This was supposedly done by the public organization National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC),  the captures are as follows: “We would have found Elijah if the government had not cut our budget to send aid to Ukraine”.

In fact, these photo ads are fake. This was reported by checkers from the StopFake project. NCMEC Communications Director Angeline Hartman responded to StopFake's request that the organization did not print such postcards, someone else used their logo without permission.

Response from NCMEC Communications Director to StopFake request:

Probably, a caption about Ukraine was added to the photo of the milk carton in a graphic editor.

In addition, NCMEC is financed by the US Department of Justice, whose task is to ensure law and order and justice within the country, so there can be no talk of any “budget cuts to help Ukraine”. Moreover, funding provided by the Department of Justice to NCMEC has, on the contrary, increased compared to 2021.

If in 2021 the Department of Justice allocated almost $37 million to the organization, then in 2022 this amount was already more than 44 million. In 2023, the organization received more than $51 million. The organization also has other sources of funding. Many resources are provided by private donors, including large corporations like Google and Zoom.

Thus, Russian propaganda seeks to fuel the narrative that “Western society is already tired of the war in Ukraine”. According to propagandists, such fakes can influence the minimization of international support for Ukraine. Previously, we refuted information that economist Robert Kiosaki allegedly called any financial injections into Ukraine pointless.

From the very beginning of the charity campaign of the Lithuanian public broadcaster Radarom, propagandists in the Lithuanian segment of social networks began to spread information that the funds donated to Ukrainians did not bring any benefit after all. One of the most widespread reports in Lithuania claims that the purchase and sale of cars, especially premium ones, in Ukraine have increased significantly since the start of the war, which means that the warring country is trading on the support it has received. At the same time, they refer to statistics from Ukravtoprom. However, this is not true.

Lithuanian fact-checkers for the 15min.lt project drew attention to this. They found out that propagandists are silent about the fact that the growth of the automobile market began with the beginning of the war, when it was significantly depressed. It is also not mentioned that as many as a third of new cars were purchased by companies. According to Ukravtoprom, in 2023, almost 61 thousand units of new passenger cars were sold in Ukraine (most of which were purchased by companies) worth more than 105.5 billion hryvnia (about 2.5 billion euros). This is 1.6 times more than in 2022, when Ukrainians purchased 37,900 new cars, the lowest since the beginning of the century. When the war began, many off-road vehicles were purchased. According to these data, 103.25 thousand new cars were sold in 2021, and 37.89 thousand new cars were sold in 2022. Last year this figure rose to 75.99 thousand, and this year it is expected to increase to 86 thousand. Thus, neither last nor this year the same level as before the war is expected.

Ukrainian public figure in Lithuania Andrii Tapin also added that in Ukraine in 2023 there will be one new car for every 606 inhabitants. Last year, 31,000 new passenger cars were registered in Lithuania, or 1 car per 90 inhabitants. The difference is about 7 times.

Propagandists spread such disinformation to discredit Ukrainians and reinforce their “corrupt Ukraine” narrative. All this is so that foreigners stop supporting Ukraine.

As the US Congress considers military aid to Ukraine, European leaders are expressing concern about how the withdrawal of US financial support in the fight against Russian aggression could affect Ukraine. An Instagram post on February 25 claimed that Poland's foreign minister called the US a “dysfunctional and unreliable” state due to delays in the process. In particular, propagandists disseminated such messages on social networks like Instagram. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the Politifact project drew attention to it. They found that while Polish Foreign Minister Radoslaw Sikorsky did express concern about a possible end to U.S. military aid to Ukraine in an interview with Bloomberg News on February 22, he called for a democratic process in resolving the issue and urged the Speaker of the House of Representatives to put forward a bill on the aid package to Ukraine to vote.

In his interview, Sikorsky highlighted the potential consequences if the United States does not provide expected assistance to its allies, warning of negative developments for American alliances around the world.

There is no evidence to support that Poland's foreign minister called the US “dysfunctional and unreliable” in his interview with Bloomberg News or elsewhere. Therefore, we evaluate this statement as erroneous.

Russian propagandists take such statements out of context in order to antagonize Western states and cause skepticism about helping Ukraine. Detector Media has already written about how Russian propaganda is trying to influence the policies of the United States and for what purposes.

Russian propagandists are disseminating information in anonymous telegram channels that a mass death of birds was allegedly recorded in Poland after they allegedly ate Ukrainian grain that spilled from freight cars. “The Poles are afraid that they are next, because they are bringing poisoned grain from Ukraine”, they write in their public posts. Some propagandists also say that we are talking about grain that was allegedly grown in the radiative zone around Chornobyl, and that it is now being sold to Europe.

However, there is no factual evidence that somewhere in Poland a mass death of birds was recorded specifically through Ukrainian grain. Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to this. They found that the first video being circulated by propagandists as evidence of these claims showed several dead birds, mostly crows, lying next to railway tracks in the Polish city of Zamość. No research has been conducted into the causes of death of these birds. There is no information about what happened even in the local media. There was only a message about this on social networks, where this video was published. Polish fact-checkers from the Demagog project also drew attention to the spread of fake news among Poles and took a comment from an ornithologist who confirmed that without toxicological and veterinary studies it is impossible to say that the birds died due to poisoned grain.

Local bloggers also commented on the situation, noting that there are no freight trains running in the place where the video was filmed. In addition, the birds in the video lie in amazing poses, some with broken wings. It is also surprising that in the video there are only crows, and not pigeons, sparrows or other “urban” birds.

Regarding the quality of Ukrainian grain exported to Europe, it is very carefully checked by buyers. They not only control the quality indicators of the grain, but also make sure that the products have the necessary international certification.

“Each batch is accompanied by an analysis by an independent surveyor nominated by GAFTA”, said Serhii Orlovskyi, founder of the Agrooiltrade trading company, in an interview with Latifundist.com. According to him, any discrepancy in quality could become the basis for lawsuits.

This fake is spreading against the backdrop of protests by Polish farmers against European agricultural policy and the blockade of checkpoints from Ukraine, as well as blockades of roads and highways in some provinces demanding a ban on the import of agricultural products from Ukraine. The protests are accompanied by disinformation campaigns and inciting hostility between allies, which obviously benefits the Kremlin. Detector Media has already written about how Russia is fueling and exploiting farmer protests across Europe.

Russian resources are spreading the news that allegedly the American media Bloomberg released a video in which American economist Robert Kiosaki called investments in Ukraine pointless. According to propagandists, Kiyosaki made the corresponding statement at a meeting of the international investment company Traderfriends.

In fact, this information is not true, they write in the VoxCheck project. The video published by the propagandists is not on Bloomberg’s official channels - website, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram. Kiyosaki himself also did not call investments in Ukraine pointless on his pages on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Propagandists edited the video from several videos that are unrelated to each other. In particular, using keywords, VoxCheck specialists were able to find an excerpt from an interview with the YouTube channel “Finance With Sharan”, published on September 6, 2023. In it, Kiyosaki discussed finance, politics and the like. We were also talking about Ukraine. Kiyosaki said that the United States is printing dollars to support Ukraine, and therefore does not recommend saving in this currency. However, the economist did not say a word about the absurdity of financial assistance to Ukraine.

In addition, Kiyosaki could not make a corresponding statement at a meeting of the international investment company Traderfriends, as propagandists write. Traderfriends is actually a company that provides educational trading services. VoxCheck's colleagues were unable to find any evidence that Robert Kiyosaki recently spoke at the company's invitation. The last publication with an economist on the Traderfriends YouTube page dates back to January 14, 2018.

After the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Kiyosaki supported Ukraine and stated that if he were in Ukraine, he would also fight for freedom. The economist also believes that the impact of the war on the economy will give impetus to the development of cryptocurrency.

Russian propaganda seeks to interfere with the decision-making process of high-ranking officials on the allocation of financial support to Ukraine in many countries of the world, in particular the United States, and therefore resorts to such fakes. Previously, we denied information that French activists were allegedly conducting an anti-Ukrainian campaign, calling on citizens to stop supporting Ukraine.

Russian news resources and social media users spreading pro-Russian rhetoric are spreading an alleged quote from Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba. They say that in Ukraine they were considering the idea of renaming the city of Avdiivka to Prague in order to activate Article 5 of the NATO Charter and provoke a war with Russia on the part of the alliance member states. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba has never expressed such absurd proposals, and such a quote is not on his official pages on social networks or other communication channels of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry. This fictitious quote was distributed only in Russian telegram channels and in user posts on social networks.

Regarding Ukraine's entry into NATO and the activation of Article 5, the Minister wrote in an article for Foreign Affairs why Ukraine should join NATO, noting that this would ensure its protection under this article.

Propagandists spread such fakes to misinform and discredit Ukraine before the world. They say that Ukrainian diplomats are going to the extent of desperate and absurd attempts for Ukraine to join NATO.

This information was disseminated by pro-Russian resources, citing the “story” of the French France24. The TV channel host allegedly reported that French President Emmanuel Macron canceled his trip to Ukraine, planned for February 13-14, 2024, due to “preparation of an assassination attempt on him by the Ukrainian special services”. They say that the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Kyrylo Budanov, was preparing an assassination attempt on Macron, but the special operation was thwarted due to the transfer of information to the French side by the former commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valerii Zaluzhnyi.

In fact, this information is not true. Yes, the French President really postponed his visit to Ukraine for security reasons. However, not because of the “attempt on his life”. Some Russian sites began to independently disseminate a refutation of this information with a link to the France 24 channel, since it did not publish such a story.

Propagandists referred to videos of very poor quality, making it difficult to verify whether it was a deepfake or not. However, due to the deepfake video detection tool DeepFake-O-Meter, it was possible to analyze it. The result is a credibility score indicating that the video is likely to be fake.

In addition, in a commentary to RBK-Ukraine, GUR representative Andrii Yusov stated that “this is another Russian special operation and information attack against Ukraine”.  “Thus, the enemy is trying to implement his so-called Maidan-3 plan to discredit Ukraine in the international arena and destabilize the situation within the country”, he added.

Propagandists spread this disinformation story online as France and Ukraine approach the finalization of a bilateral agreement on security guarantees for the latter. That is, by spreading such fakes, Russian propaganda is trying to prevent the signing of the agreement, since this is unprofitable for Russia.