An allegedly advertising video from the mobile operator Vodafone dedicated to the new “Hero Phone Number” memorial campaign is being circulated online. According to the advertisement, Vodafone will start selling the phone numbers of fallen heroes for $100 to raise funds for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It's a lie.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project analyzed the content and determined that the video was fake. Vodafone has never published such a video on its channels, which it confirmed to the Center for Countering Disinformation.

In addition, in the summer of 2023, the Minister of Digital Transformation Mykhailo Fedorov reported that the phone numbers of dead and missing defenders would not be sold for two years.

According to the standard procedure, this period is one year. But, as Fedorov explained, “usually after a year without use, the number goes on free sale - this way you can receive the message “Your loved one has joined Viber” when he is no longer alive”. The initiative was supported by Ukrainian mobile operators.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels claim that the Ukrainian military is given the drug ketamine so that they will not be afraid of battle. They write that “Time magazine, citing neuroscientists from the United States, stated that the Ukrainian command uses ketamine “at zero front line”; it is a specific hallucinogenic drug”. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that propagandists distorted the content of the article, which actually talked about the use of ketamine in the treatment of veterans and military personnel in Ukraine.

The Time article noted that “psychedelic drugs may help troops overcome trauma” in war and that “some (Ukraine) military personnel have already received legal ketamine, a dissociative anesthetic with some hallucinogenic effects, in private clinics”. This applies to the treatment of military personnel suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder or having a traumatic brain injury. However, the massive use of ketamine in therapy has not yet been considered in Ukraine.

Regarding the use of drugs by military personnel in combat, Time mentions in its article a report alleging that Russian soldiers in Ukraine are given amphetamines before combat.

In Ukraine, there is still an ongoing debate about this method of treatment, as StopFake notes. In particular, previously the initiator of the introduction of psychedelic-assisted therapy, a doctor at the State Center for Psychological Health and Rehabilitation of Veterans “Lisova Haliavyna” of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, Kseniia Voznytska, explained that this topic is very stigmatized in Ukraine and that most people do not even know what psychedelic-assisted therapy is. This is an inpatient type of treatment under the supervision of psychotherapists.

Propagandists from time to time spread misinformation that Ukrainian military personnel are drug addicts and alcoholics because they cannot withstand the horrors of the front. These false reports are intended to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces, hinder mobilization in the country and demoralize Ukrainian society as a whole. Detector Media has already refuted such a fake before.

Information is being spread online that the United States supplies the Ukrainian Armed Forces with large quantities of the painkiller Nalbuphine. The authors of the “news” write that the substance is used to extend the “shelf life” of organs, for their further transportation and sale on the black market. The Ukrainian military man is allegedly first injected with the drug, and then the active substance “preserves the organs for their further removal”. However, this is fake.

There are no studies that prove that Nalbuphine can be used for the preservation of donor organs. Specialists from the VoxCheck project write about this. In addition, it is not clear what propagandists mean by “preservation” of organs in the human body and why they should be preserved in humans at all. After all, in Ukraine, transplantation operations are performed after brain death is declared (in the case of posthumous donation). At the same time, the heart continues to function and support the vital functions of the organs, so in this case “preservation” is not necessary.

This drug is not new; it was approved in the USA back in 1979. And in Ukraine, it has been in the first aid kits of the Ukrainian military since 2014. In the Armed Forces of Ukraine, it can most likely be used to reduce pain in the pre- and postoperative period or as an addition to anesthesia, but certainly not for organ preservation.

In general, the Russians have been spreading the message about black transplantology in Ukraine, in particular in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, since 2014. This fake propaganda echoes others like it about the “functioning of American biological laboratories in Ukraine” or about “combat mosquitoes”, for example. The purpose of such information dumps is to demonize the West, including the United States in our case, and Ukraine. More details about the propaganda campaign of information influence “Black Transplantology” can be found in the study of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council.

We also previously refuted information about the activities of black transplantologists in Sieverodonetsk. Then all the evidence presented in the propaganda video was fabricated.

Pro-Kremlin resources are spreading reports that dissatisfaction with the policies of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi is allegedly growing in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, so that the Ukrainian military “wants to seize the Verkhovna Rada by force”. In asserting this, Russian propaganda refers to supposedly closed chats of the Ukrainian Armed Forces military.

In fact, this information is not true, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Russia has been promoting this narrative since the beginning of the full-scale invasion - on February 25, 2022, Putin called on the Ukrainian military to “take power into their own hands”. This narrative became more active during the period after the resignation of ex-head committee of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi. This is at least the second time that propagandists are using fake screenshots from “secret chats of the Ukrainian military”.

Thus, Russian propaganda “plays” with the moods and feelings of Ukrainians. This fake is aimed at exploding mutual trust in Ukrainian society: civilians towards the military, political leadership towards the military command, and the military, in fact, towards the authorities and command. Previously, we refuted the information that deputies of the Verkhovna Rada, allegedly under martial law, were required by law to resign.

Pro-Russian resources are distributing an image with the logo of the Ukrainian online publication UNIAN, which contains a photograph of the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Anatolii Barhylevych and a quote allegedly belonging to him: “With what disability group can you serve in the army? With anyone. If a person can tie a grenade to themselves and jump into the dugout, then they are fit”.

The Center for Countering Disinformation analyzed this “news”. Specialists from the Center verified the information in UNIAN and reported that there were no materials with similar content on the official pages of the news agency. And the quote itself, allegedly from the Chief of the General Staff, is made up, since Barhylevych did not say anything similar about people with disabilities. In addition, the creators of the fake also made a mistake in the quote. The word “man” is feminine, but at the end of the quote the Russians used the pronoun “he”, which corresponds to a word that is not feminine, but masculine.

The purpose of such fakes is to discredit the top military leadership of the Ukrainian state. Also, by spreading disinformation on behalf of Ukrainian online publications, the Russians are trying to give it more truthfulness. Previously, we have already recorded cases when propagandists spread fake news on behalf of the UNIAN news agency.

Propagandists on anonymous telegram channels, where they spread pro-Russian rhetoric, are distributing a screenshot of a message from an individual who is allegedly a volunteer of the 110th territorial defense brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and is surprised that wounded military personnel are being taken for treatment to Zaporizhzhia, and not to Kharkiv. They say that it was this brigade that the Russians “destroyed” in Avdiivka, so it would be more logical to take the wounded to Kharkiv, and not halfway across the country to Zaporizhzhia. Russian media indicate that the command chose this strategy due to the fact that Kharkiv doctors allegedly help the military desert and hide in the big city. However, all this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that these statements are part of the Kremlin's disinformation campaign. For example, a person who is called a volunteer of the 110th territorial defense forces brigade is actually a journalist from Zaporizhzhia. Russian media also mixed up the brigade that served in Avdiivka.

In light of this, VoxCheck notes that the medical evacuation of Ukrainian military personnel is under threat due to constant Russian shelling, often aimed at medical facilities. This creates very difficult conditions for providing care to the wounded. Russians use such methods, in particular, to discredit the Ukrainian healthcare system.

Propagandists on anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric are spreading information that the National Police of Rivne allegedly detained a military man from the 14th separate mechanized brigade named after Prince Roman the Great for selling amphetamine. The authors of this report claim that the soldier went on leave, and two days later he was detained while transferring a narcotic substance. The text notes that the man allegedly brought amphetamine from near Kupiansk, where the military of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, according to the authors, has established drug supplies. In addition, the military man allegedly intended to sell the remainder that had not yet been distributed on the front line. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that a report from the National Police in the Rivne region mentioned the arrest of a man involved in selling drugs already in early January 2024. There is no mention that the detainee was a military man of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. According to the police, the attacker is in a pre-trial detention center and has been charged with committing a crime that could result in up to 10 years in prison.

It should also be noted that information about the detention of a military man has not been confirmed in the Ukrainian media or on the website of the National Police in the Rivne region. This news was disseminated by only a few Russian resources, which indicates attempts to discredit Ukrainian military personnel. Russian media have not provided any evidence to support their claim. Previously, Detector Media had already refuted such fakes aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Propagandists are spreading information in the English-language segment of social networks, allegedly the American media company CNBC published news about a “global” US military operation called “Storm”, which was supposed to take place in 2024. One user posted the screenshots on Platform X (formerly Twitter), describing them as “shocking in many ways” and pointing out that they referred to Donald Trump as the “current president” of the United States. However, this is fake.

The fact-checkers from Reuters drew attention to it. They found that the expression “Storm” is often used by adherents of the QAnon conspiracy theory. Through it, they describe moments when influential individuals are expected to be detained. Also, the authors of this fake falsely claim that Donald Trump has led the US Military since 2020.

The material was published on the now defunct website cnbcusa.com, which is not related to the official CNBC website. A CNBC spokesperson confirmed in a comment to Reuters that the article was not published by them and stressed that cnbcusa.com was never affiliated with CNBC. Reuters also did not find any related articles about Trump as the “current military president” in 2024 or about the “global” US military operation called “Storm” on the official CNBC website. Therefore, this information is false.

Propagandists distribute or support such materials in the English-speaking world to deepen divisions in American society and create distrust in democratic institutions. Detector Media has already written about what methods Russia is using for this in the context of the upcoming presidential elections in the United States.

Information is being spread online that the Ministry of Defense has launched a campaign to recruit women into the army: “serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine helped me lose weight, contact the nearest Territorial center of procurement and social support, you deserve to be the best!”, says this video. At the same time, the video itself was allegedly published on the “TikTok account” of the Ministry of Defense. It's a lie.

The VoxCheck specialists analyzed the case and came to the conclusion that the video was fake and compiled from any footage. Moreover, the video does not serve as a video campaign for recruiting women into the army. After all, the Ministry of Defense doesn’t even have a TikTok account. The video about weight loss was also not found on other social networks of the ministry.

In general, only doctors and pharmacists must register with the military from October 1, 2023; however, military registration does not mean mobilization or the establishment of restrictions on travel abroad. The Ministry of Health notes: registration is necessary only to summarize data on the existing reserve of doctors in the country. The travel of this category of women is unlimited. To register for military service, this category of women will have three years - until December 31, 2026.

The social network TikTok is distributing a video message from supposedly servicemen of the 117th separate territorial defense brigade of the 153rd battalion, calling for the overthrow of the constitutional order in the state.

In fact, the people in the video have never had and have no connection with the 153rd  battalion, as reported by the 117th separate territorial defense brigade on its page on the Facebook social network. This video was created using deepfake technology based on artificial intelligence. That is, it is fake. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council is already writing about this.

Thus, the creators of this video seek to discredit the Ukrainian military and demoralize Ukrainian society. Previously, we analyzed a fake video message from the ex-commander of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valerii Zaluzhnyi, in which he allegedly called for a military coup.

In such messages, the authors, on behalf of the “prayer department”, offer to pray for the Ukrainian military who find themselves surrounded. For example, one of the messages talked about two Ukrainian brigades that were allegedly surrounded by 40 thousand Russian soldiers near Avdiivka.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security reports that the vast majority of such messages are the work of Russian intelligence services.

This is evidenced by the following:

- sometimes messages are written in Russian, which may already be the first sign of it;

- in the structure of the Armed Forces of Ukraine there is no “prayer department” responsible for prayers;

- lack of specifics about the brigades and the time of the location of hostilities;

- the desire to evoke an emotional reaction in the reader in order to obtain maximum coverage;

- in the comments there may be calls for Ukrainians to give up.

Russians can manipulate even such intimate areas as religion, so you should not trust overly emotional messages and calls on this topic.

Propagandists are distributing a video on social networks in which allegedly a Ukrainian military man serving near Avdiivka discovered sharp blades in pies. Like, a local grandmother treated him to these pies. The video was seen by thousands of people, it is actively distributed on social networks with captions like “a grandmother near Avdiivka treats Ukrainian soldiers with delicious pies” and “they hate Ukrainians in this place”. However, this is a staging.

This was found out by specialists from the “Beyond the News” project. They explain that it is doubtful that after the round-the-clock shelling, a multi-storey building with electricity and intact windows remained in the city or its surroundings. However, this is the environment in which filming takes place. In the video, we see two people (one holding a camera) standing in front of a window in a lit room during night time. From a security point of view this is very dangerous. The Ukrainian military would be unlikely to commit such actions. The military clothing that we see in the video has no signs of identification, and the chosen shooting angle does not allow us to see the face of the “victim” from the grandmother. At 6-7 seconds one can see that the man is breaking an already broken product. Probably damage to the “theater prop” was done before filming to insert a blade into it. The audio of the video also has its own characteristics. Firstly, we hear the Russian pronunciation at the 10th second. In addition, the phrase “and here are the blades” sounds strange to denote the singular; it is more likely that a Ukrainian military would say “and here is the blade”. The Russian intonation is especially heard at the end of the video.

It appeared around February 5 on resources publishing Russian propaganda. The video appeared in the domestic segment within a day or two. Unfortunately, it was picked up and spread on some Ukrainian-language pages on social networks.

Propagandists spread such fake news to show that local residents do not really want Ukrainians to fight for them. They say that’s why they feed the Ukrainian military pies with blades.

Propagandists spread information in communities on Facebook that disguise themselves as Ukrainian ones, which allegedly discovered bags with the remains of Ukrainian military personnel near Dnipro. However, this is fake.

Specialists of the NotaYenota project drew attention to it. They found out that the source disseminating this information is a Facebook page created on February 24, 2022. It imitates Ukrainian and, between patriotic content, places enemy stuffing.

The information about military belongings (not the bodies of military personnel, but their belongings) found on the territory of a fish farm in the Dnipropetrovsk region is true. But this happened in 2018. Then the police began to investigate this case. The photo illustrating this news on the page was actually taken in Bucha on April 8, 2022, where the exhumation of bodies buried in a mass grave during the Russian occupation began.

Propagandists are spreading this fake news against the backdrop of other enemy propaganda with staged videos allegedly about neglecting the bodies of Ukrainian military personnel. They do this in order to discredit Ukraine.

Russian propagandists began a disinformation campaign claiming losses of the Ukrainian Defense Forces near Selydove in the Donetsk region. This is a clear example of Russian disinformation.

This was reported by the United Press Center of the Taurian Defense Forces. He noted that on February 13, 2024, Russian troops used the Uragan MLRS to strike the town of Tsukuryne, Pokrovskyi district. Rescuers from the State Emergency Service inspected the area and determined that as a result of the shelling, 2 multi-apartment two-story residential buildings on Svitla street and a car were damaged. There are no casualties or wounded.

Thus, the enemy is trying to divert attention from his significant losses in the Taurian direction. In just one day on February 12, they suffered 645 losses, and in the previous week (from February 5 to February 11) - 2,947 people.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing a video in which an unknown person in a Ukrainian Armed Forces uniform allegedly shoots a serviceman for allegedly refusing to participate in assault operations. As propagandists write, the victim of the “execution” seems to be a soldier of the 425th Special Operations Brigade “Skala” of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

However, after verifying the information together with the StratCom of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and other relevant structures of the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces of Ukraine, the Center for Countering Disinformation reported that this video was fake. It is impossible to identify the characters and the area, as well as determine the nationality of the participants in the video. In addition, 425th Special Operations Brigade “Skala” is part of the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and not the Main Intelligence Directorate, as propagandists are trying to imagine.

Considering all the above-described signs of a fake and the fact that the video is being distributed by Russian resources, the Center reports that the video was probably shot by the Russians as part of the IPSO in order to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine. This is not the first time that fake videos have been created to demonize the Ukrainian army. Here, for example, is an analysis of a video in which the Russian military allegedly captured a pregnant Ukrainian female soldier.

Propagandists are actively disseminating information that The Times predicts that after the end of the war, half of the Ukrainian population will face mental illness. In addition, social networks are spreading the claim that Uliana Suprun, who served as the acting Minister of Health of Ukraine from 2016 to 2019, led to the death of Ukrainian medicine by destroying hospitals and rehabilitation institutions in the country. However, this is not true.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to this. They found out that in an article dated January 27, journalist Anthony Lloyd talks about the psychological problems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, the statistics that 50% of Ukrainians face mental problems are not mentioned. According to the Ministry of Health of Ukraine, between 3 and 4 million people in Ukraine (including military and civilian) require mental health care. It is estimated that up to 15 million Ukrainians may need psychological help after the war ends.

There are public and private centers in Ukraine that provide assistance to military and civilians with psychological trauma. Also, the state budget for 2024 provides 2.6 billion hryvnia for activities for mental, sports, physical, psychological rehabilitation and professional adaptation of military personnel and members of their families. In addition, Ukraine’s partners are ready to help overcome the psychological consequences of the war. For example, NATO member countries are exploring the possibility of funding recommended measures to improve the health care system in Ukraine in the area of mental health.

Propagandists spread such disinformation to intimidate Ukrainian society into accepting Russia's conditions. Detector Media has previously written about how Russian propaganda stigmatizes the topic of mental health.

Russian telegram channels circulated an image purporting to be from the Instagram account of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. It shows a homemade bong – a device for smoking cannabis, with the caption “will you smoke?” However, this is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that the image had been edited using one of the advertising images of the 3rd Separate Assault Brigade. They did not find any similar photos on its official page. The picture shows that this is an Instagram story, that is, in theory, it may have already been deleted.

However, VoxCheck found the original image - this is an advertisement for a test week of the attack aircraft that the brigade offers. There a person can undergo a 7-day training course and understand whether he is ready to join the unit. The Russians took a photo of a unit with a military man and put a homemade bong on it. This is indicated by the fact that the device in the fake picture is located on top of the Instagram username, and from under it one can see a military headdress on top and a belt-shoulder system with magazines to the left of the picture. They match the advertising photo. Also in the fake and authentic pictures there are identical trees on the right.

Propagandists spread such fake news to try to discredit the Ukrainian Armed Forces and stigmatize people who use marijuana. They say that the soldiers cannot stand it, and therefore resort to such methods of relieving stress. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other Russian fakes aimed against the Ukrainian military.

Russian propagandists, citing statements by journalist Christoph Wanner, are spreading information in the media that the defenders of Ukraine have to give up positions from small sections of the front due to a lack of people. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security drew attention to it. Probably, the propaganda had in mind the retreat of the defenders of Ukraine from Krokhmalne in the Kharkiv region and the capture of this village by Russian occupiers. The representative of the Ukrainian Ground Forces, Fitio, clarified during the telethon that the defense forces retreated to reserve positions due to the fact that the village was completely destroyed by the occupiers, and it was no longer possible to remain there, since this endangered the lives of the Ukrainian military. In addition, they found that Wanner's journalistic work was characterized by one-sidedness, violations of journalistic standards and an open pro-Russian position.

Propagandists spread such manipulations to give a false impression of victories at the front. Detector Media has repeatedly denied other Russian manipulations related to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Users of social networks broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric are distributing videos where supposedly Ukrainian soldiers demonstrate underground fortifications recaptured from the Russians. Like, there are hundreds of meters of branched underground tunnels, a high level of engineering equipment. Commentators ask to see Ukrainian fortifications hinting that they allegedly do not exist. However, this is manipulation.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that in fact the video is not of the Ukrainian military demonstrating their recaptured positions, but of the Russians showing their underground bunkers. However, it is unknown where these fortifications are located: on the front line, deep in the rear in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine or on Russian territory.

The author of the two-minute video initially introduces himself as “Borman from the 3rd battalion”. However, at 01:26 from the video, it is noticeable that he has a patch with the Russian tricolor on his left hand. It should also be noted that inside the bunkers there are no traces of combat or dirt, typical of military conditions in the fall and winter. Therefore, it is more difficult to determine the date and location of the video shooting.

Despite the fact that the Russian defense line does pose a big obstacle to the Ukrainian army moving forward and liberating the occupied territories, the Russian military also complains to the propaganda media about Ukrainian drones and tunnels.

By spreading such manipulations, propagandists want to incite despair and mistrust among Ukrainians, especially in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In addition, in this way they are also trying to show that Russia is supposedly constantly winning on the battlefield, in particular thanks to its “amazing fortifications”.

A video from the American publication Wired, specializing in IT and innovation, is being circulated online, declaring that the Ukrainian military allegedly uses satellite Internet from Starlink primarily for online gambling. The video states that approximately 35% of all connections allegedly led to Ukrainian casino sites. The video fake was exposed by the StopFake fact-checkers.

There are three reasons why this video is fabricated.

Firstly, the American publication Wired never published the video in question on its social networks. The StopFake journalists checked the latest publications on the Wired websites (wired.co.uk and wired.com), which mentioned Ukraine. They have no mention of the Ukrainian military allegedly using Starlink to play online casinos. Instead, Wired has numerous posts about Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine, such as: Elijah Wood and Mike Tyson Cameo Videos Were Used in a Russian Disinformation Campaign, Elon Musk Mocked Ukraine, and Russian Trolls Went Wild, Fake Taylor Swift Quotes Are Being Used to Spread Anti-Ukraine Propaganda.

Secondly, although the attackers tried to imitate Wired's branding, there are many differences that can be seen when comparing this video with real Wired videos. In particular, all Wired videos have a title in the first seconds - an inscription on a black background, made in a different font. The fake video does not have such a title. It should also be noted that to create the fake, the attackers used video from low-quality open sources, which is not allowed in authentic Wired videos.

Thirdly, it was not possible to find a single study in open sources that analyzed Internet traffic from Starlink stations used by the Ukrainian military.

With such publications, propagandists are trying to discredit the effectiveness of assistance to Ukraine and expose the Ukrainians as short-sighted people who allegedly abuse the help of the international community.

Enemy telegram channels are spreading the fake news that the missile attack on the Park Hotel in Kharkiv on January 10, 2024 was directed against the Foreign Legion, whose fighters allegedly lived in the complex. It was also noted that the strikes did not lead to casualties. “Unfortunately, the strike did not lead to any result (only the facade was damaged, and the mercenary unit lived on the ground floor). Therefore, the Ukrainian media promptly made a story about how the Russians were shelling peaceful hotels. Immediately after the strike, units of the International Legion and foreign mercenaries who lived in similar buildings began to be notified throughout Kharkiv”, said one of the anonymous telegram channels disseminating pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It's fake.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, thirteen people were injured as a result of a rocket attack on the Park Hotel in Kharkiv. In total, there were 31 people in the hotel complex: eight employees and 23 guests. All these people were civilians; there was not a single military man in the hotel. Representatives of foreign delegations, journalists, and documentarians often stayed here, in particular. According to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, the Russian military fired two missiles from the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system at Kharkiv at about 22:30 from the direction of Belgorod. One rocket hit the ground near the facade of the hotel, the second hit the roof of the building, which led to a fire. According to preliminary data, among the victims in the hotel there was one Turkish citizen, one Georgian citizen, both represented the Turkish media. One man's condition is serious. Most of the victims suffered from shrapnel wounds and traumatic brain injuries. “There were no military mercenaries, there were no military people here. This is a civilian facility, civilian infrastructure. We have always settled our friends, guests who were in Kharkiv, and foreign delegations here”, said the mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov, in a comment to Suspilne (Public) Kharkiv. “The military never lived in this hotel, almost all of Kharkiv knows this. This hotel was used by journalists. This was a well-known fact. At the time of the attack, there were foreign journalists in the hotel, in particular from Turkey. Therefore, I believe that the Russian Federation dealt this blow specifically to the media”, said Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv region police. Serhii Tomilenko, head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, notes that Russia is targeting journalists in Kharkiv: “In October - Reikartz, this New Year - Kharkiv Palace and at night - Park Hotel. These hotels were constantly used by journalists from national and international media to stay. And with every shelling, journalists were injured”.

Russia attacks civilian targets, cynically presenting them as legitimate military targets, but they are not. Such attacks are a flagrant violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians, including attacks on civilian buildings, in particular hotels.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric disseminate information that viral pneumonia is “massively spreading” in the Kharkiv region. As evidence, they add a photo allegedly from a Ukrainian military doctor in an ambulance with people who “get pneumonia”. And they claim that local doctors cannot fully determine what kind of disease it is: they suggest that it may be a form of COVID-19 or another disease. It is not true.

Analysts from the VoxCheck project investigated the case and found out that there are no statistics yet on the number of people infected with any type of pneumonia. Moreover, in the Kharkiv region, influenza and COVID-19 diseases do not exceed the epidemic threshold. And using a reverse search on Google, analysts found the original source of the photo - on Facebook, a military man posted a photo of an ambulance and wrote that he pulled a fellow soldier from the battlefield who had a fever due to pneumonia. According to the author of the message, after treatment the guy recovered and returned to service.

That is, the anonymous people used a reliable photograph that illustrates a military man suffering from pneumonia, but distorted the context in their own way. Allegedly, disease epidemics are approaching in Ukraine.

Propagandists claim that, according to them, only 173 military personnel returned to Ukraine in exchange for 248 Russian citizens. According to them, the exchange allegedly took place in the format of 173 people on both sides. At the same time, Russia additionally received 75 military personnel for those five Azovstal defense commanders, whom Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi took from Turkey in the summer of 2023. It is not true.

In fact, the Ukrainian side officially reported that 230 people returned to their homeland, including 130 military personnel, 55 national guardsmen, 38 border guards, one policeman and six civilians.

Propagandists spread such fakes to create distrust in the Ukrainian authorities. They say that Kyiv does not care about the fate of prisoners. They spread such fabrications whenever there is talk of an exchange of prisoners. So, in the summer, when the exchange of Azovstal commanders was called a violation of previous agreements. They say that the military should have remained in Turkey until the end of hostilities.

Propaganda resources disseminated information that the Russians destroyed three or four F-16 aircraft in Odesa. It's fake.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Security has processed this information. In fact, Ukraine is just getting ready to accept the F-16 – we are talking about infrastructure, pilots, and engineering personnel. All statements about the destruction of these fighters in Ukraine are an invention of Russian propaganda, which Yurii Ihnat, a representative of the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, has already ridiculed.

“Their [Russian – ed.] reports are encouraging: per day, five Ukrainian aircraft are destroyed in the reports of their general staff. There are even memes about the F-16 that they have already found them in Ukraine”, Ihnat said on the telethon.

Propagandists exaggerate the achievements of the Russian army in the war against Ukraine by spreading such disinformation. Like, they have everything under control. Previously, we denied information that Russia allegedly destroyed five Patriot air defense missile launchers.

Anonymous telegram channels are distributing a video that allegedly states that Volodymyr Zelenskyi supported the so-called petition of Ukrainian linguist Iryna Farion for the “dismissal” of Russian-speaking fighters from the Ukrainian Defense Forces. “From now on, we will mobilize only Ukrainian-speaking citizens”, Zelenskyi was quoted. It's a lie.

The Voxcheck specialists analyzed the case and found that there is no such petition on the website of the official Internet representation of the President of Ukraine, and the quote from Volodymyr Zelenskyi was completely invented. Analysts also checked the social networks of the former deputy of the 7th convocation - they did not find any information about the presentation of the petition. And the original source of this video is a TikTok account in which the author systematically disseminates fakes about mobilization, humanitarian aid and creates deepfakes with the participation of Ukrainian politicians. The author also runs a telegram channel, where, according to analysts, he relays Kremlin narratives: for example, he does not call Russia an aggressor.

This fake is most likely spread against the backdrop of Iryna Farion’s scandalous statements about Russian-speaking military personnel on the air of the program “Rendezvous with Yanina Sokolova”. Then she stated that “she cannot call Russian-speaking military personnel Ukrainians”. After all, according to her, if there is no discipline in the army (to study the Ukrainian language - DM), then it is a rabble. Human Rights Commissioner Dmytro Lubinets appealed to law enforcement officers and the National Council on Television and Radio Broadcasting to verify Farion’s statements about Russian-speaking military personnel.

Subsequently, on November 8, 2023, she released an email from a Crimean student, which supported his position on the importance of using the Ukrainian language among the military. At the same time, Farion published the letter and did not hide the student’s personal data. Anonymous and pro-Russian telegram channels “thanked” the linguists for the information provided and a few days later they published a video in which the guy confirms that it was he who sent the letter to Farion. In the video, he also said that he was at the Center for Combating Extremism of the Russian occupation Ministry of Internal Affairs and they had an “intelligent conversation” with him. As a result, Dmytro Lubinets contacted the Security Service of Ukraine regarding the disclosure of confidential information.

Now criminal proceedings have been opened against Farion under several articles, in particular, violation of the equality of citizens depending on their race, nationality, regional affiliation, religious beliefs, disability and other characteristics.