Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels claim that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken’s statement that Ukraine has liberated more than 50% of the territories seized by the Russian Federation is allegedly erroneous. Like, this information was taken “from a parallel reality”. This is manipulation.

The specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found the original video of Blinken speaking. In it, he states that Ukraine has returned more than 50% of the territories Russia has seized since the start of the full-scale invasion. However, he did not mean part of the territory that Russia captured back in 2014. Project analysts cite statements from foreign military experts who claim that Ukraine has returned 50–54% of the territories captured by Russia since February 24, 2022.

By spreading this manipulation, propagandists want to undermine trust in Western officials and discredit the successes of the Ukrainian army. All this is being done to show that the Ukrainian counteroffensive is allegedly not successful. Detector Media has previously refuted other fakes and manipulations of propagandists on this topic.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Europe is trying to gradually absorb Ukraine in order to turn it into its colony. Like, Ukraine is a “puppet state”, so Europe wants to become its guardian.

EU vs Disinfo project fact-checkers took up this case and explained that Ukraine is not controlled by the US, the EU or any other foreign organization or government. The sovereignty and territorial integrity of Ukraine is respected by most countries of the world, but Russia has been violating them since 2014. Western and other countries provide Ukraine with military assistance and financial assistance for the country's effective self-defense against an unprovoked Russian invasion. Aid is provided to protect Ukraine, not to absorb it.

Such rhetoric is used by propagandists to fuel the narrative about Ukraine as a “puppet state” that is not capable of making decisions for itself. Allegedly, Ukraine is led from outside. The authors call Ukraine's European integration path “colonial” in order to demonize the West and the EU as an institution that allegedly captures states, and does not contribute to their development.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Ukraine is allegedly planning to pass a law (the draft law No. 8225) allowing the authorities to alienate real estate - houses and land plots. Allegedly, Ukraine will transfer the houses to the property of “Polish mercenaries” who fought in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is not true.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case, and found that the draft law No. 8225 nowhere states that land or real estate will be given away to “Polish mercenaries” free of charge. The draft law refers exclusively to the use of seized real estate for the construction, restoration or reconstruction of critical infrastructure facilities of categories I and II.

This draft law is an addition to the law “On the alienation of land plots, other real estate objects located on them, in private ownership, for public needs or for reasons of public need”. That is, it regulates the alienation of land plots for the construction or reconstruction of critical infrastructure facilities. Thus, according to the authors of the draft, they facilitate the transfer of a land plot of communal or private property to the state for the restoration of infrastructure.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are preparing to capture small Russian cities. This was allegedly reported by Bohdan Krotevych, the acting commander of the Azov brigade. The authors refer to Bohdan Krotevych's interview with the Washington Post. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project drew attention to the case, which determined that Bohdan Krotevych suggested that Ukraine could capture Russian cities, but did not declare the readiness of the Ukrainian command to take such steps. In the interview itself, Bohdan Krotevych talked about the First Chechen-Russian War and their strategy to capture small Russian towns in order to use them as leverage for Russia to return the occupied territories. He laid out his thoughts and suggested that Ukraine might do the same. However, he did not state this as a fait accompli.

Neither the Washington Post journalists nor Bohdan Krotevych claimed that this was the position of the military or political leadership of Ukraine. The counteroffensive plans are known to a limited circle of people.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that due to the decrease in the number of able-bodied citizens in Poland, officials will compensate for this with new citizens in the “newly annexed western territories of Ukraine”. Allegedly, Poland is already planning to cut off some part of Ukraine. The authors of the messages refer to the materials of Polish journalists. It’s a lie.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project investigated this case and found that the material cited by the propagandists refers to a decrease in the number of able-bodied people and future problems in the pension system. However, the text does not mention that these problems will be solved with the help of Ukrainians from the annexed territories of Ukraine. That is, the authors of the fake message simply came up with information that was beneficial to them.

By spreading this fake, propagandists once again seek to convince that Poland wants to cut off the territory of Ukraine. Like, this is a partner with bad intentions, from whom one should expect “everything”.

Let us remind you that earlier analysts of Detector Media denied the fake, allegedly Zelenskyi promised Poland the western territories of Ukraine in exchange for “assistance during the counteroffensive”.

Such messages appeared on social networks at the end of March. The reports said that a recent report by one of the Polish TV channels allegedly showed a map according to which Ukraine should be divided between Russia, Poland, Romania and Hungary. The publications claimed that the video was relevant and the map shows that “the entire south and east of Ukraine will belong to Russia”, and the western part will “join” Poland, small parts will go to Romania and Hungary. However, this is fake. The Polish channel did not show such a map in 2023.

As the analysts of the Correctiv project found out, the video is not up-to-date, it shows a report from Polish television in 2014, in which a Russian politician offered Poland to divide Ukraine. The Polish government called the proposal “strange” and one that should not be taken seriously.

Analysts have researched that the logos of the Polish news channel TVP1 can be seen in an online video that is being circulated in the messages, but what is heard is not what the messages claim: the speaker first speaks in Polish about “joining our territory”, and then says: “ […] Hungary and Romania received a similar proposal. There is no information about which regions Russia still wants to consider as its own, but only the central region will remain within the boundaries of modern Ukraine”.

Using the image from the video and the name of the broadcaster, analysts did a reverse image search and came across an original Polish TV report. It is dated March 23, 2014, so it is not relevant, contrary to what they say in social networks.

Russian propaganda regularly spreads messages about the plans of Poland and other countries to annex part of Ukraine. In fact, such statements are always unsubstantiated, but Russia needs it to partially justify itself by illustrating the desire of other states to seize part of Ukraine.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Zelenskyi is asking for help and is ready to give everything, even the territories of Western Ukraine. The authors of the messages refer to the material of the Polish edition Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny. It's a lie.

Specialists of the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council explain that no such statement was made by Zelenskyi. At the same time, the Polish publication Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny is a fake publication that publishes propaganda articles translated into Polish. The portal was created to spread anti-Ukrainian narratives. The authors of the really existing material manipulate Zelenskyi's statement that “there will be no borders between Poland and Ukraine in the future”. However, Volodymyr Zelenskyi did not say that Poland could take the territories of Ukraine, he spoke about the all-encompassing friendship between the two brother states.

By spreading such fakes, the authors seek to portray Poland as an aggressor and level the assistance that Poland provides to Ukraine during the war. Allegedly, in fact, Poland is helping Ukraine not because of good intentions.

The propagandists also spread the thesis about “the appropriation of the western territories of Ukraine by Poland” when Zelenskyi visited Poland. Analysts of Detector Media have already spoken on what pro-Russian telegram channels wrote about Volodymyr Zelenskyi's visit to Poland.

Such information is disseminated by Russian propaganda media. The reports said that European countries seemed to have an ambivalent attitude towards Ukraine. Like, for example, Romania wants to take away a part of Ukraine. Allegedly, such a statement was made by the deputy of the Romanian parliament Diana Shoshoaké. The authors of the messages claimed that she had registered a draft law on the termination of the friendship treaty with Ukraine and the return of Northern Bukovyna, part of the Odesa region and Zmiinyi island to the Romanian borders. Shoshoaké indeed made such a statement and introduced a scandalous bill, but her statement does not indicate that this is the official position of Romania. Analysts at The Insider drew attention to the case. According to them, Shoshoaké was elected to the Senate in December 2020 on the list of the far-right Alliance for the Unification of Romanians (AUR) party and gained popularity as a eurosceptic, opponent of mandatory vaccination and anti-epidemic measures, as well as a supporter of conspiracy theories. But she was only a few weeks in the AUR parliamentary group: she was expelled after apologizing to the Russian embassy for a rally organized near its building in memory of the Romanians killed in 1941 by Soviet border guards who were trying to cross the border into Romania.

In general, Shoshoaké can be described as a pro-Russian politician. “In the spring of 2022, she was among four Romanian parliamentarians who met with the Russian ambassador to discuss the possibility of a neutral Romanian stance on the war in Ukraine. But even before that, in 2021, the Romanian-language editorial staff of the Russian propaganda publication Sputnik included Shoshoaké, who is not very popular in Romania, in their list of politicians of the year, writing that millions of Romanians are addicted to her “struggle for the observance of the Constitution and against the medical dictatorship” , analysts write.

After the introduction of the controversial bill and the expected sharp reaction from Kyiv, Shoshoaké said that Ukraine was threatening her with death, and called the Ukrainian a state of “the heir to the Nazi empire” and President Zelensky “nobody else but Hitler”. That is, the bill was indeed submitted to the parliament, but it was done by a pro-Russian politician. And the bill does not demonstrate the official position of Romania.

Propagandists distribute photos that allegedly show a loan agreement of one of the Ukrainian banks. According to it, “the transfer of the territory to the jurisdiction of another state does not release the borrower from obligations”. The authors of messages with photos in Russian telegram channels add: they say, in this way even Ukrainian banks admit that Ukraine has lost or will lose its own territories forever. It's fake.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found the original contract belonging to Alliance Bank. It does not contain clauses on the transfer of territories to the jurisdiction of another state. In this version of the contract, the paragraphs with numbers in the photo have a different content. Also, VoxCheck analysts did not find similar provisions in loan transactions of other Ukrainian banks.

Thus, propagandists want to demoralize Ukrainians. They say that Ukraine is losing on the battlefield and losing its territory, so the war is meaningless and it must be ended on Russia's terms. However, such fakes are also created in order to hide Russia's failure at the front.

This thesis was spread in social networks, in particular in telegram channels and in propaganda media. Newly elected Czech President Petr Pavel said that Ukraine “will have to cede territory to Russia”, reports say. Like, he said this in an interview with the Suspilne (Public). This is manipulation.

In fact, the authors of the messages distorted the context of Petr Pavel's answer to the question about Ukraine's victory. In the original version of the interview, the Czech president says that the West should not push Ukraine to make concessions while there is still a real chance of winning. Therefore, Petr Pavel calls to support Ukraine by all means. At the same time, Petr Pavel says that the right to start negotiations between Ukraine and Russia should be left to Ukrainians and Ukrainian officials. That is, to negotiate or not is the business of Ukraine, no one will encourage it to do so.

He also says that the West will do everything for Ukraine to win in 2023. However, he warns of the result of the victory, which could turn into a “long war”. Some scenarios for unleashing war, according to the official, could be that Ukraine - not only the people, but also the political leadership - is aware that a high price will have to be paid for the return of territories. However, the President of the Czech Republic did not say that Ukraine would have to cede the territories, but only predicted different scenarios for the war.

Earlier, within the framework of the Munich Security Conference, Petr Pavel announced various scenarios for the development of the war in Ukraine. For example, if Russia falls apart into different “states”, each of them will have its own ambitions, according to Peter Pavel, this may add complexity in the future. That is why the President of the Czech Republic calls for a discussion of the various results of the war in Ukraine and the foresight  of each aspect.

The Kremlin media say that the US, NATO, the EU and Ukraine allegedly caused mine contamination of the territories of Ukraine and Russia. The reports refer to the words of the head of the Russian delegation in Vienna on military security and arms control, Konstiantyn Havrylov. He claims that the supposedly “collective West” violates the norms of humanitarian law. This is not true.

Neither Ukraine nor its allies will be held responsible for the forced mining of Ukrainian territory due to a full-scale invasion. This is determined by international law, in particular, in Article 51 of the UN Charter. According to StopFake, at the UN World Summit in September 2005, all UN member states officially confirmed that they have the right to protect their citizens from genocide, war crimes, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity.

In addition, Russian propaganda resorts to manipulation, claiming that Ukraine or the West are involved in the mining of Russian territories. From the very beginning of the full-scale invasion, the Ukrainian army has been protecting exclusively the territory of Ukraine. Only Russia is responsible for mining Russian territories.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to justify itself and shift the responsibility for the war and its consequences to Ukraine and the West. Previously, propagandists spread messages that Ukraine is a terrorist state, and Russia seeks to become a “safe harbor” for all people.

Russian propagandists spread information that in Poland, namely in the Warsaw metro, you can allegedly see public service announcements with a call to “protect the original Polish lands in Ukraine”. The authors of the messages claim that in this way Poland is preparing to seize the western regions of Ukraine. It's fake.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project came to the conclusion that the posters are not real. This is indicated by the link posted on the poster. It is not valid because instead of the referenced WKU, according to the updated Polish law, it should be WCR. The reason for this is that the Military Commander's Offices (WKU) in Poland have been replaced by Military Recruiting Centers (WCRs) that recruit volunteers for military service. In addition, in a commentary for Ukrinform, Grzegorz Popielaž, director of the rental and advertising office for the Warsaw metro, said that the metro does not have such advertisements. The propagandists took the old 2018 announcement for the recruitment of volunteers for the Polish army as the basis for fake posters.

Russian propaganda often frightens with the “imminent attack” of Poland on the western lands, diverting attention from their own crimes with baseless accusations. Detector Media has already investigated disinformation related to this topic.

Telegram channels and pro-Russian media are spreading messages that allegedly the Ukrainian army and authorities are leaving Kupiansk. Such messages also found their way into the English-speaking segment. It is not true.

The head of the Kupiansk military administration, Andrii Kanashevych, denied this information. He said that the employees of the district military administration, the Security service of Ukraine, the National police, the prosecutor's office of the Kupiansky district are at their workplaces and continue to do their job properly. The Ukrainian army, according to Kanashevych, keeps the situation under full control.

According to the Kharkiv anti-corruption center, Russians have recently been spreading fake reports about a new offensive by the Russian army on Kharkiv, Kupiansk, Dvorichna, Izium and other settlements. Propagandists also say that Ukraine allegedly does not restore the liberated settlements.

Such a message is spread by pro-Russian telegram channels, based on the words of Dmytro Medvediev. The Russian politician posted a message to his telegram channel allegedly criticizing the end of the Russian-Ukrainian war according to the “Korean scenario”. Like, such a development of events is only a “whim” of Ukraine to become “South Korea” after the war. According to him, the “remnants” of Ukraine will never reach such a level of development as South Korea. Moreover, according to the “Korean scenario”, two independent states were formed. At the same time, Ukraine allegedly will never be independent, because it is “controlled by the West”.

Dmytro Medvediev's message is manipulative. The “Korean scenario” involves the distribution of territory between the warring parties along the conditional “38th parallel”, that is, along the front line. That is, the Russian politician is trying to create the impression that Ukraine is considering the possibility of giving up part of its territories in favor of Russia. He also notes the “post-war” future of Ukraine, which supposedly will be difficult. They say that the temporarily occupied territories will “finally” become part of the “strong, independent state”, which allegedly is Russia. At the same time, the “remnants” of Ukraine will “remain” under external control.

In fact, Ukraine does not consider the “Korean scenario” of ending the war. This was confirmed by National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Secretary Oleksii Danylov. He noted that the message about the “probable” “Korean scenario” is deliberately promoted by Russian politicians and pro-Russian resources.

Russia did not achieve the original goal of the so-called ‘special operation”, that is, the rapid capture of Ukraine, therefore, now in this way it is trying to realize the most acceptable option for ending the war. At the same time, Ukraine seeks to return the territories temporarily occupied by Russia.

After the earthquake in Turkey and Syria in the Ukrainian segment, the telegram began to spread messages that an earthquake with an amplitude of 8-9 points was allegedly moving to Ukraine. Reports say that the Vrancea zone in Romania could become its epicenter. Like, the residents of Volyn and Rivne should prepare for a natural disaster, in particular, teach children how to behave in such a situation. These messages are improper.

So far, there are no weighty arguments that an earthquake with a magnitude of 8-9 points can occur in Volyn and Rivne. The Vrancea zone is a seismically active zone located at the junction of the Southern (Romania) and Eastern (Ukraine) Carpathians. However, as the fact-checkers of the “Brekhunets” (Lier) project explain, the southwestern part of Ukraine, which is directly affected by the Vrancea zone, is potentially classified as a zone with an intensity of 6 to 7 points. In general, on the territory of Ukraine there are no such deep faults in the earth's crust as in Turkey, so local earthquakes cannot reach 8-9 points on the Richter scale. Most of the territory of Ukraine is located in a zone with an earthquake intensity of 4-6 points.

According to Constantin Ionescu, a managing director of the National institute for Earth physics (INFP), the earthquakes in Romania and Turkey on the same day is a coincidence. The surface seismic zones of these countries are not interconnected.

Probably, these messages were spread to telegram channels in order to further provoke a feeling of fear and panic among Ukrainians. Like, now you need to be afraid not only of rocket attacks, but also of natural disasters. Previously, they tried to intimidate Ukrainians with inevitable hunger and mass deaths due to the supply of heavy weapons.

Russian propaganda spreads the message to a foreign audience that before the start of a full-scale invasion, there were no Russian military personnel on the territory of Ukraine. Like, before the start of the special operation, Russia did not offer military assistance to Donbas. But Moscow noticed the militarization of Ukraine and the mood for a forceful resolution of the conflict. EU vs Disinfo analysts drew attention to the spread of the message.

This narrative is not new. It has been periodically distributed since 2014, when Russia seized Crimea and part of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions. A new round of its distribution should once again present Russia as a victim of the “collective West” and emphasize to the Russian audience that “the motherland is in danger - it must be defended”. Russia systematically uses the tactics of substitution of concepts to distort reality and advance its own interests.

Such a message is spread by pro-Russian telegram channels in the context of the fact that the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe recognized that Russia's aggression against Ukraine began in 2014. Russia, thus, uses the tactics of substitution of concepts and shifts the responsibility for the events in Ukraine to the Ukrainian authorities.

Russia in 2014 sent troops to the Crimea, Donetsk and Luhansk regions. The Russian President launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. This has been recognized by the whole world. Russia is trying to divide Ukrainians with such messages, sow internal discord, playing with sympathies or antipathies for the current and former president.

Russian propaganda is systematically trying to shift the responsibility for the full-scale invasion and war crimes of the Russian army to Ukraine. They say that it is not Russian missiles that are guilty of civilian deaths, but the work of Ukrainian air defense; the Americans are guilty of provoking Russia to attack Ukraine; Ukrainian officials are to blame, because they are allegedly “asking” Russia to deliver a new strike to the Ukrainian energy system.

On December 21, an explosion occurred in a restaurant in the temporarily occupied Donetsk, as a result of which the former head of “Roskosmos”, the head of the Russian military advisers group, Dmytro Rohozin, and the head of the so-called “government” of the Donetsk occupied territory, Vitalii Khotsenko, were injured. After that, Russian propagandists began to intimidate Ukrainians with new shelling in telegram channels.

They say that American satellites track high-ranking officials of the Russian leadership and bring in the Ukrainian military, who only follow their instructions. Allegedly, such explosions ignite a war and now Ukraine will be hit in response. It seems that Russia will begin to strike at the places where the Ukrainian top officials of law enforcement agencies are located. As a result, civilians will also suffer.

Russian propagandists use such messages to increase the ideological informational pressure on Russian society so that they want to destroy Ukraine with even greater cruelty. On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a full-scale war against Ukraine with massive attacks throughout the territory, including law enforcement agencies. Russia doesn't need a reason to launch hundreds of missiles in one day into Ukraine. At the same time, by presenting Ukraine as the executor of American instructions and that these actions of the Ukrainian military provoke the outbreak of war, propagandists shift responsibility for their crimes and unleashing the war.

This information was disseminated by the Russian media and propagandists. Allegedly, local residents of Kherson told the journalists of the British edition of Sky News about this.

From the article “Ukraine war: Freedom comes at a price as Russia switches from occupier to attacker of Kherson” propagandists singled out from several stories of the townspeople the words of only one woman, who believes that it has become “worse, they give help, but not everyone”.

The propagandists used the quote without context and presented it as if it reflected the position of the entire population, saying that it was better in Kherson under Russian occupation.

According to Myth Detector project analysts, the Kremlin propaganda media is trying to create the impression that the terrible living conditions in Kherson are the result of the liberation of the region by the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

In fact, most of the Kherson residents mentioned in the Sky News story told reporters they were happy that the city was back under Ukrainian control, even if they now expect more trouble from Russian shelling. It was the daily rocket and mortar attacks by Russian troops that led to the death of more than 40 civilians, including at least one child, which affected the stability of the city's infrastructure.

This message is spread by the Russian media. They say that in Poland the western part of Ukraine is considered its territory. The propagandists also cite an article in The Conversation and “own sources” in Russian intelligence who have repeatedly warned of Poland’s “occupational intentions” in Ukraine. This is not true.

In the Conversation article, there is no mention of the fact that Poland allegedly calls the Western part of Ukraine a colony of Warsaw. As StopFake writes, such messages are an invention of propagandists. The authors of the article discuss the historical context of Polish-Ukrainian relations, in particular, that when part of the Ukrainian lands were part of Poland, however, they were not ethnically considered Polish.

Users of telegram channels and social networks write about this, commenting on fake information about the fire allegedly in one of the “Points of invincibility” in Kyiv on December 12.

The Kyiv police denied the information about the fire at the "Points of invincibility". The video circulating on social media was actually filmed in Russia. The police say that the purpose of distributing such content is probably to whip up worrying moods among Ukrainians.

This information was disseminated by Russian resources. Like, the residents of Lysychansk told a Russian propagandist about this. Allegedly, according to them, the Ukrainian military shot at civilians from March to May 2022 in order to film propaganda materials. It is not true.

According to The Insider fact-checkers, from March to May, there were Russian troops near Lysychansk that could have shelled the city.

From the 20th of March, Russian troops tried to take the city of Rubizhne, located 18 km from Lysychansk, that is, they were directly on the outskirts of it. On May 13, the city was completely occupied. The effective range of the Russian Grad multiple launch rocket system is 21 km, the Msta-S howitzer is 24.7 km, and the Giacint-S is 28.4 km.

This message is spread by Russian propagandists in telegram channels. Allegedly, the Poles need Kyiv, Lviv, Uzhhorod, the Carpathians, but they can’t stand the Ukrainians. Like, they have a much better attitude towards the Russians.

Since the beginning of the war, Russia has been spreading all sorts of disinformation to quarrel Poland and Ukraine and create the image of tension between the countries supporting each other. Propagandists constantly repeat the narrative that Poland seeks to annex part of Ukraine and has already begun to prepare for this. In particular, they wrote that Poland began the "economic seizure" of Ukraine and the western regions of Ukraine.

Pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. Like, the government prefers stabilization measures, rather than the restoration of populated areas. In particular, allegedly recently liberated Kherson is on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe. Allegedly, there is no water and energy supply in the city, there is not enough medicine, fuel, etc. Like, the situation is the same in the de-occupied Kharkiv region. Allegedly, this is how the Ukrainian authorities “thank” the Ukrainians who were waiting for the de-occupation.

Russian propaganda continues to manipulate information about the de-occupied territories of Ukraine. Kherson was on the verge of a humanitarian catastrophe during the Russian occupation. After the de-occupation, life support systems are being restored in the city, despite daily shelling from the Russian army. As of December 4, Kherson resumed power supply by 85%. Also, “Points of invincibility” were opened in the city and additional centers for issuing humanitarian aid were deployed. Gradually in Kherson, the work of a supermarket chain is resumed.

Russian propagandists and anonymous telegram channels spread information that there were explosions in the Lviv region. According to the head of the Regional military state administration Maksym Kozytskyi, this is a fake. “I officially declare that as of 15:00 the information is untrue”, Kozytskyi wrote and urged people to stay in shelters.