A Polish pro-Russian Telegram channel, citing representatives of the ‘Mykolaiv underground’, spread information that hospitals in the city of Dnipro are overflowing with ‘high-ranking NATO military personnel’. These patients are ‘so high-profile’ that SBU officers are allegedly on duty at the entrance and on the floors of hospitals, demanding that doctors sign confidentiality agreements. This secrecy regime is allegedly introduced in the event of ‘serious incidents involving Alliance generals’.

However, this information has nothing to do with reality. The Polish pro-Russian Telegram channel, which spreads the ‘news’ about NATO generals in Dnipro hospitals, regularly produces disinformation about the war in Ukraine.

In addition, this is not the first time that propagandists have referred to the so-called ‘Mykolaiv underground’. We previously reported on a fake that ‘black transplantologists’ had arrived in the Sumy region - the source of this disinformation was precisely representatives of this ‘resistance movement’.

Recently, the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security reported that, in addition to direct work for Russia, the myth of the ‘Mykolaiv underground’ was created for propaganda purposes. After all, in reality, Russian special services do not have a powerful network in Ukraine. In most cases, they either simply pay or promise to pay unwitting citizens of Ukraine for carrying out certain assignments. Instead, the agitprop talks about a ‘numerous ideological underground’ that supposedly selflessly helps Russia ‘liberate Ukraine’.

Russian propaganda sources are spreading manipulative information that since the start of the full-scale invasion, “Polish transplantologists are breaking records” allegedly due to the use of organs from killed Ukrainian soldiers.

“2024 was a record year for Polish transplantology. 2,197 organs were transplanted, which is a historic result on a national scale”, the propagandists write.

However, the information was manipulated, and this is reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation. Propagandists deliberately link the statistics of the increase in the number of organ transplants in Poland with the beginning of a full-scale invasion. Thus, they confirm the theory of “black transplantology”, according to which the bodies of deceased Ukrainian soldiers from the front line are sent to Poland for “selling organs”.

Black transplantology in Ukraine is a conspiracy theory that the Russians have been developing for decades. The constant return to the topic indicates its importance for Russia. These messages are promoted to both domestic and international audiences. However, their refutation in foreign and Ukrainian media prevents the campaign from having the desired impact for the propagandists. Among the goals pursued by Russian propaganda within the framework of this topic are discrediting the military-political leadership of Ukraine and reducing trust in it, creating a negative image of the state in the eyes of the international community, and justifying Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

Russian propaganda sources are spreading information that George Soros, an American businessman and philanthropist, has allegedly undergone a heart transplant. The donor is said to have been a Ukrainian soldier who died in the war.

In fact, this is another Russian fake, the VoxCheck project writes. No reputable and reliable media have reported on any operation by the 94-year-old Soros, let alone a heart transplant from a deceased Ukrainian soldier. In addition, there is no evidence in open sources of illegal organ harvesting from Ukrainian soldiers. Soldiers, like others, can consent to posthumous donation. However, according to Ukrainian law, in the event of their death in battle, harvesting organs, even despite their consent during their lifetime, is strictly prohibited.

Apparently, Russian propagandists invented this “news” to discredit Soros, who supports Ukraine - his Open Society Foundation alone, as of November 2023, provided Ukraine with over $230 million in support in the form of grants.

Soros has also repeatedly criticized the Russians. For example, he claimed that a victory for Ukraine would be the end of Russia and then it would no longer pose a threat to the rest of the world. In turn, Soros's funds were banned in Russia back in 2015.

Today, pro-Kremlin resources continue to wage a discrediting campaign against the businessman. In particular, in 2023, they spread rumors about the alleged death of Soros, who denied this on social networks the same day. And propagandists also spread conspiracy theories about Soros, saying that he is connected to “reptilians”, is the “owner” of Ukraine, “secretly rules the world”, and others.

Russian propagandists are spreading information that the heart of a 31-year-old German mercenary who served in the Ukrainian Armed Forces and was killed by Russians is allegedly being sold on the darknet. The price of such an organ is 70 thousand dollars. The propagandists add that the organ is in good condition and is sold exclusively to Germans. A screenshot of the ad from the darknet is added as “proof”.

In fact, this information is not true - the photo with the ad was faked. This is reported by the VoxCheck project. ​​The photo is not of a heart, but of the powerful drug opium.  Earlier some sites published the original ad for its sale in an article about illegal things posted on the darknet.

In this fake, the Russians combined two narratives at once - about “black transplantologists” and so-called mercenaries. Thus, they wanted to claim that foreign soldiers in Ukraine are treated as “cannon fodder”, and then “sold” for organs. The goal is to undermine foreigners' trust in Ukraine and reduce their support.

The pro-Russian segment of the Internet is spreading information that Ukrainian doctors allegedly removed a healthy kidney from a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who was wounded near Sudzha as a result of a Russian drone attack. In claiming this, the propagandists refer to a message on Facebook from the Ukrainian soldier's “girlfriend”, who announced a collection for the man's rehabilitation and allegedly reported that he “no longer has a kidney”.

However, the information about the removal of the Ukrainian soldier's kidney is not true - the propagandists edited the original message of a Facebook user under the nickname Victoria Pendeliuk. The woman did announce a collection for the rehabilitation of the man, but did not report the disappearance of his kidney. So, if one looks at the screenshot of Victoria Pendeliuk's message, which is being distributed by propagandists, and the real message, one will notice that the original publication does not contain the words “and he no longer has a kidney”.

On Facebook, it would be noticeable if the post had been edited. In this case, when you click on the three dots in the upper right corner of the post, the option “View edit history” appears. Some of the posts by Facebook user Victoria Pendeliuk were indeed edited after publication, but no changes were made to the post announcing a fundraiser for the man's rehabilitation. Accordingly, the option “View edit history” is not displayed on it.

After all, Facebook user Victoria Pendeliuk is in fact the wife, not the girlfriend, of the wounded Ukrainian serviceman, and she has already managed to publish a new message refuting the “news” about her husband’s “disappearance of a kidney”.

This fake is intended to feed the Russian narrative about the alleged flourishing of black transplantology in Ukraine. They say that black transplantologists are profiting from the war in Ukraine. We have previously analyzed a number of fakes on this topic. For example, we wrote about disinformation that the heart of a Ukrainian Armed Forces soldier is allegedly being sold on the darknet for 70 thousand dollars.