This information was disseminated by the Russian propaganda media. In particular, it was voiced on the air of the First Russian Channel. There was a story about the Ukrainian hostages, which claimed that they were in very good condition, had three meals a day and the possibility of personal hygiene and medical care. At the end of the story the journalist said that the Ukrainian authorities are not interested in the fate of the captives at all and do not negotiate with Russia. The My Thdetector project factchecker paid attention to the story. However, none of this is true. Specifically, as of May 6, Russia and Ukraine had exchanged hostages ten times, resulting in the release of at least 331 Ukrainian citizens (including military and civilians). The last time Ukraine and Russia exchanged hostages was on May 6, this exchange resulted in the return of 41 people to Ukraine - 28 military and 13 civilians.

Russian propaganda media spread information that after Kherson was occupied by Russian troops, the AFU began "continuously shelling" the city. Such reports add that Russian air defenses "protect" civilians. Kherson, and the shelling of Ukrainians is also carried out from the direction of Nikolaev, in particular, spread such information by the propaganda website Ukraina.ru and calls such actions the point of no return, saying that this is done to scare the region, which is ready to cooperate with the Russians.

However, the Ukrainian army is not shelling temporarily occupied Kherson. According to StopFake, information about heavy explosions in the city center on May 12 was not confirmed by local media, nor was any evidence provided by Russian journalists. At the same time, the Russian army continues shelling the Kherson region, particularly with phosphorus shells, as do convoys of civilians trying to leave the occupied territories. Read more.

Pro-Kremlin media outlets, including Ria Novosti, have spread a commentary by the ambassador of the so-called "LNR" in Russia, Rodion Melnik, that Ukraine plans to mobilize 1 million people for war with Russia. Rodion Melnyk, former general director of the Luhansk regional state television and radio company, a Party of Regions regional council deputy and deputy head of the so-called "LNR," called Ukrainians "underdogs" back in 2012 after reading Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov's Facebook post that the war was entering a protracted phase and decided to show his talent as a "diplomat" by twisting words about Ukraine's alleged plan to mobilize 1 million people.

"The U.S. and allies raised the stakes in the agreement, Kiev needs to raise its share - 1 million soldiers! The agreement called 'war in Ukraine' was made from several sides - the US&UK and others. give weapons, ammunition and money for survival, while Ukraine invests in 'live goods' - will supply cannon fodder," Melnik's words were spread by a number of pro-Russian media outlets.

Oleksii Reznikov noted that tectonic changes have occurred since the beginning of the war and processes have been launched that, with the help of international partners, will ensure the increase of Ukraine's defense potential. In this context, his statement about one million military.

"This applies to both procurement and production of the necessary. We are focused on the need to provide one million people who will overcome the enemy," Reznikov shared Verkhovna Rada deputy Galina Tretyakova explained on Facebook that "we are not talking about mobilization, but about a strategic reserve."

"The state is oriented to the needs for one million troops. Oriented, not mobilized - postpone panic!", - commented a representative of the Odessa OVA Serhii Bratchuk. By the beginning of the war the number of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was about 250 thousand. According to Ukrainian law, it cannot exceed 261,000 people, including 215,000 servicemen. The law states that during a special period this number may be increased by reservists and mobilized soldiers. On February 25, President Volodymyr Zelensky signed a decree on general mobilization. On 3 March, he signed the law on general mobilization adopted by the parliament. Roman Gorbach, head of the personnel department of the staff of the command of the Army of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, said that the mobilization in Ukraine will continue until May 24, now it is carried out at a slower pace, as its indicators are 100% fulfilled. "Mobilization was announced for three months, and its extension will depend only on the operational situation in the combat ranks. This applies to both officers and soldiers," he said..

The Russian Defense Ministry comes up with more and more series of series about "biological weapons" and "insidious" Ukrainians armed with biological weapons at briefings. This time, the Russian military took the old fake about "tuberculosis-infected leaflets" that were allegedly scattered by the Ukrainian military in 2020 over the Slavyanoserbsky district of Luhansk Region - and added new slides to it.

This fake was already refuted back in 2020: then a representative of the LNR Interior Ministry said that fake ruble banknotes were scattered near a district school, which people picked up, and during the day they became ill. The local laboratory seems to have found tuberculosis on these hundred dollar bills. The only real fact in these reports is that the Ukrainian volunteers did indeed spread the leaflets by drone - and did so regularly. The difference this time was that the texts were printed on paper that resembled ruble bills - and therefore attracted more attention from locals. Everything else is fiction: people could get sick for any reason, but tuberculosis is a disease that has a long incubation period of up to a month, so no one can catch it instantly and feel worsened within a day. You can read more refutation of this fake here. But the Radio Liberty article clearly was not read by the Defense Ministry - so they just repeated the fake about "deliberate contamination with counterfeit money" in the Luhansk region.

According to StopFake, Russian media on the day of the signing of the historic decision to provide large-scale U.S. economic aid to Ukraine under the "Lend-Lease," produced only a few dry publications. Slightly more was expressed by pro-Kremlin telegram channels.

"For Russian propaganda, the very fact that the Ukrainian Armed Forces received additional weapons is almost the biggest irritant. But the Kremlin does not want to talk much about the lend-lease for Ukraine. Many Russian media practically ignored this event on the day the law was signed. RBC, TASS, RT, and other propaganda media mentioned only formally, without revealing details, that Joe Biden had granted the lend-lease to Ukraine on May 9, and Vladimir Zelensky called this decision "historic." But some Russian information resources, apart from drawing historical parallels with 1941, still decided to remind their audience of the disastrous economic and even military consequences of this decision for Ukraine and its army," the fact checkers write. Earlier, Russian propaganda had already spread the idea that many future generations of Ukrainians would pay for the weapons the U.S. would bring to Ukraine under lend-lease. More details

Social media are spreading the most common fake about what is being created in the so-called Ukrainian bio-laboratories, which are allegedly funded by the United States. Russian propaganda has already spread fakes about the fact that the laboratories are producing biological weapons, in particular, infecting mosquitoes and birds that will harm Russians. Now there is a widespread fake about the so-called experimental discovery of the human hybrid with pigs. These reports are supplemented by the image of a figure in the form of a nepivludini-napivsvine, which is allegedly the result of experiments in the laboratories of Ukraine. However, as the experts of the Maldita project write, it is not true, as the photo is a work by artist Liri Mahanuko.

More details

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, this is the thesis spread by Russian propagandists in the media. In particular, reports say that the U.S. and its allies are trying to prolong the war in Ukraine in order to dispose of obsolete weapons and try out modern weapons in real combat conditions. "With the start of the war, 14 partner countries are providing Ukraine with the latest weapons and equipment, past armed conflicts in Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. The supply of Western weapons has significantly changed the situation on the front: the occupiers have gone on the defensive in almost all positions, and in some directions the AFU has gone on the counteroffensive. Ukraine achieved a decisive advantage over the Russians thanks to the combat capability of the army and the courage of the people," the Center reported. In fact, the war in Ukraine is being dragged on not by NATO or the US, but by Russia, which does not stop fighting and destroys Ukrainian cities, kills civilians, and hits infrastructure and residential buildings every day. Previously, Russian propaganda has repeatedly stated in various terms that Ukraine is ruled by the West and is at war with Russia because of pressure from NATO and the United States.

This is not the first time Russia has tried to engage NATO to "justify" its aggression against Ukraine, including civilians. This time the fake was spread by Russian President Vladimir Putin during the May 9 parade. He explained the war against Ukraine, which Russia still calls a "special operation," by saying that allegedly "NATO and Ukraine were preparing for a punitive operation in Donbass, for an invasion of Russian historical lands, including Crimea," and he mentioned "possible nuclear weapons. Ukraine." Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the Office of the President, refuted these statements: "The NATO countries were not planning to attack Russia. Ukraine was not planning to attack Crimea. The Russian military is dying, not defending its own country, but trying to occupy another. There were no rational reasons for this war other than the painful imperial ambitions of the Russian Federation."

It is noteworthy that Putin said nothing new in his speech, nor did he mention "denazification and demilitarization." Except for the parallels with World War II. The Ukrainian media recently wrote that according to Russian sociologists, most Russians do not understand the meaning of the word "denazification. According to TSN, this information is confirmed by the broadcasts of propagandist Dmitry Kiselyov: in the first program, after the start of the full-scale war, he spent about seven minutes explaining the meaning of "denazification," but in the April broadcasts Kiselyov either did not use the term at all or did it once during the program.

The Russian Defense Ministry announced provocations from Ukraine on May 8 that the "Kiev regime" was allegedly preparing to fire Tochka-U missiles at crowds of people in the Lviv and Volyn regions. This "announcement" was disseminated by the Russian media, in particular the propaganda publication RIA Novosti. Of course, according to the Russian version, Kiev "plans to carry out another sophisticated provocation with the deaths of civilians to further accuse the Russian armed forces of indiscriminate missile strikes," and they add that "as it was at the train station in Kramatorsk.".

Lviv Mayor Andriy Sadovyy urges residents not to succumb to Russian provocations and not to leave the city. "Never trust Muscovite news, reports and telegram channels. Let's agree that for us there are none," Sadovy stressed. "There is no need to leave the city anywhere. Don't waste fuel. Better take care of shelter in case of an alarm," he added. Mikhail Podolyak, adviser to the head of the Office of the President, stressed that Ukrainians should be very careful on May 9 because of the threat of shelling and provocations by the Russian occupiers. "I do not expect such unconventional, which can create certain panic moods. I expect the behavior of a classic Russian. It is to stab one in the back. In this case, to throw another extra missile on some peaceful city of ours," he said in an interview for Radio NV.

Read more here about how Russian propaganda applies the methods, tested after the 2014 downing of the Malaysian Boeing to the story of the shelling of the Kramatorsk train station.

Journalists of Radio Liberty exposed the lies of the Russian command about the sunken missile cruiser Moskva. The reason for this was the published photo of conscript Sergei Grudinin, who "disappeared" after the destruction of the ship.

Despite the fact that members of the soldier's family still know nothing about his whereabouts, the command published a video of the "Moscow" sailors who allegedly survived the sinking of the warship.

The video raised doubts about its authenticity. At the same time, members of Grudinin's family say they still know nothing about his whereabouts."It seems to be a shot from the same video, but the sailor depicted in it has not returned to his family, and his mother, after first being told that he survived, was later told that he was missing, and even later that he was dead," Radio Liberty writes.

Grudinin's aunt, Tatiana Grudinina, told the radio station in late April that her nephew was still missing. She said that his mother Tamara Grudinina had been told by the Defense Ministry hotline that her son was alive, but later she received a telephone call from a man who called himself Vakula (the last name of the deputy captain of the Moskva) and said that Grudinin had disappeared. Some time later, another representative of the Russian Navy called the woman and told her that her son had "drowned with the ship. Radio Liberty's Krym.Realii contacted Grudinin's parents in Amur Region in the Russian Far East and asked them to confirm that the man in the photo was their son. They said they did not want to talk to journalists, citing psychological trauma.

"Grudinin was an enlisted man, which means by law he should not have been sent to a war zone. At a time when Russia is waging war against Ukraine, with some fighting taking place on the Ukrainian coast of the Black and Azov Seas, the Defense Ministry said that the ship did not take part in hostilities," the publication reported. As a reminder, on April 13, the Ukrainian Armed Forces struck two Neptun missiles at the Moskva missile cruiser. As a result of the strike, a large fire broke out on the flagship of the Russian Navy and its ammunition detonated. The very next day Russia had to admit that the cruiser sank. It later became known that the crew of the Moskva cruiser, which had sunk, had not been evacuated. It was reported that more than 500 crew members could have been on board.

The Russian Defense Ministry said that the Security Service of Ukraine was preparing provocations using chemical weapons. Another Russian fake is reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council in Telegram.

"The Russian Defense Ministry said that "according to available information, the SBU is planning chemical weapons provocations in a number of settlements in the Kherson and Dnepropetrovsk regions for further accusations from Russia. We warn you: this is a fake!", the report reads.

The Center specifies that the Russian Defense Ministry's statement that "on the instructions of the US and UK handlers, units of the AFU and the National Security Forces are setting up fortifications at the Luhansk chemical enterprises is yet another fake. At the same time, neo-Nazis were replacing chemical tanks to destroy them when leaving their positions.

This is not the first Russian lie about the use of chemical weapons by the Ukrainian security service. In April, the Russian Ministry of Defense already reported that "the SBU is planning chemical agent provocations near the Yuzhny port in Odessa to accuse Russia of allegedly targeting civilian infrastructure.

In March, Russia spread a fake that the SBU was allegedly "preparing, with the support of Western countries, a provocation using toxic substances against civilians."

Officially noted: The SBU cannot even in theory prepare any provocations with poisonous substances. Because we do not act by the methods of kafirs! Our task is to protect Ukraine. And we carry it out successfully together with all the people. And the invaders and kafirs will surely answer for their atrocities!", - stated in the SBU.

The Ukrainian service pointed out that theses about "SBU provocation" appeared in March after the Russians shelled a peaceful convoy near Mariupol and dropped a bomb on the building of the city drama theater, where hundreds of women and children were hiding. The SBU notes that such statements are only an attempt to distract attention from yet another war crime committed by the Russians.

Interesting explanations for the fact that the war in Ukraine did not end in 48 hours, as the propagandists promised, and clearly did not go as planned are provided by the Russian intelligence-controlled telegram channels that pretend to be Ukrainian. And they come up with all new means to convince those who began to doubt the existence of even any plan other than the total destruction of Ukraine and Ukrainians.

That's why the Legitimny channel today spread the message that "Putin's denazification" of Ukraine is not a fiction of the propagandists, but a real plan. Which now, writes "Legitimny", will be obvious to everyone, as Russian missiles, aviation, DRGs and drones will be destroying monuments to Stepan Bandera.

According to Wikipedia, monuments to Bandera are located only in 5 regions of Ukraine - Ternopil, Lviv, Khmelnytsky, Rivne and Ivano-Frankivsk regions. None of them were damaged. So far Russian intelligence has not provided an explanation for this and has not figured out why the detailed "denazification plan" began with the destruction of Kharkiv, Mariupol, Volnovakha and other Russian-speaking cities, and on the 70th day of the war they remembered the monuments to Stepan Bandera.

Recently, the Russian press wrote that polls requested by the Kremlin showed that Russians do not understand the term "denazification" and the "denazification" plan itself.

Russian propaganda media and anonymous telegram channels occasionally report that the weapons that Ukraine receives from allied countries are outdated and bad and do not meet modern characteristics: this thesis benefits Russia, because by showing that Ukraine allegedly has old weapons that were provided to it by EU countries and the US, propagandists seek to discredit Ukraine's allies and devalue their support and assistance to Ukraine in this war.

Also in this way Russia wants to create the appearance that even with weapons from allies Ukraine will be weak, because the equipment is supposedly not suitable for fighting in modern warfare, however, according to the Center to Counteract Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, there are samples of artillery transferred by Ukrainian allies. As an example, experts of the Center compare characteristics of two howitzers - Soviet-Russian Msta-B and American M777, which are transferred according to the lend-lease from the USA. "Msta-B versus M777: caliber 152 mm versus 155 mm; barrel length - 47 caliber versus 39 caliber (52 newest); range - 3VOF45/ERFB shell: 24.7 km versus 30 km (40 km with 52 caliber barrel)," the Center reports. On the basis of these characteristics it is clear that the new American howitzer hits 5 km further than the Soviet-Russian one. Consequently, this weapon is not obsolete and unsuitable for military operations, on the contrary, it will have a counter-battery advantage. The M777 also has a digital fire control system for M982 Excalibur ammunition with GPS targeting.

Russia is trying to legitimize this narrative in the information space, because it is becoming increasingly difficult to explain the protracted nature of hostilities to Russians, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation. The point is that one of the first theses that Russia is at war with the whole world was voiced by Major General of the Russian Federation Minnekaev at the end of April. He compared the "special operation" to World War II, noting that "both then and now the whole world has turned against Russia." Later, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that "NATO has entered into a proxy war with Russia," while Russian State Duma Speaker Volodin suggested that the leaders of the countries supplying weapons to Ukraine should be prosecuted as war criminals.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, this thesis is promoted by Russian propaganda. In particular, according to Russian State Duma deputy Matveichev, "Putin deliberately creates for Ukraine and the West a sense of their imminent victory. The latter will not strike decisive blows yet, but will continue to create the illusion as if a little more and Russia is defeated." "According to the "expert", such a strategy will force the measure to provide all possible weapons to Ukraine. After that, Russia will "dispose of all NATO weapons" and "deliver a decisive blow." The population of Russia "should understand this and fully trust the commander-in-chief. But in reality, these theses are only used by Russian propaganda to try to justify military defeats with the Russian Federation in front of its own population, first of all in the North of our country, from which the enemy has disgracefully retreated," reported in the Сenter. Thus, Russia is also trying to create the illusion of controlling the situation, and by reporting that Russia still has not delivered a decisive blow, propaganda is trying to justify the defeat of the Russian army.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, this is the thesis spread by Russian propaganda with reference to the speaker of the Russian State Duma, Volodin. The propaganda claims that today's Kyiv leadership is a country in a debt hole"" and ""many future generations of Ukrainian citizens will pay for all the ammunition, equipment and food the U.S. will supply.

"'This statement is a deliberate manipulation. Under the terms of the lend-lease program, Ukraine could receive potentially unlimited support from the U.S. and other countries, not only for weapons, ammunition and equipment, but also for medicine, food and other necessities, all while bypassing export controls. Under the terms of the program, used military equipment can be written off, and no payment can be made for destroyed equipment. The lend-lease agreement will supplement Congress' preliminary defense support for Ukraine, which has already received $1.7 billion in military aid authorized since the start of Russia's full-scale invasion," the center said in a statement. Russian propaganda benefits from spreading such messages, because it allegedly levels aid for Ukraine from allied countries and to some extent discredits them, saying that because of their aid Ukrainians will be left in debt.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Russia is again resorting to manipulation of the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In particular, Russia is using former U.S. Defense Secretary adviser Douglas MacGregor for informational blackmail. "This Western-oriented expert spreads narratives about the "inevitable defeat of Kiev," Russia's "invincible army," and intimidates the world that "Putin may use nuclear weapons." On April 22, on U.S. Fox News, McGregor predicted that further arms supplies to Ukraine would seemingly lead to an escalation on Russia's part. In McGregor's opinion, Ukraine must give Russia Crimea and Donbass so that the path does not have to "launch a nuclear strike. On April 25, in an interview with the Spanish publication El Mundo, D. McGregor stressed that allegedly supplying Ukraine with weapons was a waste of resources because, for reasons unspoken by the "expert," "Kiev is doomed," according to the Center. In fact, this is not the first time Russia has intimidated the world with the use of nuclear weapons and its almost the strongest army. However, as we can see, the Ukrainian army gives a decent response to the Russian one. Thus, by intimidation method, Russian propaganda as if it wants to hide its defeats, showing that they have not yet used all the weapons from their arsenal.

Anonymous pro-Kremlin telegram channels spread a video allegedly showing a soldier of one of the brigades of the Airborne Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine complaining about non-payment of salaries. The command of the Airborne Assault Troops of the AFU denied this information, noting that it was a discredit attempt, "containing elements of hybrid information warfare and all signs of information and psychological influence." "All information or possible problematic questions of service and social nature that come from our soldiers - the leadership of the military units and the command of the Airborne Assault Troops of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - are immediately taken for consideration and appropriate measures are taken," the Command reported and added that their units "are provided with ultramodern weapons and combat equipment, all the necessary material means."

"Media Detector" asked for a comment from the brigade referred to in the video. Note that the thesis of "non-payment of salaries to the Ukrainian military" is not the first time spread since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine - for example, read about the fake "Ukraine does not pay salaries to the military.

An anonymous telegram channel controlled by Russian secret services spread the thesis that Russia had launched missiles allegedly at "Ukraine's military bases" on the evening of April 18, when an air alert was declared throughout Ukraine. The AFU General Staff reported that Russia was launching missile and aviation strikes against civilian objects throughout Ukraine. For example, on the night of April 19, two Russian occupants' missiles flew into the territory of a zoo in Mykolaiv.

Russian propaganda media circulated a statement from the Russian Ministry of Defense claiming that "Russian air defense forces near Odessa shot down a Ukrainian military transport plane in mid-air, which was delivering a large shipment of weapons to Ukraine supplied by Western countries. On April 18, a senior U.S. Defense Department official denied that Russia had managed to destroy the plane with help for Ukraine.

The Russian media have been reporting en masse over the past two days, April 14 and 15, that Greece has refused to supply weapons to Ukraine. On April 14, they referred to a statement by Greek Defense Minister Nikos Panayiotopoulos, and on April 15 to a statement by government spokesman Yanis Oikonomos. Both statements are interpreted in favor of supporting Russia, but this is not the case. First, Greece has already supplied Ukraine with weapons - Kalashnikov assault rifles and mobile anti-missile systems - and has no plans to do so in the future. Secondly, the defense minister explained that because of tense relations with Turkey, Greece could not supply Ukraine with additional weapons without risking weakening its own defense capabilities. Finally, Oikonomou's statement is related to publications in the Greek press, which claim that Greece has supplied weapons to Ukraine six times, and started doing so before the war began. It seems that Greece transferred "Stingers" and other weapons to NATO bases in Europe, and from there the weapons were already supplied to Ukraine. Oikonomou, answering questions from local journalists, stressed that Greece provided weapons to Ukraine once, after the start of the war - and actually refuted the inaccurate information.

Greece has also repeatedly stated that although no further arms supplies to Ukraine are planned, the country is trying to reduce its need for Russian gas as soon as possible. That is, statements by Greek officials do not indicate that their government supports Russia and its wars in Ukraine.

At the same time, both Ukrainian and Russian media selectively quote the results of a survey of Greek citizens, citing only the figure indicating that 66% of them are against arms supplies to Ukraine. But they don't cite other figures: 70% support Ukraine in this war, 60% support sanctions against Russia, 52% are in favor of creating an EU armed force.

Russia continues to make up fakes about "biological weapons" which supposedly the Americans produced or developed in Ukraine. This time there is a new fake: Igor Kirillov, head of the radioactive, chemical and biological defense of the Russian Armed Forces, said that the Russians have evidence of "testing of potentially dangerous biological drugs" on patients of the Kharkov Regional Psychiatric Hospital #3. It seems that it was done by "American scientists from the laboratory in the city of Merefa".

This is a blatant fake, if only for a few reasons: no evidence of such a statement was provided. The Kharkov Regional Psychiatric Hospital is in a city where no Russian troops have ever entered. And finally, a reference laboratory for the study of animal pathogens and diseases was never built in Merefa - it was planned, yes. But Mykhailo Dobkin, as we know, stopped the project to build the laboratory back in 2013 - when he was governor. Read more about fictitious "U.S. military laboratories" in Ukraine in the materials of the Media Detector

Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels spread reports that the serial number of the 9M79-1 missile fired at the train station in Kramatorsk on April 8 "clearly indicates that the projectile belongs to Ukraine. The propagandists use footage from an Italian TV channel TG La7 story about the Russian attack on Kramatorsk. StopFake writes that the marking on the 9M79-1 missile means that the missile belongs to the Tochka-U class, and the number Sh91579 can in no way identify the missile as belonging to a Ukrainian military unit. This is a factory marking that was put on all missiles at the Votkinsk Machine-Building Plant, where these missiles were manufactured during the Soviet era. The Tochka-U is currently in service with eight countries. Russian media also say that the Sh915 missiles were already allegedly used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces during the shelling of Alchevsk on February 2, 2015. However, the OSCE Special Monitoring Mission at the time did not confirm the use of Tochka-U by the Ukrainian military against Alchevsk. The Russian-controlled militants in Alchevsk were unable to provide the OSCE experts with the missile itself or its wreckage.

Russian propaganda spreads a fake that "Western countries supply low-quality and outdated weapons to Ukraine," or that "it is simply impossible to stop cruise missile strikes with Javelin and Stinger. The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council denied these reports, recalling that since February 25, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry has regularly reported on downed Russian cruise missiles: over the Vinnitsa, Kherson, Kharkov, and Nikolaev regions. "In this way the aggressor is trying to sow panic among the population. Having met resistance in the temporarily occupied territories, the enemy resorts to information terrorism in order to demoralize Ukrainians and stop their resistance, the Center said. - In this way, the enemy is probably already preparing the information field for victorious messages about "new liberated settlements in Donbass, which will be presented as territories under temporary occupation since 2014".

This is the thesis spread by Russian propagandists, citing the words of American political analyst Jim Jatras. According to StopFake, Jim Jatras is one of the regular "talking heads" on Russian propaganda resources RT and Sputnik, and since the beginning of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, Jatras has stated that Ukraine is unlikely to exist as a state, and President Zelenskyy is likely to be president in exile. As the fact checker writes, he also claimed that Russian arguments in this war were more "weighty" and defended the Moscow Patriarchate and spread Russian disinformation about the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. "Thus, Jatras' comments are not something strange, but go along with Russian propaganda narratives about atrocities in Bucha and other cities in the Kiev region found after the region was de-occupied," StopFake fact checkers write. In addition, according to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Russia continues to use so-called Western experts to spread its propaganda about Ukraine. Among them is former U.S. Army officer David Payne, who has cooperated with the Kremlin for many years. As the Center notes, during Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine, this "expert" disseminated theses in the foreign media that "The event should stop supplying weapons to Ukraine so as not to provoke Russia into even more aggression" and "Ukraine should give Russia Crimea and Donbass to avoid World War III." "All of these statements have nothing to do with reality. The Kremlin has been building its propaganda campaign to discredit the civilized world for years, resorting to bribing and recruiting even Western officials," the Center adds.