The cyber police reported that they exposed a group of nine criminals who, under the guise of social security payments from the EU, gained access to the bank data of more than five thousand Ukrainians. According to law enforcement officials, 100 million hryvnias were stolen from Ukrainians under this scheme. "Nine people created over 400 fake web resources to obtain citizens' banking data. Through the websites, Ukrainians were offered to form an application for the payment of financial assistance from the countries of the European Union. Hackers took surveys and entered bank card details using phishing links. After receiving the data, the attackers made an unauthorized intervention in online banking and withdrew money from the accounts," said the cyber police.

In Saint Petersburg, a vacancy for an actor for mass shooting in the previously occupied territory of Donetsk and Luhansk regions was advertised. As StratCom of the ZSU writes in a telegram, this is how they recruit "local witnesses to the atrocities of the damned Ukrainian fascists." Payment for filming - 1,300 rubles (almost $24), travel to the so-called "DPR" and "LPR," "we will shoot there."

According to the Center for Combating Disinformation at the NSDC, the occupiers are trying to collect personal data of Ukrainians. According to Viktor Andrusiv, adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, the Russian special services created the spektr_robot bot for this purpose.

The Center warns not to use it to protect yourself and provides blocking instructions: you need to enter the name of the bot in the Telegram search bar; go to the settings of the specified bot (without clicking "start"); choose to "complain about" the illegal storage and use of personal data and the use of said data by the occupation authorities of the Russian Federation in the occupied territory of Ukraine against civilians. "We also advise you to send information about the spektr_robot bot to the Cyber ​​Police of Ukraine using the Telegram bot StopRussia | MRIYA @stopdrugsbot," said the Center's message.

Fake accounts spread on social networks that, despite the situation in Ukraine, the hotel administration wants to give guests a happy summer vacation. "Payment can be made both in rubles and in hryvnias. Our position is neutral; we do not choose either side. We are for peace and summer vacation by the sea," the swindlers wrote online. Earlier, similar ads could be found for the Crimean hotels of this chain.

According to the journalist Andriy Tsaplienko, the Russian occupiers are distributing a fake newspaper about the "lost Zaporizhzhia region," which allegedly quotes the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Valeriy Zaluzhny. The newspaper claims that the article alleges that Ukraine allegedly "lost the Zaporizhzhia region" because it "used its reserves to defend Azovstal."

On Facebook, the attackers launched an old fraudulent scheme of alleged "compensation for VAT paid," which now was combined with "assistance from EU countries." This advertisement is promoted on Facebook, using the Ukraine 24 TV channel logo. The message is illustrated by a photo of Volodymyr Zelensky with the "signed decree" captions and "urgent check of cards for payments to each citizen from UAH 9,800" to draw attention to the information in it. The post's description states that "Ukrainians will receive financial assistance from EU countries" and about "VAT refunds for the last three years." To receive "compensation," social network users are offered to go to a third-party site, where they are asked to provide all the card data, they say "for verification." With this card information, attackers will appropriate all the money in the account. A similar scheme was distributed in 2021 when photos of the host of "1 + 1" Alla Mazur were used.

On the day of Russia, the propaganda media published a lot of news about the celebration of this date in the so-called "LPR," including a rally in the occupied part of the region. According to the propagandists, all this should have convinced the audience of Russia's support for the local population. But the fact-checkers from Russia received evidence that in the column of cars that went under the flags of the invader, there were cars with Crimean license plates, from Chuvashia, from other regions of Russia. They suggest that most of them belong to the Russian military. And in the column was an ambulance, which the occupiers seized from Ukrainian medics - and did not even stick the inscription on it in Ukrainian.

The Security Service of Ukraine has exposed such fraudsters in Zaporizhzhia, said SSU spokesman Artem Dekhtyarenko.

They demanded a separate fee for their "services." Prices varied and, in most cases, depended on the emotional state of relatives.

Among the pseudo-services offered by fraudsters:

- a telephone conversation with a prisoner, for which they asked from 10 to 50 thousand hryvnias;

- release from captivity, which was estimated at 50 to 200 thousand hryvnias;

- transportation of the deceased's body - up to 10 thousand hryvnias.

"Of course, the attackers could not fulfill any of these mythical promises. And after receiving the money that was sent to them online, they just disappeared. The fraudsters monitored the Internet, where they collected data on missing Ukrainian soldiers and their families to make their words credible. The organizer of the scheme was a man currently in the temporarily occupied Mariupol. He was recently released from prison. In addition, in Zaporizhzhia, he had an associate who was responsible for the financial component and provided mobile calls, constantly changing numbers and operators. SSU special forces detained her, " Artem Dekhtyarenko said.

According to Dekhtyarenko, during the search of the suspect, in particular, the following were seized:

- Computer equipment with evidence of illegal activity;

- A large number of mobile phones and SIM cards;

- Bank cards for receiving payments; - A quarter of a million hryvnias in cash.

The Security Service draws attention to the fact that the issue of releasing prisoners of war is within the exclusive competence of public authorities.

Suppose you or your acquaintances find yourself in a situation where unknown people demand money for the "release" of a relative from captivity. In that case, you should immediately contact the Joint Center for Search and Release of Prisoners:

+38 067 650-83-32

+38 098 087-36-01

It was announced on the Polish Radio by the Speaker of the Minister-Coordinator of Special Services, Stanislaw Zharyn.

"Russian propagandists and experts promoting pro-Russian theses are frequent visitors to Italian news and journalism programs that comment on the 'special operation in Ukraine' and spread Kremlin propaganda. There are even allegations that the Italian media has become Russia's "disinformation bridgehead in the West," Zharyn said. He also added that since the beginning of the full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine, Russian politicians and propagandists had left virtually no Italian programs on public and private channels. "They appear in the most popular interviews and talk shows in the country of entertainment, where viewers applaud the guests," says Zharyn. He also believes that although the Italian media maintains a balance, this position equates propaganda with facts.

Messages with such a thesis are spread in the Volyn segment of Facebook. "Officially! All citizens of Ukraine will receive cash payments! The amount depends on the area of ​​residence ", - it is said in the messages distributed on Facebook. In particular, such a post was published in the group "Tereveni pro VolynUA." However, this is not true.

According to the journalists of the fact-checking project "Brekhunets," there is no program in Ukraine under which all citizens, without exception, receive cash benefits. As in the pre-war period, certain vulnerable categories of the population receive social assistance. As for cash payments due to the Russian invasion, only internally displaced persons can claim these funds. New rules came into force in May to help people who had fled their homes due to the war. Only Ukrainians from certain regions approved by the government are entitled to cash benefits. Read more.

According to the Department of Strategic Communications of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the enemy is trying to sow panic among residents of Ukrainian cities who have been liberated from occupation. "We have sent out text messages about the possible re-attack of the aggressor in the Kyiv region. Do not succumb to provocations! The Armed Forces of Ukraine are closely monitoring the actions of the Russian army at the borders, control the situation, and are always ready to meet again with the Russian occupiers." reported the administration.

According to the regional state administration, the fraudsters tried to extort funds "from the Armed Forces of Ukraine."

"It became known about the letters on fundraising for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which are received by entrepreneurs in Volyn allegedly on behalf of the Volyn Regional State Administration. Be careful! These are scammers. The Volyn Regional State Administration did not send such letters, " said in the statement. According to the fact-checking project "Brekhunets," the regional state administration's economic department told them that several entrepreneurs had applied to the regional state administration with such a problem. As it turned out, fraudsters sent many similar letters.

 The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine has warned that Russia's special services are trying to intimidate the Ukrainian military by sending SMS, telegram, Viber, Signal, and WhatsApp messages to personal numbers threatening to break an oath, give up, surrender or side with the enemy. The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine explained that these threats are aimed primarily at morally destabilizing units of the Defense Forces of Ukraine, sowing doubts and reducing morale. "Threats of personal data (surname and name of the person, taxpayer's code, place of registration and, sometimes, data on the number and composition of the family) are increasing," the General Staff of the Armed Forces said. - The text of the threats refers to the alleged exact location of the person who received the message; it is noted that, in case of continuation of service, missile strikes will be fired at the exact residence of the telephone owner and his family. " At the same time, the personal data in these reports are usually outdated (the person has already changed the place of registration, moved to another location, changed the military unit, etc.). 

Russian occupiers were so impressed by the district museum of local lore in Popasna in the Luhansk region that they shot a video about it and disseminated it in the pro-Kremlin media, including Ria Novosti. According to them, the museum has a whole hall about one of the most common inventions of Russian propaganda about Ukraine - the so-called national battalions. To which, to their ridicule, they attributed Bohdan Khmelnytsky. In the video, the Russians show part of the exhibition dedicated to the anti-terrorist operation and the events of 2014-2017, in the center of which are the books "History of Ukraine," "Battle for Konotop" by Vladyslav Karnatsevych from the series "Famous Events of Ukrainian History" and "Archaeological war." The last book is a methodological recommendation of the Institute of Archeology of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine, which is designed to guide the military in a situation where the threat of destruction of archaeological heritage and how to minimize it.

According to the State Special Service, employees of state organizations in Ukraine receive new dangerous e-mails with the file "changes in wages with accruals.docx." Experts say that the document's opening threatens to damage the computer with malicious software Cobalt Strike Beacon. It is known that the document contains a link to an external object (HTML file containing JavaScript code), the opening of which will lead to the launch of the PowerShell command, download the EXE file "ms-msdt.exe," and damage the computer. The State Special Communications Service and Information Protection of Ukraine asks employees of state organizations to be careful and work on blocking the domain name and the corresponding server.

Givi Gigitashvili and Esteban Ponce de Leon, specialists from the Digital Forensic Research Laboratory (DFR Lab) of the Atlantic Council, identified 27 Polish-language Telegram channels that disseminated misinformation about refugees from Ukraine. It is reported that several channels initially published content in Russian but eventually switched to Polish. According to experts, the promoted content is unfounded because of anti-refugee, pro-Kremlin and anti-vaccination theses. According to researchers, the purpose of the channels is to influence public opinion about people who come to Poland from Ukraine. Read more.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, in particular, the French Center for Intelligence Research has published an analytical report that partially promotes the Kremlin's narratives about "inexperienced Ukrainian soldiers" and the "professional Russian army"; Former US Senator Richard Black spoke in an interview with English-language media about Russia's imminent victory, as "Russia cannot afford to lose because of the threat of NATO enlargement"; Italian General Leonardo Tricarico called on the EU to abandon the "crazy idea of ​​winning the war in Ukraine" and persuade Ukraine to surrender so as not to provoke Russia to use weapons of mass destruction; The German Schiller Institute held an international discussion on the threat of World War III, and the participants concluded that "the confrontation with Russia is detrimental to Germany and the EU." It will be recalled that this is not the first time that Russian propaganda has tried to promote its narratives through “Western experts.” In this way, the propagandists want to create the appearance of support for Russia's actions by the Western world.

The word "war" is recommended not to be used and admit that they are Russians.

In the village of Dymerka (Kyiv region), liberated from Russian aggressors, the National Museum of Ukrainian History staff found manuals explaining how to answer questions from the local population. The NotaYenota project published two pages of these manuals, and their existence was confirmed to Detector Media by the museum staff. According to them, the document was found in the village council, which the Russians seized.

These “guidelines” recommend that occupiers not use the words "war" and "murder.” Answer all the questions so that "the residents believe that the Ukrainian authorities have left the local population without pensions, social benefits, protection, electricity, and water."

We must also avoid explicit recognition that the occupiers are Russians; we must answer that the invaders are "both Russians and Ukrainians, but most importantly - that they are Orthodox," as well as Ukrainians. The primary purpose of such answers is to make people doubt the Ukrainian government and shift the responsibility for the war to the government or the president.

These methods are another proof of the information war against Ukrainians and an example of military information and special psychological operations conducted by murderers in the Ukrainian occupied territories.

Fact-checkers from CheckNews, a subsidiary of the French newspaper Liberation, have exposed lies and manipulation by former military man Henry Boke, who has recently appeared on television in foreign media as a witness to "Ukrainian war crimes, including the Azov," who seem to have seen with their own eyes. In particular, he claimed to have seen members of Azov "systematically shoot at the feet of captured Russian soldiers and then execute Russian officers" - all of which, according to Boke, took place in Bucha. The publication checked his message - and found no evidence that he could even see anything of what he was telling a foreign audience. Yes, the fact-checkers received information that Boke was in Ukraine several times, but most of his trips were for one day - he entered and left on the same date, for example, April 4. All border crossings took place in the Lviv region. And even the only time he was in Ukraine for almost three days (less than 72 hours from April 17 to 19), he was in Lviv and witnessed the Russian shelling of the city on April 18, as evidenced by his photos. He could not physically reach Bucha once when he was in Ukraine. Also, there is no evidence that he communicated with the Ukrainian military - only photos of checkpoints in his photo.

Researchers also spoke to his former colleagues in the military unit he served, claiming he lied a lot. You can read more about Boke here.

According to him, in these bots, attackers try to convince users that the real chatbot does not work. The “Shos letyt” chatbot, developed by Lviv Regional Military Administration specialists and IT specialists at the request of “Zahid” Air Command, is running smoothly. The bot works only in the mobile version of the telegram application. It allows all willing residents of the Lviv region to report the threat in the sky (missile, drone, or plane) and Ukrainian defenders - to neutralize it. You must log in through the "Diia" application to report a hazard.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine warned about attempts by scammers to get rich at the expense of relatives of the Ukrainian military. "Relatives of soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine have started receiving suspicious phone calls and messages," the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine said. - Using the emotional state of relatives and friends, the attackers call from hidden numbers and offer to "provide information" about the military and "facilitate the release from captivity" for a monetary reward. The scammers are also trying to find out the personal data of Ukrainian defenders, allegedly as clarification. "

The photo of a pregnant woman escaping from a bombed maternity hospital has become one of the symbols of the bloody war in Ukraine. The heroine of this photo, Marianna Vyshemirsky, immediately found herself at the center of a fierce disinformation campaign, as a result of which she was flooded with hatred from Internet users. In an interview with the BBC, the Russian service debunked the false claims of Russian officials. It is her first interview with popular Western media since being evacuated to her hometown of Donetsk, a territory controlled by pro-Russian separatists. Denis Seleznyov, a blogger who actively supported pro-Russian separatists and was interviewed after fleeing Mariupol, helped organize the conversation with the woman. Did the explosion happen near the maternity hospital, which did not work? The Kremlin has repeatedly stated that the blast took place near the maternity hospital №1, which did not actually work with patients at that time. According to the BBC's disinformation department, Marianne was in the maternity hospital №3. Marianne confirms that the hospital where the maternity hospital was located was operating and had patients. The Russian authorities claimed that it no longer functioned as a medical facility.

Did the Azov Regiment seize the maternity hospital? Russia has claimed that the Azov Regiment seized the building, which Moscow calls a "Nazi" organization, which Ukraine denies. From Marianne's interview with Denis Seleznyov, Russian officials chose isolated phrases to create a narrative that Ukrainian soldiers allegedly used Marianne and other pregnant women as a human shields. Marianne tells the BBC that there were no soldiers in the building where she was. According to her story, she saw Ukrainian soldiers in the oncology department, located across the building from the maternity ward. Still, she did not know whether they had a base there. However, Marianne's phrases from an interview with Denis Seleznyov were used by the Kremlin to come up with a new lie.

Russian officials used her words, saying that she does not think an airstrike caused the hospital bombings. It was a Ukrainian shelling, they said.

"The characteristic sound of an airplane when it flies, it is impossible not to hear it," Marianne said in an interview, adding that she had not heard such a sound.

But journalists from the Associated Press documented evidence that the plane crash was - including in the video, where the sound of the plane can be heard. In addition, the military and police are talking about the airstrike on video at the scene. In addition, the photos show a giant funnel, which, according to weapons experts, could remain only after the bomb.

"I haven't seen this funnel, but I've seen the video," said Marianne.

"In fact, I can't blame anyone because I didn't see with my own eyes where it came from," she added.

This controversial moment caused another wave of bile from the trolls.

"On the one hand, I was considered an actress. On the other hand, they thought I was lying that there was no airstrike,” explained Marianna.

Did Marianne take part in the production? Before the war, Marianne advertised cosmetics on her blog. One pro-Kremlin telegram channel lied that the photos from the delivery room were staged. Based on the fact that Marianne was a beauty blogger, the authors said that she was an actress, which made up for the victim. This lie has been repeated many times by high-ranking Russian officials and Russian state media. "It was unpleasant to hear because I really went through it," said Marianne.

Among the people she considered friends were those who did not believe her. For example, beauty blogger Yaroslava, who lives in Russia, believes Russian television claims that Marianne took part in the production.

"I think Marianne played her part. Ukraine needed so that the Ukrainian military could blame Russia for everything," Yaroslava said. Since then, she has unfollowed her former friend on Instagram and no longer talked to her.

"It`s sad, of course, when acquaintances believe in something I haven't done, and I'm not capable of because, for me, my conscience has always been above everything," Marianne replied.

A Russian propaganda channel called Channel One aired a story about alleged "foreign journalists" who visited the occupied Kherson region. In fact, it turned out that these "journalists" are bloggers - fans of Putin, who have been living in Russia for many years. Ilya Shepelin, a former journalist for the Dozhd TV channel, drew attention to this. He wrote about it on his Twitter page - “Thomas Roper and John Dugan, whom they described as "foreign journalists," did not work for any media outlet.”

"Channel One showed a story about how enthusiastic" foreign journalists "visited the occupied Kherson region. In fact, these "journalists" were Putin's bloggers, who have lived in Russia for many years - Thomas Roper and John Dugan, who do not work in any media, " Shepelin wrote.

Before that, the propagandists made headlines about Roeper as a "journalist for Anti Spiegel from Germany." However, in reality, it is his blog, which was also created on a domain registered in Russia. In this blog "loyal to Putin," Roper rebroadcasts all the Kremlin's methods written on the Telegram channel "Trukha Ukraine."

This is reported by the Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

The National Interest has published material by USA intelligence veteran Paul R. Pillar. He states that "humiliating" Russia with sanctions and removing Putin from power "will harm the whole world."

Serbian political scientist George Vukadinovic, interviewed by Kremlin media abroad this week, also spoke about Russia's greatness. Vukadinovic claims that NATO "should be held responsible for the war" in Ukraine. In a Politico article, scientists Patrick Portman, Justin Logan, and Benjamin M. Friedman suggested that Ukraine should return to "negotiations with Russia" because the West was giving Ukraine "false hopes of victory" in this war, hiding that it could not help money and weapons for so long.

The Security Service of Ukraine received irrefutable evidence of the direct involvement of the Russian occupiers in the shelling of the railway station in Kramatorsk on April 8, which killed 61 people and injured 121 people.

Due to many studies on the missile's trajectory, it was established that the rocket attack was made from the Donetsk region, which has been under temporary Russian occupation since 2014.

Experts confirmed that a 9M79-1 guided single-stage solid-fuel missile with a cartridge charge was used for the shelling. It is widely known as "TMC Tocka U."

According to the SSU, several complexes with "TMC Tocka U" are located in the occupied territories of Donbas and have been used by invaders for eight years.