The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council stated that Russia is planning a series of disinformation publications against the military-political leadership of Ukraine, which will be published on English-language resources. The materials are prepared by foreign journalists who have experience working in Russia, in particular, during the beginning of Putin’s power. The key goal of such actions by Russian propaganda can be considered an attempt to sow discord among Ukrainian society, discredit the government of Ukraine and demotivate Ukrainians to fight against Russia. Previously, we analyzed the manipulation that supposedly it was time for the Western world to admit Ukraine’s defeat in the war against Russia.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that the Ukrainian authorities seem to have begun to prepare for the surrender of the central and western regions of Ukraine to Poland. This is evidenced by the fact that children began to be taught Polish in schools in the Poltava region. However, this is a fake.

This case was studied by specialists at the Center for Countering Disinformation. They managed to find out that the Polish language in the Poltava region is taught in only two schools, and not in all, as propagandists claim. This was reported by the Poltava City Council. Moreover, at the beginning of the school year, in addition to compulsory English, children in the region were offered to study Polish or German as a second foreign language, which indicates free choice and not coercion.

By claiming that Ukraine is ready to surrender its territories to Poland, Russian propaganda  is trying to demoralize Ukrainian society and assure everyone around that the defeat of the Ukrainian side in the war against Russia is inevitable. Propagandists also aim to create an image of Poland as an enemy among Ukrainians by spreading disinformation, as in this case. As part of the narrative that Poland will supposedly “absorb” Ukraine, we wrote about a conspiracy theory called “Ukrpolin”.

The number of telegram channels and pages on social networks promising to help in the search for captured or missing Ukrainian military personnel has recently increased. It is indicated that to complete this task they contact relatives and friends with questions about personal data and other information. This information is subsequently used by propagandists.

Specialists from the “Beyond the News” project cited the answers of the Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War to the most common questions. In particular, one cannot share their phone number and other contacts, residential address, social media profiles, brigade number, unit location, as well as photographs, including images with comrades from the army, to strangers.

The dissemination of such information could lead to a deterioration in the situation of military personnel. If scammers can simply profit from someone else's misfortune, representatives of enemy intelligence services can manipulate or resort to blackmail.

The project specialists note that no one on social networks, such as Facebook or Telegram, will effectively search for your loved one. This work is performed professionally and free of charge only by specialists authorized by government agencies. A Road Map is available on the official website of the Prisoner of War Coordination Headquarters, which details what a family should do in cases where a family member is captured, missing, or killed.

Propagandists are spreading images on social media of a purported cover of the Turkish satirical magazine LeMan, depicting a dead Biden and a calm Xi Jinping. Along with the illustration is a Turkish phrase: “If you sit by the river for a long time, you can see the body of your enemy floating by”. The reports came after Biden met with Chinese leader Xi Jinping from November 15 to 17 in San Francisco, during which Joe Biden called him a dictator. However, this image is fake.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that LeMan magazine had not published an issue with such a cover. It contains the following data - date and issue number: November 17, 2023, issue 45 since the beginning of the year, as well as another issue number - 1652. However, they did not find confirmation of this cover on the official LeMan pages on social networks. VoxCheck also checked to see if issue number 45 or 1652 was published on November 17th and found that LeMan had not published any new issues at that time. Issue number 45 (or 1652) did not appear until November 22 and had a different cover dedicated to living conditions in the hostels.

By spreading such fake news, propagandists want to create the impression that the foreign press is skeptical not only of the United States, but of the West as a whole. Creating false covers of foreign publications is a regular practice of Russian propagandists, as Detector Media has repeatedly written about. 

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security writes that unknown people created an anonymous feedback bot on Telegram, allegedly on behalf of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, for complaints and suggestions from Ukrainians and other persons. Its name is @rustem_umerov_bot. However, Umierov does not have an account on Telegram, and the created bot is not official and has no relation to the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the ministry said.

It is likely that the information collected can be used for Russian IPSO directed against Ukraine. Nothing prevents the enemy from resorting to innovative methods of conducting hybrid warfare, so collecting information for his own purposes is possible in this way. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine asked “not to provide any information at the request of the individuals running this account, and also to file a complaint against it”.

Social networks began to spread messages in Ukrainian with the information that “our army liberated 270-300 km², losing 71 thousand soldiers killed”. The publications also say: in order to de-occupy all territories, it will be necessary to “kill” almost 29 million Ukrainians.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security analyzed such messages. They found out that such publications are Russian IPSO. As for the deoccupied territories, this is the case – as of September 10, 2023, the Armed Forces of Ukraine actually liberated about 270 km². However, the data on the number of Ukrainian military deaths during hostilities is invented, since this information is a state secret and will be made public by Ukraine only after the end of the war. It turns out that the “calculation” of future losses was made on the basis of imaginary data, so it cannot be considered reliable.

Propagandists manipulate information and create facts because they see this as effective and potentially influential on Ukrainian society. Such disinformation is spread with the aim of demoralizing Ukrainians and making them think about giving up. When reading similar cases that can evoke strong emotions, we encourage you to think critically. We also worked on the Russian information campaign, when on behalf of the Ministry of Agrarian Policy, recipes for dishes from pigeons and dogs were sent to Ukrainians in connection with the alleged crisis in the agricultural sector in Ukraine.

According to such reports, the shortage of medicines allegedly arose against the backdrop of Ukraine’s refusal to use medicines produced in Russia or Belarus, as well as due to complicated logistics. In addition, the letters contain advice on how traditional medicine can help in this case. This is the Russian IPSO.

The case was worked on by the Center for Countering Disinformation and noted that the Ministry of Health of Ukraine itself had already managed to refute this information. They reported that in fact there is no shortage of medicine, and added: Ukrainians have access to original and high-quality medicines both in pharmacies and in medical institutions.

The purpose of this pseudo-mailing is to discredit the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and sow panic among Ukrainians. Previously, we analyzed the message of Russian propaganda that expired medicines are allegedly being imported into Ukraine, which is why people are allegedly  dying.

The agricultural sector suffered significant losses, therefore, in order for ordinary citizens of Ukraine to at least somehow diversify their diet, the Ministry of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine allegedly sent out a mailing to Ukrainians with recipes for preparing dishes from pigeons, dogs, and Colorado beetles. This is the Russian IPSO.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Security investigated this case. They noted that the Ministry of Agrarian Policy itself had already denied the information. They stated that they did not do such a mailing and called it another attempt by the Russians to convince everyone around that there is famine in Ukraine.

Previously, we analyzed the message of Russian propaganda that Ukrainians are supposedly starving and must stand in line for free lunches.

Pro-Russian resources began distributing a video in which supposedly Ukrainian military personnel, introducing themselves as fighters of the 3rd battalion of the 110th separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, complain to the President of Ukraine and the Commander-in-Chief about poor command and heavy losses in Avdiivka.

Fact-checkers of the StopFake project processed this case. They found out that the 110th separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces responded to this video and refuted it. On the brigade’s official Facebook page they write that the video is not of their Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers, but of occupiers dressed in Ukrainian uniforms. In addition, suspicion was also aroused by the fact that the “military man” who complained on behalf of the battalion did not name his company, unit, position, surname or call sign in this “appeal”, although the video was recorded with open faces.

Propagandists are trying to demoralize Ukrainian society by spreading fake news like this video. They do this cynically, insidiously and resort to peculiar methods. Previously, we refuted the information that allegedly Hamas representatives recorded a video in which they thanked Zelenskyi for providing the weapons.

This information was recorded by specialists of the Brekhunets (The Liar) project. In the message, they said that private entrepreneurs in Volyn receive phone calls on behalf of tax officials, demanding money. During a telephone conversation, the attackers claim that the head of the state tax inspectorate of the local department of the State Tax Service in the Volyn region, Serhii Samchuk, is talking to private entrepreneurs.

However, this is a lie. Actually, Serhii Samchuk denied information about telephone calls from the tax service. He also warned entrepreneurs against fraud and urged them to contact the police if anyone receives such calls.

Anonymous Telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric are distributing a screenshot of an alleged article by the media Ukrainska Pravda with the headline “Officers of the 128th Brigade, suspected of selling weapons to Hamas, have died”. Also, Russian propaganda reports about 50 dead servicemen and hints that it was not an accident. It is not true.

The case was investigated by fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation. In fact, such an article does not exist in the publication Ukrainska Pravda. As a result of the Russian attack, 19 soldiers of the 128 separate mountain assault brigade died, not 50, as the propagandists wrote.

In this way, the Russians are trying to discredit the Ukrainian military and continue to spread fakes that Ukraine is selling Western weapons to Hamas. Earlier, we refuted the fake that Hamas representatives recorded a video in which they thanked Zelenskyi for the weapons provided.

In the Ukrainian segment of the Facebook social network, an alleged poem by Taras Shevchenko is being spread, where he seems to predict the events of modern Ukraine: “The poor man cries, the rich man rejoices, and the government robs. Poor people bury sons killed in the war. A rich man who is full and proud makes a wedding”. However, there is no such poem in the works of the Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko.

The case was investigated by fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation. Taras Shevchenko does not have such a poem, and it is not written in his style. This was pointed out by the Ukrainian writer Oksana Zabuzhko: “Style, damn, style: no matter how the Chekist rabble disguises itself, no matter how it forges a voice for itself, as in the fairy tale about the wolf and the kid, the style will definitely betray them”. In her opinion, “Shevchenko's fakes” are “concocted in the style of an illiterate graphomaniac and thrown into the network as if they belonged to the pen of Taras Shevchenko, with a postscript, to encourage the spreaders, in the spirit of “oh how relevant, indeed a prophet! [...]”.

The original source of the fake poem is the Solomia Ukrainets Facebook page, which is not the first time that it promotes disinformation, anti-Semitism and pro-Russian narratives. In 2018, the publication Chitomo wrote about this with reference to the research Opora.

In this way, Russian propaganda tries to destabilize Ukrainian society, discredit the Ukrainian government and incite a rebellion against it. This “fake poem” appears in posts accusing the authorities of devaluing the lives of Ukrainians almost at the same time as Russian fakes that the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces is calling for a military coup.

On November 7, 2023, the US State Department issued a press release titled “The Kremlin’s Efforts to Covertly Spread Disinformation in Latin America”, which revealed that the Russian government is funding a disinformation campaign using local media throughout Latin America. They are doing this in order to undermine support for Ukraine and at the same time spread sentiments against the USA and NATO among the Latin American audience. The main goal of Russian propagandists, according to the message, is to create an organic space for spreading propaganda in the Latin American space.

Media representatives of the online edition Espresso informed about the publication. In particular, the press release also noted that Moscow uses an extensive system of spreading false information: from websites to state media, in order to increasingly infiltrate Western discourse.

At the same time, the message of the State Department explained how such a disinformation campaign will work in general: first of all, they plan to organize a trained group of specialists of the editorial team, and the editorial board will be formed, for example,  by journalists and leaders of public opinion from the Latin American region. Subsequently, the team in Russia will create and send materials to the Latin American media for review, editing and appropriate final publication in local media. In addition, the Russian team anticipates that their materials will be “personalized” for the Latin American consumer — adding a local context and thus creating a specific plane for unobtrusively spreading pro-Kremlin narratives.

Among other things, translation technology from Russian to Spanish will be involved. Moreover, the translation will be carried out by a Russian specialist who is proficient in the Spanish language. Presumably, in order to prevent the loss of the main context in the messages, the Russian translator will maintain the mood required by the Kremlin.

A fake page of Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi appeared on the Telegram channel. Zaluzhnyi himself reported this on his verified Telegram channel: “I received information that someone, using my name, is sending personal messages to certain famous people with requests and proposals of a discreditable and provocative nature”.

The case was studied by the fact-checkers of the Center for Strategic Communications. Valerii Zaluzhnyi also noted: “The Zaluzhniy_ua account on Telegram does not belong to me, like any other accounts under the name Valerii Zaluzhnyi. They are all fake”.

The official pages of the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are on Facebook and the social network X, formerly known as Twitter.

By spreading disinformation through the fake account of Valerii Zaluzhnyi, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit the Commander-in-Chief and sow panic and despondency among the Ukrainian people.

On the social network X (formerly Twitter), since October 25, materials have been massively distributed on fake websites of well-known Ukrainian and foreign media. The fact-checkers of The Insider project were the first to write about this spam attack. Detector Media publishes the main techniques and narratives used in this spam attack.

Some of the tweets contain a link to several pseudo-novelty/analytical materials. The Insider analysts found that they were posted on sites counterfeiting well-known Ukrainian publications, such as OBOZREVATEL. In these columns one can see the messages of propagandists repeated many times - they say that Ukraine’s defeat is inevitable, Israel will completely take away Ukrainian military and financial assistance, Ukrainians will freeze without heating and will survive without salaries and pensions. It seems that all this is so that the “Kyiv regime” retains power.

Propagandists and foreign media sites falsify them. As noted in The Insider, pseudo-columns are published on “clones” of such publications as Der Spiegel, Welt, Fox News, La Parisien, Walla, etc. Western audiences are served the same narratives, only in English, French, German and Hebrew. The centrality of the attack and the connection of its organizers with Russia is indicated by the fact that within its framework they published links to Russian propaganda media, where a video about “drug addict Volodymyr Zelenskyi” was posted.

By resorting to this, propagandists want to cause panic among Ukrainians and despondency in the Ukrainian government, which should lead to destabilization of the political situation. This is also indicated by the fact that the attack occurred simultaneously with protests in several Ukrainian cities under the slogan “For demobilization!”, where the same visual materials were used. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted Russian manipulations and fakes aimed against the Ukrainian government, elected by the people.

A phishing attack on group administrators has begun on the social network Facebook. They receive a message saying that, allegedly due to serious violations of community rules, their account will be blocked within 24 hours. To prevent the account from being blocked, they  need to follow the link in the message and appeal the decision.

The specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation have investigated this scheme and urge people not to click on dubious links. In this way, scammers try to gain access to your Facebook account and information about bank cards and personal data.

Moreover, the Facebook administration does not send such messages. If someone has written something like this, send a complaint and block the author. If you have become a victim of scammers, contact the cyber police.

In the Ukrainian segment of social networks, Russian robots spread information that prices in Ukraine are constantly being raised and they are profiting from Ukrainians. Allegedly, prices are rising and people will soon begin to starve. It is not true.

As the fact-checkers at the Center for Strategic Communications note, such comments about price increases in Ukraine are written by Russian bots commissioned by the Russian Digital Army group. They pretend to be Ukrainians and spread messages that Ukrainians will soon starve.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to destabilize the situation in Ukraine, cause panic among Ukrainians and distrust of the authorities. In fact, prices in Ukraine are rising due to the war that Russia started, but Ukrainians work and donate to the army. Earlier, Detector Media reported on the message that people in the country are starving and must stand in line for free lunches.

Pro-Kremlin telegram channels are distributing a screenshot of an alleged petition from the website of the official Internet representation of the President of Ukraine calling for “recognition of Israel’s war crimes against the people of Palestine”. The author of the petition is Ahmed Tamim, Chairman of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Ukraine, Supreme Mufti of Ukraine. It is not true.

As the fact-checkers of the Center for Countering Disinformation note, in fact, there is no such petition either on the website of the President of Ukraine or on the official pages of the Spiritual Administration of Muslims of Ukraine.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit Ukraine, create a religious conflict on the territory of our state and worsen relations with Israel. Previously, we refuted the fake news that a Temple bar was opened for Satanists in Kyiv.

This was recorded by specialists from the Center for Strategic Communications and Security. They report that unknown people are calling entrepreneurs in the Cherkasy region, allegedly from the head of the Regional Military Administration, Ihor Taburets, who is “raising money” to help the military. Actually, the head of the regional military administration received this information about scammers from a local businessman.

During the telephone conversation, they offer to transfer funds to help the military to the appropriate bank account. But the head of the Regional Military Administration did not make calls and did not ask to transfer funds. Also in his address, he added real contacts of the leadership of the Cherkasy Regional Military Administration, so that residents of the region could check who is actually calling them on the phone.

In the Russian segment of social networks, on YouTube and in pro-Kremlin media, a trailer for the horror film “Voienkom” (The Military Commissariat), which was allegedly produced by the Ukrainian company Kvartal 95 Studio, is being distributed. It's a lie.

The case was examined by the fact-checkers from the Center for Countering Disinformation. They established that the video was created by the Russians. Experts also managed to identify the person in the video - it turned out to be Russian actor Roman Makarov living in Moscow.

By spreading fake news about mobilization, Russian propaganda is trying to intimidate men of military age. The Russians are deliberately demonizing the mobilization process and exaggerating its pace in order to cause panic among Ukrainians. Previously, we talked about the manipulation that in Ukraine they are planning to mobilize men who are over 60 years old.

Fake information about one-time payments to Ukrainians in the amount of 6,600 hryvnia is being spread on social networks. Allegedly, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine adopted Law No. 2708-267 “On the payment of monetary assistance to all citizens of Ukraine”.

The fact-checkers at the Center for Countering Disinformation drew attention to this. In fact, such a law on payments does not exist and the Verkhovna Rada has not adopted it. Behind this are scammers citing Law No. 2708 “On Labor”, which has similar figures. By clicking on the link in a distributed message, a person ends up on a dubious Telegram channel or unknown persons trying to ask for bank card details.

The National Police of Ukraine urges people not to click on suspicious links and not to provide any bank cards and account details to unknown persons.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels claim that German cities are in debt because of “too much” aid for Ukrainian refugees. They say that local politicians emphasize that refugees “don’t want to go to work” because they receive a large amount of funds as part of social assistance. Propagandists cite statements by officials such as the Lord Mayor of Schwäbisch Gmünd Richard Arnold, the Minister for Migration of Baden-Württemberg Marion Gentjes and the President of the Baden-Württemberg District Council Joachim Walter. At various times they actually made similar statements, which were refuted by journalists from the regional public broadcaster SWR.

1. Ukrainian refugees receive 3,000 euros of net income per family from Germany

This is not true. According to SWR calculations, single parents or family members receive €502 per month, partners in the same family €451 each, children aged 14 to 17 €420, children aged 6–13 €348 and children under 6 – € 318. Therefore, a family of four with two children aged 12 and 14 will have a total benefit of 1,691 euros. But a single mother with two children under 6 years old will receive only 1,138 euros per month. The broadcaster's journalists note that this is not very good for German prices, given inflation. Moreover, of the 177,000 Ukrainian refugees who arrived in Baden-Württemberg between March 2022 and September 2023, only 98,347 received assistance from the state. This refutes the fact that the poor economic situation in the region is caused solely by Ukrainian refugees.

Analyzing the statements of President Walter, journalists came to the conclusion that in order to overstate the amount of assistance to Ukrainian refugees in his statements, he is using an initiative that will come into force on January 1, 2024, according to which the amount of assistance will be increased by 50 euros per person, that is, by approximately 200 Euro more for one average family. But even after this, the increase in the benefit will not reach the mentioned 3,000–3,500 euros. In addition, Walter refers to the fact that refugees still have a lot of benefits, for example, for school children - school supplies or payment for housing. However, not everything is so simple with them either.

2. Employment centers pay for the accommodation of Ukrainian refugees in Germany

This is true, but this solution does not have unanimous support in German society due to its economic feasibility. For example, the industrial union Bauen-Agrar-Umwelt criticized the idea due to the fact that job centers spent too much money on renting apartments. According to a calculation made for the trade union by the Pestel Institute, employment centers will spend more than 20 billion euros on accommodation in 2023. Because of this, the overall rental price in Baden-Württemberg increased from 5.43 euros to 7.75 euros per square meter. Trade unions say the state should provide and build social housing, for example in the Austrian capital, so as not to destabilize the property market.

3. Ukrainians in Germany don’t want to work

This is a standard message of Russian propaganda, which is being picked up by German politicians this time. However, SWR journalists refuted these claims. In particular, they note that the majority of Ukrainian refugees in the region are women with children, who must often care for them independently. Accordingly, due to lack of time and the need to care for their families, they are unable to go to work.

In addition, in Germany there are still problems with the recognition of qualifications and professional training received in Ukraine. For example, SWR told the story of Ukrainian doctor Olha Soloviova, who was forced to work as a cleaner in Germany because her qualifications were not recognized. She currently works in an Austrian clinic. These restrictions are another obstacle for those refugees who have high qualifications and years of work experience and want to work in the EU, but cannot due to lack of recognition of all this during employment.

By spreading such messages, Russian propagandists want to once again discredit Ukrainian refugees and demotivate Europeans to support Ukraine. Detector Media has previously published a great investigation on what other harmful narratives about Ukrainian refugees are being spread by Russians.

Fake pages of Ukrainian journalists, activists and volunteers are being created on social networks and dating sites. They are created using photos and information from authentic profiles.

The specialists of the NotaYenota project drew attention to this. They note that, in particular, Lviv volunteer Mariia Kisil and producer of Ukraїner found themselves in such a situation. The volunteer claims that each of her volunteer reports is distributed by a closed page with her name, which she cannot even access due to the privacy settings of the fake account. NotaYenota analysts remind that fake pages of Ukrainian military and volunteers have been actively created by the Russians since last year, however, they do not exclude the possibility that scammers may be behind this.

By resorting to this technique, propagandists can more easily spread falsehoods into the information space, as was the case last year. Using them, they want to obtain certain information, discredit Ukrainians, or lure money under the guise of well-known names with a good reputation.

On social networks one can find advertisements according to which the Ukrainian government has allegedly “approved” a law on payments to “families defending” the country at the front. NotaYenota project specialists drew attention to it.

They found out that the Russians were actually behind the ads. In particular, this is indicated, at least, by the fact that in Ukraine the government does not “approve” laws. In addition, neither the Verkhovna Rada nor the Cabinet of Ministers made such decisions.

Project specialists note that Russians launch such advertising campaigns to spread negative sentiments in society and cause distrust in the authorities in general. The advertisements were created with the expectation that Ukrainians would start asking local authorities about payments and, in response to a refusal, would accuse it of lying. Subsequently, Russians will make advertisements about how corrupt Ukraine is. Detector Media has already written about how the topic of corruption in Ukraine is used by Russian propaganda in its own interests.

This information was recorded by the fact-checker of the Brekhunets (Liar) project. They explain that Volyn entrepreneurs receive fraudulent letters and phone calls allegedly on behalf of the head of the Volyn Regional Military Administration, Yurii Pohuliaiko, with a request to transfer funds to the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

However, the Volyn Regional Military Administration denied this information. They emphasized that neither the head of it, nor other heads of the Volyn Regional State Administration departments make such telephone calls or send such letters.