This was reported in the Center for counteracting disinformation. According to the “document”, the participants of the “Housing for Ukraine” initiative must provide information about the residence of Ukrainian male refugees aged eighteen and over. Also, allegedly, the British are urged to report the possible stay of adult Ukrainians after changing their place of residence. Homeowners are allegedly obliged to encourage Ukrainians to visit the Embassy of Ukraine in the UK to clarify their personal data.

This “document” is fake. UK officials and departments did not send such a letter. In addition, there are lexical and grammatical errors in the text. The domain “report@levellingup.gov.uk”  mentioned in the letter is real, but it was never used for official correspondence.

Recently, a fake was spread that supposedly the Embassy of Ukraine in Latvia and other European countries received a letter with a request to provide information about people of military age. Thus, propagandists once again parasitize on the topic of mobilization and try to demoralize Ukrainians. Like, you can’t hide from mobilization either in Ukraine or abroad.

Against the backdrop of news about the arrival of US President Joe Biden to Ukraine, a lot of disinformation stuffing appeared in anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. In particular, the propagandists broadcast their vision of events and voiced a number of messages about the visit of a high-ranking official.

The team of analysts of Detector Media identified the main ones.

Biden came to report that he is “merging” Ukraine

Like, the reason for the sudden visit was “secret agreements” with Moscow, which Biden seems to want to tell Zelenskyi personally. Propagandists insist that the United States and the “collective West” are tired not only of the topic of Ukraine, but also of its “unwillingness” to sit down at the negotiating table.

However, all this is unfounded assumptions, because the authors of anonymous telegram channels do not provide any facts or evidence indicating that Biden is “merging” Ukraine. So far, there are no signs of secret negotiations between the United States and Russia on the situation in Ukraine, even in a behind-the-scenes format. Moreover, the topic of support for Ukraine continues to be a priority for US foreign policy: both for Biden's party (Democrats) and his opponents, Republicans in particular. The next package of military assistance to Ukraine announced during the visit is a confirmation that the United States is not withdrawing from the issue, but rather is strengthening support.

Russian propagandists spread speculation about the so-called “new peace conditions” supposedly brought in by Biden. Russian propaganda is actively using this message to transfer responsibility for the continuation of the war from the aggressor to the victim.

The air raid sirens were turned on for the sake of a “picture” to scare President Biden

At the moment when there were official reports that the US President had flown to Kyiv, air raids continued in the capital, as in other cities of Ukraine. Therefore, a message appeared in anonymous telegram channels that this was, they say, “another performance” for Biden. Allegedly, the Ukrainian authorities specially staged a performance for the US president to suppress pity and intimidate a little.

This is not a new propaganda message. Russian propaganda always uses it when Western partners come to Kyiv on working visits. Also, propagandists from time to time claim that the Ukrainian authorities use the air raid signal as a lever to intimidate Ukrainians, or vice versa - do not turn it on so as not to frighten. In addition, such messages should deceive the significance of the announcement of alerts - to warn of danger from Russia.

In fact, only a limited circle of people has information about the reasons for triggering an air raid alert.

Biden's visit is only self-promotion for Biden and Zelenskyi.

Like, the visit of the President of the United States to Ukraine is just an attempt “to save Biden’s dead rating” in his country and “calm down Ukrainians disappointed in Zelenskyi”. Although this information is available only to those involved in such measures, a number of important issues of interaction between the two countries are often discussed during state visits, namely economic, cultural and security initiatives. The results of such conversations can be seen within a few weeks after the end of the visit.

Propagandists actively use the natural lack of information about conversations during meetings to spread their own, unsubstantiated fabrications.

Biden came to “punish” the Office of the President

Propagandists continue to spread the narrative about “external governance” and the non-subjectivity of Ukraine. They say that the “owner” came to Ukraine because his “subordinates” “failed to fulfill the basic instructions” of the United States. As a “consequence”, no additional assistance is expected. In fact, the “instructions” of the United States and various Western institutions are advisory in nature. And the level of assistance provided by the West and the United States can be influenced by Ukraine's fulfillment of its obligations, and not by the presence of recommendations. Also, we note that now, during the war, a decrease in aid may cause more condemnation towards Biden than support, especially from his political opponents. There is also no evidence or facts to support this propaganda message. However, by spreading it, they are trying to establish the opinion that the US and other Western partners are disappointed in the actions of the Ukrainian authorities, so the propagandists create the appearance that Ukraine will soon allegedly be left without external support.

Biden “cripples churches” with his presence

The authors of anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric also claimed that Biden is “antichrist in human form”, destroying Ukrainian spirituality with his visit. Like, that's why you can't “save” Ukraine from “Western satanic networks”.

Such messages should be considered in the context of conspiracy theories regarding the President of the United States. According to them, Joe Biden is a satanist and a pedophile. In fact, the President of the United States is a catholic and often mentions his faith in speeches.

Joe Biden's visit to Kyiv has already acquired historical significance, as it is the first visit by a US leader to Ukraine in 15 years. We recall that earlier Detector Media prepared a selection of messages about the visit of Volodymyr Zelenskyi to the United States.

A fake document was circulated on the network, allegedly sent from the Department of education and science of the city of Kyiv. It says that educational institutions in Kyiv are allegedly preparing to transfer the premises to the use of the defense forces for the further creation of military field hospitals. Like, the threat of escalation in the Kyiv direction is “high”. In addition, the “document” contains a clause on the transfer of a list of contact details of young men who have reached the age of 17.

The Department of education and science of the city of Kyiv says that no orders have been issued to transfer educational institutions to the capital under the leadership of any other bodies. Employees of the Department also stated that all educational institutions in Kyiv are working as usual, and employees are at their workplaces performing their duties.

The Department is convinced that the spread of a fake document indicates an attempt by the Russians to sow panic among Ukrainians on the eve of the anniversary of a full-scale invasion. At the same time, propagandists are trying once again to nourish the narrative about the mobilization of teenagers, including in a fake document. Allegedly, there is no one to fight anymore, so the Ukrainian leadership is mobilizing even young men.

Detector Media has previously refuted the fake, in which, they say, underage boys are not allowed to go abroad, because they will soon be mobilized.

This was reported in the State special communications service. The Ukraine government computer emergency response team (CERT-UA) has documented the massive distribution of dangerous emails sent on behalf of the Office of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

The subject line of the emails sent out is “critical security update”. The title of the attachment also refers to a “security update”. Attached to the letter is an archive with an image of “instructions that are important to read” and an installation file. After the computer boots up and starts, the hidden remote access program is installed. This gives third parties access to computer control and data. Recently, attackers distributed emails with similar software on behalf of JSC Ukrtelecom. Probably, the purpose of the attackers is espionage.

The Office urged not to open received letters with similar attachments and not to follow the links if one is not sure of their safety.

Accused of high treason, Viktor Medvedchuk, a former people's deputy from the pro-Russian OPZZh (Opposition platform — for life) party, gave his first interview after a full-scale invasion. More precisely, he joined the show via Skype on the Belarusian state channel STV. The host Nadiia Sass, a former journalist of his TV channels, who in 2020 ran for the Dnipropetrovsk regional council on behalf of the Opposition Platform - for Life, spoke with Medvedchuk.

In his speech, Medvedchuk said that he was returning to the big game, launching a new political project, “The other Ukraine”, and would try to “demonopolize the right of President Zelenskyi to represent Ukraine at the international level”. Detector Media collected five key points from Medvedchuk's speech. All of them are in tune with the rhetoric of Russian propaganda, which during the year of the war spread dozens of disinformation messages to different audiences.

1. Ukraine constantly failed in peace negotiations, and tried to “get rid” of Donbas. Here, Medvedchuk resorts to a classic reflection technique, a tactic that involves accusing Ukraine and the West of accusations that were once made against Russia. A typical attempt to turn everything upside down and make the victim of aggression guilty of the attack. This mantra was heard on the air of Medvedchuk's channels for years. In particular, the audience was convinced that Ukraine was “bombing the Donbas” and that it itself did not want the reintegration of this territory, because, they say, without this region, Ukraine would vote the way the authorities needed. According to Medvedchuk, it is his participation that is needed in the negotiations to achieve peace between the two countries. Despite this, he disclaims responsibility for the allegedly failed Minsk agreements, because he was an intermediary and did not influence its implementation. In fact, any peace agreements with Russia do not work not because of the fault of Ukraine, but precisely because Russia violates them.

2. The West was interested in destabilizing the situation near the borders of Russia. The event did not put pressure on Kyiv to comply with the Minsk agreements. The purpose of this thesis is to remove any accusations from Russia for unleashing a war in eastern Ukraine and shift the blame to the ephemeral “West”. According to Medvedchuk, it is not the Russian army that is destabilizing the situation in the East of Ukraine, but the “West” is destabilizing the situation near the borders of Russia in order to harm it. This is a typical Russian accusation against Ukraine and Western states. Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to justify the war that Russia unleashed. They say that the peace agreements were not implemented through the fault of Ukraine and the Western countries, and if Russia had not intervened and started a war, everything would have been even worse.

3. Ukraine is a failed state because it has lost its sovereignty, independence and democracy. This is one of the common narratives about Ukraine that Russian propaganda has shared. Propagandists regularly nourish it with messages that Ukraine is not a real state, because it does not have its own history and culture; that Ukraine was created by Lenin; that the Ukrainian government failed to build a normal system; that corruption is widespread in Ukraine, etc. By spreading such messages, Russia also justifies itself and seeks to create the appearance that the ongoing war on the territory of Ukraine is justified. Like, Russia is fighting for the lands that have always belonged to it. However, the failed state has dispersed basic power functions and an atrophied ability to implement collective decisions. Over the past year, Ukraine has effectively resisted the aggressor and gradually liberated the occupied territories. By the way, amid the escalation, more and more political scientists are talking about Russia as a failed state.

4. Ukraine underestimated Belarus and did not thank Lukashenko for assistance in the peaceful settlement of the Donbas issue. Like, Ukraine did not appreciate Lukashenko's efforts to provide a platform for dialogue between Ukraine and Russia. In fact, Belarus does not support Ukraine in the conditions of war with Russia. On the contrary, the self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Oleksandr Lukashenko, admitted that Belarus is participating in the war on the side of Russia and has repeatedly repeated Russian propaganda messages that it is Ukraine that is the aggressor. There were also theses that Ukraine was allegedly preparing an attack on Belarus. Thus, Lukashenko is trying to justify his support for Russia and the fact that Belarus has actually become a springboard for the Russian army. In particular, part of the Russian missiles that hit Ukrainian cities and villages are launched from the territory of Belarus. That is why the attitude towards Belarus and its self-proclaimed leader in Ukraine is ambiguous.

However, because of such messages, it seems that Ukraine is not ready to negotiate with Russia, because it did not appreciate Lukashenko's efforts in organizing a platform for this. However, the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly stressed that they are not ready to negotiate with Russia on its terms, which provide for the annexation of the occupied territories and a neutral status.

5. Ex-deputies of the Opposition Platform - for Life who fled to Russia are launching the political project “The other Ukraine”, so that President Zelenskyi would not represent Ukraine abroad, but Medvedchuk. According to Viktor Medvedchuk, there are millions of Ukrainians who want friendship with Russia (according to the results of a sociological survey, now only 3% of Ukrainians have a positive attitude towards Russians). It is their interests that he is ready to represent with his team. The name of the new political force “The other Ukraine” is associated with the political project of the Russian national bolshevik Eduard Limonov “The Other Russia”. The organization was in opposition to Putin, for which it was recognized as extremist. In addition, this name contains the idea of a split and division of Ukraine and Ukrainians into sorts, however, this “has already happened”. For example, it was Russian propaganda that divided Ukrainians into Russian-speaking and Ukrainian-speaking, into Western and Eastern, etc. Viktor Medvedchuk himself is deprived of Ukrainian citizenship and is in Russia. That is, he cannot lead any political organization in Ukraine. Therefore, they are probably talking about the creation of a Russian organization with the word “Ukraine” in the title.

A month ago, Medvedchuk already tried to signal his political ambitions: in the Russian media “Izvestia” (News), he published an article about the alleged “anatomy” of the modern military confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, as well as about the role of the West in this war. We have already analyzed it in detail.

Oleksii Pivtorak, Olha Bilousenko

There are about 80 telegram communities in the Ukrainian telegram segment, whose users report the movement of military personnel allegedly distributing draft notices in Ukrainian cities. In these channels, messages can be added by everyone who sees the military with draft notices on the streets with the help of special bots. However, the administrators of telegram communities do not check whether each message about the likely distribution of draft notices on a street is true.

According to the Telemetrio platform, which provides analytics on the work of telegram communities, at the end of January 2023, about 80 channels and groups were operating in the Ukrainian segment of this messenger, having the words “draft notice” or “mobilization” or their equivalents in Russian. The audience of these communities ranges from 120 to 115 thousand people. The oldest of the currently active community with the name “Where do they distribute draft notices? Dnipro” appeared on March 12, 2022. Now this channel has 1.1 thousand subscribers. The total audience of these communities in the telegram is about 1.2 million messenger users.

As Detector Media analysts found out, Ukrainian telegram channels and groups that talk about draft notices cover an audience of 21 regions and Kyiv city. As a rule, most telegram communities operate in regions where the largest cities of Ukraine are the administrative centers. Nine are oriented to Kyiv and the region, 7 - to Kharkiv region and 7 - to Odesa region, 6 - to Lviv region.

In the Ukrainian segment, channels that operate on the territory of Donbas, Luhansk, Kherson and Crimea could not be found yet.

There are two types of communities where draft notice handouts are reported. The first includes those where one can exchange messages without the help of administrators or telegram bots. The second, respectively, include those where they publish only messages that were written to the bots, or subscribers cannot be told anything at all and the authors of the channel create the content themselves, but do not indicate the sources of information in the messages.

As an example of telegram channels of the first group, we can name the “Mobilization Draft Notice Ukraine News” channel, which has 17.6 thousand subscribers. Its participants write in the chat questions of varying complexity regarding how mobilization is taking place in Ukraine. For example, if a person who is the stepfather of three children will be allowed to go abroad. Most of the telegram communities where they communicate and warn about the issuance of draft notices belong to the second category. Either one can’t write messages there at all, or one needs to write them through a bot that publishes these messages. Judging by the names of the bots and the design of the telegram channels, there are at least three networks in the Ukrainian telegram that moderate the so-called draft notice communities. These networks control about 30 telegram communities.

For example, the @moderatorukr_bot network operates in the telegram, which is run through a bot with the nickname @moderatorukr_bot. It covers at least 22 channels covering 21 regions and Kyiv city. The telegram channels of the network are easily recognizable by their yellow logos with the word “draft notice” in black in the middle. These channels appeared in October-November 2022. One can publish messages only through the bot @moderatorukr_bot. First, in the bot, you need to select the area in which you have information about the distribution of draft notices, and then write a message. However, the bot does not delay the publication of any messages too much. And this can be abused to spread false or unverified information. For example, living in one end of Ukraine, one can report the distribution of draft notices in another part of the country. And this information will be published without verification. In the first months after the creation of telegrams, the channels of this network were probably seen as a source of profit. For example, from October to November, in the description of the “Zhytomyr Draft notices” channel, it was possible to contact the user @marcuss92 with promotional offers.

Also, in the Telegram there are networks of such communities as “Solidary friend” and “gde” (Where).

Thanks to the archive of these telegram channels, Telemetrio managed to find the contacts of the administrator of Solidary Friend Oleksandr. He was the only one of the moderators of telegram channels with draft notice information who answered the question of how he fights disinformation on the channels. “Today, our bot has a ban system, if a person spreads false information several times, he or she loses the opportunity to use the bot. We also have chats for each channel, where people actively help us in content moderation”, Oleksandr explained in a comment to Detector Media. He added that users of the telegram channel who communicate in the chat, the link to which is contained in the description of the telegram channels of this network, help to verify the veracity of the information. That is, the verification method is again unreliable, because messages are first published, and only then checked.

The danger of such networks of telegram channels is that they are run by anonymous people. Therefore, it is impossible to find out the purpose of creating specific networks of so-called draft notices channels, just as it is impossible to verify the information they publish. It should be understood that the distribution of draft notices to men of military age in the conditions of mobilization is legal, however, representatives of the Territorial recruitment centers do not say where and when they will distribute draft notices to men. Also, employees of the territorial recruitment centers took part in the spread of anxious moods in society. For example, when draft notices were handed over to defendants in criminal cases of rape; issued them to people who had sex in a public place or to visitors of mass events or just to men on the streets. That is, such actions probably provoked the emergence of such telegram communities.

The public importance of the topic and the great interest of people in it, as evidenced by the same search queries in Google, the authors of anonymous sites can use to make money and promote messages that are beneficial to them. In addition, information about the distribution of draft notices in different cities of Ukraine only nourish the level of tension in society. In conditions of war, when mobilization is underway, the dissemination of such messages can provoke panic and undermine confidence in the army command and government. Also, messages in such channels can be misleading, because due to the fact that the networks themselves are anonymous, it is impossible not only to verify the accuracy of the information referred to in the messages, but also to find out the algorithms by which the authors of such channels try to check the facts, or attempt to do so.

The telegram channel “Digital army of Russia” operates on the network, the authors of which in their messages give instructions to subscribers from Russia on how to comment on messages in Ukrainian telegram channels.

The fact-checkers of the “Beyond the News” project investigated this case and found that the subscribers of the “Digital army” are the distributors of prepared comments found in Ukrainian telegram channels. In the tasks, the administrator points out to the “digital army fighters” that they should evoke emotions in Ukrainians. For example, impotence, sadness, panic, fear, “everything is gone” feeling. Or the administrators set the task of convincing Ukrainians with comments that “nothing will ever change”. Comments are translated into Ukrainian through a translator, so there are typical errors. The administrator also attaches names and links to telegram channels to the task, where one can write something.

Analysts add that another goal of the “Digital Army of Russia” is to force Ukrainian telegram channels to close comments so that Ukrainians do not have platforms to express their opinions. Then, according to the intention of the authors, Ukrainians will switch to pro-Russian resources for the “truth”, but in reality, those are resources imbued with Russian propaganda and lies.

Against the background of news about the visit of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi to the UK, France and Belgium, pro-Russian anonymous telegram channels have been spreading a lot of disinformation messages, with the help of which Russia imposes its own interpretation of events on the audience. Analysts of Detector Media have identified the most common of them.

Zelenskyi's visit diverts attention from the situation in Bakhmut

In December, during Zelenskyi’s visit to the United States, propagandists wrote that Zelenskyi deliberately flew out of the country in order to “hang” the surrender of Bakhmut on the Commander-in-Chief of the Ukrainian Army Valerii Zaluzhnyi. Like, there is a long-standing conflict between Zelenskyi and Zaluzhnyi and such a decision is the consequences. Allegedly, “guilt” will allow them to change the commander-in-chief. However, Bakhmut is still under the control of the Ukrainian army. This time, the propagandists also take advantage of the difficult situation that has arisen in the city due to the Russian invasion. In their opinion, Zelenskyi wants to look like a hero, so he personally left to negotiate for weapons. However, to do this, he allegedly needs to convince Western partners that at least three hundred thousand more people will be mobilized into the Ukrainian army. Allegedly, such a figure is “justified” by the losses of personnel. However, such statements are only the assumption of propagandists. They don't provide any evidence. In this case, Russian propaganda is promoting several manipulative messages at once: Western support for Ukraine is waning; there are huge losses in the Ukrainian army, which will be covered by forced mobilization; Zelenskyi is “playing the hero”. In fact, Volodymyr Zelenskyi is acting president of a country at war and is negotiating with partners for further cooperation.

Zelenskyi’s trip to Europe “extinguishes” the corruption scandal in Ukraine

They say that the corruption scandal with procurement by the Ministry of Defense undermined the image of Ukraine. As if Ukraine now needs to create a positive “motivational” picture for the Europeans. According to the authors of anonymous telegram channels, Zelenskyi's visit, they say, will be able to change the headlines on the front pages of the Western press. Such theses are manipulation, because they do not have a causal relationship. Of course, the media will cover the visit of the President of Ukraine, we see a lot of positive feedback, but there are no guarantees that there will be no negative headlines for Ukraine either.

Zelenskyi is no longer a “bunker ruler” after debunking the myth that Putin wants to kill him

In such reports, anonymous authors refer to a recent interview with former Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett, which Russian propaganda used to spread disinformation. Propagandists claim that Putin showed mercy and promised not to kill Zelenskyi. However, propagandists invented this statement, distorting the meaning of what Bennett said.

In spreading this message, Russian propaganda uses the tactic of substitution of concepts. In fact, the Russian president is called the “bunker old man”, and not only by Ukrainians, but also by Belarusians and Russians. Unlike Putin, who rarely attends any events, Volodymyr Zelenskyi from the first days of the great war recorded videos in front of the building of the President's Office and showed the Ukrainians that he was in Ukraine. Trips to the liberated Bakhmut, Kherson, Izium and other cities, a visit to the United States also refute the version of the propagandists about “concealment” of Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

Zelenskyi will travel more in Europe in 2023, in particular because of the elections

Anonymous telegram channels write that Zelenskyi is allegedly preparing for the upcoming elections, so there will be more foreign work trips in the near future. Thus, propagandists are trying to be proactive and try to convince Ukrainians that the authorities are supposedly more worried about the upcoming elections and their continued tenure than about the war and the current problems of Ukrainians. However, according to Ukrainian legislation, elections are not held under martial law. So far, martial law has been extended until May 20, 2023. That is, elections to the Verkhovna Rada, presidential elections in Ukraine or local elections will take place only after the end of the war.

In Britain, they took a photo of Zelenskyi in front of a tank - this is the maximum that he can get from the trip

Reports say that the British allegedly allowed Zelenskyi to be photographed in front of the Challenger 2 tank solely to advertise the tank in the world media. As if these tanks will never appear on the front lines in Ukraine. Like, they promised to give them within a month, but only when placed in the capital for “PR”. Tanks will not be sent to the front. In fact, the Ukrainian military has already arrived in the UK and is learning how to operate these tanks. Moreover, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak assured Volodymyr Zelenskyi that the UK would expedite the dispatch of its and allied equipment to Ukraine “to ensure it reaches Ukraine’s frontline in the coming days and weeks, not years”.

Visit to the European Parliament will not have results

There are also messages in anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric, the authors of which claim that “except for the applause of insane senile people” a visit to the European Parliament will not give Ukraine anything. Like, they applaud Zelenskyi, take a picture with him, and that will be the end of it. Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to promote messages about “insignificant Europe” and “the absurdity and helplessness of European institutions”. Like, in fact, they do not solve anything and are not capable of anything. However, the head of the European Parliament, Roberta Metzola, in her speech noted that the European Union should take the next step and consider providing fighter jets to Ukraine. The visit of the President of Ukraine is still ongoing, so it is too early to sum up the results, as propagandists do.

Messages aimed at ridiculing Volodymyr Zelenskyi personally

In anonymous telegram channels, propagandists also use the tactics of ridicule and discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyi. This is necessary for propagandists to devalue the results of a foreign visit. In particular, they write that Zelenskyi was allegedly brought to the UK “like an amazing monkey” for the British monarch. Like, Zelenskyi, as a “beggar”, went to beg for help, moreover, he cried in the European Parliament, and this is a sign of weakness for propagandists. Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to make Ukrainians feel ashamed of their leader and his behavior abroad.

The second foreign visit of Volodymyr Zelenskyi since the beginning of the full-scale invasion has already become historic: the British monarch honored the Ukrainian president with an audience. Against the backdrop of Zelenskyi's visit, the UK imposed new sanctions against Russia. The President of France also awarded Volodymyr Zelenskyi with the Order of the Legion of Honor, the highest award in France that can be received for civil merit.

According to the Center for counteracting disinformation, scammers send fake messages online and on phones about the possibility of receiving financial assistance from foreign partners. Like, every Ukrainian can receive 6,500 hryvnia on a bank card.

To get such “assistance”, scammers offer to follow the link and enter personal data to enter the site. The design on the fake site imitates official web resources. After the introduction of bank details, thieves withdraw all funds from the owner's card.

The Center urges people to check information in official sources so as not to become a victim of fraudsters. Also, in case of suspicion of fraudulent activities on the Internet, they are asked to inform the cyber police by e-mail: callcenter@cyberpolice.gov.ua.

Taking advantage of the difficult situation of Ukrainians because of the war, scammers systematically offer a variety of “help”. Previously, scammers offered 6,000 hryvnias of “New Year's” assistance, 5,000 hryvnias of assistance from PrivatBank, financial assistance from the Uappl project, winter payments from the European Union, etc.

This was reported in the Security service of Ukraine. Several thousand bots “dispersed” disinformation about the situation on the southern front, popularized the Russian occupation groups and called for donations in their support. In addition, they engaged in discrediting the command of the Defense forces and incited Ukrainian citizens to evade mobilization.

The primary source of the spread of hostile content was the telegram channel of collaborator Rohov. At the beginning of the work, the bot farm numbered about two thousand fake accounts spreading pro-Russian messages and narratives allegedly on behalf of local residents. According to the Security service of Ukraine (SBU), in the future, this bot farm was planned to be used to spread Russian propaganda in the frontline areas of the region.

According to the investigation, the organizer of the bot farm is a local IT specialist. He placed the necessary equipment in one of the rented office premises in the city center. With the help of this equipment, new anonymous accounts were registered every day in social networks, including those banned in Ukraine. The investigation is currently ongoing, criminal proceedings have been opened.

Earlier, Detector Media talked about pro-Russian and occupation telegram channels that spread Russian propaganda.

The Government computer emergency response team of Ukraine (CERT-UA) recorded the distribution of emails on behalf of JSC Ukrtelecom.

The subject of the letter was about a legal claim on a personal account. A file with the “pdf.exe” format was attached to the letters, after launching of which the Remcos remote control and monitoring program was installed on the user’s computer. This application is payable and can be purchased from the manufacturer's website. Similar attempts have been repeatedly recorded since 2020. Previous cyberattacks have been carried out using the RemoteUtilities remote administration program. Letters were sent mainly to public authorities. Probably for espionage.

Earlier, experts said that Ukraine beats off from 5 to 40 powerful DDoS attacks every day.

Pro-Russian telegram channels used a recent interview with ex-Israeli prime minister Naftali Bennett to spread disinformation. Detector Media refutes the main messages of Russian propaganda made on the basis of this interview.

Putin promised for “100%” that he would not kill Zelenskyi.

Propagandists claim that in an interview, Bennett said that the Russian president showed “mercy” to “bring peace”. They emphasize that allegedly Russia has power over Ukraine to such an extent that it can decide the fate of the President of Ukraine. Pro-Russian media write that it is supposedly “proof” of Zelenskyi's weakness and his personal “dependence” on Russia in the current situation.

In fact, the ex-premier does not say too much directly on the topic of Ukraine in an interview, but recalls that Russia allegedly promised not to do anything with the Ukrainian president. However, Bennett himself does not attach as much importance to this as propaganda ascribes to it. In particular, Bennett says he did not believe Putin's words. The message about Russia's “act of mercy” in this case is an invention of propagandists as  Bennett did not say this.

Western countries “leaked” the negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

Russian propaganda writes that allegedly in an interview, Bennett said that the West is deliberately “dragging out” the war and does not consider Ukraine an independent state. Like, the West and personally Boris Johnson “curtailed” negotiations at the beginning of the war. Moreover, Ukraine allegedly only “plays along” with the West and has no influence on the outcome of the war.

The propagandists took Bennett's phrases out of context and mutilated quotes to advance their interests. According to Bennett, negotiations have indeed stalled. However, he calls the tragedy in Bucha, and not the unilateral decision of the West, the real reason for this. Bennett said that after these events, the negotiations ceased to make sense.

Russian propaganda has repeatedly tried to shift responsibility for its actions to others and create the illusion of a “sincere desire for peace”. To do this, they use the tactics of substitution of concepts. The main goal of propaganda is to demoralize Ukrainian society and increase the level of distrust in the authorities.

In closed Russian telegram channels, a message was circulated that it was allegedly possible to “agree” on several hours of intimacy with an “orphan from Ukraine”. Like, the cost of such a “service” is 250 thousand rubles. These messages also made their way into the Ukrainian segment of the telegram. The messages also supposedly contained screenshots of “correspondence” about the “transaction”. In particular, it was about the participation of the child in the filming of porn videos. The interlocutors describe the age of the boy as “going to school soon”.

Dmytro Lubinets, an Ombudsman, published a post with screenshots on his telegram channel and turned to the National police with a request to find out the details of the case. The National police denied the information. From the primary sources, the message about the “sale” of the child was deleted.

The cyber police of Ukraine found out that the child, whose photo was used to create a fake, was really born and lives in Russia. The boy, under the supervision of his mother, works as a model and advertises clothes and shoes, so his photo is freely available.

Earlier, Detector Media told how Russian propaganda justifies the deportation of Ukrainian children. According to the latest data, the Russians forcibly deported at least sixteen thousand children (according to other sources, this figure reaches more than seven hundred thousand). The crimes of the Russian army, including those against Ukrainian children, are being investigated by the UN.

The network got an appeal to the Ukrainians from the Russians, posted on little-known Ukrainian sites. It says that Ukrainians and Russians are one people that ruthlessly was divided by the West. The authors of the appeal also talk about brotherhood, the desire to reunite again, a common cultural heritage, and so on.

This case was noticed by the fact-checkers of the NotaYenota project, who found that the occupiers were hacking into Ukrainian websites and posting classic narratives about friendship and reconciliation between Ukraine and Russia. They emphasize that the appeals themselves are placed on little-known sites, probably with a lesser degree of security. Moreover, the texts of appeals appear on the pages of previously published materials. Consequently, users and creators of the resource have access to the entire site and will not even guess that on one of the pages you can find an appeal broadcasting typical pro-Kremlin narratives.

NotaYenota urges owners to check their sites for pro-Kremlin narratives, because the site itself may function without signs of hacking, but one of the web pages may hide the appeal of infidels.

Reports are circulating on the net that the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly decided to create telegram channels with “official information” about the activity of enemy aircraft and the movement of drones.

The Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine denied this information: “The Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not have any telegram channels that reflect the air situation, the movement of enemy air targets, the work of air defense, etc”. The department also urged administrators running fake pages on social networks not to use official Air Force symbols or photos of officials to promote their information platforms.

Official information platforms of the Air Force Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/kpszsu

Telegram: https://t.me/kpszsu

Instagram: instagram.com/air.force.ua.official

Twitter: https://twitter.com/KpsZSU

YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCfg-2zTad5ZVU1fQEtT6DSA

The fake document says that, allegedly, based on the results of the investigation, the “comprehensive commission” established the causes of the helicopter crash in Brovary near Kyiv. Allegedly, servicemen of one of the units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine shot down a helicopter from the Igla MANPADS. The “document” is dated on the day of the accident, that is, January 18.

The command of the Air Force of the Armed Forces of Ukraine denied the fake. The design of the fake letter does not meet the requirements, numerous errors were made in the text. The investigation is currently ongoing, there is no official information on the results yet.

Probably, the fake document was distributed to discredit the Ukrainian army and its leadership in the eyes of Ukrainians. In anonymous telegram channels immediately after the crash, a lot of messages appeared with the so-called versions of what happened. Propagandists have used fake documents to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine before. In particular, it was alleged about the losses in the Ukrainian army.

Unknown people sent letters to the mailboxes of the Czechs claiming that one of the candidates for the presidency of the Czech Republic died on the night of January 26, the day before the opening of polling stations, from “probable heart failure”. The letter was sent through the Russian mail service “Yandex”. The letter itself allegedly quoted the press secretary of the candidate Petr Pavel.

However, all the information in the letter is fake. In particular, according to Yevropeiska Pravda (European truth), the header of the e-mail contains an error, namely, Pavel's surname is spelled incorrectly, and in the letter itself there is a link to a website with the “com” domain, which has an address similar to the address of the official website of Pavel's election campaign. Visually, the site is really very similar to the original. The journalists found out that the metadata of the letter has a Russian trace, because the letter was sent from a Russian mail service.

The domain and website are operated by Njalla based in the Caribbean island of Nevis. And the domain itself is registered for the Canadian company Tucows, so it is impossible to trace the owner from public sources. This company is involved in pseudo-news sites that are used as a tool to destroy competition in business, Seznam Zpravy notes.

According to journalists, the unknown sent not only a letter announcing Pavel's death. Subsequently, another one came to the mailbox, it was on behalf of his communication manager. The letter stated that at night the candidate for the presidency of the Czech Republic experienced clinical death, but survived thanks to the efforts of doctors. However, all this is not true, and the manager's quote is fake. Pavel himself said that the criminal police of the Czech Republic were investigating the situation.

We remind that a new president is currently being elected in the Czech Republic. Among the candidates who made it to the second round, having received the voters' commitment, is Petr Pavel who received the largest number of votes in the first round of elections - 35.39%. His opponent was 0.39% behind.

Such a document was shared by propagandists in their telegram channels and the Kremlin media. It says that Ukraine is preparing to deport women and men who are abroad and allegedly asks the Ukrainian Embassy in the EU to provide information about people of military age. After the deportation, all women and men are mobilized. In particular, such an appeal was allegedly received by the Embassy of Ukraine in Latvia.

As experts from the Center for counteracting disinformation explain, the Ministry of foreign affairs of Ukraine did not send such appeals to the Ukrainian Embassy in Latvia and other European countries. The document is fake and has nothing to do with the official position of Ukraine.

By sharing such a document, propagandists want to sow panic among Ukrainian refugees in Europe. The propagandists also create the appearance that the situation at the front is extremely bad, because the Ukrainian authorities supposedly have to return people from abroad and mobilize even women.

This was reported in the Center for national resistance. On January 22, Russian propagandist Piehov shared a video allegedly filmed in the battles for Bilohorivka. The propagandist claims that he is “directly in Bilohorivka”. Like, the Russians are trying to break through the defense line “Siversk - Soledar - Bakhmut - Chasiv Yar”. In fact, the video was filmed in the temporarily occupied territory, on the outskirts of the village of Shypylivka, which is located almost eight kilometers from Bilohorivka, which is under the control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Moreover, the video shows how the Russians are fleeing from Ukrainian shelling.

On January 24, another Russian propagandist, Dambiyev, shared a video on his telegram channel, which allegedly recorded battles in the village of Krasna Hora near Bakhmut. However, this video is staged, it was filmed in Mariupol. This is evidenced by the results of the OSINT check of this video.

The situation in these sectors of the front is really difficult now, there are fights there. Probably, Russian propaganda, due to the spread of fake videos, is trying to demoralize Ukrainians and take credit for the next “achievements”.

Russian propaganda systematically uses fake videos to promote their interests. Previously, they distributed videos of how the Russian military shot sunflowers and boasted that it was a unit of the Armed Forces of Ukraine; how the Russians allegedly detained “Ukrainian saboteurs” on Russian territory; how they “destroyed” the Ukrainian tank division, etc.

Messages are circulating on social networks that allegedly due to the difficult energy situation in the country Ukrainians are provided with a one-time payment of 2,300 hryvnias from the Red Cross.

Fact-checkers of the “Brekhunets” (Liar) project checked the information and found that it was a scam. The scammers use a fake telegram channel called the Red Cross society, which has only 170 subscribers. At the same time, the official telegram channel of the organization has five thousand readers. Information about “assistance in connection with the energy situation in the country” is not there. Links to the pages of Ukrainian banks in messages are also fake. There is no information on such payments on the official pages of these banks. Fraudsters manipulate the limited registration time (only until 10:00 pm or only until 02:00 am) and ask to “hurry up to leave personal details” in order to receive “assistance”.

Also, to receive fake assistance, you need to enter your personal data, including your bank card number. This is a sign of phishing - the collection of personal data.

Fraudsters systematically use the difficult situation of Ukrainians because of war and offer a variety of “help”. The goal is different: from manipulative advertising of telegram channels to gaining access to bank cards of Ukrainians. In particular, earlier the scammers offered 6,000 hryvnias of “New Year's” assistance, 5,000 hryvnias of assistance from PrivatBank, financial assistance in conjunction with the Uappl project, and winter payments from the European Union.

In the Ukrainian segment of social networks, a video with allegedly featuring Yurii Lutsenko is being shared after a hard battle in Soledar, Donetsk region. In particular, the Volyn politician Volodymyr Bondar published a screenshot from the video on his personal page. However, according to the fact-checkers of the “Brekhunets” (Lier) project, this video is a deepfake.

According to the fact-checkers, with the help of special programs, the authors created a so-called deepfake, because the video footage shows a man in military uniform, who really looks like Ukrainian politician Yurii Lutsenko. In the video, the hero's face moves a lot, it increases or decreases in size, which is not typical of a live, non-supporting video. Analysts are convinced that the authors of the video took a photograph of a military man and, using computer technology, superimposed Lutsenko's face on it.

Moreover, the video was recorded for several seconds and contains only musical accompaniment, although the military himself is silent in the video and does not add a single comment.

This was announced by the head of the State service for special communications and information protection of Ukraine Yurii Shchyhol. In December 2022, the State Service for Special Communications stopped and blocked 395 such attacks. Today, on January 18, specialists from the State Service for Special Communications stopped a cyberattack by Russian hackers on the resources of the Ukrinform news agency.

In total, in 2022, the government's CERT-UA Computer emergency response team registered 2,194 cyber attacks. A quarter of them are against the government and local authorities. The energy sector, the security and defense sector, telecoms and developers, the financial sector, and logistics were most attacked. In addition, in December the system recorded 170,000 attempts to exploit vulnerabilities in government information resources protected by services. Most often, Russian military hackers send out malware that steals credentials or destroys information systems.

The State service for special communications and information protection also investigates attacks in the private sector - about 200-300 cyber incidents per day. They are examined mainly in semi-automatic mode.

Earlier, Detector Media talked about phishing attacks on Ukrainians. In particular, the scammers promised Ukrainians six thousand hryvnias of “New Year's” assistance; collected information about Ukrainian refugees and migrants; urged Ukrainians to apply for supposedly receiving financial assistance. More details.

Today, January 18, in Brovary, Kyiv region, a helicopter crashed near a kindergarten. It is a helicopter of the State Emergency Service, on board of which there was the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs: Minister Denys Monastyrskyi, his first deputy and secretary of state. All three died in the crash. Civilians who were close to the place where the helicopter fell were also injured. According to the Deputy Head of the Office of the President Kyrylo Tymoshenko, as of 1 pm, it is known that 16 people were killed, including 3 children, 30 people were injured, but the search is still ongoing.

The Security Service of Ukraine has already opened proceedings on the disaster. Currently, investigators have three official versions:

- violation of flight rules;

- technical malfunction of the helicopter;

- its intentional destruction.

However, on anonymous telegram channels pro-Russian rhetoric is broadcasting, including those operated by Russian intelligence, a lot of messages appeared immediately after the crash with so-called versions of what happened and who was to blame. “Detector Media” has identified and explains the most common disinformation messages about the tragedy in Brovary.

1. Helicopter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine crashed

Immediately after the tragedy, even before the catastrophe was reported by Ukrainian officials and the media, a message appeared in the telegram channels of Russian propagandists that a helicopter of the Armed Forces of Ukraine had crashed in Brovary. In the reports, the authors traditionally cited their own sources without providing any confirmation. In fact, a helicopter of the State Emergency Service crashed in Brovary. In particular, information about this appeared on the pages of President Volodymyr Zelenskyi. The president's messages also said that Denys Monastyrskyi and his team were in the helicopter at the time of the accident.

2. The plane crash was due to air defense

This is one of the most common messages of Russian propagandists about the likely causes of the helicopter crash. Like, a helicopter with the leadership of the Ministry of Internal Affairs was simply shot down by Ukrainian air defense. Further, the versions on the accusation of the air defense operators differ: in some reports they claimed that this was done intentionally, in others, on the contrary, they insisted that it happened by accident, but also because the air defense in Ukraine is faulty. Firstly, at the time of the helicopter crash in Brovary and in general in the Kyiv region there was no air raid alert. According to the Alert Map, the last time an air alert was announced in the Kyiv region was on January 14, during a massive enemy missile attack. So the likelihood that the air defense worked unnecessarily, not seeing a threat from the air, is scanty. Secondly, this version is not included in the list of official ones considered by the Security service of Ukraine (SBU) investigators. However, this is not the first time that Russian propaganda has accused operators of the Ukrainian air defense system of negligence and, accordingly, of crimes. The propagandists used this technique for the last time on Saturday, January 14, when the entrance to a residential building was destroyed as a result of the fall of a Russian rocket. More than four dozen people died as a result of the disaster. Propagandists systematically spread fakes and manipulations about the work of air defense. In particular, Russia needs this to accuse Ukraine of various crimes, mostly committed through the fault of Russia itself. In this case, the propaganda found a reason to once again accuse Ukraine of alleged negligence, because of which people die.

3. Ukraine hides the true cause of the disaster

Another message was shared in anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. Anonymous reports say that the Ukrainian authorities allegedly know and hide the true cause of the disaster in Brovary. Like, Ukrainians may not even wait, because they won’t be told the truth, because they won’t like it. In fact, it is too early to talk about the causes of the plane crash before the investigation is over. In order to accurately state who is to blame for the disaster, whether it was accidental etc., evidence is needed for the sake of collecting which the SBU initiated an investigation and put forward the first official versions. However, such a message is intended to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and once again nourish the narrative about its alleged negligence and indifference to its own people.

4. The accident happened because of cheap helicopters

In order to create the appearance of a careless Ukrainian government, the message was also spread that the accident allegedly occurred due to bad helicopters that Ukraine purchased. Allegedly, it says about former helicopters that the Ministry of the internal affairs purchased from France in September 2018. Like, the helicopter crash was due to the fact that the helicopter was common and bad, because earlier the Norwegians allegedly refused a batch of the same helicopters. In fact, there is no data on which helicopter is in question, and whether it was purchased in France. There is indeed a version of a technical malfunction among the official versions of the investigators, however, it is impossible to state that the crash occurred because of this and, in particular, because the Ukrainian authorities deliberately purchased faulty helicopters, as there is not a single confirmation of this yet.

In addition, anonymous telegram channels circulate versions of a helicopter shot down from an American Stinger man-portable surface-to-air missile system or a drone. However, the facts confirming these versions are also not provided by anonymous authors, and none of them is included in the list of official ones.

Russian propaganda once again speculates on sensitive topics and tries to promote its own narratives, according to which it is Ukraine that is the aggressor, and the Ukrainian authorities do not care about their people, because people are dying because of their negligence and criminal actions. In this case, propagandists make unfounded and hasty conclusions, ignoring the official versions of the investigation.

Viktor Medvedchuk, a former deputy of the pro-Russian OPZzh (Opposition platform — for life) party, whom Ukraine accuses of treason and deprived of citizenship, published an article in the Russian media Izvestiia (News) about the “anatomy” of the modern military confrontation between Ukraine and Russia, as well as about the role of the West in this war. In order to prove the “guilt of the West” in the destruction of the Soviet Union, he used a fictitious quote from former United States President Bill Clinton. Insider drew attention to this.

“Using the mistakes of Soviet diplomacy, the extreme self-confidence of Horbachov and his entourage, including those who openly took a pro-American position, we achieved what President Truman was going to do with the Soviet Union with the help of an atomic bomb”, Medvedchuk quotes Clinton in the article. But, as the checkers found out, the quote allegedly belonging to Clinton was published both in Russian and in English only on Russian resources, for example, on the pages of users on Vkontakte. And also in one of the Russian history textbooks for history teachers, which contains a lot of fakes, propaganda, errors and unproven facts. Secondly, the quote appears to have been taken from Bill Clinton's speech at the meeting of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on October 24, 1995 - but the fact checkers found no evidence that Clinton spoke or even attended this meeting. There is also no quote or mention of this speech in the English-language media or historical articles about Bill Clinton.

We recall that in his article Medvedchuk promotes a lot of disinformation messages that reproduce the position of Russian propaganda. Detector Media has prepared a selection of them.

On Saturday, January 14, during another massive Russian missile attack on Ukraine, one of the enemy missiles hit a multi-storey building in Dnipro. After the hit, the whole entrance collapsed. According to the latest data, the bodies of 40 dead, including three children, were found at the site of the explosion, as reported by the press service of the State emergency service.

Molfar OSINT community analysts and Our Money.Lviv jointly conducted an investigation to identify all those involved in the terrorist crime.

They published all those involved in the rocket attacks, including those who refueled the planes and rockets before launch. Additionally, persons directly associated with this aviation regiment, but not belonging to its personnel, were identified.

Experts cite a telegram post by Hennadii Korban, the head of the territorial defense in Dnipro, who said that the 52nd Guards heavy bomber aviation regiment based in the city of Shaikivka committed the crime. At the same time, analysts made an effort to identify every person from the regiment.

In addition, fact-checkers add that it was this regiment that was previously involved in the terrorist shelling of the Amstor shopping center in Kremenchuk on June 27, 2022.