The propaganda telegram channels are spreading information that Russian soldiers are paid bonuses for the elimination of “foreign mercenaries” fighting in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. They say that for the elimination of a “foreign mercenary” who is a US citizen, they give 5 thousand dollars, and for a citizen of Poland - 1.5 thousand dollars, etc. In reporting this, the propagandists refer to the British tabloid Daily Express, which allegedly provided the relevant data.

However, in reality, this information is not true. The Daily Express did not publish the relevant data either on its website or in its social networks. Using Google's reverse image search function, it was possible to find out that the original source of the dissemination of the data on the “bonus for the elimination of “foreign mercenaries”” is a pro-Russian social network user X. Therefore, it is likely that the above infographics were created by the propagandists themselves, distributing it on behalf of an authoritative publication. And the fact that this information was disseminated exclusively in the Russian segment of the network is an additional argument in favor of its falsity.

By spreading such disinformation, the Russians are trying to feed the narrative about the alleged presence of “foreign mercenaries” in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Yes, Russia is allegedly fighting not only with Ukraine, but with the entire “collective West”.

Earlier, we analyzed the fake news that a “foreign mercenary” – a US Air Force serviceman – was killed as a result of a Russian missile strike on an airfield in the Khmelnytskyi region.

Russian sources are distributing a photo of a homemade wooden cross and a plaque attached to it. It says: “Here lie the unidentified remains of a defender of Ukraine, No. 214350”. “And how many of these are there throughout the country?”, this is how Russians are commenting on the image of the alleged burial of an unknown Ukrainian soldier who died during the fighting. In addition, they draw attention to the lack of flowers on the grave - this is supposed to indicate a lack of respect on the part of society for Ukrainian soldiers who give their lives in the war.

However, in reality, this photo is fake. This is reported in the StopFake project. Firstly, the parts of the sentence on the sign do not agree with each other - “here rest (instead of “rest”) the unidentified remains of a defender”. Secondly, despite the fact that the word “unidentified” is appropriate in this context, in real burials of unknown soldiers, it is customary to use the phrase “temporarily unidentified” to emphasize that the identification of the soldier and the search for his relatives are ongoing. In particular, this can be seen in the photo of the corresponding burials of 2015 in Dnipro.

Additionally, using the Forensically tool, StopFake journalists found that the propagandists had changed the inscription on the cross in a photo editor. The Error Level Analysis function showed that in the image of the area, the signs without text look significantly darker, while in the unedited photo, flat surfaces and uniform textures should have the same color.

Finally, in cases where it is not possible to immediately identify the deceased soldier, the body is kept in the morgue for a certain period of time, DNA material is collected from it (to continue identifying the soldier and searching for his relatives), and then buried with military honors. When the deceased is identified, his relatives have the right to rebury the body.

The Black Tulip humanitarian mission also takes care of the dignified burial of fallen Ukrainian soldiers. The search group returns home the bodies of soldiers that cannot be immediately removed from the battlefield due to intense fighting or mining. Accordingly, the propaganda message about the careless burial of Ukrainian soldiers does not correspond to reality.

Earlier, we analyzed a fake about the alleged theft of personal belongings of a Ukrainian fighter at his funeral.

Videos of military equipment located along the road are being distributed online. The descriptions of the corresponding videos say that this is allegedly Ukrainian equipment that was hit in the Kursk region, where it remains.

In fact, this information is fake, the VoxCheck project reports. The video shows Russian equipment that Ukrainian troops managed to capture as a result of military operations. At the beginning, a tank is visible, a photo of which was published back in 2022.

Further on, at the 16th second of the video, one can see an advertisement for Best Mix pet food in Ukrainian from the Ukrainian company Inbel. It could not be placed in the Kursk region.

Finally, OSINT analyst "EjShahid" established that the video was filmed in the village of Myrne in Donetsk region. It is located at a great distance from the Russian-Ukrainian border. The analyst additionally confirms that the video shows captured Russian tanks.

The purpose of the fake is to convince everyone around that the Kursk operation of the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly makes no sense and entails huge losses for Ukraine, both in personnel and equipment. Earlier, we refuted the information that 74% of Ukrainians are against the Kursk operation.

Russian propaganda sources are distributing a video on behalf of the UNITED24 platform, which states that Ukraine is allegedly planning to recruit Polish military personnel to work in the Territorial center of procurement and social support in December 2024.

However, this information is not true. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation after verifying this “news” on the initiative of UNITED24 itself. They did not create such content and, accordingly, did not distribute it.

The purpose of this fake is to cause discord between the Ukrainian and Polish peoples, as well as to discredit the cooperation between Ukraine and its partners. We have previously refuted a number of similar fakes, where Russians spread disinformation on behalf of the UNITED24 platform. For example, in the Kursk direction, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are “massively poisoned by food” from local stores.

Photos of city lights are being distributed in the Russian segment of the Internet, which depict a soldier with two flags flying above him: the national flag of Ukraine and the flag of the LGBTQ+ community. The response advertising is allegedly accompanied by the slogan “We have something to protect”. Some of the messages distributed by the propagandists claim that the city lights were placed all over Kyiv, while other publications write that this advertising was placed in Sumy.

However, in reality, such advertising does not exist in Kyiv, Sumy or any other city in Ukraine. This is a photo fake. Having paid attention to the details in the photo, in particular, to the building in the right corner in one of the photos, fact-checkers from the Bez Brekhi (Without Lies) project noticed that this building is a residential building for workers of the M. V. Frunze Machine-Building Plant. In reality, a completely different city light is located near this building - not with an advertisement for service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine, but a memorial one - dedicated to the deceased soldier from the Sumy region, Serhii Myronchenko.

Earlier, we refuted the information that KharkivPride allegedly created an advertising campaign “Better a gay Ukrainian soldier than a straight draft dodger”.

Russian sources are spreading information about alleged “atrocities” by Ukrainian soldiers from the 61st separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the Kursk region. The propagandists write that a Ukrainian serviceman allegedly “bragged” online about a photograph depicting “tortured peaceful resisting residents”.

However, this is a fake. The Center for Countering Disinformation found the original message, and it turned out that it had a completely different context. Russian propagandists made certain manipulations with the real correspondence, changing its text in a photo editor and, finally, presenting it as the real one.

The purpose of the fake is to present Ukrainian military personnel in a negative light. That is, it is about discrediting Ukrainian soldiers, in particular those carrying out combat missions in the Kursk region. Earlier, we documented a fake that Ukraine allegedly created “concentration camps” in the Sumy region.

Russian Telegram channels are spreading information that Ukrainians are allegedly risking their lives en masse and registering in the frontline Pokrovsk in Donetsk region. They are doing this in order to become Russian citizens after the city is occupied. In reporting this, the propagandists refer to the corresponding words of former Ukrainian MP Ihor Mosiichuk.

However, such statements are unfounded. This is written about in the VoxCheck project. Using keywords, the project's analysts found the original interview of former MP Mosiichuk, part of which was taken by the Russians. In the video, he really says that Ukrainians are allegedly registering in Pokrovsk because they want to become citizens of Russia. He calls them “waiters” waiting for Russia to come, so that they can then receive a Russian passport and payments. At the same time, Mosiichuk calls “friends who live in Kyiv but have connections in the occupied territories” the source of this information. That is, the former MP does not have any real statistical information, but only operates on guesses. In general, there is no official data regarding Ukrainians who are registering in Pokrovsk.

It is worth noting that in Ukraine there have been cases when the SBU exposed people who were expecting occupation by Russia and spreading Kremlin propaganda, but this is not a widespread phenomenon.

Before the full-scale invasion, Pokrovsk had a population of over 82,000. After Russia stepped up its offensive in Donetsk region and the threat of occupation of the city, people began to leave, and on August 19, 2024, local authorities announced the forced evacuation of families with children. As of September 6, 2024, there were fewer than 25,000 residents in Pokrovsk. On October 4, 2024, the city council reported that about 13,000 people remained in the city.

Ihor Mosiichuk is an unreliable source, he has repeatedly spread Russian propaganda. For example, he misinformed that the irretrievable losses of the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly exceeded 500 thousand people.

Pro-Russian Telegram channels are spreading photos of the board game “Try to explain”, which is sold in Ukraine. In it, players are asked to explain words on cards, in particular “Moskal (Russian) in captivity” and “deoccupation”.

However, in reality, this is a fake, as reported by the VoxCheck project. Using Google's reverse image search function, it was possible to find out that when creating the fake, the propagandists used the visual design of the Russian board game “Say if you can”. After all, the images of the characters in the fake game completely match the original cover. It is likely that the fakers printed the box with the fake game using the illustration of the real game.

Although there are indeed games called “Try to Explain” or other similar board games sold in Ukraine, there are no games with such visual design.

This is not the first fake concerning board games. For example, we previously analyzed how propagandists manipulated the board game “Risk” for their own interests.

Propagandists are spreading information that a mutiny has occurred in the 116th separate mechanized brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces near Kupiansk. In addition, they claim that the unit has lost its combat capability, as a result of which it was allegedly withdrawn from the combat zone. The enemy's messages say that the military refuses to follow orders, and relatives are raising money for lawyers to help the detained fighters avoid punishment. However, this is fake.

This was reported by specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. They checked this information among the military command and confirmed that these statements were fictitious. The brigade continues to carry out combat missions in a certain area of responsibility and acts in accordance with orders.

Such information leaks are part of psychological operations aimed at undermining the morale of the military and distrust of the Ukrainian Armed Forces among the population. Their goal is to destabilize the internal front, cause panic, despondency and discredit the Ukrainian army against the backdrop of active military operations. Such campaigns are also designed to exert emotional pressure on the families of the military in order to cause fear and doubt in the effectiveness of the armed forces. The enemy uses disinformation as a weapon to weaken Ukraine's defense, so it is important to trust only verified sources of information.

The Internet is spreading alleged words of the head of the Union of Consumers of Public Utilities Oleh Popenko that the cost of electricity for the population in 2025 will be 6.5-7 UAH kWh. He stated that these figures have already been voiced by representatives of the electricity supplier company YASNO, DTEK and deputy Serhii  Nahorniak.

However, the Cabinet of Ministers, YASNO DTEK and Nahorniak did not announce an increase in the electricity tariff in 2025 to 6.5-7 UAH kWh. The current tariff of 4.32 UAH kWh will be valid until May 2025. Let us recall that according to Ukrainian legislation, electricity tariffs are set by the Cabinet of Ministers. .

At the beginning of summer, the government raised electricity tariffs for Ukrainians. Against this background, the thesis is spreading on social networks that life in Ukraine is “unbearable” — prices for utilities, including electricity, are “sky-high” and even incomparable with European prices.

Although experts from the analytical center Dixi Group analyzed the thesis and found out that the authors of such disinformation materials take information about prices from different sources without understanding how comparable such information is. One source may indicate prices based on taxes, another - without. One source contains information about wholesale prices for electricity (i.e. without taking into account tariffs for transportation and taxes), and another - about retail (where all these components are already included).

In fact, the explainer differentiated all the indicators that accompany the time when electricity “reaches” the buildings of Europeans - the price of goods, transportation tariffs, supplier markup, taxes - and it was possible to find out that Ukraine has the lowest price for electricity among the European countries considered. This is largely due to government regulation.

Other countries - Italy, the UK, France and Germany - have higher prices, partly due to significant investment needs in clean energy and new electricity grids.

By spreading such a message, propagandists want to feed the narrative that Ukraine is allegedly uninhabitable due to the lack of electricity or high prices for utilities. In this way, the authors want to sow panic among Ukrainians in order to destabilize the mood and create a feeling that “nothing will change”. Also, by calling the so-called collapse revenge for the Crimean Bridge, Russians once again seek to shift responsibility for what is happening to Ukraine. They say that Russia is destroying infrastructure solely because of Ukraine’s aggression. However, it is Russia that is the aggressor, and it is this country that started the war.

Information is being spread on Russian social networks that a private clinic has posted ads looking for a doctor and a driver-courier to work in frontline cities. Anonymous users report that these vacancies are likely related to the removal of organs from the front or semi-legal cooperation between Ukrainian military personnel and private clinics.

But this is a fake. The ads contain numerous inaccuracies, the phone number belongs to another person. Using keywords, our fact-checking colleagues found the vacancies shown in the screenshots, all of them were published by a user named Viktor Glushko. The ad from the first screenshot was removed from the SellBuyAll.com.ua website, but Glushko published a vacancy for an anesthesiologist-resuscitator on the same website. It is noteworthy that an ad with identical content on the same website was published by an account with the nickname _anо.ni.m. The vacancies were posted on other local websites with ads.

There are inaccuracies in the text of the advertisements themselves. In particular, it is stated that the applicant for the vacancy of a surgeon must have mastered “transplantation methods”. However, fact-checkers were unable to find a definition of “transplantation methods”.

The list of duties of a “driver-courier” includes the item “delivery of biomaterials in Ukraine and abroad by automobile and motorcycle transport”. However, firstly, travel outside of Ukraine is prohibited for most military-liable men, although, of course, there are exceptions.

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

Read also: How and why Russia uses the topic of “black transplantology” in Ukraine

Russian Telegram channels are distributing photos and videos that allegedly show buildings in Kyiv using laser projections to greet the Russian dictator on his birthday.

But this is a fake, because the photo and video content are fabricated and do not correspond to reality. In fact, there were no greetings on the buildings, and the Russians made grammatical errors when generating the video content.

The video of the Arena City building indicates the date - October 7, 2024 and the time - 00:01. At the same time, voices of people and the movement of cars are heard behind the scenes, which raises doubts about the veracity of this video. Since the introduction of martial law in Ukraine, a curfew has been in effect, prohibiting people from being on the streets, in particular, in Kyiv from 00:00 to 05:00. So the presence of an active city life at the present time does not correspond to Ukrainian realities and may indicate that the video is falsified.

Moreover, on another recording, one can see an identical greeting at the Ukraine Hotel. However, when asked by our fact-checking colleagues, the hotel responded that they did not make such a greeting. And there are also no mentions of the Russian dictator's birthday on the hotel's social media pages or on its website.

We have documented fakes many times, whether they involve fake graffiti, foreign magazine covers/newspaper columns, or advertising videos. In this way, propagandists aim to show that their rhetoric (for example, that Zelenskyi is hated by the whole world) is also repeated in the West. This may make readers think that the public is really unhappy with Ukraine. And especially when the authors use elements of popular culture, implying that people are laughing at the situation in Ukraine and that the Ukrainian agenda is a reason for Europe to laugh.

A story allegedly from the national daily newspaper USA Today is being spread on Russian social networks, which states that an American food blogger was blocked on a streaming platform “for preparing Russian dishes”.

“A girl with 1.2 million subscribers was left without a channel and income because she dedicated an episode to making dumplings, borshch, and told how she had a great trip to Russia and got acquainted with Russian cuisine”, the propagandists say.

But there was no such story on the pages of USA Today. Moreover, using a reverse Google search and the query “YouTube blocked a blogger for a video about cooking a Russian dish”, the search engine only shows publications from pro-Kremlin media that translate their materials into English. That is, it is most likely that such news is simply made up.

And in fact, a conditional video or channel could be blocked if it violated YouTube community rules. Definitely, a channel could not be deleted because of a “video about a Russian dish”.

Thus, propagandists promote a narrative about the existence of so-called Russophobia, which Moscow fights against and protects its citizens. The Kremlin media puts the meaning of another term into the word Russophobia, namely xenophobia — a sharp rejection of another culture, language, and way of life that can manifest itself in the political life of a state through discrimination based on national and cultural grounds. The meaning of this word, in a much narrower sense, is hidden behind the term Russophobia, according to Russian propaganda. Russia also justifies its attack on Ukraine with so-called Russophobia.

Russia presents Russophobia as a separate type of Nazism that originated in Ukraine and is spreading en masse around the world. Anyone who criticizes Russia is a Russophobe, and therefore a Nazi. At first, the disinformation message about Russophobia was aimed mainly at the Ukrainian audience, but after the world community supported Ukraine in the war, it spread to European countries. It even went as far as accusing Israel of Nazism.

A video of Ukrainian servicemen packing up their belongings is being circulated in the Russian segment of social networks. Propagandists claim that the video is allegedly evidence of “looting” by Ukrainian soldiers in the Kursk region.

“The villagers are robbing the Kursk region. The Nazis cannot do otherwise”, users comment.

But using image search tools, StopFake fact-checkers discovered that the video of soldiers packing their belongings was published on September 15 on the channel of a Ukrainian serviceman from the 58th separate motorized infantry brigade.

Also in the description of the video the location is indicated - Donbas. From the following videos on this channel one can see that the military is moving to another place.

Russian propaganda accuses Ukrainian troops of looting for many reasons - both to discredit the image of the Ukrainian armed forces and to distract attention from the problems with looting among Russian soldiers, which have repeatedly proven themselves guilty.

There are reports online that in Ukraine, students “who have not donated money to purchase generators for the school” are allegedly not allowed to attend classes. To confirm this, users share a photo of what appears to be a school board, where a list of students who have not donated money is compiled and who are now prohibited from entering the computer science classroom.

“These students no longer enter the computer science classroom - this is how Ukrainian classes deal with those who failed to donate money for the generator. Now even education is paid in this country”, some Internet users comment.

But in accordance with Ukrainian legislation, namely Article 58 of the Law of Ukraine On Complete General Secondary Education, funding of state and municipal educational institutions is carried out at the expense of state and local budgets, as well as other sources not prohibited by law. In fact, the so-called requirements of the administration to the parents of students to collect funds for school repairs, classroom needs, the purchase of textbooks, detergents, etc. are illegal.

And local governments are responsible for purchasing generators for schools. According to the latest data, more than 80% of Ukrainian schools are equipped with generators. For example, this was stated in the response of the Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine to a request from Hromadske in early August 2024.

And with the help of a special tool InVID&WeVerify, it was possible to detect anomalies in the processes of image creation and compression, which indicates external interference. The analysis showed that objects were added or moved in the image. And also in the image itself, incorrect spelling of a number of surnames, phonetically close to their Russian pronunciation, was recorded. For example, “Lisenko” instead of “Lysenko”, “Petrichenko” instead of “Petrychenko”.

Anonymous Telegram channels are discussing the reaction of the Ukrainian leadership to a previously published article by The Wall Street Journal, which states that the number of killed Ukrainian soldiers allegedly reaches 80 thousand, and the wounded - 400 thousand. At a meeting with journalists on September 20, 2024, Volodymyr Zelenskyi denied such information.

“80 thousand? That's a lie. The real figure is significantly lower than what was published. Significantly”, Zelenskyi said.

WSJ journalists also reported that it is difficult to determine the exact number of dead and wounded in the Russian-Ukrainian war, since Russia and Ukraine refuse to publish official estimates or publish ones that “many do not trust”. And they formed their figures based on unnamed sources familiar with the situation in Ukraine.

Russian propagandists used this information drive and spread reports that Polish journalists also decided to conduct their own assessment of the dead and came up with a figure of up to 500 thousand killed Ukrainian soldiers.

“The more Ukrainian soldiers, and especially those from the western regions of Ukraine, die, the easier it will be for Poland to take back what already belongs only to it,” the propagandists who allegedly commented on the “results” of the study on Polish radio reported.

But this is just a Russian fake. No major Polish media outlets have come out with such news - and even with the help of a reverse Google search - using the key phrase “500,000 wojskowych zabitych na Ukrainie” (500 thousand soldiers died in Ukraine) there are no similar publications.

As for the phrase on Polish radio, it was also made up, because there were no “results”  of the study. Moreover, the quote that the propagandists cite was only published in the segment of Russian and anonymous telegram channels. That is, official sources did not confirm this: and the quote itself is a set of Russian rhetoric about “Poland taking the western part of Ukraine”.

Information about the dead is sensitive information that the Kremlin's minions are trying to speculate on, playing on the mood of Ukrainians. Due to the extremely inflated figures from the propagandists, it may seem that the war has no end and soon no one will be fighting. In general, such figures cannot be genuine; even the Ukrainian authorities can adjust some constant figures, for example, only deny the WSJ material, since it is currently impossible to establish the real number of dead during the active phase of the war.

Let us recall that in February of this year, the Ukrainian president reported the number of 31 thousand fallen Ukrainian soldiers over two years of the great war.

Russians are distributing a video on behalf of the Ministry of Energy, which allegedly urged Ukrainians to use manure briquettes for heating. After all, they supposedly burn longer and do not harm the environment. In the video, the Ministry of Energy also explains how they can be made.

However, this is a fake, the VoxCheck project writes. In fact, the Ministry of Energy has not published such a video either on its website or on its social media pages. Moreover, the department does not create vertical videos, as the Russians did, does not add its logo to the recordings and does not use the appropriate font. The forgery is also indicated by the mistakes made by the Russians. In Ukrainian, the correct spelling is “сушитися”, not “сушится” (to dry out). They also wrote the word “замішайте” incorrectly instead of “змішайте” (to mix).

With such fakes, Russians are trying to ridicule the Ukrainian authorities, who allegedly do nothing to solve energy problems, and to remove responsibility from Russia. However, in reality, it is precisely because of the massive shelling of the Russian army since March 2024 that Ukraine has lost more than 9 GW of generation, and Russia has occupied another 18 GW since the start of the invasion. All this leads to a shortage of generation and power outages.

Read on Censor.NET: Propagandists on behalf of the Ministry of Energy of Ukraine distribute photos of landmarks with recommendations for saving electricity

Russian sources are distributing a photo of what appears to be a billboard in New York City, which advertises recruitment for contract service in the Russian army. The text on the banner says: “Join the army of victory! Salary for the first year is 4,500,000 rubles. Sign a contract in Tatarstan!”

However, in reality, this is a fake photo, as reported by the VoxCheck project. Using Google's reverse image search function, the project's analysts were unable to find the photo that the propagandists could have used to create the fake, but they did find it in the Russian search engine Yandex.Image, which is blocked in Ukraine.

Accordingly, a reverse search showed that the photo that is being circulated these days is a still from a video filmed back in 2022. The original still frame does not contain a banner about recruitment for service in the Russian army, but an announcement from the special economic zone (SEZ) Alabuga, located in Tatarstan (Russia). The real billboard says in Russian “Time to go home”. The details of the photos are completely identical: the angle of the frame, the sky with clouds of the same shape, other advertising billboards. So, the propagandists took a screenshot from the old video and edited it.

Commenting on the original banner, Alabuga SEZ representative Daniia Utalieva told the propaganda publication Kommersant-Kazan that it is aimed at bringing back specialists in the fields of aviation, microelectronics and IT to Russia.

We have previously recorded a similar fake, which consisted of the fact that billboards in honor of Victory Day allegedly appeared in New York.

Russian propaganda telegram channels have been spreading a message that on September 26, 2024, a Russian missile strike on the airfield in Starokonstiantyniv allegedly killed a career US Air Force soldier. As ‘proof’, the propagandists are publishing a corresponding message from a certain Melanie Malwin-Parker, allegedly the soldier’s wife.

However, this is a fake, as reported by VoxCheck. Fact-checkers were unable to find a single account named Melanie Malwin-Parker not only on Facebook, but also on the Internet as a whole.

Also, the photo itself, supposedly of the dead soldier, shows some editing – part of his left ear is missing.

Screenshot of the fake message

In addition, the fake publication, apparently by the wife of a military man, indicates the geolocation as “Altus Air Force Base”. This is a U.S. Air Force base located in Altus, Oklahoma. The official website of the base indicates that the 97th Airlift Wing is located there. It consists of the 58th Transport Squadron, the 54th and 56th Air Refueling Squadrons. The units carry out their tasks on the military transport C-17 Globemaster III and on the KC-135 Stratotanker and KC-46 Pegasus tanker aircraft. The list of equipment does not include the F-16 fighter, so there was no need for a specialist for this base in Ukraine.

Russian propaganda is spreading this fake to fuel the narrative about the alleged presence of “foreign mercenaries” in Ukraine. We previously analyzed disinformation that partners allegedly provided Ukraine with faulty F-16 fighters.

Propagandists are spreading information on anonymous Telegram channels that American actress Milla Jovovich allegedly fired her Ukrainian housekeeper because of her ‘Russophobia’. They claim that the Ukrainian refused to speak Russian with the actress’s 16-year-old daughter, Ever Anderson, thereby allegedly violating her duties. It is reported that the housekeeper’s name is allegedly Svitlana Chornykh, and she is a refugee from Ukraine. However, this is fake.

It was noticed by experts from the StopFake project. When checking this story, they found several suspicious moments. Firstly, not a single authoritative foreign publication reported on this incident. English-language mentions appear only from anonymous users of the X (former Twitter) and Odysee platforms. Secondly, all publications, both in Russian and English-language media, have the same text.

StopFake has established that the message about the departure of the Ukrainian Jovovich appeared on September 28 on the satirical Russian Telegram channel The Empire is Very Evil, which publishes fictitious news. In its description, the channel directly warns that the published materials may be fakes or satire. Like other publications on this channel, the “news” that Milla Jovovich fired the Ukrainian because she refused to speak Russian is fiction. In the comments under the corresponding message, users come up with further fictitious details and mock the Russian media, which took this satire for reality and spread it on their social networks.

The purpose of spreading this fake is to discredit Ukrainians and reinforce the narrative of alleged “Russophobia” among Ukrainians, which portrays them in a negative light. Such fictional stories are used to spread hostility between nations, manipulate public opinion and justify Russia’s aggressive policy towards Ukraine amid the war.

Information about a supposed "necrophilia show” in Kyiv, featuring dancing coffins and a funeral parade, is being spread on social networks. The propagandists who create these publications are trying to link this to Ukraine's “moral decline”, its rejection of Orthodoxy, and the country's European course of development. In the comments, these events are called an expression of “necrophilia” and “the corruption of Kyiv Rus”. However, the video being spread has nothing to do with necrophilia or the rejection of Orthodoxy.

This manipulation was noticed by experts from the StopFake project. They found out that this is indeed an excerpt from a funeral fashion show, which was part of the international funeral industry exhibition in Kyiv, which took place back in June 2021. Similar exhibitions are held in many countries around the world, including Russia. These events are platforms for meetings of representatives of funeral businesses and demonstrations of new technologies and products. However, propagandists distorted the context of the event, trying to present it as an example of the moral decline of Ukraine.

Such manipulations are aimed at discrediting Ukraine, its cultural and political values. Propaganda tries to show that Ukraine, having turned away from Russia, has allegedly lost its traditions and moral guidelines, having become a victim of the European path of development. This is also an attempt to undermine trust in Ukraine in the international arena, presenting it as a “spiritless” and “ruined” country, as well as to divert attention from its own internal problems in Russia, where similar exhibitions are held regularly, but do not cause such criticism.

Russian propaganda is spreading information in the Balkan segment of Facebook that the army of North Macedonia should prepare to participate in the war in Ukraine. They say that this will happen because of the future involvement of NATO. In spreading this information, they refer to the words of the President of Croatia, who allegedly criticized the NATO mission NSATU (Security Assistance and Training for Ukraine), claiming that this means the Alliance's intervention in the war in Ukraine. However, this is fake.

This was brought to the attention of fact-checkers from the Macedonian Truthmeter project. They claim that the NSATU mission is designed to train Ukrainian forces and coordinate aid, but does not involve NATO in combat. In fact, the Croatian president expressed concern about the potential risks of such a mission, but this is not a common opinion in his country. His comments were criticized by Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic.

The purpose of this fake is to spread fear and disinformation in order to provoke anti-NATO sentiments among the population of North Macedonia and other countries supporting Ukraine. The propaganda attempts to discredit NATO and sow doubts about its mission, as well as to create the illusion of the inevitable involvement of the Alliance member states in the war. In addition, such a message seeks to provoke antagonism and push for protests against NATO and support for Ukraine. Such manipulations are aimed at distracting attention from the real problems and crimes committed by Russia in Ukraine.

A pro-Russian resource has spread information that an advertisement for Ukrainians to join the Ukrainian Legion has been placed in a Polish aid distribution center in Lublin. It says that an Apple iPad tablet will allegedly be raffled off among those who join the Ukrainian Legion. As proof, the propagandists publish a corresponding image.

In fact, no reliable Polish or Ukrainian media outlet reported the existence of such an ad. A search for this photo using Google's reverse image function also yielded no results.

In the Polish city of Lublin, on Defenders' Day, October 1, 2024, a recruiting center of the Ukrainian Legion really opened. However, neither the Ukrainian Legion website nor the social networks of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine contain information about the Apple tablet raffle. Probably, propagandists simply made up this news, reacting to the opening of the first recruiting center of the Ukrainian Legion abroad.

Previously, we analyzed Russian manipulation, saying that Ukraine is recruiting mentally unstable foreigners.

Russian Telegram channels are distributing a photo of graffiti that allegedly appeared in London. According to the propagandists, it was created on a wall under a bridge near Paul McCartney's house. The graffiti allegedly depicts The Beatles with Volodymyr Zelenskyi “stealing a wallet” from George Harrison.

In fact, this information is not true. This fake first began to spread in August 2024, and now it has been given a “second life”. This is reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation. There is no real evidence of the existence of such graffiti. Also, not a single reliable British publication reported on such a drawing in London. The fact that the graffiti image is fake is also indicated by the fact that it is being distributed mainly in the Russian segment of social networks and among pro-Russian foreign audiences.

With this disinformation, Russian propagandists are trying to discredit the Ukrainian president, in particular, before a Western audience. We have already documented such fakes many times. For example, about graffiti with an F-16 aircraft lost in Ukraine, which allegedly appeared near the Pentagon.

Russian sources are spreading messages online that during military operations in the Pokrovsk direction, the 152nd separate ranger brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly disappeared along with its commander. The publications write that Ukrainian soldiers are disappearing en masse, and their relatives cannot obtain any information about the fate of their loved ones.

In fact, this is fake. The Center for Countering Disinformation verified this information with the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and reported that the 152nd Brigade continues to carry out combat missions, and the statements about its “disappearance” are unfounded.

Such fakes by Russians are aimed at sowing panic among Ukrainian society, causing mistrust of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, and demoralizing Ukrainian soldiers and their families. We previously refuted information that the 128th separate mountain assault brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces allegedly abuses mobilized soldiers.