Propagandists broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks and the media are distributing a video that allegedly depicts the murder of a Ukrainian recruiting officer while delivering a draft notice. They say that this footage was “shared by the National Police of Ukraine”. They add that this can be considered “the beginning of the civil war in Ukraine”. It's fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that the video being distributed did not indicate where this incident occurred, which the territorial center of recruitment and social support was being referred to, or when it happened. Such propaganda methods are used specifically to make it more difficult to identify the video and verify its authenticity. Also, the video itself is of very low quality, trimmed (consisting of 2 seconds) - this method is also often used to make it impossible to prove the falsity of the message.

The StopFake specialists also checked the official communication channels of the National Police in recent days and found neither the publication of this video nor information about the murder of a territorial center of recruitment and social support representative. This also indicates that the information being disseminated is fake.

Shortly after the appearance of this dubious video, the National Police published a refutation explaining what exactly it indicated forgery: “the published fragment of the video does not reflect signs characteristic of a shot from a firearm; the inscriptions on the vest of the person in the video are illegible, probably written in foreign letters, and employees of the territorial center of recruitment and social support, while on duty, wear camouflage clothing and without reflective vests; The “watermark” on the video is a fake of the Ukraine National Police mark and does not correspond to how the official video is marked. In addition, the National Police noted that they had not received any reports of the murder or injury of a territorial center of recruitment and social support employee.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to show that public outrage in Ukraine supposedly goes beyond limits. Russian propaganda often uses the topic of mobilization in Ukraine to create fakes and manipulations. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted them.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social networks are distributing a video with the symbols of the British language corporation BBC, which claims that Ukraine allegedly spent $1.2 billion in 2023 to create fakes about the victories of the Ukrainian army at the front. The order, according to the video, was carried out by one of the largest PR companies in Britain. Propagandists claim that, as a result, the head of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Andrii Yermak, allegedly “refused to renew the contract for 2024 with the British”, since their activities “did not help in any way to increase the attractiveness of mobilization in Ukraine”. They say that the money went down the drain or “was stolen according to the old Ukrainian tradition”. The video claims that this information was discovered by the independent international research team Bellingcat. However, this is a fake.

Analysts from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that the BBC had never published such a video on its social networks. This video is likely fake. The attackers deliberately crystallized the logo of the British television company and their design for propaganda purposes. To create the video, footage from open sources was used (in particular, an image of the Office of the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyi and Andrii Yermak) and stock videos (in particular, with people in suits shaking hands). Propagandists used archival photographs of Ukrainian military personnel taken before the start of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

The portion of the video purported to be Bellingcat founder Eliot Higgins talking about his “investigation” was taken from his #ConflictZone interview with DW (December 2022 issue), where Higgins is actually talking about the Russian disinformation against Ukraine and the activities of Russian spies in the West. Official information on Bellingcat resources also does not contain any information about the investigation that propagandists refer to. Previously, Higgins noted on his X (formerly Twitter) account that propagandists had already attributed false statements to Bellingcat several times.

Since the start of the full-scale invasion, in order to cover up the war crimes of the Russian army in Ukraine and create a false impression among the world public about the failures of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on the battlefield, Kremlin propaganda has been actively spreading the narrative that Ukraine is creating fake content about the war in Ukraine. They say that Ukraine lies to its citizens, which means there is no point in trusting it.

Users of social networks are again spreading information that the ex-husband of singer Kamaliya, Pakistani Mohammad Zahoor, bought fighter jets for Ukraine. However, this is a fake.

Specialists of the NotaYenota project drew attention to it. They found out that Zahur did not actually buy fighter jets for Ukraine. Kamaliya personally denied this information. This story begins with an interview with Kamaliya in 2022, where the singer stated that she received permission from Zahur to talk about the fact of providing two fighter jets to Ukraine, but without specific details. As it turned out, the singer was referring to military assistance from Pakistan. However, the quote is defaced on a number of websites and social networks, attributing to the Kamaliya man the acquisition of aircraft.

Project specialists drew attention to this situation due to the peculiarities of its reappearance in the Ukrainian media space. They found out that the fake was spread again in early January through one of the Facebook pages, which has more than 440 thousand subscribers. The comments to the message provide a link to the main article, and the domain name of the site distributing this fake is located in the .su zone - the national top-level domain for the former Soviet Union. Even after the Union ceases to exist, the SU domain remains Russian. They note that since 1993, the administrator of this domain has been the Russian Institute for the Development of Public Networks (RosNIRSM), located in Moscow. Since 2009, technical maintenance of this domain has been carried out by the Internet Technical Center, also in Moscow.

The most interesting thing is that the page distributing this stuff through .SU is administered by three persons located in Ukraine. Taking this into account, according to NotaYenota, through pages publishing “good news” about “support for Ukraine” from famous people, fakes can be launched, which test the audience for their reaction to various types of influence.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that in Ukraine, representatives of the patrol police have begun to detain men to hand them over to the Territorial center of recruitment and social support employees. As proof of this, a video of patrol officers knocking a man down is being circulated online. Such mobilization takes place in Ivano-Frankivsk.

This information is not true. The mentioned video recorded how law enforcement officers detained a man who was on the roadway and actually violated traffic rules by obstructing the passage of traffic. This was reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, which verified this information with the Ministry of Internal Affairs.

In addition, the man in the video is 69 years old, which makes it impossible for him to mobilize, as propagandists write about. The police detained the offender and took him to the department, where they compiled administrative materials against him, but did not hand him over to the Territorial center of recruitment and social support employees.

By spreading this disinformation, Russian propaganda is trying to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine. More rebuttals from the Detector Media on the topic of mobilization can be found here.

Pro-Kremlin resources are disseminating information that the Czech Republic refused to take part in a meeting of the UN Security Council, which was initiated by Russia, because it is afraid of responsibility for involvement in the shelling of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian territory (Belgorod).

This information is erroneous, the fact-checkers from the StopFake project report. Czech Foreign Minister Jan Lipovsky called Russian statements propaganda and added that Prague would be happy to appear at a meeting of the UN Security Council if its topic was the withdrawal of Russian troops from Ukraine. In addition, the Kremlin, in the form of an ultimatum, demanded that the Czech Republic participate in the meeting, but as a result was refused.

During a meeting of the UN Security Council, other allied countries of Ukraine reminded Russian representatives that the blame for everything that happened lies solely with Russia and the unprovoked war against Ukraine. During the meeting initiated by Russia, none of the countries came out in support of the Kremlin, so the meeting on the triumph of Russian propaganda turned into yet another accusation of Russia’s aggression against Ukraine.

Russian propaganda is trying to shift responsibility for the war unleashed by Russia in Ukraine onto someone else’s shoulders, and also to present itself as a victim of its own aggression. In addition, this fake is another attempt to divert attention from the crimes of the Russian army against the civilian population of Ukraine and massive attacks on Ukrainian civilian targets. Previously, we analyzed Putin’s message that Russia allegedly does not violate the UN Charter.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that in Rivne, residents of a house on Stepan Bandera Street will allegedly not be served by utility workers due to the fact that many citizens from this street did not appear to the military registration and enlistment office. “Announcements” with such information were apparently placed on the entrance doors of one of the Rivne high-rise buildings. In the text of the “announcements”, its authors refer to the Laws of Ukraine “On Social Services” and “On Mobilization Preparation and Mobilization”.

In fact, the information from the so-called “announcements” is fake. This was reported by the fact-checkers from the “No Lies” project. The Law of Ukraine “On Social Services” does not concern the maintenance of residential buildings by utility companies, but determines the needs of the population for social services. It is also not associated with mobilization. The Law of Ukraine “On mobilization preparation and mobilization”, which the creators of the fake refer to, also contains no such restrictions for men who evade conscription.

The Rivne regional administration itself has already refuted the information about the “announcement” and pointed out another discrepancy: Hrybnyk Street, where they are asked to “appear at the military registration and enlistment office”, does not exist in Rivne.

Russian propaganda speculates on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine, creating similar fakes. By playing on the sensitive topic of the availability of electricity and gas for Ukrainians, which became such as a result of the start of massive Russian shelling of critical infrastructure in the fall of 2022, propagandists are sowing fear, uncertainty and doubts in society.

Russian telegram channels report that as a result of Russian missile attacks on the western regions of Ukraine on January 13, 2024, they managed to destroy a batch of missiles for the Patriot air defense system and warehouses with Storm Shadow missiles at the airfield in Kolomyia.

The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes that this information is false. According to a message from the Air Force of the Ukrainian Armed Forces on January 13, 2024, “Russian missiles are getting worse and are flying to God knows where”. On that day, air defense forces managed to shoot down eight missiles, and more than 20 more did not reach their targets as a result of active countermeasures by electronic warfare.

This disinformation campaign seeks to reassure everyone that Russian “high-precision weapons” cause damage and destruction exclusively to “legitimate targets”, such as missile trains. Russian propaganda systematically spread fake news about the destruction of Patriot air defense systems, Leopard tanks, or even F-16 fighter jets in Ukraine in order to exaggerate Russia’s successes in the war.

The network is spreading information that this winter there will be an energy disaster in Ukraine - it seems there will be no light or heat. Last year, the Russians allegedly “hardly bombed” energy facilities, but this year they will. Moreover, in addition to potential shelling, there is also an allegedly serious electricity shortage in Ukraine. The money that the allies gave to restore energy systems was allegedly stolen by the main power engineers.

In fact, the information about the “energy disaster” is not true. The given “facts” are false or distorted, write journalists from the “No Lies” project.

Firstly, in September 2023 alone, Russia launched 246 missiles at Ukraine, so the accusation that “Ukraine was almost never bombed” is wrong.

Secondly, the electricity shortage is insignificant, since during the month and a half of winter in Ukraine there was not a single day with a planned power outage. While in 2022, planned shutdowns began in October.

Thirdly, there is no evidence of theft of money by the “chief power engineers”. This is manipulation of a painful topic for Ukrainians.

It can be argued that this information dump is built on emotional, manipulative messages. By spreading such disinformation, the creators of the fake seek to intimidate Ukrainians and awaken in them a feeling of hatred towards the authorities. Previously, we refuted information that Ukraine should allegedly increase electricity tariffs for the population from January 1, 2024.

Russian propaganda resources are disseminating information that there are checkpoints on the Polish-German border where Ukrainian refugees are allegedly detained in order to deport them. It's fake.

This misinformation was processed by the fact-checkers from the StopFake project. They found out that the mentioned checkpoints do exist, but they are not related to Ukraine. The checkpoints are set up for security reasons and are related to the influx of illegal migrants and the activities of smugglers who smuggle people across the border illegally. According to the head of the press and information department of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Illarion Pavliuk, the Ministry is not developing any measures to put pressure on Ukrainians liable for military service who have traveled abroad.

After the promulgation of the Bill of December 25, 2023 to improve certain issues of mobilization, military registration and military service, Russian propaganda speculates noticeably more on the topic of mobilization. The bill in the first reading contains, in particular, an invitation to Ukrainians abroad to clarify their credentials. However, this is not a hunt for people, and no forced mobilization outside of Ukraine is planned.

Pro-Russian resources write that Territorial Center for Recruitment and Social Support employees began handing out draft notices to Ukrainian men in Warsaw. As proof, propagandists are distributing a video in which a man in military uniform allegedly issues a draft notice to a Ukrainian in the Polish capital.

In fact, the video is staged - it was shot by a Ukrainian military man who is undergoing rehabilitation in Warsaw after being seriously wounded in the war. The purpose of this production, according to the military man, is “to fray the nerves of evaders” who left Ukraine illegally. He spoke about this in a new video distributed by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security.

Russian propaganda systematically speculates on the topic of mobilization in Ukraine, in particular, spreading disinformation. Propagandists fuel their narrative with this fake, saying that the Ukrainian authorities are pursuing a policy of “grabbing” ordinary Ukrainians. Moreover, from now on they will supposedly “catch” Ukrainians abroad. Previously, we worked on the Russian message, according to which paying assistance to Ukrainian male refugees seems to be much more expensive than transferring them to the service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that supposedly the Kyiv city authorities are closing all exits from the city in order to begin en masse conscription of all men. As proof, propagandists are disseminating messages from the Service for Infrastructure Restoration and Development in the Kyiv region about the closure of the bridge across the canal in Vyshhorod.

The information disseminated online is untrue, as reported by the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. The publication of the Service states that the closure of the bridge is indeed connected with the start of its major repairs across the canal on the P-69 road Kyiv - Vyshhorod - Desna - Chernihiv. Traffic for all types of vehicles there will be blocked. However, during the period of major repairs, a pontoon crossing will operate, providing transport links for residents of the left bank part of the district and neighboring regions. That is, the opportunity to leave Kyiv, as well as enter the city, will be possible.

At the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion, one of the spans of the bridge on the P-69 road Kyiv - Vyshhorod - Desna - Chernihiv was destroyed, so now the bridge is not able to withstand traffic loads and needs immediate repairs.

In this case, propagandists misinform Ukrainian society, in particular men, in order to intimidate and demoralize citizens, saying that now “one won’t even leave the city, not to mention the country”. In addition, with this fake, Russian propaganda fuels its narrative that a policy of “mobilization” of ordinary Ukrainians is allegedly taking place in Ukraine.

A video is being circulated in the Bulgarian TikTok segment in which a seemingly barefoot Volodymyr Zelenskyi dances in an oriental costume. Mirella Petkova from the Facthceck.bg project drew attention to this video.

A video with Zelenskyi’s face appeared in December 2023 on a page on the TikTok network. However, this video is technically flawed. The original video, filmed in 2020, shows Russian dancer Vusal Mehdiyev, with Zelenskyi's face superimposed later.

The video from which the deepfake of Zelenskyi was compiled consists of two parts. The first part was first uploaded to TikTok on the profile of Vusal Mehdiyev on October 16, 2020. And the second – January 12, 2022. The second post received over 20 million views on TikTok.

In the original video, the music is different from the one put on by the fakers. In the initial videos, the music has oriental motifs, while in the fabricated version the Russian song “New Year” is played.

This is not the first time that artificial intelligence has been used to add Volodymyr Zelenskyi's face to dance videos. A similar video was distributed in July 2023. Then Zelenskyi’s face was put in place of the Argentine dancer and choreographer. This deepfake was debunked, in particular, by France Presse and Deutsche Welle.

The real Volodymyr Zelenskyi has many videos of him dancing. When he was an artist, he took part in many dance and singing performances of Kvartal 95 in KVN and on television, which were mandatory elements of the humorous program. And in 2006, he and dancer Olena Shoptenko won the first season of the Dancing with the Stars TV show.

A video from the American publication Wired, specializing in IT and innovation, is being circulated online, declaring that the Ukrainian military allegedly uses satellite Internet from Starlink primarily for online gambling. The video states that approximately 35% of all connections allegedly led to Ukrainian casino sites. The video fake was exposed by the StopFake fact-checkers.

There are three reasons why this video is fabricated.

Firstly, the American publication Wired never published the video in question on its social networks. The StopFake journalists checked the latest publications on the Wired websites (wired.co.uk and wired.com), which mentioned Ukraine. They have no mention of the Ukrainian military allegedly using Starlink to play online casinos. Instead, Wired has numerous posts about Russian disinformation campaigns targeting Ukraine, such as: Elijah Wood and Mike Tyson Cameo Videos Were Used in a Russian Disinformation Campaign, Elon Musk Mocked Ukraine, and Russian Trolls Went Wild, Fake Taylor Swift Quotes Are Being Used to Spread Anti-Ukraine Propaganda.

Secondly, although the attackers tried to imitate Wired's branding, there are many differences that can be seen when comparing this video with real Wired videos. In particular, all Wired videos have a title in the first seconds - an inscription on a black background, made in a different font. The fake video does not have such a title. It should also be noted that to create the fake, the attackers used video from low-quality open sources, which is not allowed in authentic Wired videos.

Thirdly, it was not possible to find a single study in open sources that analyzed Internet traffic from Starlink stations used by the Ukrainian military.

With such publications, propagandists are trying to discredit the effectiveness of assistance to Ukraine and expose the Ukrainians as short-sighted people who allegedly abuse the help of the international community.

Enemy telegram channels are spreading the fake news that the missile attack on the Park Hotel in Kharkiv on January 10, 2024 was directed against the Foreign Legion, whose fighters allegedly lived in the complex. It was also noted that the strikes did not lead to casualties. “Unfortunately, the strike did not lead to any result (only the facade was damaged, and the mercenary unit lived on the ground floor). Therefore, the Ukrainian media promptly made a story about how the Russians were shelling peaceful hotels. Immediately after the strike, units of the International Legion and foreign mercenaries who lived in similar buildings began to be notified throughout Kharkiv”, said one of the anonymous telegram channels disseminating pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It's fake.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, thirteen people were injured as a result of a rocket attack on the Park Hotel in Kharkiv. In total, there were 31 people in the hotel complex: eight employees and 23 guests. All these people were civilians; there was not a single military man in the hotel. Representatives of foreign delegations, journalists, and documentarians often stayed here, in particular. According to the Kharkiv Regional Prosecutor's Office, the Russian military fired two missiles from the S-300 anti-aircraft missile system at Kharkiv at about 22:30 from the direction of Belgorod. One rocket hit the ground near the facade of the hotel, the second hit the roof of the building, which led to a fire. According to preliminary data, among the victims in the hotel there was one Turkish citizen, one Georgian citizen, both represented the Turkish media. One man's condition is serious. Most of the victims suffered from shrapnel wounds and traumatic brain injuries. “There were no military mercenaries, there were no military people here. This is a civilian facility, civilian infrastructure. We have always settled our friends, guests who were in Kharkiv, and foreign delegations here”, said the mayor of the city, Ihor Terekhov, in a comment to Suspilne (Public) Kharkiv. “The military never lived in this hotel, almost all of Kharkiv knows this. This hotel was used by journalists. This was a well-known fact. At the time of the attack, there were foreign journalists in the hotel, in particular from Turkey. Therefore, I believe that the Russian Federation dealt this blow specifically to the media”, said Volodymyr Tymoshko, head of the Kharkiv region police. Serhii Tomilenko, head of the National Union of Journalists of Ukraine, notes that Russia is targeting journalists in Kharkiv: “In October - Reikartz, this New Year - Kharkiv Palace and at night - Park Hotel. These hotels were constantly used by journalists from national and international media to stay. And with every shelling, journalists were injured”.

Russia attacks civilian targets, cynically presenting them as legitimate military targets, but they are not. Such attacks are a flagrant violation of the 1949 Geneva Convention, which prohibits deliberate attacks on civilians, including attacks on civilian buildings, in particular hotels.

On January 8, a Georgian Facebook user posted a photo of a card that was described as being sent from one of the bars in the so-called Green Zone in Baghdad. There this card is used as a table cover. On the map, the contours and names of states have been changed, and the territory of Georgia has been merged with Ukraine. The user writes: “It turns out that our Ukrainian friends not only planned to conquer Russia, but also consider Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan part of their territory”.

Georgian fact-checkers from the Myth Detector project drew attention to this post.

In fact, the photo shared by a Facebook user shows a card from the board game Risk and has nothing to do with Ukraine's attitude toward other countries' territories or its plans for conquest. The borders of states on the map of the game are placed arbitrarily and cannot be perceived as a source of information about geography.

Since February 24, 2022, when the Detector Media team has been conducting the Disinformation Chronicles, this is the first time a board game map has been used as evidence of the propagandists’ worldview. Maps have long been used to justify territorial claims or intimidation over the seizure of territories. For example, Russians say that the Poles are planning to occupy Halychyna and Volyn, because when these territories were part of the Polish-Lithuanian Rzeczpospolita. They also say that all Ukraine’s neighbors have territorial claims against each other. Despite these reports, Russia is the only state on Ukraine's border that has invaded other states in the 21st century. The Russians invaded Georgia in 2008 and Ukraine in 2014.

Pro-Kremlin media are spreading information that allegedly after another scandal related to the “purchase” of the villa of Hitler’s propaganda minister Goebbels for 8 million euros, Zelenskyi decided to get rid of the so-called investigative journalist who had previously exposed the purchase of other real estate; namely, the villas of Zelenskyi’s mother-in-law. It's a lie.

Fact-checkers of the EU vs Disinfo project explained: firstly, just like the first case of buying a villa, the second one is not true. Let’s say, with regard to the so-called villa of Zelenskyi’s mother-in-law, the “investigation material” includes many factual errors. The authors provide a photo of an alleged document about the purchase of real estate, where the future owner of the house is indicated. So the document says that Olha KIYASHKO owns the house, although according to the current standards of the state migration service, the transliteration on all documents would look like this: Olha KYIASHKO. The authors did not prove the authenticity of such a “document” and did not explain where they got it from. That is, the contract for the purchase of the villa at least definitely does not concern Olha Kyiashko.

And the identity of the investigative journalist himself raises many questions. Since, upon request in the search engine, Mohammed Al-Alawi investigative journalist gives only a link to the material about this villa and no additional information about the person - it is most likely that this name was invented. That is, they killed no one, because such a person simply does not exist and no one bought the villa.

Also with the second example of “taking possession” of real estate: quite recently, Russian propagandists were convincing people that the Ukrainian president allegedly acquired the former villa of the main propagandist of the Third Reich. In support of such theses, a video of a “former employee” of a Berlin real estate company was attached. The woman called herself Sabine Mels.

However, it was not possible to establish a connection between the so-called Sabine Mels and the Berlin real estate company. And when asked in a search engine, “Sabine Mels” gives just a link to material about this villa and nothing more. In this case, the situation is repeated: most likely, the name of this person was also invented.

As for the “investigation” video, it was published on an inactive YouTube channel, where there are only three videos. One of these videos is dedicated to the ultra-right movement. The author posted a story from the Indian news service WION about the growing number of sympathizers of the German Alternative for Germany (AfD) party. The second video is called “anti-fascists agreed to tell” and the author himself, throughout the third video, talks about the “purchase” of a villa, wearing a T-shirt with the inscription “Antifaschistische aktion” (anti-fascist action). According to the German Federal Service for the Protection of the Constitution, this movement belongs to left-wing extremists. Anti-fascism (opposition to Nazism and fascism) as an ideology can have different “dimensions” of development: left, liberal, etc. The Federal Service, among other things, cited cases of violence from members of such communities: you can read here.

In the end, Russian propaganda is trying to portray Ukraine as a cradle of corruption in order to devalue and neutralize Ukrainian intentions to combat corruption and further European integration measures. Allegedly, Ukrainian officials are buying up real estate with misappropriated funds from Western partners. In addition, the fight against corruption is one of the requirements of European integration. By spreading such fakes, propagandists are trying to show that corruption in Ukraine allegedly cannot be corrected, so it will not be accepted into the EU or NATO.

Pro-Kremlin media are distributing a photo of a French supermarket, on the window of which a Zelenskyi sticker with the “beggar” inscription was allegedly placed. It's a lie.

This case was investigated by Myth Detector fact-checkers - and first of all, they contacted the store administration to refute the information. Indeed, in the distributed photographs one can see the name of the store, namely Franprix. The company administration denied the fact that such a sticker was placed on the doors of any stores in the French chain. In addition, the image of Zelenskyi, that is, the sticker on the window, was created using graphic editors and inserted into a regular photo of the Franprix store.

We have repeatedly documented hoaxes involving fake graffiti or covers on foreign magazines, newspaper columns or advertisements. Thus, propagandists seek to show that their rhetoric (for example, that Zelenskyi is hated by the whole world) is also repeated in the West. So it may seem to readers that the public is really dissatisfied with Ukraine. And especially when the authors use elements of popular culture, hinting that people are laughing at the situation in Ukraine, and that the Ukrainian agenda for Europe is a reason to laugh.

With the help of Russian propaganda, Zelenskyi was able to appear in various roles, in particular: a vain person who spends all budget funds only on himself; a punitive satanist destroying Ukrainian church property; a person with drug addiction; theft of Western money; a puppet controlled by the West; a monster who throws “everyone in a row” to the front, etc. This is how the Kremlin uses the tactic of imposing shameful epithets.

Anonymous telegrams are distributing a video, which, according to their version, has become a greeting of Merry Christmas: in the video, actors dressed as devils sing in the guise of a church choir and greet Ukrainians with the holiday. It's fake.

The StopFake fact-checkers examined the case and determined that this was not an unofficial New Year’s greeting for the New Year or Merry Christmas. After all, this video is an advertisement for an online casino. The authors of the fake simply added one of the logos of Ukrainian channels to confirm the “broadcast” of the so-called greetings to the devils in disguise. That is, the video has nothing to do with religion, just as it is not an official greeting of Ukrainians on Christmas.

Read on Censor.NET: After Stepan Bandera and Joe Biden, the Orthodox Church of Ukraine “canonized” the dog Patron. Review Russian disinformation for November 27 - December 3, 2023 here.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric disseminate information that viral pneumonia is “massively spreading” in the Kharkiv region. As evidence, they add a photo allegedly from a Ukrainian military doctor in an ambulance with people who “get pneumonia”. And they claim that local doctors cannot fully determine what kind of disease it is: they suggest that it may be a form of COVID-19 or another disease. It is not true.

Analysts from the VoxCheck project investigated the case and found out that there are no statistics yet on the number of people infected with any type of pneumonia. Moreover, in the Kharkiv region, influenza and COVID-19 diseases do not exceed the epidemic threshold. And using a reverse search on Google, analysts found the original source of the photo - on Facebook, a military man posted a photo of an ambulance and wrote that he pulled a fellow soldier from the battlefield who had a fever due to pneumonia. According to the author of the message, after treatment the guy recovered and returned to service.

That is, the anonymous people used a reliable photograph that illustrates a military man suffering from pneumonia, but distorted the context in their own way. Allegedly, disease epidemics are approaching in Ukraine.

One of the propaganda telegram channels disseminated information that due to “numerous violations” of visa-free rules by Ukrainian refugees, sanctions would be applied to them in the form of a ban on free movement between EU countries.

In fact, there were no “statements” about restricting the right of refugees from Ukraine to move freely throughout the EU countries either from officials or from the relevant EU bodies. Also, the propaganda message on the telegram does not contain any specific information about “numerous violations” by Ukrainians in Europe, note investigators from the “No Lies” project. To make the message “plausible”, the creators of the fake placed in its text the names of several countries with a link, which supposedly should show what restrictions were introduced in these countries. However, there is no such information there.

By spreading this misinformation, propagandists are trying to create a picture that Ukrainian refugees have already fed everyone up and that they are the cause of all the troubles and problems in Europe. Previously, we denied information that German citizens support the forced extradition of Ukrainian refugees.

Russian propagandists are spreading information that in 2023, interest in Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi on the Internet fell by 63%. People became less interested not only in Zelenskyi’s profiles on social networks, but also in content related to the president, interest in which allegedly fell by 47%. Claiming this, Russian propaganda is distributing a video containing the logo of the American online publication Politico, and the information on the video is apparently based on a report from the SocialBlade service.

In fact, the information about a 63% drop in interest in the president on the Internet is false, write fact-checkers from the StopFake project. The same situation applies to the “47% drop in interest” in Zelenskyi-related content. Politico has never disseminated similar information on its official website or on its social networks. Other reputable media outlets also did not report such information. Information about the rapid decline in interest in Zelenskyi, like the fake video with the Politico logo, is distributed exclusively on pro-Russian telegram channels and Facebook groups. Real data from the SocialBlade service regarding the president’s social media profiles can be found on their website. On the platform, you can notice that the number of new subscribers on Zelenskyi’s pages has remained at approximately the same level since July 2022.

Propagandists spread fake information in order to create a picture that Zelenskyi has already got everyone, so foreign media “tend to talk less about Ze”. In addition, Russian propaganda is trying to convince Ukrainians that the West is already tired of the war in Ukraine, so its military support will only weaken. Previously, we refuted information that Zelenskyi was allegedly going to “escape” to the United States in the spring of 2024.

Pro-Kremlin resources are disseminating information that Diia, the online government service, has begun selling tickets to the commercial show Evening Kvartal (“Evening Quarter”). Propagandists claim that in this way the state is promoting business, in the creation of which the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi is involved. “Proof” of such information is a screenshot from the phone, which shows that the Diia mobile application offers the user to buy tickets, also at a discount.

This case was analyzed by the fact-checkers from the StopFake project and they found out that the information was not true. There is only one service in the official Diia app that could potentially offer a concert ticket purchasing feature: Entertainment. However, you can only watch TV, listen to the radio or play the game Drone Army. There is no “buy tickets” option there. It was also not possible to find the corresponding service on the official website of the Diia and the online service’s Facebook page.

In addition, specialists from StopFake contacted the Ministry of Digital Transformation of Ukraine, which is responsible for Diia, with an information request whether Diia really offered users to buy tickets for the Evening Kvartal concert. The press service of the Ministry responded that it was “undoubtedly fake”.

This information dump is intended to discredit Volodymyr Zelenskyi, as well as the online public service service Diia, which allegedly cannot be considered trustworthy under these conditions. Moreover, according to Russian propaganda, such a “service” as selling tickets through Diia allegedly appeared in addition to another “service” of the mobile application - sending out draft notices for those liable for military service. However, the Ukrainian authorities have repeatedly denied information about “draft notices in Diia”. 

Pro-Russian users spread the “news” that a taxi client in Zhytomyr was allegedly indignant because her driver did not speak to her in Ukrainian, although he is deaf and mute. As proof of this event, screenshots from the application of the taxi service in question are provided, as well as correspondence between the client and the support service in the application chat.

This information is false. It was investigated by the fact-checkers from the StopFake project. To create the fake, one of the screenshots from the site was used, where customers can leave their reviews. The fact that this is the same screenshot that the propagandists used is evidenced by the same time on the phone, phone data and the time when the client corresponded with the support service.

In addition, one of the first to spread this story was the telegram channel Digital Army of Russia, which gives the task to Russian volunteers to misinform Ukrainians or write mass complaints about Ukrainian accounts on social networks.

With this fake, Russian propaganda once again speculates on the topic of the Ukrainian language in order to sow discord among Ukrainian society. More rebuttals from the Detector Media on the topic of language can be found here.

Propagandists are distributing an allegedly official letter, which states that Ukrainian men born between 1960 and 2006 who have submitted documents to obtain a passport at the foreign representative offices of the Document State Enterprise will receive temporary travel documents to return to Ukraine. Data about them will supposedly be entered into the register of persons liable for military service and will be provided for verification to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Territorial centers of recruitment and social support. Those who are wanted by the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Territorial centers of recruitment and social support will allegedly have their passport revoked.

In fact, this information is not true. The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security wrote about this.

Firstly, the Document State Enterprise does not have the authority to issue “temporary travel documents for returning to Ukraine” - this is handled by diplomatic missions or consular offices.

Secondly, men born in 1960 are now 63-64 years old, in 2006 - 17-18 years old. Only men from 27 to 60 years old are eligible for the prize. Here is another proof of the falsity of the information.

Thirdly, the mentioned letter was allegedly signed by Volodymyr Shvachko, but he was suspended from exercising his powers as general director for the duration of the internal investigation from December 26, 2023 to January 19, 2024. That is, he could not do this. If this “document” were real, it would not have been signed by Shvachko, but by a temporary acting official.

Fourthly, the “letter” contains a number of errors, including spelling errors. For example, “as received” is a tracing-paper from Russian. The text of the “letter” itself begins with the words “At your request”, but does not first contain the name of the person who made this request - this is unacceptable in official business correspondence.

By distributing this fake document online, Russian propaganda is trying to intimidate Ukrainian men abroad, saying that “the authorities have taken them seriously: they will all be found and mobilized”. This release of information took place against the backdrop of a sensational bill dated December 25, 2023 to improve certain issues of mobilization, military registration and military service. In particular, it proposes to introduce verification of men who are abroad. In addition, it spells out the negative consequences of violating the law if it is adopted in its original form.

Pro-Russian resources are disseminating information that the United States allowed Ukraine to use HIMARS for “strikes” against Russia. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the US Embassy in Ukraine, Bridget Brink, who allegedly made a corresponding statement.

In fact, this information is fake. Brink did not make such a statement - it was invented by propagandists of one of the Russian media, who subsequently published a refutation. This was reported by checkers from the StopFake project. To create the fake, they used a quote from Brink from June 2022 - then the United States provided Ukraine with a package of military aid, which included, in particular, ammunition for HIMARS: “This will help Ukrainian forces aim more accurately, as well as have a greater range. What range will the Ukrainian forces determine?” However, those ammunition could hit targets at a distance of up to 70 km, and not 300 km, that is, there was no talk of any strikes on Russian territory.

By spreading this disinformation, Russian propaganda seeks to create the image that “the United States and Ukraine are aggressors because they are going to attack Russia”, so Russia is supposedly a victim of the confrontation and is forced to defend itself. Thus, Russia “demonizes” Ukraine and its allies. Previously, we refuted information that the Ukrainian Armed Forces could allegedly use any NATO weapons on Russian territory.