Anonymous telegram channels are distributing a video where supposedly Ukrainian soldiers are standing near an aerial bomb. One of them affects what provokes the explosion. It is not true.

VoxCheck analysts explained that after the explosion of such a projectile, it is unlikely that the device on which the video was recorded could have been preserved. Moreover, the video was edited using the “explosion” effect from Instagram’s suggested effects.

A reverse search of the explosion frame can find other videos that have the same explosion effect. This effect is available to all Instagram phone users.

Information is being spread online that at one of the Kyiv universities, instead of practical training, students are sent to “dig trenches in Irpin”. This is evidenced by a notice on the wall of the university.

Analysts of the VoxCheck project explained that the announcement is fake, because there is no announcement about the relevant practice on the website of the educational institution or on social networks.

According to the information on the “announcement”, it is about the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture. After all, the facade of the educational institution and the university’s coat of arms were depicted on the leaflet.

However, the student groups listed in the announcement do not exist. Moreover, on the Kyiv National University of Construction and Architecture website in the section “Agreements with practice bases” there are no military units. In addition, the contracts indicate that the party receiving students undertakes not to use the labor of education seekers in jobs and positions that “do not correspond to the practice program and future specialty”.

Russian propagandists spread the news, allegedly the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration Oleh Syniehubov wrote a letter to the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi with a request to investigate the corrupt activities of the chairman of the Kharkiv city council Ihor Terekhov.

VoxCheck analysts explained that such a document is fake. In fact, a number of errors indicate a falsification of the document. The press service of the head of the Kharkiv Regional Military Administration confirmed that the document is not real.

For example, some errors are recorded in the “document”:

The correct spelling would be in such words: “Supreme Commander-in-Chief”,  “heads”, “criminal proceedings”, “during” etc.

A video from the BBC is being circulated online, citing Bellingcat as saying that Emmanuel Macron may resign a week before the Olympics. The reasons for this decision are the victory of the radical right party in the elections to the European Parliament and the announcement of early parliamentary elections in France, as well as the high risk of terrorist threats and unpreparedness for the Olympic Games.

VoxCheck analysts explained that the BBC and Bellingcat did not disseminate such information. After all, the fake “report” was created from separate frames that were not related to each other.

A reverse photo search on Google showed that propagandists used individual photographs and videos from open sources to create the fake news. In particular, the photo with Emmanuel Macron was taken from the Instagram account of the official photographer of the French President.

A video allegedly created by Deutsche Welle is being circulated online. It says that Berlin police are warning citizens about the dangers of using open Wi-Fi networks in public places, because in this way the Ukrainian hacker group “31337 nice” is stealing user data.

VoxCheck analysts determined that this story was fake. There is no specified video on the DW website or social networks. This news was not written about in any international media. Berlin police also did not indicate the detention of Ukrainian hackers.

Moreover, there is no information at all in open sources about the existence of the “31337 nice” hacker group.

Russian propagandists are spreading information that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi has transferred 17 million hectares of Ukrainian black soil into private ownership to several American corporations.

VoxCheck analysts determined that such information was false. But foreign companies cannot buy agricultural land in Ukraine. In total, more than 700 thousand hectares of land have been alienated in Ukraine since the lifting of the moratorium.

On July 1, 2021, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine lifted the moratorium on the sale of agricultural land. The land market opened, from that moment it was possible to freely buy, sell or bequeath agricultural land plots.

But foreigners, in turn, can only buy land for non-agricultural purposes if these areas contain real estate that belongs to them as private property.

Anonymous telegram channels are spreading information that French cosmetics companies - Chanel, Lancôme, L'Oréal, Vichy, Cacharel, Garnier - are testing products on Ukrainian refugees. In the video provided by the propagandists, they claim that thanks to this, companies saved more than 30 million euros in six months, because Ukrainian women are paid several times less than French women.

VoxCheck analysts explained that the French media did not publish such a story, because it was simply a fiction of propagandists. For example, this news is not available on the BFM TV website or social networks.

Moreover, these brands - Lancôme, Vichy, Cacharel, Garnier - belong to L'Oréal. The company’s website notes that in order to evaluate the effect of products on the skin, the corporation created a prototype of human skin - reconstructed skin, which makes it possible not to involve either animals or people in testing.

A screenshot of a message allegedly from the Help Online chat to PrivatBank is being circulated online. In it, the bank, citing martial law, refuses to provide a loan to the user Dmytro Olehovych. Instead, the user is offered to apply for a loan for a female relative.

“The bank does not want to lose money by approving a loan to a person who could mobilize and kill tomorrow,” comment the propagandists.

VoxCheck analysts analyzed this stuffing and determined that such a change in the lending policy is not spelled out in the bank’s Terms and Conditions, and the interface according to the screenshot of the propagandists differs from the real interface of the Help Online chat. Also, the Ukrainian media does not have any mention of such an “innovation”.

Pro-Kremlin resources disseminate information that Ukrainian history textbooks say that Hitler liberated the Lviv region in 1941 and played one of the decisive roles in the liberation of Ukrainian lands from Soviet occupiers.

However, this information is not true. This was reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Firstly, Russian propagandists do not provide the author of the textbook and the year of publication. Secondly, the fake news contains a page from a textbook, the material of which does not correspond to the structure of the curriculum on the history of Ukraine or even the local course on the history of Lviv. Also, the history of the First World War on the territory of the Lviv region is presented sparingly and illiterately; most of the layer of the history of the First liberation movements is missing. And the interwar period is completely missing.

Accordingly, a “textbook” with such factual errors, and especially the glorification of Hitler, which in Ukraine falls under criminal liability for promoting Nazism, could not be allowed into the curriculum, the Center adds.

On the ENTSO-E website, the Ukrainian woman found information that Ukraine allegedly sells electricity to Romania, while its own citizens are forced to sit by candlelight and buy generators. Videos of this discovery are being distributed by propaganda publications and telegram channels. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine drew attention to it. They found out that Ukraine does not export electricity to the EU, but provides transit flows between European countries.

This was confirmed by the head of the board of NEC Ukrenergo Volodymyr Kudrytskyi in an interview with Hromadske. He explained that to check the absence of exports, you can look at the Scheduled Commercial Exchanges tab on the ENTSO-E website, where trade transactions are displayed.

Russian propaganda, taking advantage of the lack of awareness of Ukrainians, is spreading conspiracy theories with the aim of undermining citizens' trust in the authorities and directing their discontent towards Kyiv, and not towards Moscow, which created this crisis by striking Ukrainian energy facilities.

Propagandists began to spread information on social networks that Olena Zelenska, the wife of the President of Ukraine, allegedly purchased a luxury car. One of the messages on this topic states: “Zelenskyi’s wife bought a Bugatti Turbillon supercar for almost 4.5 million euros”. The source of information is supposedly French media, and confirmation should be the words of one of the employees of the Bugatti car dealership in Paris. However, this is fake.

Fact-checkers of the Polish project Demagog drew attention to this. They found that the primary source of information about Zelenska’s purchase of a Bugatti is the French website veritecachee.fr. At first glance, it may seem like just another news resource. However, it turned out to be a tool to promote Russian propaganda.

Analysts at cybersecurity company Recorder Future discovered a media network called CopyCop in early March 2024. It operates in the US, UK and France, using artificial intelligence to plagiarize and modify texts from other sites. The purpose of such actions is to support the Russian perspective on issues such as a full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine or the conflict between Israel and Hamas.

One such site is veritecachee.fr. It was registered on June 22, 2024, shortly before the first round of the French elections. According to the Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation, the site presents the war in Ukraine from the Russian point of view. In addition, fact-checker David Puente and Kyle Glen, an investigator from the Center for Information Resilience, noticed that the site still contains instructions on artificial intelligence on how to write texts.

The proof in favor of buying a Bugatti is the invoice that appeared in numerous messages with this fake. However, the document contains errors that significantly reduce its reliability. According to French law, the invoice must contain specific details about the transaction. This includes, in particular, information about the transaction currency and the seller’s identification number. None of this is on what propagandists present as a Bugatti purchase invoice.

One of the users noticed that the invoice was written in English. It also shows the wrong address for a car dealership in Paris. It is located on Neuilly-sur-Seine, and not on Neuily-sur-Seine, as it is written on the “invoice”.

The car dealership where Olena Zelenska allegedly made a purchase also joined the case. According to a statement he posted on Instagram, both the transaction information and the invoice are false.

A French article about “buying” a luxury car contains not only a photo of the invoice, but also a video with commentary from “Jacques Bertin”. He is an employee of the Bugatti car dealership, who spoke about the details of the presentation of the car to the Ukrainian presidential couple.

The Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation drew attention to the fact that the account of the alleged employee on which the recording appeared was created several days before the publication of the video. This profile is no longer available. In addition, as Italian fact-checker David Puente wrote on Platform X, the photo of the corresponding Instagram profile is a frame from a video in which Bertin talks about the presentation of the car by Zelenskyi. According to Puente, the video was created using artificial intelligence.

Propagandists spread such fakes to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and personally the family of President Zelenskyi.

There were reports on social networks about a knife attack in Krakow, as well as speculation that the attacker was allegedly Ukrainian. This information was quickly picked up by propagandists, but it is not true.

Polish fact-checkers from Demagog drew attention to it. They found out that on June 27, a recording was published on Facebook showing two men in a fight, one of whom was holding a knife.

The incident occurred when a cyclist hit a dog. After an argument with the animal's owner, the cyclist stabbed him several times and fled. The police quickly identified the criminal who had barricaded himself in his house. Thanks to the actions of negotiators and counter-terrorists, the attacker was detained while trying to escape through a window. The perpetrator turned out to be a 24-year-old resident of Krakow, previously known to the police.

To find out the nationality of the criminal, fact-checkers contacted the Voivodeship Police Commandant's Office in Krakow. Speaker-sub-inspector Katarzyna Czyslo denied the information that the attacker was Ukrainian:

“From the materials we have, it is clear that the perpetrator is of Polish nationality”.

They remind that in the case of sensational reports of attacks, special attention should be paid to the reliability of such information. Propagandists seize on such information to discredit Ukrainian refugees and create skepticism towards them.

Propagandists are distributing a video of the attack on Kharkiv on June 22, 2024 in anonymous telegram channels, claiming that the footage allegedly shows a French AASM HAMMER bomb, and not a Russian aerial bomb. However, this is not true.

Specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to this. They recalled that on June 22, 2024, Russian troops carried out four air strikes on Kharkiv. One of the hits was in a residential building near the Levada railway station. According to preliminary data, the shelling was carried out from the village of Stroitel, Belgorod Region, using Su-34 and UMPB D-30 aerial bombs.

The video shows a building with a partially spherical shape, where the projectile arrives from behind the car. Maps show that the projectile arrived from the north, where the border with the Russian Federation lies.

When comparing the AASM HAMMER and the projectile in the video, it is clear that they have a different tail and nose, as well as a different shape. The AASM HAMMER has four small wings at the front and rear, placed symmetrically, while the video only shows wings at the tail.

The head of the Kharkiv regional prosecutor's office, Oleksandr Filchakov, claims that Kharkiv was shelled by a UMPB D-30 bomb. This is confirmed by the head of the investigation department of the Kharkiv region police, Serhii Bolvinov, and the head of the Kharkiv LLC, Oleh Syniehubov. UMPB D-30 is also different from the bomb in the video, which could be one of the modifications of the FAB-500, but definitely not the French AASM HAMMER.

Propagandists disseminate such information to deflect responsibility from Russia for its crimes and onto Ukraine's allies.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that the Military Law Enforcement Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly detained several drug buyers in the Sumy region. After the arrest, the buyers stated that they had purchased drugs from mobilized prisoners from three brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine - 150 OMBR, 32 OMBR and 53 OMBR. Propagandists add relevant photographs as “proof”. However, this is fake.

VoxCheck project specialists found photographs based on messages from propagandists on the Facebook page of the Military Law Enforcement Service of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. As it turned out, the creators of this fake showed photographs not from the Sumy region, but from the Nova Poshta branch in Kramatorsk, where military law enforcement officers, together with a canine squad and employees of the National Police, inspect postal items.

As a result of two such reviews, on June 21 and 22, 2024, bags of a green plant substance similar to cannabis were found. Another photo from the message was taken on June 20 during an inspection of the personal belongings of another serviceman in the Donetsk region - then a paper parcel with a powdery white substance was found in his possession.

In all of these cases, the drugs were found on military personnel and not on civilians, as reported. Finally, the Military Law Enforcement Service reports make no mention of the individual or group of individuals from whom the substances were purchased. Accordingly, there is no reason to assert that they received these shipments from mobilized prisoners from the three mentioned brigades of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that on the border of Ukraine with Poland, employees of the State Border Service are detaining Ukrainian women in order to search for evaders in their families. As “proof” of this, propagandists attach a corresponding video from the Hrushiv-Budomierz checkpoint, in which women communicate with a border guard.

However, this information is not true. The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, having verified the information in the State National Security Service, reported that in fact, technical malfunctions arose at the Hrushiv-Budomierz checkpoint several days ago, which led to problems with border crossing. However, thanks to the coordinated work of the relevant specialists, the registration of citizens resumed on the same day. That is, the propagandists took advantage of the technical delay that arose at the mentioned checkpoint and presented it as a “search for evaders in families”.

By spreading this fake news, Russian propagandists are trying to intimidate Ukrainian society.

Pro-Russian resources are distributing a video from Brussels showing a building on the walls which allegedly depicts graffiti with a caricature of the President of Ukraine and the caption: “Please invite another bankrupt to the EU”. The voice of a man behind the scenes, who speaks Ukrainian, leads to the conclusion that supposedly Ukraine is not welcome in the EU.

In fact, such graffiti does not exist in the Belgian capital, Ukrinform journalists report. Using Google Maps, they were able to establish that opposite the graffiti allegedly with a caricature of Zelenskyi there is a pet store called Zinneke&Kats.

After Ukrinform journalists contacted this pet store, its owners confirmed that the video distributed by propagandists is fake. At the same time, it was indeed filmed in Brussels, but there is other graffiti on the house, which can be seen in the photo above.

By the way, the fake video was first uploaded to the network on June 25, 2024 - precisely on the day when the first Intergovernmental Conference on Ukraine’s accession to the EU started in Luxembourg, which gave the official start to accession negotiations. Previously, we refuted the information that in Berlin they allegedly created graffiti with Zelenskyi in the image of a maniac.

Pro-Russian telegram channels publish information that Metropolitan Ionafan of Tulchyn and Bratslav (UOC-MP) became a victim of repression from Kyiv because of his loyalty and unwillingness to make compromises bordering on treason. In spreading this message, propagandists refer to the statement of the head of the Russian Orthodox Church Kyryl (Volodymyr Hundiaiev).

In fact, this information is fake, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. There is no religious persecution or harassment based on religion in Ukraine.

Metropolitan Ionafan (Anatolii Yeletskykh) was sentenced to 5 years in prison for specific crimes not related to matters of faith. In October 2022, the SBU, during searches of the Tulchin diocese of the UOC-MP, discovered a number of propaganda postcards:

- with the image of the flag of the Russian Federation;

- with Putin’s decree on the annexation of Crimea to the Russian Federation;

- with images of a map of Ukraine, where Crimea is designated as the territory of the Russian Federation;

- letters (photocopies) of the Moscow Patriarch dated October 6, 2022 with a demand to pray for the President of the Russian Federation.

By spreading this fake news, Russian propaganda seeks to whitewash the agents of the Russian special services, who cynically conduct anti-state activities in Ukraine under the guise of church status. Previously, we analyzed the message of Russian propaganda that the arrest of the rector of the Sviatohirsk Lavra is supposedly “religious persecution”.

A report from the Euronews TV channel is being distributed on social networks. It claims that in western Ukraine, the Territorial center of recruitment and social support workers beat an ethnic Hungarian when they tried to mobilize him.

Fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project established that Euronews did not publish such a video. It was assembled from videos that were not connected to each other.

Through a reverse photo search, it turned out that for the fake Euronews video, propagandists used excerpts of individual videos from open sources. Thus, the footage of the Territorial center of recruitment and social support employees was taken from the report Investigation. Info for April 2024. The video does not mention representatives of the Hungarian minority in Ukraine.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are spreading information that mercenaries from Colombia have been transferred from the Ukrainian side to the Kharkiv direction. As “proof” of this, propagandists add the corresponding first-person video recording, allegedly of a Colombian firing from a dugout.

However, the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council reports that this video is an orchestrated fake of Russian propaganda. First of all, there is no direct evidence or symbols in the video that indicate the person is a “Colombian mercenary”. There are also no documents, symbols, or evidence that could confirm this information. And the location of the shooting does not give any reason to claim that this is the Kharkiv direction. After all, the video doesn't show the face of the person filming, nor does his accent sound Colombian.

This fake video was created as part of a Russian disinformation campaign against “foreign mercenaries” in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Previously, we denied information that the Ukrainian Embassy in the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire allegedly recruits mercenaries to participate in the war against Russia.

Information is being spread on social networks that the President of Ukraine allegedly overdosed on cocaine during a flight to a meeting with the leader of Singapore. As proof, propagandists add a photograph where Volodymyr Zelenskyi allegedly cannot stand on his own and is supported by two high-ranking officials. However, this is fake.

Fact-checkers from VoxCheck noticed that the photo was processed in a graphics editor. In fact, the original photo was taken in Portugal on May 28, 2024. It shows Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Souso and Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, with whom Volodymyr Zelenskyi signed a bilateral security agreement later that day. For the sake of creating a fake, the hand of Volodymyr Zelenskyi and the hands of Portuguese President Marcel Rebelo de Sousa were reflected and increased in size.

By the way, Volodymyr Zelenskyi was indeed in Singapore at a meeting with the President of this country Tharman Shanmugaratn on June 2, 2024, where the prospects for deepening Ukrainian-Singaporean relations were discussed. The President of Ukraine also took part in the Shangri-La Dialogue conference. However, the fabricated photo distributed by propagandists is not from Zelenskyi’s visit to Singapore, as we noted above.

This photo fake is part of a systematic distortion of the image of Volodymyr Zelenskyi due to his alleged drug use, discrediting him as a person who cannot represent Ukraine and is an unreliable ally. Previously, we wrote about another fake, that Zelenskyi was invited to speak at a rehabilitation center for drug addicts “as a good role model”.

Pro-Russian sources are disseminating information that the United States is allegedly using hallucinogenic drugs, in particular ketamine, on Ukrainian military personnel. In asserting this, propagandists refer to the corresponding article by The Economist.

However, this information is untrue, write experts on the VoxCheck project. Thus, The Economist did publish an article about the use of ketamine therapy by Ukrainian fighters. However, it was primarily about military personnel with neurological or psychological problems caused by injuries or experiences in war. At the same time, there is no mention in the material that the United States is promoting the spread of ketamine therapy in Ukraine or elsewhere. That is, neither in this article nor in other reliable sources there is information that Ukrainian clinics, at the direction of the United States, are testing ketamine or other psychedelic drugs on Ukrainians.

The Economist story cites the story of Ihor Kholodylo, a military psychologist and medic who, as a result of being wounded, began to stutter and was unable to speak clearly, and also had increased anxiety and nightmares. According to him, ketamine therapy was the only remedy that helped him cope with the trauma and get rid of the mentioned problems.

Also, according to Ukrainian legislation, ketamine is a psychotropic substance whose circulation is limited. In this case, the drug can be used as a medicine. Now in Ukraine one can get services using ketamine therapy in a number of clinics, but in none of the cases are we talking about testing the drug on patients. One can check information about clinical trials on the website of the State Expert Center of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine. The list of clinical trials conducted or ongoing in Ukraine does not include ketamine.

Previously, we analyzed a similar fake of Russian propagandists, which consisted in the fact that Time magazine allegedly published an article in which it was said that the Ukrainian military was “pumped up” with ketamine before the battle.

A network of pro-Russian telegram channels is distributing an alleged quote from the German Foreign Ministry, Annalena Baerbock: “Ukraine has managed to turn the swastika into a symbol of freedom”. Baerbock allegedly believes that Ukrainians who fight for independence and use Nazi symbols will rehabilitate it in the eyes of the Europeans. However, this is a fake.

According to information from VoxCheck experts, the fictitious quote was first disseminated by a Russian telegram channel, calling its news “a parody and satire on political reality”. However, propagandists picked up this message and began to disseminate it in their messages as true information, which later ridiculed the original source: “The trick was a success”.

Annalena Baerbock is the former leader of the left-wing German party Union 90/Green, professing the values of social democracy, pro-Europeanism and opposition to right-wing radical movements, including Nazism. Therefore, statements about Ukrainian Nazism would be completely contrary to the values of a high-ranking position.

This fake was also analyzed by German specialists from the publication Correctiv. They note that in the English-language segment of the social network “X”, along with this message, they are speculating on the alleged “genetic heredity” of the minister with her unnamed relative, allegedly a member of the NSDAP. Fact-checkers also requested a representative from the German Federal Foreign Office. The response noted that Annalena Baerbock did not make such a statement.

With this message, propagandists are trying to reduce the level of trust in the German authorities in the eyes of Ukrainians, speculating on issues of Nazism. At the same time, they seek to denigrate German officials in the eyes of European society and undermine confidence in the German Green Party. Previously, we refuted the information that Annalena Baerbock allegedly asked Ukraine not to call Leopard tanks German.

Pro-Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that in Vovchansk the Russian army allegedly seized an aggregate plant, leaving on a “starvation ration” the Armed Forces of Ukraine, holed up in high-rise buildings in the city center.

However, this information is not true, according to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Speaker of Kharkiv Operational and strategic grouping of troops Yurii Povkh said on Radio Svoboda (Liberty) that the Russian military remains blocked at the aggregate plant. He added that other Russian forces are trying to get through there, making attacks, but to no avail - the Ukrainian Defense Forces are repelling them.

Earlier, military observer and coordinator of the Information Resistance group Kostiantyn Mashovets claimed that about 200 Russian military personnel were surrounded by the Vovchansk aggregate plant after attempts to cross the Vovcha River.

Propagandists have again begun to spread information about the “nuclear threat” from Ukraine. This time they are using a statement by Ihor Kyrylov, the head of the Russian radiation, chemical and biological defense forces. He stated that spent nuclear fuel is allegedly being imported into Ukraine, from which it is planned to later create a nuclear weapon (“dirty bomb”). They say that this process is being handled by the head of the Presidential Office, AndriI Yermak. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the Center for Countering Disinformation of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine wrote about this. They noted that such accusations against Ukraine are unfounded. “Dirty bomb” is more of a journalistic cliche. Such weapons have never been used and, in fact, they are not classified as nuclear. Ultimately, in 2022, as a result of Russian claims about the production of a “dirty bomb”, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) arranged inspections of Ukrainian facilities, denying the Russian claims.

To spread this fake news, the Russians are resorting to whataboutism tactics with the intention of distracting attention from the Russian nuclear threat. While Ukraine demands that Russia be recognized as a state sponsor of terrorism, Russia is trying to accuse Ukraine of terrorism.

Spreading fake news about a “dirty bomb” to create distrust and fear of Ukraine. Thus, they are trying to convince the world that Ukraine is supposedly a threat to it and justify Russian aggression.

Propagandists are distributing information on anonymous telegram channels that allegedly six prisoners who joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine escaped with weapons from the training center. However, this is fake.

Journalists from Radio Svoboda (Liberty) deny this information, citing a comment they received from the Ground Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Thus, propagandists want to discredit the Law adopted on May 8, 2024. It provides for the parole of certain groups of prisoners in case of joining the Armed Forces of Ukraine. However, it has already been signed by the President of Ukraine and, according to its provisions, persons convicted of murder, rape, terrorism, high treason, encroachment on the life of law enforcement officers and some other articles cannot become voluntarily mobilized. This ensures the safety of both military personnel who are in the same formation with former prisoners, and the safety of civilians who have contact with them both during and after hostilities.

Russian propagandists are speculating on the topic of the presence of prisoners in Ukrainian military formations, resorting to their stigmatization among the Ukrainian population. Distrust in the involvement of this group of people is also fueled by the recurrent behavior of Russian prisoners on parole, who, after participating in hostilities, commit crimes in civilian space.