The Russian media are spreading another fake about Ukrainian refugees who were supposedly forcibly evicted from their home in Krakow. But, as StopFake found out, there is no evidence or mention of such an incident - except for the words of a witness referred to by the Russian media. They also distribute a video that seems to show that Ukrainian refugees had to be expelled from their apartment with a crane.

As fact-checkers write, a video about how the police got through the window in the center of Krakow appeared on the network on October 8, 2021, and there is no relation to the war in Ukraine. There is also no mention of any case of forced eviction of Ukrainians either in the local media, or in the police of Krakow, or in the Polish segment of social networks.

Russian propagandists and anonymous telegram channels spread information that there were explosions in the Lviv region. According to the head of the Regional military state administration Maksym Kozytskyi, this is a fake. “I officially declare that as of 15:00 the information is untrue”, Kozytskyi wrote and urged people to stay in shelters.

This is reported by Turkish media. As proof, they cite a photo in which two men in balaclavas hold in their hands the inscription “Will to the peoples - death to empires” and “Glory to the resistance of Rojava!”

Stop Fake fact-checkers found that this publication led to a wave of indignation in the Turkish media community, because Turkey considers Kurdish military formations to be terrorist. “Scandalous support for the RKK (Kurdistan Workers’ Party) and YPG (People’s Defense Units) by the Ukrainian military!”, “Ukraine forgot about Turkey’s help”, with such headlines, the Turkish media circulated this photo.

There is no evidence of the involvement of the Ukrainian military in this photo. The photo first appeared on the Russian telegram channel Hevale, which publishes information about Kurdistan and the Middle East. From there, it was spread by Turkish media and social media users. The Ukrainian ambassador to Turkey said that the photo is "a Russian provocation and has nothing to do with the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukraine".

Pro-Russian telegram channels write about this. According to one of the propagandists, the alleged number of deserters in the Armed Forces of Ukraine has increased after the statement of the head of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, about the losses of Ukrainian troops. This is not true, according to the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine.

By spreading this fake, Russian propaganda uses the tactics of reflection. According to British intelligence, it is Russia that is creating "protective detachments" to catch deserters among its own soldiers, fleeing because of low morale and unwillingness to fight.

This information appeared on the Internet, in particular on the YoTube channel of a blogger who previously spread fakes and manipulations on COVID-19. The user notes that the Verkhovna Rada proposed a bill allegedly regulating the permanent shutdown of mobile communications and the Internet at the request of the authorized body. However, this is not true.

Vox Ukraine specialists investigated this case and found that the blogger misinterpreted the provision of the document. Analysts note that the blogger quoted excerpts from bill No. 8185, which was registered in the Verkhovna Rada on November 7.

The document refers to the addition of Article 43 of the Law “On Electronic Communications”. In particular, the bill proposes:

“To allow the use of radio electronic means or emitting devices for special purposes in order to temporarily restrict electronic communication in certain areas in order to eliminate the threat from drones”.

It was this point that the blogger interpreted as the one “regarding civilians”. However, in fact, all proposals are about communication to eliminate the threat from drones.

Such information appeared on the open spaces of propaganda telegram channels. Reports say that a massive civilian repression has recently begun, which simply worked during the occupation of the city, because they needed to survive. According to the infidels, all the inhabitants are in danger. However, the most important facts have been substituted.

This case was considered by Vox Ukraine specialists, who strongly denied the news, because there is no evidence of the repression of civilians who did not cooperate with Russia.

However, it should be remembered that collaborationism is punishable by law, and a civilian can become a collaborator. That is why analysts cited several examples of raising suspicions for cooperation with the occupiers after the liberation of Kherson:

- assistance in holding pseudo-referendums in the occupied territory;

- voluntarily holding a managerial position in a Pension fund where Russian pensions were paid;

- service in the occupational police;

- work in the occupational administration of education in the region;

- voluntary transfer of watercraft to the occupiers to organize their escape from Kherson;

- performance of duties in the occupational pre-trial detention center, including the suppression of the Ukrainian resistance movement.

Russian propagandists manipulate the facts because they want to create an imaginary picture of how difficult it seems for Ukrainians to live after the withdrawal of Russian troops. Like, even the civilian population is being repressed. As a consequence, the Russians are once again spreading the narrative that the Ukrainian army is punishing their own citizens.

This statement was made by the Russian propagandist Serhii Lavrov. His appeal says that the OSCE is engaged in adjusting the fire on the territory of Luhansk and Donetsk regions. Like, this is another organization of the West, against which Russia is waging war. However, this is not true.

According to experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation, no facts or evidence were provided in the statement.

The OSCE is an organization aimed at developing political dialogue and cooperation in the field of security. Since 2014, after Russia's military invasion of Ukraine, the OSCE sent a Special monitoring mission to Ukraine. According to the Mission's reports, its activities in the temporarily occupied territories, in particular in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, were illegally obstructed by Russia. 

Therefore, an organization that monitors the security situation and contributes to the settlement of the conflict cannot participate in the war.

The propagandists are spreading this fake to nourish their narrative of how Russia is at war against the collective West. In this way, they try to justify their defeats at the front. 

This message was spread across the network by propagandists in their telegram channels. Reports say that Kharkiv residents died from carbon monoxide poisoning in one of the points of invincibility. They say that the authorities have neglected the safety rules of Ukrainians, so there are already the first victims. As evidence, the propagandists attach supposedly screenshots of real materials on Ukrainian information resources. However, this is not true.

According to Vox Ukraine experts, this is fictitious news. And the screenshots of the materials were edited by means of graphic editors. The editors of a number of publications and news agencies, in particular, Ukrinform, confirmed that such news had never been published on their websites. In response to an information request, the speaker of the chairman of the Kharkiv military regional administration said that the information about the death of three people was not true.

Propagandists are spreading fake news to intimidate Ukrainian society and convince them that supposedly no one cares about them. Recently, the occupiers have added the phrase “points of mediocrity” to their dictionary of the new language, which hints at their desire to devalue and defile the efforts of the state to help the Ukrainians.

Such information is distributed through propaganda and anonymous telegram channels. Reports say the West has run out of patience with Ukraine's insistence on not negotiating with Russia. Like, the West takes the initiative to negotiate. However, this is not true.

According to EU vs Disinfo fact-checkers, there have been no major changes in the rhetoric of the Kremlin's actions on the part of the West. For example, the European Parliament recognized Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. At the same time, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly recognized Russia as a terrorist state. In addition, during the Assembly, NATO officials said that they strongly oppose Russian aggression and plan to increase support for Ukraine. There is no sign that the West is forcing Ukraine to negotiate with Russia.

Propagandists spread this fake in order to discredit the West as an unreliable partner. Allegedly, the West is not at all interested in Ukraine and its interests, but is only looking for different ways to negotiate with Russia. However, the unconditional help of our partners testifies the opposite.

This information was disseminated by the Russian media. Allegedly, a resident of Odesa hung out the flag of Russia with the inscription "Odesa is a Russian city" and for this the court sentenced him to 15 years in prison.

As the StopFake fact-checkers write, the man was indeed sentenced to 15 years in prison, but because the court found him guilty of high treason, collaboration activities and kidnapping.

The State Bureau of Investigation of Ukraine and the Security Service of Ukraine reported that he openly demonstrated his pro-Russian position and was an agent of the FSB. On August 22, he placed a Russian flag on one of the residential buildings in Odesa. A man with two more recruited residents of Odesa collected information about the locations of military facilities on the territory of Odesa, information about law enforcement officers, pro-Ukrainian activists and participants of the ATO, and transmitted this data to their curators in Russia.

He and his associates bought weapons for saboteurs, worked on creating a network of agents in the law enforcement agencies of the Odesa region and planned to kidnap a patriotic businessman, a volunteer, in order to “destabilize the situation in the city” and “after the capture of Odesa by the aggressor’s troops, exchange a Ukrainian patriot for Russian prisoners”.

He was detained with associates during the kidnapping of an entrepreneur with the use of drugs. The recruited Odesans were dressed in military uniforms.

Russian propagandists manipulate facts to show that Ukraine can sentence persons for 15 years.

Such information appeared in the Russian propaganda media. Like, the Russian propagandist Dariia Duhina was killed by order of the French special services. Reports say that all this happened because of the situation in Olenivka. Allegedly, Dariia was going to expose those responsible for the shelling of the colony in Olenivka. In particular, the reports say that Duhina had evidence that the French special services are helping Ukrainians in the Donbas, and the colony was hit by the HIMARS system, which is in service with the Ukrainian military. That is why, according to propagandists, in order to hide all the evidence, the French secret services killed Duhin. The EU vs Disinfo analysts drew attention to the case. In fact, this version of the propagandists is not supported by any evidence. According to analysts, such disinformation is aimed at blurring the picture around the killing of Ukrainian soldiers in Olenivka.

Such messages are spread by the Russian propaganda media. They refer to the German politician Oscar La Fontaine. They say that it is not Ukraine that is at war with Russia, but NATO, and the United States should withdraw their troops from Germany; also, that the war in Ukraine and the “coup d'état” in 2014 is also the work of the Americans. According to Russian propaganda media, Germany allegedly admitted that it was the United States that prepared Ukraine for war with Russia. However, this is not true.

Social networks and pro-Russian telegram channels are circulating a collage of photos of one woman putting makeup that looks like wounds on the face of another. The last photo shows how three people allegedly provide medical assistance to the injured person. In the captions to the photo, they note that this is how the Ukrainian military is supposedly preparing “fakes” with the victims. Like, these photos were received from the phone of “employees of the Ukrainian Center for Information and Psychological Operations (CIPsO)”. It's fake.

In fact, the photo shows medical assistance training from military doctors in 2016. The VoxCheck fact checker, using PimEyes, a people-search service on the web, and a reverse search in Google Images, found the original photos and the names of the people on them. These are representatives of TacCat, a Ukrainian organization that conducts first aid courses, held, in particular, with the help of paint and mannequins.

On social networks and through pro-Russian telegram channels, a video with a powerful explosion is being distributed. The comments note that these are footage of the alleged detonation of the ODAB-500P volumetric detonating (vacuum) air bomb dropped by the Russian Su-34 bomber on the positions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. It is not true. The video has nothing to do with Ukraine. According to StopFake, it was probably filmed in Syria. This video has been circulating online since at least December 2019, that is, before Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Moreover, it was the Russian media that published these footage in 2019 and, with the help of military experts, found out whether the explosion of a vacuum bomb was actually recorded on the video, or, perhaps, it was the use of other weapons. Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to demoralize Ukrainians with its "advantages" in armament and "victories" at the front. Previously, Russian propaganda passed off footage from a video game as the “destruction” of a Ukrainian tank division. 

An allegedly new cover of the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo is being circulated online. The cartoon shows men in blue-and-yellow clothes writing Nazi salut on a wall. And men in hijabs look up the meaning of this greeting in the dictionary and say: “This is something in Ukrainian.” Users who distributed the “cover” indicate that the special issue is dedicated to the fact that the Ukrainians drew Hitler's mustache to the football mascot in Qatar. It is not true.

The report that supposedly Ukrainian football fans were detained because of Nazi graffiti in Qatar is not true. This fake has already been debunked. The Charlie Hebdo cover is also fake. Allegedly, this is a special issue dated November 24th. However, on the website of the French magazine, the last issue was published on November 23.

The site also features a paper edition created during October-November dedicated to the World Cup in Qatar, but the illustration for this edition also differs from the image distributed online.

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels write that Ukraine, without electricity, allegedly “traveled in the Middle Ages” or “into the Stone Age.” It seems to be an "apocalypse in the dark." Like, Ukrainians organize annihilation in supermarkets and even kidnap foreigners for ransom. It is not true.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine reported that the crime situation did not worsen due to the power outage. Also, the presence of the National Police, automobile and foot patrols, was tripled on the streets. Earlier, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine reported that in the first half of 2022, the crime rate in Ukraine decreased by 25% compared to the previous year.

Russian propagandists write about this on social networks. Allegedly, citizens of Ukraine are being detained and accused of collaborating with the Russian occupiers.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reported that such information is not true.

This was reported on the website of the Belarusian Border Committee. It is not true. A fake about the mass migration of Ukrainians to Belarus was released by Stanislav Zharyn, authorized representative of the Polish government on protecting the information space of the country.

According to him, “the graph reflects the falsified number of Ukrainian refugees who left for Belarus. According to the information on the migration movement, more than 60,000 Ukrainians arrived in Belarus, including almost 40,000 who had to go through Poland”.

Zharyn noted that Belarusian propaganda hints that Ukrainians fleeing Russian aggression are seeking asylum in Belarus, perceiving this country as the safer one than the EU countries.

A photo of the famous football player Lionel Messi is circulating on social networks. In the photo, he allegedly holds a piece of paper with the text "Zelenskyi idi ..." (Zelenskyi go..). In the comments, they write that at the opening of the World Cup, Messi voiced his opinion on Ukrainian refugees: “I'm tired of watching this meaningless war! Zelenskyi, take your people and kick them out of Europe, we know the truth!” It is not true.

According to the fact-checkers of the MythDetector project, the photo of Lionel Messi has been altered by software. In the original photo, taken in 2014, Messi was holding a piece of paper with "Fuerza Luca" words written on it, when he was encouraging a 9-year-old fan who was suffering from cancer. Also, in open sources there are no calls by Messi to Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

Such information is disseminated by Russian propaganda media. It is also being shared on social media, in particular, in anonymous telegram channels. Reports say that the Resolution adopted by the International Atomic Energy Agency is allegedly "unprofessional", "politicized" and "inappropriate". Also, the Russian media called the Resolution, which refers to the problems at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant (ZNPP), which is still occupied by Russia, inadequate and allegedly “giving Kyiv the right to shell” the ZNPP. However, this is fake.

Pro-Russian users of social networks, in particular Facebook, are spreading a cover photo of the allegedly satirical American magazine MAD, which depicts the Ukrainian and American presidents as Laocoon. Such reports claim that "the American satirical magazine MAD came out with the original cover". The composition depicted in the photo resembles the famous sculpture “Laocoon and His Sons”, however, instead of snakes, the figures of Joe Biden and Volodymyr Zelenskyi are wrapped in pipes, on which the flag of Russia is visible. At the same time, the right hand of the President of Ukraine is stretched up in such a way that it resembles a Nazi salute. The caption was added to the cartoon: "Of course, it was Biden, he just forgot about it". However, MAD magazine has never released an issue with this cover.

In German social networks and blogs, information is being spread that Europe allegedly provided 360 million euros worth of goods in 9 months, of which goods worth 342 million were stolen. The reports also claim that 22 sea containers, 389 railway cars and 220 trucks of humanitarian aid were stolen in Zaporizhzhia and its region. The messages refer to the report of GRECO, the anti-corruption monitoring body of the Council of Europe. But this is fake.

As the German fact-checkers from the Correctiv project write, such a report does not exist. The EU representative reported that it was neither prepared nor published. The statement that 55 million euros of financial aid was stolen is also untrue. There is no confirmation in Europe that humanitarian aid in Ukraine is being stolen. There are reports that the Security service of Ukraine (SSU) investigates cases of speculation or theft of humanitarian aid, but it is of a completely different scale and amount of money. Moreover, the propagandists lied even in general figures: Europe provided Ukraine with humanitarian aid in the amount of 335 million hryvnias - that is, less than was stolen from Ukraine according to the authors of the fake.

Russian propaganda media massively spread the news that Ukrainian football fans were detained in Qatar during the World Cup because they added a "Hitler mustache" and Nazi congratulations "Sieg Heil" to the championship symbol. All news links to a video allegedly created by Al Jazeera, the TV channel. But this is fake.

As the StopFake fact-checker found out, this video is neither on the TV company's website nor on the channel's social networks. The photo of Ukrainian fans used in the video first appeared online at the beginning of the year. It was used in several Ukrainian media publications on the semi-final of the European Futsal Championship 2022, which was held in Amsterdam on February 4. Also, the fact-checkers write, the intro of the video is different from those that Al Jazeera usually does.

In addition, there is no mention of the detention of Ukrainian fans in foreign English-language publications.

A message appeared on pro-Russian anonymous telegram channels that the Pohrebok (A cellar) café opened in Berlin, the advertisement of which became viral immediately after it appeared on the network.

This café, according to propagandists, is allegedly Russian and they glorify Putin, drink to his health, and Berliners like it, which is why advertising has become so popular.

“The advertisers fantasized about the consequences of the coming European winter. In their opinion, next year Putin will be signed on German television as Chancellor of Europe. Visitors argue about his role in history: "It was he who liberated our Scholz!", "Europe is humiliated!", "Instead, we no longer supply arms to anyone", "Yes, thanks to him we have freedom!". As a result, everyone agrees that thanks to Putin, there are delicious pancakes and authentic kvas from Pohrebok in Berlin”, the propagandists write. However, there is no such café in Berlin. As the StopFake fact-checker writes, the so-called “viral advertising”, in which the Germans drink to Putin, is distributed exclusively on Russian websites and in the Russian-language segment of social networks. The actors in the video are also non-native German speakers and speak with a very strong Russian accent. That is, the so-called advertising is just a staging. And you can't really advertise a place that doesn't exist. However, with the help of such fakes, propagandists create the appearance of support for Putin's policies in Europe.

They say that the Europeans have long understood that their leaders are weak and are leading the EU to collapse, while Russia's policy is strong and the EU will not stand without its help. In the so-called commercial, propagandists also use the thesis of a cold winter that will destroy the Europeans, because the EU leadership allegedly does not think about citizens when it imposes sanctions against Russia. Thus, the Russians create the appearance of the excessive importance of Russia. Like, other countries will not be able to do anything without its help.

A message of this content was distributed by Russian propaganda media, after which the thesis migrated to social networks. Reports say that Poland has officially put forward Kyiv's demand. Like, Ukraine should apologize for the Volyn tragedy.

In their messages, the propagandists refer to the Polish edition of Gazeta Wyborcza, where they allegedly published a demand for official Kyiv. However, this is a manipulation that fact-checkers from StopFake paid attention to. As the fact checkers write, in fact, this is a statement by a Polish political scientist who is known for promoting Kremlin narratives. And Gazeta Wyborcza published an article about the meeting where this political scientist spoke, with the title “Pro-Russian propaganda at the meeting in Poznan. The Polish government is preparing for war in the East".

In his column, the author Tomasz Nichka reflects on Sykulskyi, and how he was at first a very reasonable scientist, and now actively disseminates anti-Ukrainian and anti-American theses, similar to Kremlin propaganda narratives. The statement that Ukraine should apologize to Poland for the Volyn tragedy was made by Sykulskyi precisely at this meeting. And Poland did not make official statements about Ukraine's apologies. However, propagandists regularly spread fakes and manipulations about Polish-Ukrainian relations.

This is necessary in order to quarrel Poland and Ukraine and create the appearance that there is tension between the countries supporting each other. Also, propagandists constantly repeat the narrative that Poland seeks to annex part of Ukraine and has already begun to get ready for this.