Spilnota Detector Media

Fake Shelling of the Kakhovka HPP by Ukraine may lead to a nuclear disaster

This information is spread by pro-Kremlin and some Ukrainian media. They said that because the Armed Forces of Ukraine are shelling the Kakhovka HPP, it is operating in an emergency mode and this may allegedly affect nuclear safety at the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant.

"This information is not true. The Armed Forces are working as carefully as possible, and exclusively for military purposes and logistical points," Yuriy Sobolevskyi, the First Deputy Chairman of the Kherson Regional Council, said in Telegram.

The other day, the Ukrainian military disabled a bridge near the Kakhovka HPP. The Armed Forces of Ukraine are striking bridges in the Kherson region to complicate logistics for the Russian army, which is based on both banks of the Dnieper in the region. In order not to admit defeat, Russian propagandists launched "news" about a possible nuclear disaster at the Zaporizhzhya NPP due to the shelling of Ukrainian military bridges in the Kherson region.

Fake The European Parliament "found no evidence of Russian sponsorship of terrorism"

This "news" was invented by the leading media resources of Russia with reference to the member of the European Parliament from Germany, Gunnar Beck, who belongs to the pro-Russian Alternative for the Germany party.

As of August 2022, the Seimas of Lithuania recognized Russia as a state sponsor of terrorism. To break the situation in the information field in their favor, Russian propagandists organized an information campaign under the general idea — they say, "the European Parliament did not find evidence of "sponsoring terrorism" by Russia," writes StopFake. The basis of this campaign was the interview of Gunnar Beck, a Member of the European Parliament from Germany, who called the declaration of the Lithuanian deputies allegedly not supported by legal evidence.

Gunnar Beck did not notice the Russian atrocities in Ukraine, because he is a representative of the pro-Russian party and believes that the reason for the war may be that "Russia cannot agree to Ukraine joining NATO", and he calls the sanctions against Russia "economic suicide" for Europe and invalid about Russia itself.

Fake Kyiv is guilty of attacks on nuclear infrastructure facilities

Russia's permanent representative to the UN, Vassily Nebenzia, accused Ukraine of this at the UN Security Council meeting held on August 11.

He voiced four propaganda messages.

1. The Armed Forces fire at the ZNPP. Russian troops protect it. Russia does not use civilian infrastructure facilities for military purposes.

The statements of the Russian Federation that the Ukrainian army is constantly shelling the ZNPP do not correspond to reality. The Russian army repeatedly tried to pass off its shelling of Energodar residential quarters as shelling of the Armed Forces.

2. Russian military personnel at the ZNPP provide assistance to the station's employees and guard it.

The fact is that the Russian military has set up a military base at the ZANP where the personnel is being held, hostage. In mid-July, gunfights took place on the territory of the station. The risk of making a critical mistake in such working conditions is very high. Russian specialists cannot replace Ukrainian ones, as the ZANP has been modernized in recent years.

3. Ukraine obstructs the IAEA's access to the ZNPP.

The danger for the visit of the IAEA mission to the nuclear power plant is created by Russia due to the constant shelling of the station territory and nearby settlements. Nikopol and Margarets, which are under fire from the Russian military, are only 8 km from the station.

Ukraine sabotaged the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and forced personnel to work without shifts.

4. Ukraine sabotaged the Chornobyl nuclear power plant and forced personnel to work without shifts.

The units of the Russian armed forces, which carried out the forceful seizure of the facilities of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant, committed an act of nuclear terrorism. Ukraine did not commit any provocations at its nuclear power plants - this fact was confirmed by international organizations for the regulation of nuclear safety.

Fake In Pavlograd, Dnipropetrovsk region, there are positions of artillery and anti-aircraft guns on the territory of the church

The Ministry of Defense of Russia disseminates such information on social networks. The head of the Dnipropetrovsk regional council, Mykola Lukashuk, assures: "Of course, the church never had and does not have any RSZV (reactive salvo fire systems). The Russians once again prove that the Russian Federation is a terrorist country that always spreads lies to justify its crimes. We will never understand it. But you don't have to understand - you have to win and rebuild the state."

Fake More and more Ukrainian prisoners of war decided to stay in the territory controlled by Russia

In the Russian media, videos of captured Ukrainian soldiers who allegedly decided to stay in the temporarily occupied territory of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions because of their reluctance to fight and the fear of being on the front line again are widely distributed. Oleksandr Zhizhyn is among the prisoners who talk about it. Russian propagandists distributed the video with him back in early April. Then he said that his team was at the Mariupol metallurgical plant named after Ilyich, which the Russians occupied on March 5. Zhizhin surrendered and since then became a hero in the Russian media with his fiction about the crimes of "Azov". On August 13, Zhizhyn once again became the hero of the Russian news that more and more Ukrainian prisoners of war are refusing to return home and, they say, are even declaring their readiness to act with weapons in their hands on the side of the occupiers of Donbas.

Russian propaganda spreads such messages from time to time to strengthen the opinion in society that surrendering is better than defending Ukraine from the invaders. And also that prisoners of war live much better in prison than in freedom. In this way, the Russians cover up the fact that hunger, abuse, and murder await Ukrainian prisoners of war.

The other day it became known that Russia is preparing a show trial of Ukrainian prisoners of war in Mariupol. For this purpose, the occupiers assembled prison cells on the stage of the Chamber Philharmonic.

Fake The event recommended the Office of the President not to use prohibited weapons in Donbas

Anonymous Telegram channels controlled by Russia's GRU, such as "Resident" and "Legitimny", are spreading the message that supposedly "Western instructors" recommended the Office of the President not to use prohibited types of weapons during the war for Donbas. The report says that the use of anti-personnel landmines in Donetsk "creates a negative image of the Armed Forces" among the population and makes it possible to accuse the Armed Forces of war crimes.

The message, presented as if it were an insider from the President's Office, aims to convince readers that the use of "petal mines" by the Armed Forces of Ukraine is a proven fact, and now the OP must deal with the consequences of this "strategic mistake." But there is no proof that the Armed Forces used these anti-personnel mines in Donetsk, but Russian propaganda constantly writes about it.

On the contrary, there is a lot of evidence that it is the Russian army that violates all the norms and laws of warfare and regularly uses prohibited weapons. And during the war with Ukraine, and earlier - in Georgia and Chechnya. Ukraine also had stockpiles of antipersonnel mines but joined the Ottawa Treaty banning their use and is systematically destroying its arsenal. On the other hand, Russia has not signed any document from the Ottawa Treaty, and still uses anti-personnel mines during the wars it is waging.

Fake The Security Service of Ukraine is preparing a punitive operation against citizens loyal to Russia in Kharkiv

The Russian Ministry of Defense reported that the SSU is preparing a punitive operation against citizens loyal to Russia in Kharkiv, under the guise of "clearing the city of artillery and aviation correctors." Also, the Russian Ministry of Defense published a whole list of what the SSU can detain Ukrainian citizens. These are the presence of calls and SMS to Russian numbers, correspondence in messengers condemning the current Ukrainian authorities, subscriptions to Russian channels on social networks, and photo or video materials of the results of impressions of Ukrainian military facilities. People who are loyal to Russia are threatened with torture and threats to the lives of relatives and friends. Also, the Russian Ministry of Defense reports that similar punitive operations have already taken place in other cities - Odesa, Mykolaiv, Sloviansk, Sumy, Chernihiv, and several other settlements.

There is no confirmation of any punitive operations in any of these cities by any Ukrainian security forces. Part of the message of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation looks like a description of the SSU's work to identify collaborators and real correctors. Part of it is a warning to its agents about what needs to be urgently removed from the phones in order not to be exposed by the agents, writes the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center. And it may also aim to sow panic among Kharkiv residents, who, for example, subscribe to local publications that regularly publish photos and videos of "arrivals".

Fire adjusters or those who pass other important information to the Russians are regularly detained in Ukraine. But neither relatives nor relatives of people convicted of these crimes came forward with statements about illegal actions against them. Did the criminals themselves also not complain about the use of force or any illegal actions of the investigators? Instead, full-fledged punitive operations against the civilian population, including pro-Ukrainian activists or representatives of the Ukrainian government, were conducted and are being conducted. Russian troops. Ukrainians are stolen, tortured, killed, and disappear en masse. At any Russian checkpoints, mobile phones and correspondence are checked, after which people are sent to filtration camps.

These messages may also be aimed at spreading the opinion among Ukrainians that many citizens are "loyal" to Russia. But a sociological study by the Kyiv International Institute of Sociology (KIIS), which was conducted on May 13-18, 2022, showed that the absolute majority of citizens who continue to live even in the territory occupied after February 24, 2022 - 82% - have a negative attitude towards Russia.

Fake Ukrainians are selling American Switchblade-300 drones on the darknet

The Russian media is mass spreading the news that an alleged Ukrainian from Kyiv is selling two American Switchblade-300 drones on the darknet. But this is another fake.

Researchers at StopFake analyzed images of drones purportedly for sale and found that they were downed or damaged in 2015 and 2016 in Syria. Their images are taken from a discussion on resources that wrote about the war in Syria.

Such fake ads for the sale of arms are part of the disinformation promoted by Russian propaganda to convince Western allies to stop supplying arms to Ukraine. Its main thesis is as follows: weapons supplied by the West do not go to the front, but are sold and smuggled back to Europe or transported to the countries of the Middle East to militants of terrorist groups. Some of this disinformation even reaches the respectable Western mass media - recently the CBS channel showed the film "Arming Ukraine", where it was claimed that the vast majority of weapons provided by the West do not reach the front. After the publicity, the channel stopped showing the film and apologized, and plans to update the material.

Fake In Spain, it was forbidden to use Ukrainian flags in the refugee center

This was reported by the Russian media and the official account of the Russian Embassy in Spain. Allegedly, in one of the centers for refugees, Ukrainians were forbidden to hang their national flag. This is evidenced by the photos, which allegedly show graffiti with the inscription "no Ukrainian flags" on the wall of the building next to the center. Pro-Russian telegram channels spread these messages in the Ukrainian infospace. This is a fake.

Graffiti photos are another photo montage. This was pointed out by Twitter users in the comments under the publication of the account of the Russian Embassy in Spain. Twitter users geolocated the location on the photos. The building in the photo is actually in Benalmadena, it belongs to the EpicGym gym. The owners of the hall confirmed on August 5 that such an inscription was never on the wall and provided a video of the facade of the building - it does not contain any graffiti. An analysis of photos circulating online indicates that the "graffiti" was painted over the gym's logo - the edge of the "graffiti" features the letter "E", which corresponds to the first letter of the gym's name, "EpicGym". On social networks, "EpicGym" published a message in which they called the fakes "disgusting and unacceptable" and emphasized that the information on the Twitter account of the Russian Embassy in Spain is not true. The owners also reported that the people involved in their business do not support Russia in the war going on in Ukraine.

StopFake fact-checkers verified the published photos using the Forensics image verification tool. The check showed a different level of compression at the location of the graffiti - this may indicate that the image has been edited.

Fake The special unit "Kraken" has lost its combat capability

This is reported by the Russian media with reference to the representative of the Russian Ministry of Defense Igor Konashenkov. He said that the unit suffered significant personal losses and combat effectiveness in general. Allegedly, they tried to fill the unit with local residents, but no volunteers were found. It is not true.

As the Kharkiv Anti-Corruption Center writes, the special unit "Kraken" has indeed announced the recruitment of recruits for the assault company. According to Kraken Chief of Staff Kostiantyn Nemichev, in the first two days, 800 questionnaires were received from those wishing to join the special unit. The selection will take place in several stages, including an interview and a "young fighter course". After that, the instructors will make the final decision.

Fake It is almost impossible for pensioners to receive financial assistance from the UN

Such fakes are distributed in the network. They said that the UN primarily helps young people, and then retirees. Allegedly, such assistance is provided for pensioners who have the status of internally displaced persons. However, social insurance for pensioners is issued in the regional center, so a pensioner from the occupied territories will not be able to get there and will not receive payments. It is not true.

Fake Residents of Zaporizhzhia are being evacuated

Such information is distributed in social networks and messengers. It is not true.

The secretary of the city council, Anatoly Kurtev, said that now there are no reasons for the mass evacuation of citizens. The other day, the city authorities started an information campaign to clarify the rules of behavior of the population during an emergency, including during evacuation. However, the official says, these are only preventive measures, because, in the conditions of a full-scale war, such knowledge should be available not only to Zaporizhzhia but also to the entire country. Kurtev urged residents to remain calm and trust only official sources of information, not speculations and rumors on social networks.

Recently, fake reports about the evacuation of residents of Odesa were also spread. Local authorities denied these rumors.

Fake Due to the distribution of weapons to the population, the level of crime in Ukraine increased by 270%

Russian propaganda spreads information that, allegedly, because weapons were distributed to the population in the first months of the war, the level of crime, especially serious crimes - robberies and murders - has dropped unprecedentedly. According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine, in six months the overall level of crime in Ukraine decreased by 25% compared to last year. Serious and especially serious crimes remained almost at the same level as in 2021, writes StopFake. The number of apartment thefts, robberies, and robberies decreased. This is confirmed by the statistics of the Prosecutor General's Office. The decrease in the level of general crime in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine is explained by the mass migration of people within the country and abroad, the introduction of a curfew, and the coordination of the work of law enforcement officers and territorial defense. At the same time, the Ministry of Internal Affairs noted that the level of crime has increased in the territories with active hostilities. In addition, the number of crimes related to illegal trafficking of weapons and crimes committed with the use of weapons increased. 

Fake Russian specialists will modernize the captured Kakhovskaya HPP and increase capacity by 30%

Russian propaganda reported that Russian specialists have started the modernization of two turbines of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, and such modernization can increase the capacity of the hydroelectric power station by a third. It will be recalled that the occupiers seized the station in the first days of the invasion of the Kherson region. According to StopFake fact-checkers, the Russians will not be able to modernize the Kakhovskaya HPP, because, firstly, part of the necessary equipment is produced only in Ukraine or the countries of the European Union. Secondly, to install more powerful equipment, it is necessary to make changes to the station’s structure, and this can damage the reinforced concrete dam of the Kakhovskaya HPP. Such works will last at least two years and will give a 5 percent increase, commented the energy generating company "Ukrhydroenergo". Russian media also wrote that one of the turbines "failed, but this is not related to hostilities." "Ukrhydroenergo" denies: as a result of the fighting near Kherson, the power grid was damaged, which caused multiple short circuits and disabled part of the station's equipment 

Fake Russian musician Serhiy Shnurov went to the temporarily occupied Luhansk region

The information that Serhiy Shnurov visited the city of Irmino in the Luhansk Region was spread by the Russian propaganda media with reference to the Russian actor Georgy Bolonyev. Later, a photo in which Shnurov is allegedly in Luhansk Oblast also appeared on the pages of Ukrainian online media. However, this is not true.

The photo turned out to be a fake. Shnurov accused Russian propagandists of having photoshopped his old photo into a picture with Prigozhin and Bolognev. Pro-government Russian media also denied the fake, referring to the words of Shnurov's press secretary Serhii Guguchkin. Like, the singer is currently in Turkey and taking part in a corporate event. Later, Bolonev published other attempts of the same photo on the Russian social network Vkontakte and wrote that Shnurov is being confused with the Russian actor Sergei Garusov. And this is done not only by readers of social networks, but also by residents of occupied Stakhanov who saw Harusov in person.

"Media Detector'' checked the photo. It is impossible to establish the author and the location of the shooting, as metadata about who created the image is erased in social networks. Reverse search of the original image on the Internet through search engines and the TinEye extension is not convincing due to the clutter of image reposts. However, analyzing the image in the InVid application shows traces of editing. Especially, the right part of the image, where Shnurov is supposed to be. This shows that Shnurov is not really in the photo from Irmina. Harusov is only three centimeters shorter than Shnurov, this difference can be muffled by a hat, higher shoes or lifting on the toes. So, they could really be "confused".

The use of photos of celebrities who were not actually in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories is a novelty for Russian propagandists. Previously, they published news about stars who really visited the occupied territories for, apparently, ideological reasons.

Fake Residents of the Odesa region are being urgently evacuated due to the Russian offensive

Anonymous telegram channels write about it. Allegedly, such an instruction was given to local authorities. It is not true.

Fake Germany tests experimental weapons in Ukraine

This is reported by anonymous Telegram channels. Allegedly, German Chancellor Olaf Scholz accidentally said that Ukraine is being used as a testing ground for new weapons. It is not true.

In an interview with the Canadian edition of The Globe and Mail, Olaf Scholz said that Ukraine was given some weapons systems that the Bundeswehr does not have. However, Scholz did not call the transferred weapons experimental and did not talk about the fact that they are being tested in Ukraine. He also said that German specialists teach Ukrainians how to use this equipment correctly.

Fake Europe refused the special tribunal on Russia and recognition of the war in Ukraine as aggression

Russian media spread a distorted quote from the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, Dmytro Kuleba. They said, there will be no "new Hague" — the European Union "refused" to create a tribunal, and the International Court of Justice "does not want" to recognize the Russian "special operation" as aggression. It is not true.

During the interview, Dmytro Kuleba answered questions about holding a special tribunal over Russia. The diplomat said that today there is a discussion about the legal format of the investigation and punishment for Russia's war crimes in Ukraine — the creation of a tribunal or the sessions held by the International Criminal Court. Discussion of the legal subtleties of the future process continues, there is no mention of Europe's refusal to recognize Russia's war in Ukraine as aggression or don’t investigate and prosecute those responsible for the war. Ambassador-at-large Anton Korinevych explained that currently there is no international court or tribunal that could judge crimes of aggression, from which genocide, crimes against humanity,d war crimes are derived.

In mid-June, the EU, USA, Great Britain, Japan,d other countries supported Ukraine in opening a criminal case against Russia at the International Court of Justice. The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, the European Parliament, the NATO Parliamentary Assembly,d the OSCE Parliament supported the creation of a special tribunal. According to StopFake, three possible models for conducting such a tribunal are currently being discussed.

Fake The Armed Forces of Ukraine are massively shelling the settlements in the south of Ukraine that will be liberated from the occupation

The Russians spread such a fake in the temporarily occupied territories in the south of Ukraine. Enemy propaganda continues to sow panic among the population, OC "South" reported.

Fake Russian soldiers in Avdiivka distribute aid to local residents

Military correspondent Andrii Tsaplienko drew attention to a photo of Avdiyivka, which was apparently captured by the Russians, where they distributed humanitarian aid to the locals.

The photo shows Ukrainian volunteers who help people survive in the hell that the Russian invaders have created for them.

"The boys freaked out a bit when they saw how their photos were used on Russian resources. If you enlarge the photo, you can see Ukrainian inscriptions and even a map of Ukraine," Tsaplienko noted.

Fake 30-40% of weapons supplied to Ukraine reach the front

This is stated in the film Arming Ukraine on the American TV channel CBS News. It was announced by the pro-Kremlin media, and in Ukraine, it was published by the website "Strana". The film says that the US loses control over military weapons after crossing the border, that only 30-40% of supplies from the West reach the front, and the rest goes to the "black market". That is why a system of weapons supervision should be created.

Fake HIMARS missiles are transported in trams and buses

Rustem Klupov, a veteran of military intelligence, a participant in the First Chechen War, and a Hero of Russia, said this on a pro-Kremlin show on the Telegram channel.

According to him, the Russian army destroyed a lot of ammunition for this system, and the missiles’ deliveries are carried out by Ukrainian public transport, in particular in buses and trams.

Recently, the USA announced new military aid for Ukraine - the Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive four HIMARS rocket launchers and other military equipment.

These modern rocket launcher systems are actively used by the Armed Forces, and this brings military victories. HIMARS proved so effective that Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu ordered commanders to make their destruction a priority. Thus, Russian propagandists regularly launch fakes about the alleged HIMARS destruction. Earlier, they reported the fake destruction of two, then another, then six more HIMARS installations, and also gave burnt straw for the destroyed missiles for these installations.

Fake Ukrainian troops are purposefully shelling Orthodox churches in the Donetsk region

This information is spread by pro-Kremlin sites, and for illustration, they used photos of the Iversky Convent destroyed during the fighting for the Donetsk airport in 2014.

The Iversky Convent belonged to the so-called Moscow Patriarchate and suffered as a result of the battles for the Donetsk airport in 2014-2015. Videos of Convent’s damage, which the Russian propaganda is using today to illustrate new lies, appeared as early as 2015.

Instead, the Russian occupiers are purposefully destroying Ukrainian cultural heritage, including churches and temples. According to the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy, the Russians damaged 101 objects of valuable historical buildings and destroyed or damaged 145 religious buildings. More details.

Fake In the Kharkiv region, foreign mercenaries shoot at local residents who did not want to give up their homes

This information was spread by the Russian media. Allegedly, as a result of the conflict, 9 civilians were injured. The Center for Combating Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine reports that this is a fake.

Fake In wartime, the enterprise owner cannot fire anyone

The Center for Combating Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council has refuted three fakes about the dismissal of workers during wartime.

1. If an employee doesn’t show up for work and his phone is turned off, he cannot be fired.

Such information is incorrect because Article 36 of the Labor Code was supplemented by clauses 8-3 and now "the grounds for dismissal are the employee's absence at workplace and information about the reasons for more than four consecutive months". If the employee does not answer the phone and does not go to work, he will still be fired.

2. The owner of a non-working enterprise cannot fire anyone due to a lack of raw materials.

This is not true, because according to Clause 6 of Article 41 of the Labor Code "the impossibility of providing an employee with a job is an additional reason for terminating the employment contract at the initiative of the employer." An employee can be fired if he does not have a job.

3. If a person has not received a copy of the order within a certain period, then he/she is dismissed illegally.