According to various versions, the businessman was "cleaned up" by competitors, and he was injured by Ukrainian anti-aircraft fire or mines. The founder and general director of one of the largest Ukrainian agricultural enterprises, "Nibulon", Oleksiy Vadatursky died together with his wife on July 31 as a result of the massive shelling of Mykolaiv by the occupiers. One of the 50 missiles launched by Russia landed in the house. The mayor of Mykolaiv, Oleksandr Senkevich, said that the shelling was probably "the strongest ever". The "South" operational command specified that on July 31, the shelling was carried out by "Smerch" rocket salvo systems and modified projectiles of enhanced destructive effect against the S-300 anti-aircraft missile systems. The Prosecutor General's Office has launched an investigation into the businessman’s murder. According to StopFake, one version of the investigation is that a Russian projectile was fired purposefully at the businessman's house. According to Vitaly Kim, the head of the Mykolayiv administration, the hit of a Russian rocket in the businessman's house could be accidental, since a military unit was stationed in its place before. As in previous cases of accusations of shelling by the Ukrainian army, at first, the propagandists actively wrote about "denazification" and "liquidation", and later began to spread conspiracy theories. This time about the fact that the murder of an agribusinessman was allegedly beneficial to the Ukrainian authorities. 

The Russian media manipulated an electronic petition response on the Ukrainian President’s website. Allegedly, President Zelenskyi gave a positive answer to a petition to replace the monument.

According to StopFake, five similar petitions have been published on the Ukrainian President’s website with a request to demolish the monument to the Russian empress. Two of them collected more than 25 thousand signatures from Ukrainians, and it means that the President had to consider them and give an answer.

The first petition asked to demolish the monument, and the second — to replace it with a statue of Billy Herrington, a pornfilms actor of the 1990s. The President's answers to both petitions are almost the same: he turned request to the Odessa City Council to consider it within its competence. The monument to Catherine II is recognized as a monument of local importance, and only the local authorities can manage its fate.

It was reported by the Russian media with reference to the Russian Minister of Defense Serhii Shoigu. It is not true.

Pentagon Press Secretary Todd Breasseale called Shoigu's message false and said that the Ukrainians "use with striking accuracy and efficiency every high-precision missile system that the United States and partners have provided to defend against the brutal criminal Russia invasion." The commander Andriy Kovalchuk also confirmed that the Russian invaders did not manage to destroy a single HIMARS system. At the beginning of August, the number of HIMARS in service with the Ukrainian military officially reached sixteen systems, and shortly there should be twenty-two of them. The publication Texty.org.ua writes about this in more detail.

This is reported by Russian propagandists and anonymous Telegram channels. Allegedly, the "military formations" of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are located on the roof of the Odesa Theater of Musical Comedy, and heavy weapons and armored vehicles are located on the territory of the University. It is not true.

Both institutions denied the reports of Russian propagandists. Administration of Odesa Academic Theater of Musical Comedy named after Vodianyi called the message "an insolent and cynical fake of the occupiers". The Rector of Odesa State Environmental University, Serhiy Stepanenko, invited all interested parties to a field trip to the training ground, where training meteorological stations are located for the practical training of meteorology students.

The occupiers distribute invoices with allegedly new details of the water utility and send them to the heads of condominiums. Screenshots of tariffs and requisites were published by the Deputy Chairman of the Kherson Regional Council Yuriy Sobolevskyi. These accounts do not exist, writes the "Nota Yenota" project.

"The information stated in the material regarding the opening of accounts in rubles does not correspond to reality. It is forbidden to open accounts in rubles in Ukraine. We checked the details indicated in the material. Such does not exist. Details are fake. We ask you to remove the mention of Alfa-Bank from the material and use only verified information, not to mislead readers," Alfa-Bank's press center replied to Kavun.City journalists. In addition, the IBAN (International Bank Account Number) account format is not used in Russia and for the Russian ruble.

Fact-checkers assumed that the goal of the occupiers was either to discredit the utility company or to assure the people of Kherson that "Russia is here forever." We will remind you that earlier propagandists tried to discredit Khersonoblenergo. 

Russian media and anonymous telegram channels write about this. He said that the goal of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was to put psychological pressure on Ukrainian soldiers who "have already laid down their arms" or may become prisoners in the future. It is not true.

StopFake fact-checkers checked the quotes of the captive Serhii Volynsky, which are used by propagandists. In fact, he described the events in Olenivka as an explosion, not as shelling. Volynsky does note that the tragedy will affect the condition and psyche of the prisoners, but not in the context suggested by Russian propagandists. Volynskyi also says that he doesn't know the cause of the fire. There are no accusations against the Ukrainian Armed Forces in the prisoner's words.

Russian media write about it. They said that representatives of the Pentagon believe that the Armed Forces of Ukraine could have "unintentionally" struck the building of the pre-trial detention center in Olenivka. This was allegedly reported by a high-ranking official from the Pentagon. It is not true. Fact-checkers of the "On the other side of the news" project checked the quote. In response to journalists' questions, the American representative says that the last thing he would think about in the context of this event is the Ukrainian attack on Olenivka. He also suggests that such messages are an attempt by the Russians to "derail them from the information path", which is one more fake.

The Russians also claim that the colony in Olenivka, where Ukrainian prisoners of war were held, was fired upon by the Armed Forces of Ukraine with American HIMARS missiles. As evidence, they showed the fragments of rockets. However, the rocket fragments' origin is unknown. There is no evidence that these fragments were discovered in Olenivka. Military experts reported that the video from the colony shows damage from the fire. Such damage is not inherent in the principle of HIMARS’ operation. The Russians do not allow Ukrainian representatives to the scene of the tragedy, nor did the Red Cross and the UN representatives, who acted as guarantors of the withdrawal of the Ukrainian military from Azovstal and their safe detention. 

Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels are circulating a photo of empty storefronts allegedly from a supermarket in Great Britain, which had energy-saving light bulbs on them. It looks like the British bought up all the energy-saving light bulbs and think "that they will save utility bills for years to come." It is not true.

The original pictures were taken in the USA and posted on the popular online resource Alamy, where any user can purchase them. The photo caption says the empty shelves and rationing sign for this item were taken at a Target retail store in Contra Costa, San Ramon, California on March 12, 2020. Photos of the shelves on which there were hand sanitizers and other essential items were already published by the American media Newsweek on March 15. These goods were actively bought in the first days of the COVID-19 pandemic. In the original photos, there is the following inscription on the banner: "The number of disinfectants is limited to six in one hand."

Fact Checks from Stop Fake revealed that the inscription was subsequently edited in a photo editor: the inscription on the banner was changed, packages with light bulbs were added, and price tags were changed. But the angle from which the shots were taken, the location of the shelves, even the size of the banner, and the creases on its margins are completely identical to the photos taken in the USA two years ago.

Russian propaganda presented the Facebook post of Ukrainian activist Ihor Isayev as a general opinion of all Ukrainians, which, of course, was spread by the pro-Kremlin media.

An article appeared on the Wyborcza. pl website with the title "Almost every third resident of Wroclaw is Ukrainian. And there are more and more of them." The article discussed a study by the Polish Metropolises Union, which showed that Wroclaw is the second Polish city after Warsaw in which the largest number of Ukrainians live. Ihor Isayev reacted to the article with a Facebook post (at the same time, the Russian agitprop claimed that these were comments on the publication, it is also false - ed.), that "the law on national minorities allows the introduction of an auxiliary language (as well as bilingual signs) in the commune if there is at least 20% of minority representatives. We don't have an interpretation of emigrants' amount, although the law does not explicitly say so. Nevertheless, in large Polish cities, we can already fight for the Ukrainian language to become the second state language."

In general, there is no mention of any demands from the Ukrainian refugees. Moreover, it is legally impossible. Polish is the only official language in the Republic of Poland. This is stipulated in the Constitution, Article 27. Read more.

The Russian media spread the statement of the head of the National Defense Management Center, Colonel-General Mykhailo Mizintsev, about the stronghold of the Armed Forces of Ukraine at school No. 23 (Yavornytskyi Avenue) in Dnipro. However, "artillery and armored vehicles were placed near the educational institution." It is not true.

The address of school No. 23 in the city of Dnipro is Dmytro Yavornytskyi Avenue, 14. The Dnipropetrovsk National Historical Museum is located at Dmytro Yavornytskyi Avenue, 16. Its complex includes the "Battle for the Dnipro" diorama, and near its building, there is an open-air military equipment display, The Insider reports.

So, there are artillery and armored vehicles. However, all this was placed not by the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as General Mizyntsev claims, but by the Soviet Army at the initiative of Air Marshal Volodymyr Sudets. The order to place the equipment was signed by the Minister of Defense of the USSR Andriy Grechko, and it happened in 1975.

This was reported by the Russian Ministry of Defense. The Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine emphasizes that this is a fake. The Russians claim that the Ukrainian military plans to "blow up and accuse units of the Russian military of allegedly indiscriminate strikes on civilian infrastructure." Russian propagandists regularly announce "provocations by the Armed Forces of Ukraine" to later justify their missile strikes and crimes against the civilian population of Ukraine. 

This information was spread by the Russian media and social networks. It is not true.

The VoxCheck team verified this information and reports that according to the band's concert program in Tallinn, any Russian song was played at the concert in Estonia on July 20, 2022. This is also confirmed by videos from the concert posted by fans on YouTube. The band has openly expressed its support for Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale invasion, Concerts planned for 2022 in Russia have been canceled.

Russian propagandists falsified the front page of the Polish publication “Dziennik Wschodni” and published it on Facebook and VKontakte. On a fake newspaper page, the propagandists posted the material under the heading: "Zelensky will return Ukraine to Poland." This is, of course, a fake, which shows quite well how Russia works on social networks.

The thesis that the western part of Ukraine should allegedly become part of Poland was actively promoted by Russian propagandists from the beginning of Russia's full-scale war in Ukraine. The fiction was "reinforced" with fake maps that seem to demonstrate Poland's intentions to seize the western regions of Ukraine; then forged documents with seemingly orders to attack these territories; then about the alleged battalions of Poles in Ukraine; then about the "Poles legalization"; then about the alleged plans of Poland "to go over to the Russian side and then capture the western regions of Ukraine", etc.

In this way, the Russians want to provoke enmity between Poles and Ukrainians.

Information about this is spread by propaganda media concerning the Ministry of Defense of Russia. The Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly could have received incorrect information and hit the colony in Olenivka, Donetsk region, occupied by Russia until February 24, 2022. It is not true.

On the morning of July 29, the Russian media announced the shelling of the colony in Olenivka. Propagandists report that the Kyiv regime killed and maimed a large part of the 193 Ukrainian prisoners of war who surrendered and were held there in Mariupol.

The General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine reports that Russia shelled the colony in occupied Olenivka to cover up the torture and murder of prisoners and to accuse the Ukrainian Armed Forces of committing "war crimes."

According to the information of the General Staff, Ukraine did not launch either missile or artillery strikes on the Olenivka. People's deputy and member of the Verkhovna Rada Committee on National Security Fedir Venislavsky explained that any missile and artillery strikes carried out by the Armed Forces take place in very close cooperation with the entire intelligence community. There could not be an accidental hit, let alone a regular hit.

The SSU intercepted telephone conversations in which the occupiers confirm that Russian troops are responsible for the explosion in the Olenivka colony. There are several such audio recordings at the disposal of the Security Service of Ukraine - all of them will be included as evidence in the relevant criminal proceedings.

The Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine believes that the killing of Ukrainian prisoners in Olenivka was organized by the mercenaries of the private military company "Wagner" on the personal instructions of Yevhen Prigozhin, without coordinating it with the leadership of the Ministry of Defense of Russia.

The Kremlin-sponsored news agency RIA Novosti published a video from the colony showing fire damage. The Institute for the Study of War (ISW) points out that the fire damage is not inherent in the principle of operation of "HIMARS" and that the propagandists have not provided evidence that the fragments were found in Olenivka.

People write about it on social networks and share a photo of a supposedly new Ukrainian stamp, which shows portraits of Zelensky, Khrushchev, Bandera, and Petliura carved from stone on Mount Rushmore. It is not true.

Some Russian media spread a video showing a large-scale fire in Spain with captions stating that Ukrainian refugees were allegedly the cause of it. Ukrainians allegedly wanted to burn the Russian flag, but they set the forest on fire. It is not true.

StopFake fact-checkers found the original video. It is indeed footage of a fire that has been raging in the Spanish provinces for several weeks. The announcer says that there is a possibility of deliberate arson. But there is no mention in the story that it was the Ukrainians who caused the fire. The archive also contains the original video with the news feed at the bottom of the screen. In fact, the credits reported the arrest of a taxi driver for assaulting a passenger and driving while intoxicated. Therefore, the information about the participation of Ukrainians in the arson was added deliberately. Probably to discredit Ukrainians who seek refuge in Spain because of the Russian war in Ukraine.

Information is spread by the Russian media concerning the Ministry of Defense of Russia. Allegedly, in Dnipro, a school and a dormitory are used as cover for Ukrainian military and equipment. Similar reports are being spread about Kryvyi Rih, where the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly settled in residential buildings. It is not true.

Russian users of social networks share a video in which the Kinzhal hypersonic missile allegedly hits a military base at a depth of 136 meters, and the event supposedly happened in May. However, it is a fake video. As VoxCheck writes, the widespread video appeared on the network in February of this year. The video`s author is a visual effects artist known on social networks as InsanePatient2. The video has the title: "What if Russia Started Nuclear War?" ("What if Russia started a nuclear war?"). The description of the video states: "What if Russia/Putin Started Nuclear War with Ukraine and the rest of the world?" ("What if Russia/Putin started a nuclear war with Ukraine and the rest of the world?")." In the artist's YouTube and TikTok accounts, there are other works created using computer graphics. On May 9, 2022, Russia launched three "Kinzhal" missiles over Odesa, as noted by OK "Pivden", then destroyed 5 buildings. Moreover, on March 19, 2022, in the village of Delyatyn, Ivano-Frankivsk region. As a result of the strike, the ammunition depot was destroyed," the fact-checkers write.

Photos of two men with Nazi tattoos allegedly depicting Ukrainian refugees in Rijeka (Croatia) are spread on social media. In some posts, the photo serves as a justification for the Russian invasion of Ukraine. However, it is a fake.

Photos of price tags from stores in the Ternopil and Lviv regions for basic products (buckwheat, eggs, and cabbage) on which the prices are indicated not only in hryvnias but also in zlotys are allegedly being distributed on the network. Because of this, residents allegedly are afraid of joining the regions of Poland, especially because of the draft law on a special status for Polish citizens. It is a fake. These photos have been edited, and the prices are not correct. More details. As for the law on the special status of Polish citizens in Ukraine, the president introduced the relevant draft law to the Verkhovna Rada on July 11 in compliance with the principle of reciprocity of international law. It is a response to the law on assistance to citizens of Ukraine, adopted by Poland in March. There are no provisions of law that would provide for the accession of Ukraine to Poland.

Another historical fake used by Russian propaganda is the myth that Ukrainians never lived in the Black Sea region. It is part of the great myth about "originally Russian lands," which Russia allegedly went to "return to itself," restoring "historical justice."

As the history of the last 30 years shows, Russia started wars everywhere without using historical myths - for example, in South Ossetia, Abkhazia, and Syria. Propaganda did not need an explanation about "Russian peace" or "liberation of suffering peoples" from the "Nazis." But to explain the invasion of Ukraine since 2014, propaganda uses all sorts of fakes to prove its own "right" to kill Ukrainians. Sometimes they are directly opposite. In some cases, propaganda proves that Ukrainians do not exist at all; in others - they exist but "did not live" in certain territories and therefore do not have the right to them.

One of these fakes - that Ukrainians never lived in Odesa - was analyzed in detail by StopFake.

Images with data on the national composition of Odesa in 1894 are being distributed on social networks. According to these data, Russians, Jews, Poles, Germans, Greeks, and French lived in Odesa then. As the publication writes, the data indicated in the picture are more or less comparable with the data of the Odesa population census of 1892. His results were published two years later, in 1894. At that time, 336,000 people lived in Odesa. But, as the researchers explain, the population distribution took place according to many parameters, such as native language, religion, and whether the resident was: a Russian citizen or a foreigner. At the same time, people were not asked about their nationality; however, later census, held in 1897, there were statistics by nationality - and in the Kherson province, which included Odesa, 1,462,039 Ukrainians lived, which was 53.5% of the population of the region.

Here, read more about population censuses and historical data about Ukrainians in Odesa and Kherson regions.

The Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs has spread another fake: it seems that Ukraine is shelling the Zaporizhzhia NPP, and because of this threatens Europe with an industrial disaster.

"With maniacal tenacity, the Ukrainian Armed Forces are shelling the Zaporizhzhia NPP, the largest in Europe, not caring about its preservation and violating the resolution and decision of the IAEA general conference. It is obvious that the Ukrainian side is deliberately leading the case to a large-scale industrial disaster. We see that the USA and its European allies are completely satisfied with this," said the representative of the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ivan Nechaev.

It is another accusation that has no evidence. On the contrary, it is the troops of the Russian Federation that are creating the prerequisites for an industrial disaster at the nuclear power plant by bringing heavy weapons to the territory of the station. StopFake writes about it.

Thus, on July 21, the Energoatom company reported that the Russian occupiers brought at least 14 units of heavy military equipment with ammunition, as well as weapons and explosives to the engine room of the 1st power unit of the Zaporizhzhia NPP. The company said that an arsenal of imported heavy equipment with all ammunition is located next to the equipment that ensures the operation of the turbogenerator - and the use of the weapons could lead to an explosion at the station. Earlier, Energoatom, which controls all operating nuclear plants in the country, has repeatedly stated that Russian forces are turning the ZNPP into a military base and using it as a shield. In addition, the occupiers constantly capture local workers, and there is evidence of their torture. Read more about the situation at the ZNPP here.

In the German segment of Facebook, an image is shared: "Shocking survey: 11 million Germans will fight for Russia and Putin against NATO in case of war!" The posts with this image reported that the German channel ARD conducted such a survey.

It's a fake: German fact-checkers from Correctiv contacted the broadcaster, and ARD denied ever conducting such a survey.

The German segment of Facebook regularly spread fakes discrediting Ukraine, the Armed Forces, and slandering Ukrainian refugees in Germany.

At the same time, Russian publications spread the news that it is claimed that three companies - Vanguard, Blackrock, and Blackstone, the main capital of which belongs to American funds, bought 17 million hectares of agricultural land in Ukraine. But it is a fake.

All Russian publications refer to the news of an unknown Australian site called Australiannationalreview.com, which does not provide any evidence to prove these claims. The news on the Australian website refers to material on the Auckland Institute, which is devoted to changes in legislation in Ukraine regarding the sale of agricultural land. However, in the report, there is no information about any of the three companies that allegedly bought a third of the land in Ukraine. Moreover, the material of the Auckland Institute appeared on August 6, 2021, and already the news with the names of these three campaigns and the thesis about "a third of the land sold" was published on May 27, 2022, on the Australian website. But it was reprinted in the Russian mass media only on July 26.

According to the State Service for Geodesy, Cartography and Cadastre write StopFake, 0.26 million hectares were sold in Ukraine during the year of operation of the land market. This figure is about 0.8% of the area of ​​agricultural land (32.6 million hectares) entered into the geocadastre. Thus, the data on 17 million hectares operated by Kremlin propagandists is 65 times greater than the area of ​​agricultural land actually sold in Ukraine.

Such information is spread on social networks, adding an alleged fight video. In the messages to the video, they add that Polish women recently fought with Ukrainian refugees. However, it is not true. According to VoxCheck, a reverse TinEye search shows that the video appeared online in 2016 on the Polish website wykop.pl.

According to several Polish media, the fight took place at the beginning of July in the Polish resort town of Władysławowo and gained wide publicity. It recorded the participation of three girls and several men who tried to separate them. The exact cause of the fight is unknown. In the comments under the video, it is noted that such cases are often associated with excessive alcohol consumption and frequently occur at summer parties.

There is no mention of the nationality of the participants, so there is no reason to talk about a conflict between Poles and refugees from Ukraine either. It is not the first time Russian propaganda has spread fakes about refugees from Ukraine in various states that accepted them because of the war. In this way, the propaganda seeks to discredit the refugees from Ukraine themselves and to create the appearance that the attitude towards Ukrainians is deteriorating in the countries that receive them.