The so-called map of "cities that will be bombed by Russia" is being distributed on Telegram channels. Such reports say that the map was allegedly created on the basis of British intelligence.
However, this is a fake. In fact, the image of the map used in such messages was created in the framework of Ukraine's Independence Day celebration. This is the map of prohibited places for drone flights.
Such information is spread in the Russian propagandistic media. The propagandists conclude that Britain will help Ukraine with nuclear weapons on the basis of a short video teaser posted on a YouTube channel of Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus.
However, this is not true. According to StopFake, in the full version of the video, Ben Wallace, the British Minister of Defense, denied the possibility of providing such assistance. In response to questions from Russian pranksters, the British Defense Minister recalled the signing of the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons.
This statement is being spread by Russian propagandists, mentioning that the U.S. president Joe Biden himself admitted that he was afraid of hypersonic Kinzhal missiles and allegedly stated that the U.S. military is not able to stop a hypersonic missile.
According to StopFake, all of this is not true, because Joe Biden said that the use of Kinzhal missiles is a sign that "Putin is pressed against the wall" due to the lack of success of the Russian army in Ukraine. He also stressed that these missiles are not fundamentally different from those already known, except that it is difficult to shoot them down by air defense systems.
Russian media have spread a statement by Russia's foreign ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova that allegedly there were two prisoner exchanges between Ukraine and Russia. Minister for Reintegration of the Temporarily Occupied Territories Iryna Vereshchuk denies this information. "No, I do not have such information. Russia lives in a parallel reality, they make exchanges, they write about it. We did not make exchanges," Vereshchuk told “Ukrayinska Pravda”.
Russian media have spread a statement from Dmitry Peskov, press secretary for the Russian president, that the Russian military is allegedly not shooting at Ukrainian civilians, but helping them. The fake again mentioned "Ukrainian nationalists" who allegedly used civilians as "living shields" and used "testimonies" of Ukrainians that were abducted to Russia. In fact, in 28 days, the Russian occupiers killed 121 children and injured 167 kids. In the last couple of days alone, the Russian military has fired on a peaceful rally in Kherson, destroyed houses in Kamianske, fired on two cars in Mayinivka, launched an air strike on Lozova, and so on. In addition, the Prosecutor General's Office reported for the first time to the Russian military on suspicion of violating the laws or customs of war through the rape of a woman in the Kyiv region. Only under this article, on the violation of the laws and customs of war (Article 438 of the Criminal Code), in 28 days 2336 proceedings were initiated.
Such a message was spread in several Telegram channels. They claimed that Russia is preparing to end the war and sign a peace treaty with Ukraine. In fact, it’s not true.
The fake was pointed out by the fact checkers from the Brekhunets project. According to them, the negotiations between Ukraine and russia are still ongoing and mostly aimed at saving civilians from hotspots and organizing humanitarian corridors.
The information on detaining Belarusians who were hiding behind journalist IDs and refugee certificates was spread in Telegram channels. In such messages journalists were called saboteurs .
However, this information is not true. According to the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security, the Security Service of Ukraine officially stated that the majority of detained saboteurs are the citizens of Ukraine. Only one of the detained saboteurs was Belarusian. He was detained in the Volyn Region. No details about him were reported.
Such a statement has been spread by the Russian propagandist media. In their messages, they accused Volodymyr Zelenskyi of lies, claiming that he lied in his speech to the Parliament of Israel saying that russian missiles hit Babyn Yar. According to StopFake, Russian propagandist media are using the testimony of an Israeli journalist who says that there is no damage on the territory of the memorial.
In fact, during the March 1 shelling of Kyiv, the Russian army fired on the Kyiv television tower, one missile hit the television center’s technical building, another one - the Avantgarde building on the grounds of the former Jewish cemetery. “The issue here is firing on the Babyn Yar memorial complex and not damaging a specific monument. According to the United Jewish Community of Ukraine, the Kharkiv synagogue, one of the largest in Europe has been fired on, the Jewish cemetery in Bila Tserkva and a number of other Jewish sites in Ukraine have been shelled”, StopFake writes.
ТSuch a statement has been spread by the russian propagandist media. In particular, Lenta.ru, Krasnaya Vesna, TASS, Vesti and many others. They claim that Germany allegedly will no longer supply weapons to Ukraine. According to StopFake, such “news” refer to the statement of German Defense Minister Christine Lambrecht who allegedly announced on March 21 that “Germany is unlikely to send Ukraine any of the Bundeswehr’s reserves. I would even say that we can’t send anything.” However, what Minister Lambrecht actually said is quite the opposite, that the German federal government is considering further arms supplies to Ukraine. Russian media deliberately distorted Christine Lambrecht’s words.
Different Telegram channels and social media pages spread information that Odesa establishes territorial defense. As proof, they added a document of so-called order #101 from 03.16.22 signed by the head of Odesa Regional Military Administration, Maksym Marchenko.
In fact, this is fake news. Odesa Regional Military Administration informs that Maksym Marchenko has never ordered or signed this. “We publish all official orders on our website and promptly inform about that on our official Facebook page,” — says the message.
This message is regularly spread by the russian propagandists. For example, it has been repeatedly mentioned by the Russian president Volodymyr Putin, Foreign Intelligence Service director Serhiy Naryshkin and others. By this narrative, Volodymyr Putin in particular, is trying to justify a full-scale military invasion.
However, this is fake. According to StopFake, Volodymyr Putin thinks that one of the main reasons of the full-scale war against Ukraine is salvation of Donbas people from genocide. For the last 2 weeks, Putin has mentioned 3 times “14 000 civilians died in Donbas” who, in his opinion, were killed by “Ukrainian nationalists”. However, there is no such data about the victims among civilians on the Donbas territory that is temporarily occupied by Russia. This fact is proved by the official data from the UN and even by the reports of the ombudsman from the so-called "Donetsk People’s Republic".
Since March 7, the social media have been spreading the information that so-called Ukrainian “nationalists” mined the building of Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology with the experimental nuclear VoxCheck has debunked this message pointing out that russia has been spreading this piece of disinformation after its attacks to justify its actions or pin the blame on Ukraine. Fact-checkers reminded that for the first time the building of Kharkiv Institute of Physics and Technology was shelled from “Grad” on March 6 and on March 10 the occupants attacked it for the second time. As the result, the attacks caused power cut of the installation.
Such information is spreading on the Internet, but on ICTV, Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Malyar denied this and explained the proportion of those mobilized among residents of the western regions and migrants.
"Indeed, mobilization has now been announced. Everyone knows that the presidential decree was issued on February 24. Many people are being mobilized today because today, many people who can be at the front are needed to defend Ukraine. The same mobilization is carried out in all regions of Ukraine. There is no selective approach because the information is already spreading about the alleged mobilization of internally displaced persons in the western regions. This is not the case," said Malyar.
The representatives of Red Cross are receiving messages saying that their employees can receive certificates that give a right to cross the border without any obstacles, and the law of Ukraine on general mobilization is not applicable to those. The organization denies this information and assures that Red Cross Ukraine is not issuing such certificates. “Everyone forging and using these certificates violates the law of Ukraine “On Red Cross, Red Crescent and Red Crystal Symbols in Ukraine,” the statement says.
A video of so-called deathly beating is being spread on social media. This was reported by ‘Europeiska Pravda’ with reference to German Bonn’s police department. In this video, allegedly, a crowd of Ukrainians beats a 16-years old boy in Euskirchen, a town in North Rhine-Westphalia. Language of video — Russian.
At first, the video was published on Telegram-channel, which spreads Russian propaganda about the Russian-Ukrainian war. A fake news report that 16-years old volunteer “Daniel” was beaten only for speaking Russian. The police say they have no information about this cruel attack that caused death. Law enforcement officers ask people not to spread this video and check the information carefully, especially on social media.
Russian propaganda has been spreading this statement since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Vladimir Putin called that very denazification one of the reasons for launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and this is one of the demands of the Russian side during the negotiation process. However, it is unclear what denazification is, because in the speeches of the Russian side it always means something else: the elimination of the nationalist union; the transfer of "criminals", "responsible for bloody crimes against civilians in Donbass" to court; the abolition of any laws, which allegedly discriminate the Russian-speaking population; blocking the possibility for "followers of radical ideas to get into any structures of Ukrainian goverment."
However, Ukraine does not need to be denazified. Information about the need for denazification is refuted by fact-checkers from StopFake. "In fact, Ukraine does not need denazification. Far-right forces are not represented in the Ukrainian authorities and do not have significant electoral success. President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky is from a Ukrainian-Jewish family. In Ukraine, the rights of the Russian-speaking population are not oppressed in any way,” the fact-checkers write.
Such statements have recently been spread in large numbers on the web in the format of copied records of "a friend from Lodz", "a sister with a small child who was sent home", and "hospitals that accept only refugees." This was reported by the ‘Brekhunets’ project with reference to PolskieRadio. Such messages say that the security guard did not let the author's four-year-old daughter into the city administration (hereinafter referred the name of the city), as he said that they only served Ukrainian children. "Hasn't it gone too far?" the message adds. In such texts names of cities, streets and offices change, but the part about four-year-old daughter and hospitals only for children from Ukraine remain the same. "This message should arouse hatred to refugees and increase panic. Unfortunately, there are people who do not check such news, but still share them, becoming unconscious parts of Russian propaganda," the fact-checkers write.
In fact, it's a fake. "It is unworthy and scandalous to spread rumors. For example, about the alleged "better beds for guests from Ukraine" or about the fact that "there is a lack of medicine" due to such a large number of refugees," said cardiologist, lipidologist, cardiovascular epidemiologist Professor Maciej Banach from Lodz Medical University. He added that it is dishonest to spread rumors that Ukrainians get to hospitals and clinics out of turn and without tests for COVID-19, because it's not true.
Information is being spread online that Volodymyr Zelensky's meeting with the prime ministers of Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovenia, which took place on March 15th, was "actually" held in the Polish city of Przemyśl, where the Ukrainian president allegedly arrived. Such information is spread in order to show that Zelensky is not even in Ukraine, but, most likely, is just running a "show" from Poland.
In fact, this is not true. Zelensky's video was streamed from Kyiv. StopFake writes in detail on this.
The head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, Serhii Haidai, denied the fakes of the occupiers, who reported that 350 people from Severodonetsk, Rubizhne and Lysychansk were allegedly evacuated to occupied Luhansk. "[Rashists (Russian fascists)] demand from residents of the occupied territories to collect humanitarian aid. Forcibly! Fake administrations have ordered the workers to bring something for the "refugees". It is not true! No Ukrainian from Severodonetsk, Rubizhne and Lysychansk could leave for the occupied territories. Cities are controlled by the Ukrainian authorities, the rashists couldn’t take people out, the Armed Forces would not allow them, and people would not leave, because Luhansk region is Ukraine," Gaidai said.
Russian media and pro-Kremlin telegram channels report that the Ukrainian military allegedly fired on Rubizhne in the Luhansk region to "create a picture for the West" about the Russian aggression. The head of the Luhansk Regional State Administration, Serhii Haidai, said that the Russian occupiers were cynically destroying residential areas and killing civillian Ukrainians. According to him, in particular, at least 27 houses in Rubizhne were caught fire on the night of March 17.
In addition, the National Guard of Ukraine refuted Russian media reports that the city was allegedly controlled by the Russian military. "Our guardsmen send greetings from Rubizhne in Luhansk region. They were genuinely surprised and laughed a lot when they saw a circus show in Russian news that the city had been "cleansed" by Chechens and terrorists from ORDLO (the uncontrolled portions of the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts). They say that the city was guarded, is guarded and will be guarded by Ukrainian servicemen, border guards and police, and they do not surrender it to the occupiers," the statement says.
The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine warned that the Russian Ministry of Defense had spread fake information—that the Azov regiment was preparing a series of terrorist attacks against the U.S. and other diplomatic missions in Lviv to "create levers of influence on NATO countries to close the sky over Ukraine."
Russian websites share the statement of the spokeswoman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation Maria Zakharova that Japan allegedly loses its independence in the international arena, without preventing its citizens from fighting on the side of Ukraine. According to StopFake, Zakharova's words about Japan's "independence" due to its support of "neo-Nazi forces" are repeatedly exposed fakes.
She also says that foreign embassies and consulates of Ukraine allegedly "recruit" Japanese volunteers to the "foreign corps". In fact, participation in the International Defense Legion of Ukraine is completely voluntary. The embassies of Ukraine do not "recruit" volunteers, but provide information about the algorithm of joining the Legion. As of early March, about 70 Japanese volunteers had joined the International Legion. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan, in turn, has announced an evacuation throughout Ukraine, and people are expected to stop all travel to the country, regardless of the purpose of their visit.
The information has been spread on social media that allegedly according to the data of the International Committee of the Red Cross and reports of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Ukraine "suffers enormous losses in manpower." According to StopFake, the publications are supplemented with infographics, which show alleged losses among the Ukrainian military. At the same time, neither the Ministry of Defense, nor the Armed Forces, nor other government agencies publish the number and names of soldiers who died as a result of a full-scale Russian invasion. On March 12th alone, President Volodymyr Zelensky announced that 1,300 Ukrainian servicemen had died since the beginning of the war.
Oleksandr Vlasenko, a media relations specialist at the International Committee of the Red Cross, said that the ICRC did not announce the figures or estimate the death toll on either side. He stressed that the International Committee of the Red Cross is a neutral organization focused on helping civilians affected by armed conflicts or violence.
Office of Representative of President of Ukraine in Autonomous Republic of Crimea reported that Russia was spreading a fake that Ukraine would pursue Crimean conscripts, namely citizens who had been forced to serve in the Russian army since 2014. Thus, the occupiers’ goverment is trying to force the residents of the peninsula to mobilize and fight against Ukraine.«This way the occupier violates the norms of international and national law. Crimeans forced into the Russian army or other illegal groups are victims of armed conflict, not criminals. Therefore, they are not subject to criminal prosecution by the Ukrainian authorities», — the office said.
The Center for Combating Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine warned that Russia had spread a fake map of the occupiers advances in Ukraine, where almost half of the country's area was allegedly occupied or blocked by the Russian military. The Center denied this information and reminded that the enemy was losing both personnel and equipment—Russian lieutenant general Andrey Mordvichev was killed, several columns of equipment of the occupiers in Mykolayiv and Sumy regions were destroyed, 2 planes, 3 helicopters, 3 UAVs and 4 cruise missiles of the enemy were shot down.