Such information was disseminated in the Russian propaganda media, referring to the British analyst Michael Clarke. On the Sky News channel, he allegedly advised the Ukrainian Armed Forces to miss Russian missile strikes so as not to waste expensive air defense equipment. Russian propaganda wrote that “Clarke also urged the military leadership of Ukraine not to use American anti-aircraft systems against low-cost drones”. This is manipulation

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project and the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine drew attention to the case. The Sky News broadcast was called Ukraine war: Professor Michael Clarke explains why Ukraine can have to “start letting missiles through”. At the same time, in the speech itself, Michael Clarke did not make similar statements about Ukraine. He said that “Ukrainian air defense forces are working quite well”. He suggested that Ukraine would not use overpriced Patriot missiles against cheap Russian drones.

Michael Clark also added that Russia's strategy is to encourage Ukraine to use more ammunition. “They know Ukrainian munitions are more limited than Russian munitions, even despite the scarcity that the sanctions have created”, Clarke added.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to convince that air defense systems in Ukraine are not enough to protect Ukrainians and sow panic among society. Previously, Detector Media explained the message that the Ukrainian air defense was allegedly incapable of combat.

In the Russian propaganda media and the Russian segment of Facebook, as well as in Georgian and Norwegian ones, information is being disseminated that the Speaker of the Seimas of the Republic of Lithuania, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, allegedly was indignant at “God's help in achieving Russia's goals”. It is noted that the speaker spoke during the visit of Patriarch Bartholomew I of Constantinople to Vilnius. This is manipulation.

The journalists of the 15min project drew attention to the case. The Russian propaganda used manipulative headlines, and quoted in the text without reference to the source. On March 22, during a meeting with Bartholomew I, the leader of the parliament really spoke about God, but in slightly different words: “In Vilnius, the word of God was spread by love, not by the sword. Therefore, we, the inhabitants of Vilnius and the descendants of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, consider it completely unacceptable that the imperialist goals of the Kremlin regime are disguised as the will of God”. That is, Čmilytė-Nielsen meant that the Kremlin's policy is covered by God, but she was not angry that he was helping Russia.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to create a religious conflict, to discredit the Orthodox Church and the authorities of Lithuania. Previously, Detector Media explained the message, which said that Ukrainians discredit Orthodoxy because they separated from the Moscow Patriarchate.

Such information was disseminated in Russian propaganda media, referring to the head of the Kharkiv military garrison, Serhii Melnyk. He believes that Ukraine “will never have enough people and equipment to defeat Russia”. Russian propaganda also stated that “the combat-ready part of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was destroyed, and the professional military was out of action”. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the StopFake project drew attention to the case. Russian propaganda media used an interview with General Serhii Melnyk for the Spanish edition of El País. Melnyk spoke about the defense of Kharkiv in 2022 and the upcoming counteroffensive of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in 2023. The general noted that Ukraine needs not only a large amount of equipment and ammunition, but also the military, so that rotations can be carried out more often. It was this statement that took the propaganda out of context and created the manipulation that the Ukrainian army had “already been killed”.

After the Russian propaganda media began to spread this manipulation, Serhii Melnyk explained his words. He noted that although the fighters are heroic, however, they are exhausted, some are injured, and someone dies. He also noted that Ukraine has enough resources for a counteroffensive, but the most important thing is to get enough weapons to save the lives of the fighters.

This is not the first time Russian propaganda wants to undermine the reputation of the Ukrainian military leadership and cause discouragement among Ukrainian society by manipulating the topic of a counteroffensive. Like, even the military leaders do not believe in the victory of Ukraine over Russia. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the manipulation that if the Ukrainian military fails the counteroffensive, the West will allegedly stop supporting Ukraine.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that it was Russia that repaired the highway, which Ukraine had “ignored” for 30 years. It is about the area of the international highway E-58 with a length of more than 150 km. In Ukraine, this international route is represented by the M-14 highway, which crosses five regions (Odesa, Mykolaiv, Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and Donetsk) and connects the main ports of the country in the Black and Azov seas. According to propagandists, they began to repair the international highway, but Ukraine is indifferent to “these regions”. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project took up the case, they found out that certain sections of the route were under repair even before the start of a full-scale invasion. The repair of the M-14 highway is provided for in the “Target Program for the Development of Highways of State Importance for 2018-2022”. At the end of 2021, it was possible to repair a 15-kilometer section of the route, near the village of Komyshuvate, Mariupol region. Also in early February 2022, they announced the opening of a tender for the restoration of another section of the corridor.

The motorway should be tentatively upgraded by the end of 2023. It would have been completely updated if Russia had not attacked Ukraine. The occupying authorities at the same time claim that Ukraine “did not take care” of some regions of Ukraine. It is likely that the Russians are carrying out repairs in the temporarily occupied territories and pass it off as their “merits”.

Thus, propagandists seek to whiten themselves by showing what kind of “restoration” and “repairs” they are allegedly engaged in. Analysts of Detector Media have already considered a similar case in which the authors of the messages claimed a “great restoration of Donbas”, and Ukraine, they say, did not want to deal with this region.

Kremlin propaganda media spread information that if the Ukrainian counteroffensive fails, the West will allegedly stop helping Ukraine. They refer to an article on The New York Times website. This is manipulation.

 As experts from the StopFake project note, in fact, the New York Times article does not say that a hypothetical failure during the Ukrainian counteroffensive will lead to the refusal of the West to help Ukraine. In the original article, the authors note that assistance can only weaken for a while, and Kyiv will be under more pressure during this period and persuaded to negotiate with Russia.

 According to the authors of the article, if this happens, by the beginning of 2024 the West will again be able to help Ukraine in full as within this time the partner countries will develop a sufficient amount of ammunition and military equipment. Moreover, during his visit to Washington, British Defense Secretary Ben Wallace told reporters: “between this year and next year, I think Ukraine will continue to have the momentum with it”.

Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to sow discouragement among Ukrainian society and convince them that they should not count on the help of the West, as well as on victory over Russia. Earlier, Detector Media talked about the message that Western tanks would allegedly not help Ukraine, but would be completely destroyed by Russia.

The Kremlin propaganda media spread information that Latvia allegedly gave all stocks of air-defense missile systems (ADMS) to Ukraine and allegedly “deprived itself of protection for the sake of the Kyiv regime”. Propaganda refers to the statement of the head of the Ministry of Defense of Latvia, Inara Murniece. This is manipulation.

 Analysts of the StopFake project drew attention to it. To create it, Russian propaganda used only part of the statement of the Latvian Ministry of Defense Inara Murniece. During the Ramstein meeting, Murniece said that, at the request of Ukraine, Latvia “has decided to transfer all of its Stinger missile systems to a country that is fighting the Russian invasion”. She also said that Latvia will not remain defenseless, since the country has the Swedish RBS-70 jet systems.

Thus, propagandists are trying to convince the audience that Ukraine is draining the resources of other countries, reducing the help of Western partners. Earlier, Detector Media denied the manipulation that 58% of Americans allegedly oppose assistance to Ukraine.

On April 13, a text appeared on the Facebook page of the Polish organization Kancelaria LEGA ARTIS, according to which “38% of Ukrainians who, under the cover of the “war” came to Poland and have “groundlessly granted them rights”, in particular to receive social assistance, they want to stay in the country and not return to Ukraine. This is manipulation.

Analysts of the Polish project Demagog drew attention to it. They note that in the text one can find doubts that the war in Ukraine is real, and the refugees are called ones who “have come in large numbers”. However, the war continues, and its effects are a large number of deaths and material losses. The term “come in large numbers” is part of a disinformation campaign that wants to show the migration of Ukrainians as a threat to the Poles. Demagog experts argue that such a narrative is part of a conspiracy theory called the “Big replacement theory”, according to which the influx of migrants is a conspiracy in which white Europeans should be replaced by migrants. Usually, Muslims appear in this theory, but in the Polish context, their role was given to Ukrainians.

The text also contains information about “unreasonably provided” funds in the framework of social payments for Ukrainian migrants. However, analysts have found that the concept of social payment is clearly defined in Polish law. According to it, a social benefit is a cash benefit provided to persons who are unfit for work due to age or disability (Article 37 of the Law on social assistance). This cash payment cannot exceed PLN 719. According to article 5 of the same law, citizens of Poland, as well as foreigners (not only Ukrainians) residing in the state, have the right to receive social assistance payments. According to Article 31 of the Law on assistance to citizens of Ukraine, Ukrainians who have received a PESEL identification number can receive a lump sum payment of PLN 300. Therefore, this payment is not regular.

In addition, in the text you can see the stereotype that the majority of Ukrainian refugees in Poland came from the western regions, so they allegedly do not need help. However, it is not like that. Project analysts interviewed people who are actively involved in the affairs of Ukrainian refugees in Poland and found out that most of them eventually came from the eastern and southern regions of Ukraine.

Thus, the propagandists want to show that the Ukrainian refugees are supposedly swindlers and pose a threat to Poland as a whole. They say that Ukrainians in Poland are ungrateful for help, but actually help does not reach those in need.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Polish Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki is reportedly calling on Ukraine to send its troops into Russian territory. Like, the Polish leadership wants to continue the war in Ukraine. The authors of the messages refer to a recent interview with Mateusz Morawiecki. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the EU vs Disinfo project drew attention to the case, which determined that the authors of the messages distorted the context of the interview. Prime Minister of Poland Mateusz Morawiecki in his interview spoke about the right of Ukraine to conduct military operations on the territory of the aggressor state. That is, he did not call on Ukraine to send troops to Russia, but expresses his opinions. He believes that Ukraine has the right to defend itself against Russia and send troops to Russia, if necessary.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that the United States is allegedly recording a huge number of facts of corruption and embezzlement in Ukraine, which have increased by 500% over the past year. Some officials allegedly claim that “because of the scale of corruption” only 20% of financial assistance from Washington reaches Ukrainians. This was allegedly announced at the end of March by a member of the House of Representatives of the US Congress Michael McCall.

The experts of the StopFake project worked on the case, and they determined that some facts of Michael McCall's statement were distorted, while others were invented. The basis for creating disinformation stuffing was a hearing in the US Congress on March 29 on the mechanisms for transparency and accountability of US assistance to Ukraine. In his opening remarks, Michael McCall, head of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, said that “only 20% of the funding is going directly to the Ukrainian government in the form of direct budgetary assistance”. It was this expression of McCall that was distorted by the pro-Russian telegram channels, which stated that allegedly only 20% of financial assistance to Ukraine reaches the recipient, and the rest is stolen by the Ukrainian authorities. At the same time, the thesis about the growth of corruption by 500% in Ukraine is a fiction.

During the same hearing, officials unanimously declared that there was “no evidence that support for Ukraine was misused”.

This thesis was disseminated in social networks, in particular on broadcasting telegram channels. The case was noticed by the fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project, who determined that on April 6, 2023, the Security Service of Ukraine handed a suspicion to the head of the Cherkasy diocese of the UOC-MP Feodosii (Snihiriov). However, according to the department, the metropolitan not only created a website following the UOC template, but also used Russian software, with the help of which news and theses justifying Russian aggression from Russian news resources were relayed to the Ukrainian information space. For example, the site praised the activities of Moscow priests who helped the aggressor and called for the unification of religious communities in the war against Ukraine.

Reports say that the Security Service of Ukraine reported suspicion of high treason to the Metropolitan of the Cherkasy diocese of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate for creating a website “based on the template of the Russian Orthodox Church”. They say that there is no freedom of speech in Ukraine, and even the “website template” gives grounds for accusations of treason. This is manipulation.

Pro-Kremlin media and telegram channels did not provide complete information and began to claim that the only evidence against the Metropolitan of the UOC-MP was a website based on the template of the Russian Orthodox Church.

Such a message appeared in the Russian propaganda media and was distributed in the Russian segment of Facebook. A fragment of an interview was published where an adviser to the Office of the President of Ukraine Mykhailo Podoliak stated that the alleged physical destruction of all pro-Russian people would solve the Russian issue. This is manipulation.

According to MythDetector analysts, Mykhailo Podoliak did not talk about the physical destruction of pro-Russian people. On March 31, on the air of Channel 24, he spoke about the influence of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra and the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate, which, according to him, is a branch of the Russian Patriarchate. And the task of the Russian Patriarchate is to attack the Ukrainian state. Podoliak notes that in the first months of a full-scale war, the UOC-MP could be physically cleansed of the pro-Russian clergy.

Thus, propagandists are trying to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and intimidate Ukrainians. Earlier, Detector Media wrote about how Russian propaganda uses intimidation tactics.

Anonymous accounts spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social media are circulating videos of Russian President Volodymyr Putin allegedly criticizing the state of democracy in the United States. This is manipulation.

Fact-checkers from USA TODAY drew attention to it. They found out that the video was indeed created in 2020 using deepfake technology as part of an information campaign by the NGO RepresentUs to show the “fragility of democracy”. In it, Putin says that America accuses Russia of interfering in the elections, but it doesn't even have to do this, because American society is in a state of division. “Putin” adds that while Russia may use this for its own purposes, the Americans are deepening the rift themselves because “they don't know whom to trust”. A similar deepfake video was also created with North Korean leader Kim Jong-in.

Thus, propagandists want to shift the responsibility for their problems onto others. Like, everyone criticizes Russia, but America is no better, and even worse than Russia. This is not the first time Russians have shaped well-intentioned material to fit their worldview. Propagandists often take quotes from media figures out of context, in particular, statements by French President Macron about the future of Russia.

Telegram channels spreading pro-Russian rhetoric report that in Ukraine they want to ban men from entering universities. They say that martial law limits the constitutional rights of Ukrainians, including education, and to implement this idea, they are already preparing an appropriate legislative framework. This is manipulation.

Analysts of the NotaYenota project drew attention to it. They found that such decisions require changes to the Constitution, which is prohibited under martial law. Lawyers note that even if it is theoretically possible to make the necessary changes to the laws “On mobilization” and “On education”, this will cause outrage among society and Western partners. In addition, such decisions may be challenged by the Constitutional Court of Ukraine.

Thus, propagandists want to discredit the Ukrainian authorities and create a sense of panic among the population, creating the illusion of losing. They say that Ukraine cannot cope with defense, therefore it is ready to mobilize everyone, neglecting constitutional rights. However, it is Russia that solves its own problems with mobilization, despite the rights of its citizens, as evidenced by the recent initiative with “electronic agendas”.

Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular in the Georgian segment of Facebook. The reports say that the speaker of the Lithuanian Parliament, Viktorija Čmilytė-Nielsen, said that God “protects the actions of the Russian authorities, and this is unacceptable”. Like, officials began to blame God “for all the troubles”. This is manipulation.

Specialists of the Myth Detector project drew attention to the case and determined that the speaker of the Seimas of Lithuania did not say such things. At the same time, the propagandists misrepresented the high-ranking official's quote, which actually said that the Kremlin presents its imperialist aspirations as the will of God, which is unacceptable. That is, the speaker means that the Russian propaganda declares a special task, the mission of the Russians. This is one of the elements of propaganda designed to manipulate the minds of Russians, who later believe that they are endowed with a “unique destiny”.

Such information is disseminated in the Kremlin propaganda media. Russian “experts” criticize the agreement between the Ukrainian company Energoatom and the Canadian company Cameco to process Ukrainian uranium to produce nuclear fuel for nuclear power plants. But they insist that the export of uranium from Ukraine does not guarantee the proper operation of the remaining nuclear power plants. It would be more convenient to cooperate with Russia. This is manipulation.

As StopFake project analysts found out, Ukraine does not give its uranium to Canada, but sends it for processing. This is necessary for the production of nuclear fuel for Ukrainian nuclear power plants.

That is, the thesis that Ukraine gives Canada all the uranium mined on its territory is not true. However, Ukraine sends it to be recycled. This is necessary in order to increase the level of safety and energy independence of nuclear power plants in Ukraine.

Such information is disseminated by a number of Facebook accounts and Russian propagandists on Telegram channels, who previously spread information about the struggle of the Ukrainian authorities with Orthodoxy and the UOC-MP. This is manipulation.

Myth Detector specialists drew attention to the case. On April 11, the Kyiv state administration issued a statement on the celebration of the Easter holidays under martial law. The curfew is in effect from 00:00 to 05:00, and residents are urged to give preference to online broadcasts of services. The website of the Kyiv city state administration says that the city authorities “appeal to the leaders of religious communities with a request to limit the holding of mass worship services and to ensure as much as possible online broadcasts from places of worship on Ukrainian TV channels and via the Internet”.

By spreading such manipulation, propagandists are trying to create a religious conflict, sow enmity in society and split it. Earlier, Detector Media debunked the fake that Ukrainian nationalists allegedly set fire to the temple of the UOC-MP in the Mykolaiv region.

This thesis was spread on social networks and in the propaganda media. Reports say that the US plans to create an international military bloc like NATO to send troops to Ukraine. As evidence, the authors of the messages refer to the material of the publication Foreign Affairs, which allegedly says that “in order to end the war in Ukraine, it is necessary to bring troops of Western countries into its territory”. This is manipulation.

The case was noticed by the fact-checkers of the StopFake team, they investigated that in the material of Foreign Affairs analysts talk about one of the possible scenarios for the introduction of security measures in Ukraine after the end of the war. The authors of the publication note that the debate on a new vision of security in the region and post-war measures to restrain Russia “should start now” to discuss and develop concepts before the start of negotiations between Ukraine and Russia.

Thus, the Atlantic-Asian Security Community (AASC) can become an alleged analogue of NATO for Foreign Affairs analysts. The organization may include members of the North Atlantic Alliance, Ukraine, its allies and other neutral states. The goals of the AASC alliance should be “strengthening the defense capability of Ukraine” and “deterring any resurgence of Russian imperialist aggression”.

That is, there is no question of any call to “send troops of Western countries into the territory of Ukraine to end the war”. Foreign Affairs analysts discussed one of the possible scenarios for the introduction of security in Ukraine after the end of the war.

This thesis was spread on social networks and in the propaganda media. Reports say that the vain Zelenskyi is spending money inappropriately and has left for Poland on “his golden train”. The authors of the messages add that Zelenskyi has a “dozen more” such trains. This is manipulation.

Analysts of the StopFake project investigated this case and found that Volodymyr Zelenskyi really went to Poland by a high-class train. However, the so-called “golden” car is not the property of the President of Ukraine. Such cars are provided by the Ukrainian railway company “Ukrzaliznytsia” for more comfortable transportation. In addition, everyone can use the services of such a VIP carriage by paying the appropriate amount for a ticket. For example, a trip from Kyiv to Odesa in November 2021 cost UAH 24,000. At the same time, saloon cars can be ordered from the following cities: Kyiv, Lviv, Odesa, Kharkiv and Dnipro.

That is, Zelensky’s thesis about the “golden train” is untrue, but he really used the services of Ukrzaliznytsia, which provides such cars for everyone to use.

By spreading such manipulation, propagandists want to discredit Zelenskyi. Allegedly, he is wasteful and vain, that instead of helping Ukraine and Ukrainians, he travels on “ten golden trains”. Thus, the authors wanted to oppose the incumbent president and the ex-president, the fugitive and traitor Yanukovych, allegedly Zelenskyi is “nothing better”.

This thesis is spread by pro-Russian telegram channels, referring to the American edition of the Washington Times. According to them, the Washington Times seems to be writing that the application of sanctions against Russia has led to a decrease in confidence in the dollar around the world, and therefore more and more countries are beginning to consider alternatives to the US currency as a reserve currency. The propagandists also claim that the world is in revolt against US financial imperialism. This is manipulation.

Specialists of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council drew attention to the case. They highlighted several aspects of the Washington Times article that pro-Russian propagandists misrepresented. The text of the original says that China, Russia, Brazil, India, Indonesia, Argentina and South Africa are looking for a new reserve currency, and not the whole world. The article also says that the sanctions caused panic only among the Russian financial community, that is, among countries that have a well-founded fear of falling under sanctions. In addition, the author of the Washington Times article uses the phrase “America's financial imperialism” in quotation marks.

By spreading this manipulation, propagandists are trying to discredit the US and establish the opinion that sanctions against Russia should be lifted. Detector Media has already reported on similar disinformation stories regarding sanctions against Russia. For example, about the destruction of the Western economy or the destruction of Europe's “economic sovereignty” as a result of anti-Russian sanctions.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that people in the West lack the opportunity to succeed because local elites prevent it. Like, the prices for education, health care and childcare are “too high”. The authors of the messages refer to the material of the American Enterprise Institute, which also published a graph in the material, which allegedly shows that the West influences the economy badly. The graph shows the fall in prices for computer equipment, toys, televisions in the United States. On the other hand, one can notice an increase in prices for medicine, education, etc. Consequently, the authors conclude that “Western” elites create conditions under which it is “impossible for ordinary people to succeed”. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project investigated the case, they found out that the graph belongs to the economist Mark Perry. By it, he demonstrates the difference in pricing in selected areas, which is explained by the presence or absence of state influence. The material accompanying the chart does not say that the authorities are trying to restrict ordinary citizens from receiving services. That is, the propagandists distorted the context of the material and made up profitable graphics data.

In the article, the author mentions that this chart has been updated regularly over the past few years. It really notices the rise in prices in the field of medicine, education, etc. There is also a depreciation in technology, software, clothing. Perry attributes this to the impact of globalization: the more competition in the international arena, the lower the price of a product. Therefore, the cost of toys, equipment, and computer technology is cheaper. At the same time , the greater the degree of state participation in the provision of a good or service, the more the price rises over time. However, it is not about the fact that the Western leadership limits services for its citizens, the economist talks about general market trends and how high competition generates low prices for products and vice versa.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say the UN has released a report discrediting the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate. The authors of the messages refer to the report for the period from August 1, 2022 to January 31, 2023. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project checked this thesis and found that the report refers to the situation with respect for human rights in Ukraine and in the territories occupied by Russia. During the investigation, the UN Commission recorded numerous war crimes committed by the army of the terrorist country. The UN report also identified specific war crimes, which include attacks on civilians and shelling of energy infrastructure facilities, deliberate killings, false imprisonment, torture, rape and other types of sexual violence, as well as the illegal transfer and deportation of children. However, the report did address issues of religious freedom.

Of the 38 pages of the report, several paragraphs were allocated to the topic of freedom of religion in Ukraine which took less than one page. That is why the thesis that the entire report is devoted to “discrimination against the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate)” is manipulative. Moreover, in the report, in only one sentence, they suggested that the activities of the state against the UOC could be discriminatory, and did not claim this as a fait accompli.

Propagandists systematically spread manipulations about the UN report to hide their crimes from domestic audiences and show that Russia is not the aggressor and is not to blame for anything. For example, analysts of Detector Media analyzed a manipulation stating that the UN investigation “found no evidence of the genocide of Ukrainians” during the Russian-Ukrainian war. We explained the message that the so-called “evacuation” of Ukrainian children is “not a war crime”. They also found a message that allegedly the UN Security Council “does not care about the suffering of the inhabitants of Donbas”.

Propagandists write that the European Union does not adhere to its own principles. Like, it encourages the UK to supply weapons with depleted uranium to Ukraine, but condemns Belarus for placing Russian tactical weapons on its territory. It seems to be the same, but the EU is only playing to substitute concepts. This is manipulation.

Analysts of the EU vs DisInfo project drew attention to it. They argue that propagandist material creates the false impression that depleted uranium weapons and nuclear weapons have the same effect. As a conclusion, the deployment of tactical weapons in Belarus is a completely different case. On March 21, a spokesman for the British Ministry of Defense stated that although Russia is trying to equate the status of weapons with depleted uranium with the status of nuclear weapons, this is not true due to the fact that weapons with depleted uranium are not prohibited.

Propagandists want to distract the world community from Russia's actions in this way. In particular, it is Russian troops who in Ukraine use weapons with characteristics prohibited by international law.

This thesis was circulated on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. The reports say that the West allegedly confirmed that the residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions do not want to live as part of Ukraine. At the same time, the authors of the messages refer to the material of The Spectator, the British edition. This is manipulation.

The case was noticed by VoxCheck fact-checkers, who found out that the British edition of The Spectator did indeed publish an author’s column by Owen Matthews with the title “One  year on: how will the Ukraine war end?”. As fact-checkers say, the material itself contains factual errors and numerous manipulations. In addition, the author's column does not show the attitude of Western politicians to the issue of the residents of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, because the author gives his own thoughts.

One of the key factors by which the author “determined” the so-called unwillingness of the inhabitants of Donbas and the Luhansk region not to live as part of Ukraine is his own observations, not supported by any facts. In the column, he wrote that his post-2014 reports in the Donbas showed that “those who remained were more or less uniformly anti-Ukrainian”. And then he writes that the locals will perceive the de-occupation of these territories by Ukraine as a “coercive war of conquest.”

As fact-checkers say, there are no independent sociological surveys that would reliably show the correlation of political views in the region and the level of local support for Ukraine in order to conclude that the majority are pro-Russian.

This thesis was spread in social networks, in particular, on tiktok. Reports say that people in Ukraine will not be compensated for property destroyed or damaged as a result of Russia's armed aggression. The authors of the messages refer to the Law of Ukraine “On compensation for damage and destruction of certain categories of real estate objects as a result of hostilities, terrorist acts, sabotage caused by the military aggression of the Russian Federation”. However, this is manipulation.

The fact-checker of the project “Beyond the news” drew attention to the case, which established that compensation can be received precisely for destroyed housing, and damaged ones will be helped to rebuild either with work or building materials. The adopted law refers to two methods of compensation “in a special form”:

Monetary compensation to a current account “with a special purposes for the use of these funds” to finance housing construction;

A housing certificate to buy a ready-made housing or finance its construction.

As the fact-checkers explained, if people’s “manor-type house, garden or country house” and the same construction objects were destroyed, people can independently choose the type of compensation”: a current account or a housing certificate.

At the same time, if people have lost their apartment, compensation is provided only in the form of a certificate that will cover the construction or purchase of a new one.

In any case, the person will receive monetary compensation, but with the possibility of targeted use of funds - in this case, to compensate for the destroyed property. Funds can be disposed of by local governments, but this is not a prerequisite.

This thesis was circulated in social networks and propaganda media. Reports say the New York Post “has ditched” the permanent placement of the Ukrainian flag on its cover. Like, the last major publication does not want to place the Ukrainian flag on it. As evidence, the authors of the messages attached a screenshot of two covers of an American newspaper to the publication. The first cover shows the Ukrainian flag at the top right, but the cover of the next issue shows a clover leaf instead of the flag. This is manipulation.

The fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project investigated the case and found out that the cover of the New York Post newspaper with the image of a three-leaf clover is dedicated to St. Patrick's Day, which is traditionally celebrated in the USA on March 17th. In the future, the cover of the publication continued to depict the Ukrainian flag according to the usual schedule: six issues are published with the image of the flag, one without. That is, the publishers of the newspaper “did not abandon” the Ukrainian flag, it was rescheduled to be replaced in only one issue, which was dedicated to the celebration of St. Patrick's Day. For example, in the March 20 issue of the newspaper (the latest available at the time of publication), the flag of Ukraine was again placed.