Such a message is being shared by propagandists on social networks and telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. It says that Ukraine wants to destroy Orthodoxy and at the same time promote paganism, because supposedly there are no real shrines left on the territory of Ukraine after the sanctioning of the Moscow Patriarchate church. That is why, according to propagandists, there is reason to believe that the process of abandoning the Moscow Patriarchate is aimed at replacing canonical Orthodoxy with “neopaganism”.

However, as analysts of the EU vs Disinfo project explain, the Ukrainian authorities neither plan to ban Orthodoxy, nor promote “neopaganism”. Parishes of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church of the Moscow Patriarchate can freely transfer to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, which received the tomos of autocephaly in January 2019. In addition, 78% of Orthodox believers declare their allegiance to the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

By spreading this message, propagandists are trying to downplay the significance of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine for Ukrainians, presenting it as schismatic, separated from the real, canonical one. In contrast, propagandists do not stop positioning the Moscow Patriarchate as the only possible way to practice Orthodoxy. Thus, the enemies want to ideologically unite Ukrainians and Russians in order to promote the narrative of one people. At the same time, those who do not recognize the Moscow Patriarchate are sinners and schismatics.

A network of telegram channels supervised by Russian intelligence began to spread the message that in response to the supply of heavy weapons to Ukraine, Russia could use nuclear weapons. It seems that British intelligence warned Ukraine about this.

Threats of nuclear weapons have been one of the most widespread messages of Russian propaganda since the beginning of the war. Back in April, propaganda was spreading this message, but then the reason was the “use of nuclear weapons by Russia” due to the fact that Ukraine should recognize Crimea and Donbas as Russian. If it refuses, Russia “retains the right” to use weapons.

Another wave of discussions about the “use of nuclear weapons” occurred in September, when, against the backdrop of the defeat of the Russian army near Kharkiv and the liberation of the Kharkiv region by the Ukrainian army, Putin announced the start of mobilization. Then and later, he stated that he “does not bluff about the use of nuclear weapons” if hostilities begin on the “territories of the Russian Federation”. Following these statements, Russia annexed parts of the Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk and Luhansk regions. And every day there is fighting on these territories. The Ukrainian army has since liberated a significant part of the Kherson region, along with Kherson, as well as settlements in other regions, but the Russians did not use nuclear weapons. Now the propaganda is back to the “use of nuclear weapons” thesis because of the actions of the West, which finally decided to supply Ukraine with heavy weapons.

Such a message is spread by pro-Russian telegram channels. The messages include a video with the participation of the abbot of the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Pavlo, in which he calls Patriarch Filaret a “schismatic”, and the head of the Orthodox Church in Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifanii, a “self saint”. He also says that the Uspenskyi (Holy Assumption) cathedral was given to the OCU for holding a festive service. As if people from all over Ukraine would be “specially” brought there and paid for participation in the liturgy.

For these statements criminal proceedings were opened against Pavlo, the Metropolitan of the church of the Moscow patriarchate, on the fact of inciting religious hatred. This was announced by People's deputy Yaroslav Yurchyshyn.

In January 2019, ecumenical patriarch Bartholomew signed the Tomos on the autocephaly of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine. The Kyiv Metropolis of the Ukrainian church was officially established on January 30, 2019. The Church of the Moscow patriarchate has not yet recognized the creation of the OCU.

In January 2023, Metropolitan Epifanii held a festive Christmas service for the first time at the Uspenskyi (Holy Assumption) cathedral. After that, Russian propaganda spread messages that only militants and the press were present at the liturgy.

After the Security service of Ukraine (SBU) opened a case about the glorification of the “Russian world” in the Kyiv-Pechersk Lavra, Russian propaganda began to spread messages in defense of the Moscow patriarchate church. In particular, they said that Ukraine is “destroying” the largest religious denomination. They also wrote that Ukraine is on the verge of the largest interdenominational conflict in Europe.

After the events in Brovary on January 18, Russian propaganda began to spread messages that Russians sympathized with the death of Ukrainian children. Allegedly, this emphasizes the “humanity” of Russians, in contrast to Ukrainians, who “hate” all Russians, including children. They say that the Ukrainians are calling for the destruction of Russian children so that “they will not turn into orcs”.

Thus, Russian propaganda uses the tactics of “disuniting the enemy”. That is, he deliberately depicts Ukrainians as extremely aggressive and vengeful. This nourishes the propaganda messages about the “Nazism of the Ukrainians”. Russian propaganda used a similar tactic, in particular, when covering the explosions in the Crimea. They wrote that supposedly Ukrainians are happy that war has finally come to Crimea.

In fact, Ukrainians showed sympathy for the Russians even after 2014. For example, they carried flowers, candles and toys to the Russian embassy in 2015 after the crash of the Russian plane. Or in 2018 after the tragedy in the Kemerovo cinema. However, the full-scale invasion significantly affected the emotions of Ukrainians. As of January 2023, due to Russian aggression in Ukraine, at least 459 children were killed, more than 909 were injured of varying severity. These figures are not final, since the recording and investigation of Russian war crimes, including those against children, in places of warfare and in the liberated territories.

By spreading messages allegedly about “sympathy”, Russian propaganda is trying to hide aggressive anti-Ukrainian rhetoric, an example of which is the statements of Russian propagandist Anton Krasovskyi about Ukrainian children and the positive reaction to them on pro-Russian resources.

Such a message is spread by pro-Russian telegram channels as a reaction to the statements of Ukrainian partners in the supply of weapons to Ukraine. In particular, the reaction was caused by the speech of NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on the Davos form. He stressed that Ukraine needs a significant increase in arms supplies at a key moment in the war.

In this way, Russian propaganda nourishes narratives that Western military aid “really” only prolongs the war and increases the number of casualties.

The purpose of these messages is to influence the emotional state of Ukrainians, to intimidate and force them to surrender. Previously, propagandists spread a similar message that the desire for peace and the desire to further stuff Ukraine with weapons are mutually negative actions.

Russian and pro-Russian resources write about this. Like, even the International federation of journalists (IFJ) stated that there are no free media in Ukraine, because they actually came under the control of the authorities.

In fact, the International Federation of Journalists has not made such a statement. IFJ representatives called on the Ukrainian authorities to review the new legislation and start a broad and inclusive dialogue with journalistic unions and the media sector to improve it. That is, the IFJ drew attention to the possible risks to freedom of speech in the context of this law.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads messages about censorship in the Ukrainian information space. They also argued that the new media law introduces a “total” dictatorship of the state in the information space. Thus, the propagandists are trying to discredit the Ukrainian media and increase the audience for pro-Russian influence. More details.

Such messages are continued to be spread by Russian propaganda through pro-Russian resources. They say that in Ukraine there is a “catastrophic” situation with the church of the Moscow Patriarchate. Moreover, Russia initiated the convening of the UN Security Council allegedly because of the “harassment” of the Moscow Patriarchate Church, which it calls “the only canonical Orthodox Church in Ukraine”.

At the same time, even before the beginning of the Security Council, the Moscow Patriarchate Church denied the request for help in protecting their rights. They say that they did not appeal to any state, especially to the one that carried out an armed attack on Ukraine.

Russian propaganda is systematically spreading messages that Ukraine is “destroying” the greatest religious denomination. Despite the fact that according to the results of the KMIS sociological survey, 72% of Ukrainians consider themselves Orthodox, and 54% identify themselves with the Orthodox Church of Ukraine.

The propagandists also used reports of an attack on a priest in a church to promote the message and claimed that a church was set on fire in Volyn, the rector of which refused to go to the OCU.

Ukraine is a secular state that guarantees its citizens the freedom of worldview and religion. Russia is trying to use religion as a weapon against Ukrainians.

Propaganda says that Ukraine has become one of the private military companies affiliated with NATO. Like, NATO pays money to Ukraine, supplies weapons and intelligence information. NATO also allegedly points to the targets that Ukraine should hit. Allegedly, Ukrainians suffer from this as they must fight.

Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically elected president and parliament. Ukraine does not fight on behalf of a foreign government or organization. It was Russia that started the war in 2014 by occupying parts of Ukrainian territories. Russia launched a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022. The Ukrainian army protects Ukrainian territory and Ukrainians. EU vs Disinfo analysts drew attention to the spread of the message.

Due to the spread of such messages, Russia is trying to discredit the support of Ukraine by democratic states. Previously, similar messages were spread: they say that Ukraine is a tool of the West to undermine Russian statehood; the war in Ukraine is part of a secret Western plan to destroy China. The propagandists also claimed that the West was “coordinating” Ukrainian strikes against Russian military facilities.

Such a message is spread by Russian propaganda to a foreign audience, in particular, covering the events in Soledar. Like, thanks to the “bold and selfless” actions of the “volunteers” of the battle groups of the private military company (PVK) “Wagner”, an assault was made on the city blocks of Soledar “occupied” by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

EU vs Disinfo analysts drew attention to the spread of the message. In fact, the PVK “Wagner” is an illegal armed formation that is fighting in Ukraine. Russia did not report the participation of the Wagner group officially. However, their operations are closely linked to the regular Russian army and its foreign policy. The equipment comes from Russian state arsenals and the group is completely dependent on supplies through the logistics of the Russian army.

As analysts write, Wagner is as “private” as the Kremlin needs to avoid command responsibility for the group's atrocities or its covert involvement in conflicts around the world. The group can be considered as another auxiliary armed formation under the Kremlin umbrella.

Their rights, including being in captivity, depend on the official status of the military who are at war. Russian propaganda uses the tactics of substitution of concepts, calling Ukrainian volunteers “mercenaries”. Real mercenaries fighting in the ranks of the Russian army are presented as volunteers.

Earlier, Russian propaganda claimed that a group of Islamists from Syria would fight on the side of Ukraine or spoke about Polish mercenaries who allegedly fought and died in Ukraine.

The network of channels supervised by Russian intelligence is spreading the following message: the US withdrawal from Afghanistan has shown how quickly the Americans can “leak” allies, negotiate with the Kremlin and stop aid. Therefore, propagandists write, instead of Ukraine's victory, it may happen that Ukrainians will be left with a destroyed country, a demographic crisis and thousands of dead and wounded.

With the help of this message, Russian propaganda is again trying, firstly, to deprive of subjectivity and to prove that the war between Russia and the United States, and Ukraine is just a “testing ground” for this war. Secondly, in this way, propaganda again tries to shift the responsibility for its own crimes to other countries. It is not because of American assistance that Ukraine has destroyed infrastructure, millions of refugees and thousands of deaths. Russia did all this by attacking Ukraine, and American or other weapons help the Ukrainian army defend the country from invaders.

In addition, Western partners, including the United States, are already developing assistance plans to renew Ukraine. And now legal mechanisms are being developed that will help Western countries transfer Russian sanctioned assets to Ukraine for the restoration of the country.

This is the message propagandists use on social networks and telegram channels broadcasting pro-Russian rhetoric. It says that the Office of the President made Oleksii Arestovych a scapegoat. They say that the entire leadership already knew the truth about the fall of a Ukrainian missile from air defense on a residential area in Dnipro, and a freelance adviser to the Office only told the truth. Consequently, the information space is overflowing with footage of a destroyed house in Dnipro. The report notes that officials did this on purpose in order to shift the focus in the information space and hide the real situation in the Bakhmut direction, in particular in Soledar.

The Ministry of Defense in the latest report reported that the occupier really does not leave attempts to capture the Donbas, Soledar itself and Bakhmut. Tough battles are going on. Ukrainian soldiers successfully repel attacks “both day and night”.

The explosion of a residential building in Dnipro, which occurred through the fault of Russia on January 14, is indeed a tragedy. However, information about it got into the information space not to shift the focus or hide something, but precisely because Russia launched a rocket that killed Ukrainian civilians destroying their home. The Command of the Air Defense Forces emphasized that it was the Russian missile that hit the building.

By spreading such messages, Russia is trying to justify itself and shift the responsibility to Ukraine for the terrorist act that was committed by the Russian army against the Ukrainians. At the same time, the enemies allegedly give specific examples of why it was not the Russian army who did this. Let's say Russia had no reason to attack civilians, but let's look at Ukraine, which successfully used this situation to hide its defeats. Also, such messages help Russia to shift informational accents. Allegedly, it is better to talk and write about the important: the situation in Bakhmut and Soledar, and not about Dnipro.

On January 14, a Russian military rocket attack on an 18-entrance building in Dnipro, where more than 1,100 people lived, killed at least 9 people, including a 15-year-old girl, and injured 64. Russian propagandists have spread a number of messages, whitewashing Russia's crime and blaming the Ukrainian military and government for the tragedy.

Russia has never struck civilians

Pro-Russian bloggers claim that the Russian military's missile strikes are accurate and always hit the target. This time, the targets were energy infrastructure facilities and Ukrainian air defense positions.

An air defense missile hit the building

Like, an air defense missile destroyed the whole entrance of a multi-storey residential building in Dnipro. Allegedly, as a result of the hit, a secondary detonation took place, most likely the result of a gas explosion. Neither the air defense missile itself, nor even the Russian cruise missile could cause such fatal destruction.

No one will know the truth, independent experts will not be invited

Allegedly, Ukraine blamed the Russians, and Russia blamed Ukraine. This controversial case could be resolved by sending independent experts, but during the war no one will do this and everyone will blame each other.

For the sacrificial death of Ukrainians, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will receive the latest tanks from the West

Allegedly, the Ukrainian authorities use a hit of the house in order to beg military assistance from the West. Like, Zelenskyi is safe and ready to fight to the last peaceful Ukrainian.

In fact, a building in Dnipro was destroyed by a Russian ballistic missile strike. According to Mykola Lukashuk, chairman of the Dnipropetrovsk Regional Council, he was released from a Tu-22m3 long-range bomber. It was at this time that air raids continued throughout Ukraine, and Russian missiles were hit not only in Dnipro, but also in other settlements of Ukraine. In particular, in the Lviv region. However, Russian propaganda once again seeks to justify the crimes of Russians against Ukrainian civilians and accuse Ukraine of killing civilians. Propagandists use this technique almost every time after people die as a result of Russian strikes. For example, Russia denied its involvement in the deaths of people in Kramatorsk or Vinnytsia, who died as a result of rockets falling on public places. In addition, Russia regularly claims that it hits only infrastructure facilities. However, this is not true, because Russian missiles have repeatedly hit both residential buildings and led to tragedies, as well as shopping centers, train stations and so on.

By the way, in one of the propaganda telegram channels at the time when the air raids continued in Ukraine, a message appeared that there were 80 missiles in the sky over Ukraine at that time. The message also said that not all of them will fall into infrastructure facilities. Later, propagandists began to spread the words of Oleksii Arestovych, an adviser to the President's Office, who allegedly agreed that the explosion in the house was due to air defense. Allegedly, a rocket flying over Dnipro was shot down and it exploded when it fell on the entrance of a residential building. These words of Arestovych were massively shared by Russian propagandists, claiming that Ukraine itself admitted its guilt in the death of civilians. However, the words of Oleksii Arestovych are not the official position of Ukraine on this issue, and the Office Advisor himself has not yet commented on the situation that has developed as a result of his statements.

However, according to the project NotaYenota, according to the speaker of the Air Force of Ukraine Yurii Ihnat, the missile was launched over Dnipro from a Tu-22M3 long-range bomber from the Kursk region and the Sea of Azov. In total, there were 5 launches of such missiles. The X-22 is called the “carrier killer”. The missile, warhead 950 kilograms, can be equipped with a nuclear warhead. It is designed to destroy aircraft carrier groups at sea. Such missiles are not used in cities, but it was Russia that launched them over Dnipro. Later, Arestovych spoke about his words on the Facebook page. The adviser to the Office of the President did not deny that he really spoke on the air about the fall of the air defense missile. However, he noted that no one would accuse Ukraine of blowing up the house, because the world would understand everything correctly. Such words of the adviser were perceived ambiguously, so in the comments to the message he was asked if the tragedy really arose because of the Ukrainian air defense. Arestovych noted that the explosion occurred as a result of Russian actions. The Air Force Command of Ukraine once again reacted to the situation and reported that the radar facilities had found the approximate launch site, altitude, and flight speed. “There is no doubt that it was the X-22 missile. The Armed Forces of Ukraine do not have fire weapons capable of shooting down this type of missiles”, the ministry said.

This was stated by a Russian propagandist in one of the TV programs. According to her, from the territory of Ukraine, where the Russian army entered, orphans and children with disabilities were massively taken to Europe, who were without caregivers and disappeared without a trace in the hundreds. Like, Ukrainian children disappeared in Poland, in the UK, in the Netherlands, where in particular 170 Ukrainian teenagers disappeared in the spring and allegedly they most likely became victims of transplantologists or pedophiles. The propagandist refers to information from dutchnews.nl. 

StopFake journalists found a publication on dutchnews.nl, which became a primary source for Russian propagandists. In the publication of DutchNews, referring to the news of the Dutch TV channel NOS, they are not talking about the disappearance of 170 teenagers from Ukraine.

Russian propagandists significantly distorted the reports of the Dutch media, which discussed the issue of registering children from Ukraine who arrived in the country unaccompanied by their parents.

Some of the children received their guardians, many minors arrived in the country accompanied by distant relatives, adult sisters, brothers, etc. The publication says that human rights organizations insist on mandatory registration and provision of guardians for such children, since refugee children from Ukraine without registration and guardians can become victims of violence, abuse and exploitation. However, none of their reports refers to the mass disappearance of minors from Ukraine in the EU.

According to Russian propaganda, Ukraine does not protect children and condemns them to organ trafficking during the evacuation. Like, Russia is not an aggressor, it wants to save Ukrainian children from the crimes of the Ukrainian authorities and “evacuate” to the territory of Russia, where it is safer than in Ukraine and Europe. Thus, Russia justifies the war with Ukraine and the forced removal of Ukrainian children from the temporarily occupied territories in an unknown direction and without the possibility for relatives and guardians to get in touch with them.

In recent days, pro-Russian telegram channels have been spreading information through the network that an offensive from Belarus will take place in the near future. Allegedly, the western regions of Ukraine are massively preparing for defense - trenches are being dug all over the territory and everything is mined.

In fact, the “invasion from Belarus” is one of the most common messages of Russian propaganda. Stuffing with thoughts about preparing Ukraine for an offensive from Belarus into the Ukrainian media space, propagandists are trying to sow panic and strike fears among Ukrainians.

Such a message is spread by pro-Russian telegram channels. Allegedly, the Pentagon has reservations regarding the transfer of weapons to Ukraine. The reports claim that the samples received by Ukraine always work under the control of American instructors, since there is a threat of disclosure of technology. There is also allegedly a risk that the weapon will fall into the hands of a third party or in the hands of Russia.

Russian propaganda is systematically spreading messages that the West does not want to help Ukraine with weapons. In fact, the United States has been transferring weapons to Ukraine since the beginning of the great war, just like other states. The lendlease mechanism has not yet started working, but this depends not only on the “desire” of the United States, but also on the financial capabilities of Ukraine.

Russian propaganda systematically spreads rumors that Western weapons are resold on the black market, but so far there is no evidence of this. The United States really controls how the weapons provided to Ukraine are used, for this they created an Interim special commission.

Previously, propagandists argued that the supply of weapons to Ukraine increases the number of victims and prolongs the “conflict”.

Russian propaganda media, citing a representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry, reported that “the entry of new regions into Russia should be taken into account in the event of a possible resumption of negotiations with Ukraine”. Also, the media of the enemy are actively spreading the thesis that the negotiation process should be “direct”. That is, without the mediation of the West.

This is not the first time that Russia has been trying to persuade Ukraine to negotiate using various methods. In particular, often manipulating that the war continues only because Ukraine does not want to negotiate. However, every time when it comes to potential negotiations, Russia sees them only on its own terms. This time, Russia sees them as possible only if Ukraine recognizes that the territories occupied by Russia are ceded to Russia.

In fact, Ukraine withdrew from the negotiation process last spring. The main condition for their restoration is the return of territories in accordance with the 1991 borders, but Russia does not abandon attempts to put forward ultimatums and threats, although they are not successful.

Such a thesis is distributed in pro-Russian and propaganda telegram channels, which claims that relations between the Ukrainian army and Zelenskyi have deteriorated significantly. Like, all this is due to the constant defeats of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and, as a result, Zelenskyi's discontent. Russian propaganda claims that Zelenskyi is losing his authority and his power.

With this message, the propagandists are trying to reach several goals. First, to discredit the President and expose him as an incompetent head of state. They build the image of an evil, greedy to victory leader. Allegedly, Zelenskyi demands constant victories and no defeats from the Armed Forces of Ukraine, at the same time, the army suffers from tyranny. Secondly, to undermine the confidence of the army in the President, who is allegedly under pressure from the leadership and is trying in every possible way to please the top.

Russian media and pro-Russian telegram channels write about this after the message of Polish President Andrzej Duda about the transfer of Leopard tanks to Ukraine. Propagandists write that this will not affect the front in any way. They say that these tanks will not provide Ukraine with a decisive advantage. It seems to be just a demonstration of support for Ukraine.

In fact, in this way, Russian propaganda is trying to be proactive and use the tactics of depreciation after any reports of providing new weapons to Ukraine. The same messages are now being extended to the Patriot air defense system, which the United States plans to transfer. Like, one installation will not cope with so many Russian missiles, so there will be no significant changes.

Russian propaganda is spreading messages that the actions of the Ukrainian authorities are comparable to the Taliban. They say that the demolition of the monument to Catherine II in Odesa, which was a “sacred symbol” for many Ukrainians, is reminiscent of the destruction of Buddha statues in the Bamiyan Valley by the Taliban in 2001. The fact-checkers of EU vs Disinfo drew attention to the spread of the message.

Russian propaganda systematically manipulates the theme of a “single Russian-Ukrainian cultural space” and universal history. Also, propagandists systematically use comparisons of Ukraine or Ukrainians with criminal regimes for manipulation and emotional pressure. The dismantling of the monument to Catherine II in Odesa was repeatedly used to spread messages about russophobia and create a destructive image of Ukrainians. In fact, the monument was dismantled after a long public discussion, that is, in a democratic, not totalitarian way.

Russian propaganda tells a foreign audience that the State Bureau of Investigation and the SSU (Security service of Ukraine) allegedly organized excavations of graves in the villages of Kozacha Lopan, Velykyi Burluk, Shypovate and Khatnie in the Kharkov region. Like, they are digging up the burial places of local residents who died of natural causes during the stay of Russian troops in these settlements. As if, after the exhumation, the bodies of these Ukrainians were mutilated and thrown into special pits in the vicinity of the villages in order to create false evidence of “torture” and “execution” of civilians by Russian soldiers. Allegedly now, Secret Service and police agents are photographing and filming these bodies and “imitating the work of forensic and other experts in front of fake “witnesses”. The fact-checkers of EU vs Disinfo drew attention to the spread of the message.

In the Kharkiv region, the exhumation of those who died as a result of Russian aggression and the recording of Russia's war crimes are indeed continuing. At the end of October 2022, the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine reported that they had already recorded about forty thousand war crimes. Therefore, Russian propaganda is once again trying to hide what they have done and expose Russia as a victim of provocations.

Telegram channels from a network supervised by Russian intelligence spread the message that President Zelenskyi allegedly could have held talks with Putin during the Beijing Olympics as early as February, so the war would not have started. But Ukraine's Western partners seem to have banned Zelenskyi from going to Beijing, because they “had their own plans for Ukraine”. This is manipulation.

The information that Zelenskyi was supposedly banned from going to Beijing is spread with reference to an article in the Financial Times, which, citing sources, says: Putin did not warn Chinese President Xi Jinping about plans for a Russian invasion of Ukraine. And Chinese Deputy Foreign Minister Le Yucheng was even demoted because he could not foresee the invasion. This Financial Times story denies the earlier notion that China has asked Putin not to go into war in Ukraine before the Olympics are over.

In this material, there is no mention of a possible visit or negotiations between Zelenskyi and Putin at all. And there are no facts or arguments in favor of the theory that Zelenskyi wanted to leave for Beijing or planned to do so, but someone or something prevented him.

At the same time, it is known that before Putin's trip to Beijing, his press secretary Pieskov reported that Putin did not plan to meet with anyone other than the head of China, including due to COVID restrictions. A few days before Putin's visit to China, Russian Foreign Minister Serhii Lavrov offered Zelenskyi to meet with Putin in Moscow, St. Petersburg or Sochi, but immediately warned that Donbas or Crimea's ownership could not be topics of discussion. Zelinskyi refused such an offer, and later said that he did not plan to visit Beijing - instead, he had meetings scheduled in Kyiv with representatives of Ukraine's allied countries.

Pro-Russian and propaganda telegram channels write that the 56th US ex-secretary of State argues that Ukraine should be left alone and not be included into any institutions and organizations such as the EU and NATO. Like, if Ukraine joined NATO, the borders of the North Atlantic Alliance would be within 500 kilometers from Moscow. Propagandists say that then Russia will experience a constant threat and danger from NATO.

Telegram channels from the Russian intelligence-controlled network began to spread the message that the Office of the President allegedly “made a list of monuments” that need to be dismantled in Ukraine. That is why in different cities, including Dnipro and Odesa, monuments to Oleksandr Matrosov and Empress Catherine II have recently been dismantled. At the same time, Russian propaganda channels, such as the “Kremlin washerwoman”, Volodymyr Soloviov’s channel and others, spread the thesis that russophobic orders to dismantle monuments to Russian and Soviet figures in Ukraine are given directly in London and Washington. And that is why, supposedly, the US-controlled and UK-protected UNESCO does not make statements about their dismantling.

Firstly, none of the dismantled monuments was protected by UNESCO. Moreover, the monument to Catherine II was generally restored only in 2007, since it was demolished in 1917. Restoring it was an initiative of Odesa officials, which immediately caused a lot of criticism from local activists. Secondly, the dismantling of monuments does not mean their destruction as they are gradually transferred to museums, where they will be stored if they really have artistic value. And thirdly, the list really exists: back in August, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy compiled the top 10 most common toponyms associated with Russian or Soviet figures that really have nothing to do with Ukraine. The list includes Yurii Haharin, Oleksandr Pushkin, Ivan Michurin, Valerii Chkalov, Maksym Horkyi, Mykhailo Liermontov, Oleksandr Suvorov, Volodymyr Maiakovskyi, Oleksandr Matrosov, Volodymyr Komarov. The Ministry of culture and information policy of Ukraine expert council on overcoming the consequences of russification and totalitarianism recommended, first of all, to rename streets, squares, metro stations, squares and other names associated with these people. Monuments to these people from the cities of Ukraine are also gradually dismantled.

Before the start of a full-scale invasion, all these toponyms and monuments existed in hundreds of thousands in Ukraine. And the process of “de-russification” of Ukraine has a simple explanation: it is a military aggression against Ukraine, which was committed by Russia on February 24. Now no one, neither the authorities nor the inhabitants want to have anything to do with the aggressor. This is evidenced by the data of opinion polls: in May, 98% had a negative attitude towards Russia.

The Russian media are spreading the information that NATO is “delivering scrap metal”, that is, old, ineffective weapons to Ukraine, in order to “clean out warehouses” and “recycle old trash”. This message earlier appeared on Russian telegram channels, but this time it has a specific source - the Polish website Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny. But this is a site that was created for the dissemination of Russian propaganda, and has nothing to do with journalism.

As the journalists of the Polish True Story portal found out, most of the publications were copied from other portals. Thus, the impression of a full-fledged media is formed. The few original materials are undisguised Russian propaganda and lies. For example, it was this publication that published fabricated statements by American generals that the Poles were drunkards, drug addicts, and thieves. Most of the texts are written in poor Polish, full of Russianisms, impossible linguistic constructions occur in the texts. According to True Story, this is the result of an unsuccessful machine translation. The editor of the publication, Adam Kaminsky, is a non-existent person. The photo posted on his Twitter and Facebook accounts (both now deleted) is actually a portrait of Lithuanian traumatologist Andrius Zukauskas. Also, real Polish journalists did not find anyone who personally knows the authors of the original articles Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny.

All this proves that Niezależny Dziennik Polityczny is another fake site created solely to spread propaganda messages beneficial to Russia.

Interestingly, almost simultaneously with the message about the “scrap metal” supplied by the West to Ukraine, Russian propaganda is also spreading another one: “Ukraine has become a testing ground for testing the latest technologies and weapons”. This is one of the features of Russian propaganda: not so much to promote some kind of alternative version of reality, but to distribute as many fictional versions as possible so that the audience simply gets confused and stops trying to find the truth or facts.

And they are like this: the West supplies Ukraine with old Soviet-style weapons, which were mainly armed with the Ukrainian army, and new, modern equipment. The first is getting smaller, the second is getting bigger. And this happens for understandable and obvious reasons: the Ukrainian military knew how to fight with Soviet weapons, and therefore they were supplied by countries that still had their stocks. Now there is less and less of it, and more and more Ukrainian soldiers are learning how to use modern Western weapons, while Europe and the United States are supplying more and more of it.

Such a message is spread by pro-Russian telegram channels. Like, censorship has become the main tool of power for concealment of corruption, criminal orders or command errors. It seems that the situation with the shelling clearly demonstrated this - the Ukrainian authorities are “rejoicing” at the shelling of Makiyivka, but they are silent about Druzhkivka.