This was stated by the Russian propaganda media, citing the words of the speaker of the State Duma of Russia Volodin. This is not the first time the politician has accused the United States of "wanting to organize a famine in Ukraine." He claims that the famine in Ukraine will come because of the US intentions to return all the grain stored in Ukraine to the world markets. He argues that "instead of real help, the U.S. only wants to take back what it needs.

First, in this way Russia again seeks to discredit Ukraine's allies in helping to wage war and supply arms. Russian propaganda benefits from spreading the thesis that the U.S. and other countries do not help Ukraine and Ukrainians in any way, but instead make things worse. Secondly, problems with grain and other food in Ukraine may arise not because of the U.S. and intentions to sell Ukrainian grain, but because of the war that Russia unleashed by destroying Ukrainian infrastructure and occupying cities. As a reminder, it recently became known, that Russian Kafirs are removing stolen food from the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine on a large scale. Obviously, the food problem in Ukraine could arise as a result of the actions of the Russians, not the United States.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation, this is the thesis spread by Russian propagandists in the media. In particular, reports say that the U.S. and its allies are trying to prolong the war in Ukraine in order to dispose of obsolete weapons and try out modern weapons in real combat conditions. "With the start of the war, 14 partner countries are providing Ukraine with the latest weapons and equipment, past armed conflicts in Syria, Libya and Afghanistan. The supply of Western weapons has significantly changed the situation on the front: the occupiers have gone on the defensive in almost all positions, and in some directions the AFU has gone on the counteroffensive. Ukraine achieved a decisive advantage over the Russians thanks to the combat capability of the army and the courage of the people," the Center reported. In fact, the war in Ukraine is being dragged on not by NATO or the US, but by Russia, which does not stop fighting and destroys Ukrainian cities, kills civilians, and hits infrastructure and residential buildings every day. Previously, Russian propaganda has repeatedly stated in various terms that Ukraine is ruled by the West and is at war with Russia because of pressure from NATO and the United States.

Pro-Kremlin media actively spread the opinion that the temporarily occupied cities of Ukraine are preparing to celebrate Victory Day openly for the first time in many years and that the St. George Ribbon is becoming increasingly popular among the local population, especially among children. A video circulated on social networks shows a Victory volunteer in Mariupol tying a St. George's ribbon to children's clothes and asking what it means. The girl replies: "It's beautiful" and says that she has never worn such ribbons before.

The Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights Liudmila Denisova reported that in Melitopol, temporarily occupied by Russian troops in Zaporizhzhia, children are forced to wear St. George ribbons and learn poems about the war. "From the media it became known that in the occupied Melitopol of Zaporozhye region forced children to wear St. George ribbons and learn poems about the war. Such actions are committed by school principals cooperating with the occupation troops," she stressed. According to Denisova, teachers distribute children's thematic drawings and videos of schoolchildren reciting poems about the war with St. George ribbons on their chests online. There is information that this is happening without parental consent. The ombudsman stressed that school is one of the means of educating a child, the formation of the worldview, which is continuously connected with the upbringing in the family. According to her, "this imposition of the racist ideology in educational institutions is aimed at destroying the Ukrainian identity in the minds of children". Denisova stressed that these actions of the Russian invaders are a violation of Article 29 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. This document stipulates that the education of a child should be aimed at fostering respect for the child's parents, cultural identity, language and national values of the country in which the child resides, his country of origin. The above is direct evidence of genocide against the Ukrainian people.

According to the Ukrainian Institute of National Memory, the "St. George's Ribbon" is an element of Russian propaganda. The formation of the symbol "St. George's Ribbon" has a long and complicated history. It first appeared on the Order of St. George, founded in 1769 by Empress Ekaterina II. The Order became the highest military award of the Russian Empire and was given to officers for special courage in battle. Later, a whole set of awards associated with St. George was formed: the Order, the medal, the cross and the flag. They were accompanied by the St. George ribbon, which, according to official statutes, consisted of three black and two yellow stripes. It was also allowed to use orange instead of yellow.

The most likely version is that the gamma of the ribbon was taken from the black-yellow-white flag of the Russian Empire. Another version is that the color symbolizes the fire and smoke, which emphasizes its military nature. Read more here.

In 2015, instead of the "St. George's Ribbon" as a symbol of remembrance of victory and honoring the victims of World War II, Ukrainians were suggested to use the red poppy flower. Striped black and yellow ribbon in the perception of Ukrainians became a negative symbol, which is associated with danger and terrorism. Since 2015. On May 8 and 9, Ukraine celebrates Memorial and Reconciliation Day and Victory Day over Nazism in World War II. The traditional slogan of these commemorative days "We Remember - We Win!" this year is somewhat modified at the state level and sounds like "We defeated the Nazis - let's defeat the Rashists too!.

According to the Center to Counter Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Russian propaganda spreads this thesis, confirming it by saying that Hungary will veto the embargo on the import of Russian oil, which the European Union plans to include in the sixth package of sanctions against Russia. The veto of the embargo was announced by Hungarian Foreign Minister Péter Szijjártó on May 3. Since 65% of Hungary's oil consumption comes through the Druzhba pipeline, and there are no alternative lines to the country, the draft sixth sanctions package includes exceptions for Hungary and Slovakia, which are allowed to extend imports until the end of 2023. ""But due to the prohibition of transit through the Hungarian territory of military aid to Ukraine, the EU has launched a legal process, the result of which could be the termination of Euro-donations for Hungary. The reaction of EU countries prompts the Hungarian leadership to withdraw its veto of the EU oil embargo against Russia," the Center said in a statement.

This thesis is actively disseminated in the Ukrainian segment of social networks, convincing users to give up all leisure and joy. This topic often becomes the subject of quarrels and accusations, which only serves Russia's plans. Its goal is to divide Ukrainians among themselves in order to undermine the situation inside the country, redirect aggression from Russians, and demobilize the society that has united against the aggressor. By the way, Russian propaganda also spread the theses about "bad refugees from Ukraine" for a similar purpose. A military psychologist and expert in the field of information and psychological operations Oleg Pokalchuk explained that you can and should laugh and rejoice during war.

In fact, when you spend your leisure time outside your own homes - it has a double positive impact: first, you unload and help your mental health; second, you support the country's economy when you go to a cafe, for example. So do not give in to Russian provocations, because any mutual accusations and quarrels only play to the advantage of the occupants. Of course, Ukrainians who are relatively safe or abroad should not forget that other citizens, especially those close to the war zone, may be sensitive to certain content. However, propagandists play on Ukrainians' feelings of guilt in the so-called home front. Why Ukrainians should get rid of the "survivor" syndrome read here.

Russia is trying to legitimize this narrative in the information space, because it is becoming increasingly difficult to explain the protracted nature of hostilities to Russians, writes the Center for Countering Disinformation. The point is that one of the first theses that Russia is at war with the whole world was voiced by Major General of the Russian Federation Minnekaev at the end of April. He compared the "special operation" to World War II, noting that "both then and now the whole world has turned against Russia." Later, Russian Foreign Minister Lavrov said that "NATO has entered into a proxy war with Russia," while Russian State Duma Speaker Volodin suggested that the leaders of the countries supplying weapons to Ukraine should be prosecuted as war criminals.

This statement appeared in the Russian propaganda media after the events that took place in Khust, Transcarpathia, on Saturday, April 30. Women in the town picketed the local military registration and enlistment office and demanded an explanation as to why their men, allegedly serving in territorial defense, were being sent to the war zone without proper equipment. Video of the picket appeared in both the Ukrainian and Russian media. However, the latter first and foremost began to call Khust a Nazi town, because it was for a time the capital of Carpathian Ukraine. and claim that more and more people in Ukraine do not believe in the victory of Ukraine and are discouraged by the actions of the authorities. And also allegedly women are constantly protesting against the fact that their men are being taken to war, and even in the western regions, where there is no fighting, "there is already beginning to be unrest." In fact, there are few such cases. So far, such protests have only taken place in Khust, and no other cities in Ukraine have been recorded so far. At the same time, residents of the western regions are agitated not because of distrust of the authorities, but because Russia has unleashed a bloody war in Ukraine and is hitting not only the eastern or southern regions, but the western regions as well. In addition, according to a sociological survey conducted by the research panel "Own opinion" with the support of the Institute of Sociology of the National Academy of Sciences, as of mid-April about 79% of Ukrainians answered the question "How much do you believe in Ukraine's victory in the war with Russia?" "I fully believe". More than 14% said that they "rather believe", 2% of respondents answered "rather do not believe" and "do not believe at all"; 4,3% consider that they "find it difficult to answer" this question.

This is the thesis spread by Russian propagandists, claiming that Carpathian Ukraine was "a small pro-Nazi state" and no one had heard of the Ukrainians of Transcarpathia before 1939. In Russia, the opinion "the Carpathian Sich was a Nazi Ukrainian organization" had spread before. In her study "Revision of History: Russian Historical Propaganda and Ukraine," Olena Sorotsynska analyzed this narrative of Russian historical propaganda: "Secrets" of Carpathian Ukraine: how the Nazi murtads built their 'state'", "In Ukraine another invented Ukrainian 'holiday of independence' is widely celebrated - the 80th anniversary of the proclamation of independence of Carpathian Ukraine" - these are some of the headlines of Russian media about Carpathian Ukraine. Some Russian media identify the OUN with Carpathian Ukraine and claim that this state is a product of the Abwehr. "On September 4, 1938, a meeting was held in Uzhgorod on the initiative of members of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists at which the Ukrainian National Defense (UNO) was created. This was the Nazi center that later created the so-called Carpathian Ukraine," writes Novorossiya Information Agency. The occupation of Carpathian Ukraine by Hungarians is explained by the fact that Hungarians were more valuable allies for Hitler than the UUN, so he gave permission for Hungary to seize these territories. "The country of the victorious Euromaidan," which is known to have "no fascism," continues to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the pro-German Carpathian Ukraine declaration of independence," according to the Rus' Unity resource. This is meant to demonstrate "the gravitas of the Ukrainian fascist idea," which, they say, is flourishing today."

The electronic version of the publication is available at the link.

The Ukrainian Institute of National Remembrance has prepared information materials about Carpathian Ukraine. Read more about Carpathian Ukraine.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Russia is conducting a dangerous information and psychological operation aimed at creating the illusion of stabilizing life in the territories occupied by Russian troops. "Most Russian media outlets have begun to spread the thesis that the occupied territories are "gradually returning to peaceful life," and news feeds are littered with headlines about life returning to peaceful life in Berdyansk, and in Melitopol or even Mariupol. However, such publications are part of a hostile operation to create an image of Russian military peacekeepers who, after a "forced war, restore order and bring peace. At the same time, such an image is attempted to be maintained by distributing humanitarian aid to the population," the Center said. in these cities, unfortunately, does not go.In the occupied territories, Russia continues to commit war crimes.In particular, create a humanitarian blockade, not allowing civilians in Mariupol to be evacuated to Ukraine, forcibly deporting people to Russian territory, or even mobilizing men into the Russian army.

In the Ukrainian segment of social networks, particularly in tektok, as well as in the media, excerpts of an interview Russian actor Smolyaninov gave in the program "Tell Gordeeva" circulate. He claims that, in fact, many Russians are worried about the war in Ukraine, but are afraid to go to rallies against the war and feel like hostages. When you're a hostage, you have two options: either run away if you can, or stay and love everything the way it is. And sing songs of praise. And the more you hate, the louder the songs," said Smolyaninov in an interview. Also in the interview, the actor remembered his relatives in Ukraine and how he spent his childhood here - with his grandparents. In addition, he added that despite what is happening in Ukraine, despite the killing of civilians and the terrible destruction of cities, he feels no guilt, because he did not make the decision to introduce troops into Ukraine. He believes that specific people are responsible for this. Those who signed the orders. The actor also to some extent excuses President Putin, saying that his whole life can be called a "special operation" and claiming that the decision to attack Ukraine was for Putin the result of the so-called search for enemies.

Note that recently there have been more and more posts on social media from famous Russians saying that they love Ukraine, have relatives, do not support the war and did not give orders to attack. In this way, society again wants to form an image of so-called good Russians who are not to blame for the war, do not support aggression, and supposedly cannot do anything about the fact that the Russian leadership decided to unleash the war. However, this is a crude manipulation created to distract the attention of Ukrainians from the atrocities of the Russians and to show again that Russians and Ukrainians are brotherly peoples who are ready to sympathize with each other. In reality, many Russians support Russian aggression against Ukraine. Such a conclusion can be drawn from sociological and journalistic surveys of Russians. It is also obvious that Russians are not trying to stop the war in Ukraine, because the rallies that took place in the first weeks of the war were numerous, and now they have stopped altogether. Not just Putin is to blame for the war in Ukraine, but every Russian and Russian woman. Read more of this story from the Detector Media.

According to the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, Russia is again resorting to manipulation of the use of nuclear weapons in Ukraine. In particular, Russia is using former U.S. Defense Secretary adviser Douglas MacGregor for informational blackmail. "This Western-oriented expert spreads narratives about the "inevitable defeat of Kiev," Russia's "invincible army," and intimidates the world that "Putin may use nuclear weapons." On April 22, on U.S. Fox News, McGregor predicted that further arms supplies to Ukraine would seemingly lead to an escalation on Russia's part. In McGregor's opinion, Ukraine must give Russia Crimea and Donbass so that the path does not have to "launch a nuclear strike. On April 25, in an interview with the Spanish publication El Mundo, D. McGregor stressed that allegedly supplying Ukraine with weapons was a waste of resources because, for reasons unspoken by the "expert," "Kiev is doomed," according to the Center. In fact, this is not the first time Russia has intimidated the world with the use of nuclear weapons and its almost the strongest army. However, as we can see, the Ukrainian army gives a decent response to the Russian one. Thus, by intimidation method, Russian propaganda as if it wants to hide its defeats, showing that they have not yet used all the weapons from their arsenal.

Telegram channels controlled by Russian special services, in particular Legitimny, are spreading a new message: it is necessary to surrender Ukrainian cities without a fight, because "Russia will get its own anyway," that is, occupy Ukrainian territories - but let it be better "like in Kherson than in Mariupol. ". At the same time, the messages of the telegram channels promote two theses: first, the occupied territories are "not bad," "social payments" are distributed there, and "almost everything works. Secondly, there is no point in resisting because Russia will win anyway.

Recall that the consequences of Russia's occupation of any Ukrainian cities are hundreds of murdered and tortured civilians, systematic kidnappings of activists and representatives of any government agencies, mass rapes, mass graves and looting or raiding.

Anonymous telegram channels insinuate the view that Ukraine is losing, fitting it into old anti-Western narratives and conspiracy theories. Propagandists write that Ukraine "abruptly started fighting for the Donbass," even though Ukrainian troops have been fighting for the country's integrity since 2014 uninterruptedly. In addition, Ukraine is moving toward the EU, and the "collective action," which anonymous telegram channels scare, returns its embassies to Kyiv, allocates millions in aid to Ukraine, and joins investigations into war crimes in Ukraine.

Anonymous telegram channels disseminate theses about the alleged desire of large and self-sufficient communities to be as independent as possible, about the flourishing of separatism in Ukraine, as well as about the "hand of the Kremlin" and the great role of decentralization reform in this. The message is manipulative because "the flourishing of separatism" is not supported by any fact. According to a sociological study by the Razumkov Center on the 30th anniversary of Ukrainian independence, only 11% of citizens primarily associate themselves with the region in which they live, 19% with the locality, and 59% with Ukraine as a whole. The same study showed that 8% said that Ukrainians do not have anything in common.

Andrei Isayev, a State Duma deputy from the United Russia party, said that Ukraine will have problems with the supply of food for the population, "the sowing season has failed, the roads are destroyed," "the Kiev regime will not solve this problem, and the West does not care about the fate of ordinary Ukrainians." Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food of Ukraine Mykola Solskyi said in an interview to "Ekonomichna Pravda" that Ukraine does not have and will not have any problem with food in the near future. We have reserves of basic products for several years, particularly oil - for many years. Sowing of spring crops continues in 23 regions of Ukraine, except Lugansk. As of April 14, the estimated sowing area of main spring crops for the harvest of 2022 on the territory controlled by Ukraine is 14 013 thousand ha, which is by 2 903.3 thousand hectares less than last year (16 916.3 thousand ha).

Deputy Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Taras Vysotskyi said that there will be no shortage of basic foods, particularly eggs, poultry, milk and vegetables in the domestic market of Ukraine. There is no shortage of food in stores, except in cities that the Russians have blockaded or temporarily occupied. No humanitarian aid can be delivered there.

In addition, the World Food Program has already rolled out a large-scale humanitarian assistance to war-affected Ukrainians. So, in particular, contacts have been established with bakeries, flour mills and food industry enterprises in Ukraine to purchase goods in critical regions. We are talking about 40 thousand tons of food products. Seven warehouses were opened in Kyiv, Lviv, Dnipro, Vinnytsia, Chernivtsi, Odessa and Kropyvnytsky. And in Lviv, Vinnytsia and Ivano-Frankivsk oblasts, cash assistance is provided to resettlers.

For two days, on April 14 and 15, after the news of the damage to the flagship Moskva surfaced, Russian media and government officials persistently promoted the message that the ship was okay. And if it was not, the reason was an accident. First there were reports that a shell had detonated on the ship, but the fire was localized, the ship was afloat, and the crew had been evacuated. The cause was said to be an accidental explosion or even smoking by the crew. On the evening of April 14, the Russian Defense Ministry reported that the ship sank - but this was due to a storm during towing, although it was previously reported that the damage to the cruiser was minor.

Today, the Russian media, quoting State Duma deputy Zatulin, already reported that an unknown number of the crew "went with the ship," possibly including the captain of the Moskva among them.

Meanwhile, the Ukrainian military immediately reported that the cruiser was hit by a Ukrainian Neptun missile. The Pentagon found it difficult to say why the cruiser died, but said that other ships of the Russian Black Sea Fleet had withdrawn at a distance from the Ukrainian coast. The Washington Post also confirmed today, citing a Pentagon official, that the ship had been hit by an anti-ship missile.

Despite the fact that Russia has not officially acknowledged that the Moskva was let down by the Ukrainian military, Russian telegram channels are spreading messages en masse about the "cruiser's death during the battle" and promising "revenge for the cruiser." Why it is necessary to take revenge for the ship, I on which someone had an unfortunate smoke, the messages do not explain. The reports also promote the thesis that the ship was not hit by a Ukrainian-made missile, but was hit by an unknown foreign-made NATO missile. Thus, the Russian media and propagandists, Alexander Kots among them, are spreading the narrative "Russia is not at war with Ukraine, but against NATO.

The Center for Strategic Communications of the ICMP reports that by constantly changing messages, Russian propaganda is trying to reduce the psychological effect of the defeat of the cruiser.

This assertion is being actively circulated in pro-Russian telegram channels. They say that large agricultural companies are reducing their production and closing down, and that the cultivation of new food products may not take place because of the war. In fact, according to official data voiced by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal, even under war conditions, sowing has begun in all but one region of the country. "In Ukraine in all regions except Luhansk, the sowing campaign has begun. We are helping the agrarians, who have already provided them with 3.5 billion UAH in subsidized funding. At today's meeting we decided to simplify the registration of agricultural machinery as much as possible", - Shmyhal said. Given this, it is too early to talk about the decline of the agricultural sector in Ukraine. Talking about it is beneficial to the enemy, because this will give the impression that one of the major industries that brought profit to the country has suffered critically, and accordingly - Ukraine will suffer a powerful financial loss.

This was the thesis recently circulated by pro-Russian telegram channels. The messages said that "attitudes toward Ukrainians have already turned cold everywhere. They say that the attitude towards refugees from Ukraine will now significantly worsen, as well as the amount of support they receive. "Three to four more months and the situation will become even worse towards Ukrainians," the reports say. However, their authors do not specify the bad attitude in which countries they are talking about and draw their conclusions referring to some anonymous sources. The reports also add that it is now very difficult for Ukrainians to find work in the West, although there are seasonal jobs in the agricultural sector, but there are "hellish conditions" and low pay. In fact, such information is spread in order to discredit countries that are allies of Ukraine and to devalue their assistance to Ukrainian refugees. In fact, in many EU countries Ukrainians can receive state aid as refugees. Moreover, Ukrainians are also helped by residents of those countries. As a reminder, during the month, Russian propaganda had already spread several fakes about "bad refugees" from Ukraine, which were refuted.

After pro-Russian politician Viktor Medvedchuk was detained, anonymous telegram channels controlled by the Russian special services launched a series of manipulative messages designed to undermine Ukrainians' trust in the authorities. For the most part, these messages and theories are built on assumptions, such as "Medvedchuk is wearing a new uniform, which means that his things are not suitable for photographing. In fact, the new uniforms can't prove that Medvedchuk's things are "unsuitable for photographing. Moreover, there is no evidence that he was dressed up on purpose. Earlier, Volodymyr Zelenskyy reported that Medvedchuk tried to disguise himself as a Ukrainian military man by wearing a uniform and crossing the Ukrainian border. It is noteworthy that the telegram channels avoid affirmative sentences and build messages on assumptions: "Zelenskyy knew about the start time of the attack on February 24, so the SBU could calmly take Medvedchuk to a safe place."

In addition, the telegram channels use the prefix "gossip" for their manipulations, after which one can write anything and retract his words if necessary. For example, "weaved in that the Russians knew that Medvedchuk was in the SBU, and negotiations on his exchange were unsuccessful. If Russia really did not plan to exchange Putin's cousin for Ukrainian defenders, it would mean that the Kremlin is not interested in Medvedchuk's future fate. If so, Russia, which keeps trying to discredit the Ukrainian authorities, would benefit from publicly stating that Medvedchuk is being held by Ukrainian law enforcers, as opposed to fleeing Ukraine's official statements. Medvedchuk's wife, host Oksana Marchenko, who recorded an April 13 address to Vladimir Zelensky, may also have previously claimed that her husband had disappeared. She, like the pro-Russian TV channels, says that Medvedchuk is allegedly "illegally detained by the SBU." Recall that Medvedchuk was announced suspicions and the court selected preventive measures in the criminal proceedings on oil and gas extraction in the Black Sea and on aiding the activities of a terrorist organization through the supply of coal from the occupied territories of Donbass. He should be under house arrest, but escaped from his estate, thereby violating the obligations under the preventive measure.

Anonymous telegram channels controlled by the Russian secret services are spreading the message that the prospects for an exchange of Viktor Medvedchuk are minimal, calling the Ukrainian president's proposal an "information trap. At the same time, they spread the thesis that Lukashenka might as well "detain employees of the Ukrainian embassy and offer to exchange them for Medvedchuk. On March 22, the Belarusian KGB said that spies allegedly worked under the cover of the Ukrainian embassy. The next day, it became known that Belarus announced the expulsion of 12 Ukrainian diplomats and the closure of the Ukrainian consulate in Brest.

This is the message that has been circulating in pro-Russian telegram channels in recent days. Specifically, it is claimed that Ukraine received $3.5 billion from financial structures in March, and now must pay back this money in the equivalent of $5 billion. Some messages also add that Ukraine must pay back its other debts, and the Ukrainian authorities, unlike former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, cannot negotiate a debt restructuring in war conditions, as the ex-president negotiated during the ATO. We can assume that the message is being spread in order to discredit Ukraine's allies - the EU countries, which will support us in the fight against Russia, and to show that they are not such allies if they demand the return of debts. In reality, the issue of debt repayment is complicated and ambiguous and it is almost impossible to find out all the information about full assistance and support from allied countries in war conditions. The Media Detector recently already described why the media should not have the whole truth about the war in war conditions. This includes what the allies are doing to support us.

The message spread by anonymous wiretaps after the UN reported a record 12.6 percent increase in food prices in Europe, especially for grain and oil. The price spike is clear, as Ukraine and the Russian Federation provided about a third of the world's exports of wheat, 20% of corn, and nearly 80% of sunflower oil. Trade was mainly through the Black Sea, now blocked. So the price increase is true, but the cause is not the Ukrainians, but the war started by Russia.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova in her speech tells how Ukrainians fought to make borshch an exclusively Ukrainian national dish and do not want to share it. In her opinion, this is "xenophobia, Nazism and extremism in all its manifestations. Probably it is a reaction to the official inclusion of borsch in the National List of Cultural Heritage of Ukraine back in 2020 and the corresponding application to UNESCO in 2021 to recognize borsch as Ukrainian at the international level. And it was Russia that repeatedly tried to call the achievements of Ukrainian culture Russian, and a year ago, the Russian media spread a fake that Google recognized borsch as a Russian dish..

Read more: "Already less than 25 million": Russian propaganda counts Ukrainians by the amount of bread consumed. Why is this manipulation?

Such a thesis was spread by former Russian President and Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev. The politician's statements about Ukraine were spread by a number of Russian propaganda media. Medvedev said that Ukraine had mentally turned into the Third Reich and once again accused Ukrainians of Nazism. In addition, he added that Ukrainianism is a fake that never existed in history and does not exist now. In fact, the thesis that Ukraine is a state that historically did not exist, and consequently Ukrainians do not exist either, is not new to Russian politicians and propaganda. Russia constantly speculates on our history, claiming that Ukraine is an inferior state that did not exist and has no right to exist, because it has no history, culture, etc., unlike the so-called "great Russian culture. Such theses are beneficial for Russian propaganda, because in this way Russia seems to justify its criminal military actions on the territory of Ukraine, claiming that, firstly, everything Ukrainian is a fake, and secondly, Ukrainians have turned into Nazis.

This thesis is spread by telegram channels administered by Russian special services. Pro-Kremlin telegram channels were spreading similar messages about the blame of "the collective West for everything that is happening in Ukraine" even before the full-scale Russian invasion began. In reality, Ukraine is not in "conflict" with Russia, but in war. Russia launched a war against Ukraine in 2014, first by occupying Crimea and then parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk regions; in 2022, Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukrainian territories. According to the UN, as of April 3, at least 1,417 civilians had been killed and another 2,038 wounded since the Russian invasion of Ukraine began.