Russian propagandists are disseminating information that Ukrainians are constantly discussing the topic of joining the EU due to the fact that they are now losing the war to Russia. At the same time, pro-Kremlin sources claim that Ukraine will never join the EU, and the promises of European leaders are nothing more than empty words. They say that even the European Union's High Representative for Foreign Policy, Josep Borrell, is bluffing: he realizes that none of his promises will ever be fulfilled. He allegedly uses the situation in Ukraine to increase his personal rating, on the one hand, and to gain the favor of Washington, on the other.

The information was analyzed by the fact-checkers from the EUvsDISINFO project. They found that, despite accusations against EU representatives of the insincerity of their relations with Ukraine, it is possible to clearly trace the steps and efforts taken by both sides towards the integration of Ukraine into the EU. On February 28, 2022, Ukraine submitted its application for EU membership. In June of the same year, the European Commission presented its favorable findings on the EU membership applications submitted by Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova. According to the conclusion of the commission on Ukraine’s application for EU membership, our country noticed the European vector of movement and granted Ukraine candidate status by unanimous consent of the leaders of all 27 EU member states. This happened on June 23, 2022.

The path to EU accession is a relatively long technical process. In June 2023, the European Council called on Ukraine to continue reforms in the country and fight corruption. At the same time, the European Council assures that it will work closely with Ukraine and support its efforts to fully comply with all necessary conditions for accession.

The Kremlin is afraid of losing its leverage over Ukraine and is trying to neutralize its aspirations to become a member of the EU by repeating this disinformation narrative. Russia’s position is the same regarding Ukraine’s entry into NATO.

Anonymous telegram channels in the Russian segment are distributing a photo of an allegedly Ukrainian military ID of “foreign mercenary” Brian Boenger. The document contains the fighter’s personal data, and also contains a separate photograph: a photograph of both guys kissing. This is how the authors convince that this is a photograph of an American. They also add that this ID was found in the Zaporizhzhia direction and that “his beloved friend waits in vain for the military” hinting at the probable destruction of the American military man.

The analysts from the VoxCheck project began analyzing the case and found that the photos of the military ID were partially compiled. The figure of the American fighter Brian Boenger is real, and he fought in Ukraine. Using a reverse search, the fact-checkers found that the image of an American soldier’s military ID was indeed published in journalistic materials back in 2016.

And to create a fake photograph, propagandists superimposed on the image of a real military ID a photo of a stranger and a photo of two guys kissing.

Moreover, Brian Boenger is not a “foreign mercenary”; in April 2016, he entered into an official contract with the Armed Forces of Ukraine. At that time, the decree allowing foreigners or stateless persons to serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine was signed by the then President of Ukraine Petro Poroshenko back in November 2015.

Russian propaganda systematically fuels the narrative that professional military personnel from other states - the so-called “foreign mercenaries” - are fighting in Ukraine. Thus, Russian propaganda also tries to justify the failures of the Russian army. They say they are not fighting “weak” Ukrainians, but “specially trained NATO members” or Americans. Moreover, Russian propaganda spreads fake news about hiring students, the unemployed, and they like to show that in Ukraine there is no one left to fight and they are recruiting “everyone in a row”.

By the way, in our Newspeak section we talked about Russia that recruits mercenaries, in particular, Wagner group representatives. This is essentially a terrorist organization within the Russian army.

Anonymous telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric disseminate information that Ukrainians will allegedly use ATACMS weapons systems transferred from the United States against civilians. “The vile hand of the United States always promotes death, because we know that these weapons in the hands of Ukrainian Nazis will be used against civilian targets”, the message said. It is not true.

The case was investigated by the fact-checker of the EUvsDiSiNFO project. There is no evidence to support that these weapons will be used against civilian targets. There is also no evidence that Ukrainians attack civilians, unlike Russia, whose crimes have been documented by human rights organizations and the UN.

Moreover, in September 2023, the United States introduced the so-called Conventional Arms Transfer Policy, the purpose of which is to track and prevent civilian deaths from weapons supplied by the United States, including to Ukraine.

Thus, Russian propagandists are trying to promote the narrative that Russians are fighting Nazism in Ukraine, as well as demonizing the Ukrainian military, saying that they don’t care about the Ukrainian people. Previously, we talked about the message that Ukrainian refugees in Europe are demonstrating their “Nazi tendencies”.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on anonymous telegram channels claim that with the expansion of the BRICS bloc to include six new members (Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Iran, Argentina, Egypt and Ethiopia), it will be able to control 80%.

The message was noticed by specialists from the VoxCheck project. They found out that according to data from the US Energy Information Administration (EIA) as of 2022, the BRICS bloc accounted for about 19% of global oil production (in the original composition with Brazil, India, China, South Africa and Russia). New data from the organization indicates that after expanding production of crude oil products, BRICS will increase to about 41% of global production. Data from the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as of 2022 indicate that after the accession of new members, the BRICS share will be about 47% of global production of crude oil products. The Energy Institute (UK) estimates that the expanded group will account for 43.1% of global oil production.

By spreading such messages, propagandists want to show the “weakness” of Ukraine’s allies and cause concern among Ukrainians about whether they should continue to respond to Russian aggression. Detector Media has already written about how Russian propaganda artificially praises BRICS and presents the bloc as a geopolitical victory for Russia, using the example of materials about the bloc’s summit.

On October 19, 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine approved in the first reading the “Bill on Amendments to Certain Laws of Ukraine on the Activities of Religious Organizations in Ukraine”. This happened after six months of disputes between state deputies and “curses” of supporters of the UOC-MP in Ukraine. The adopted law may force the Ukrainian Orthodox Church to be more willing to compromise with the authorities on a number of issues - from leaving the Kyiv Pechersk Lavra to more constructive cooperation of the church leadership.

The Moscow Patriarchate is one of the largest centers of Russian influence on the territory of Ukraine. The Center for Countering Disinformation reported that Russian propaganda negatively perceived the bill banning religious organizations associated with Russia, and Russian ex-President Dmytro Medvediev described such a policy of the Ukrainian government as “heavily involved in cocaine and Satanism”.

Ukraine, having adopted the corresponding bill in the first reading, neutralizes another level of influence on the Ukrainian population through religion. Previously, we wrote about whom adherents of the Moscow Patriarchate call “sinners”.

In the Ukrainian segment of Facebook, information is being spread that Ukraine will allegedly not receive reparations from Russia, because Volodymyr Zelenskyi “did not introduce a state of war”, and minor citizens of Ukraine will not have the status of “children of war”. It is not true.

The message was investigated by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. They turned to the former Deputy Minister of Justice of Ukraine in 2015–2019, a teacher at the National University of Kyiv-Mohyla Academy, Serhiii Pietukhov, for comment. He said: “Russian reparations are a matter of international law. Reparations are a form of compensation for harm caused by one state to another. In this case, the international community has no doubt that there is a war between Ukraine and Russia, or in the terminology of international law, an international armed conflict. A formal declaration of war has long been no longer required in international law and is not a criterion for assessing damages or the debt to pay reparations”.

Pietukhov also explained that the status of children of war can be accepted by the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, regardless of the declaration of a state of war. This is a domestic decision and “no one within the country questions the existence of war”.

Consequently, the message that Ukraine will not receive reparations because it did not declare war on Russia is intended to create distrust in the Ukrainian authorities. Earlier,  Detector Media talked about the message that Ukraine did not declare war on Russia.

Propaganda resources are disseminating information that Kyiv is preparing a provocation at the Kremenchuk hydroelectric station “according to the Kakhovka scenario”. They say that Ukraine replaced the station in order to create public tension and blame the Russian army for the attack on the hydroelectric power station.

The information was processed by the fact-checkers of the StopFake project. They found out that there is no evidence of the mythical mining of the Kremenchuk hydroelectric power station by the Ukrainian military. Russian propaganda is based on its previous lies that the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station was blown up by Ukraine. All critical infrastructure facilities, which include hydroelectric power plants, are constantly under the protection of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, the National Guard and the police in wartime. After the Russian terrorist attack with the explosion of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power station, the Ukrainian Defense Forces tightened patrolling of the stations.

It is Russia that attacks the critical infrastructure of Ukraine - as a result of massive shelling of the occupiers in the autumn-winter period of 2022-2023, not a single thermal or hydroelectric power station remained undamaged in Ukraine.

This thesis was spread on social networks and in pro-Kremlin media. The reports say that no one notices the humanism of the Russian army, because it supposedly wages war according to all customs while Hamas kills civilians. The authors add that the West should consolidate forces against other forces, and not Russia, which is supposedly “nobly”  defending itself.

But Russia is once again promoting the thesis about “countless NATO headquarters” in Ukraine and hinting that Western officials have an allegedly unhealthy interest in Ukrainian territories. Allegedly, Ukraine is already governed from the outside, and Ukrainian deputies, military personnel and other actors in the political process are generally incapable of making any decisions without prior approval.

Moreover, the Kremlin seeks to hide its own criminal actions against Ukrainians, hiding behind “military targets” that are supposedly a legitimate target. However, it is not military facilities that suffer from Russian missiles and drones, but Ukrainian peaceful cities and civilian infrastructure. In addition, any attack on another country, even on military targets, is a crime. The Kremlin’s baseless rumors about “shelling of military targets” exist to fuel the narrative of the West’s struggle against Russia.

For example, Russia recently shelled the village of Hroza in the Kharkiv region. The missile attack on the village was the largest in terms of casualties in 2023 in Ukraine and the largest during the entire period of a full-scale invasion in the region. And this is just one of dozens of cases in which Russia kills and terrorizes civilians. And with comparisons about Hamas, propagandists are trying to whiten themselves against the background of another armed conflict.

Propagandists spreading pro-Russian rhetoric on social media claim that Ukrainian soldiers sent abroad for treatment and refugees contracted infections in Ukrainian hospitals and then spread these diseases to the EU. They say that these infections are resistant to most antibiotics, and this supposedly proves that the United States is testing bioweapons in Ukraine. In doing so, they refer to an article by the Financial Times.

The message was noticed by the fact-checkers of the VoxCheck project. They found out that this was not true. An October 2 Financial Times article titled “Ukrainian infections show rising threat of antibiotic resistance” stated that Russia's invasion of Ukraine back in 2014 contributed to the rise in drug-resistant infections in Western Europe. As the authors point out, this could be due to the toxicity of heavy metals in the balls, which caused injuries and wounds that could lead to infections, as well as the indiscriminate use of antibiotics. The situation was also complicated by the fact that medical facilities in combat regions were often damaged, tests to determine the necessary antibiotic were largely lacking, and local residents forced to leave the region could carry these diseases. The article also pointed out that after the start of the full-scale invasion, due to the arrival of Ukrainian military and refugees in EU countries, there was indeed an increase in the number of drug-resistant infections. In particular, they explain this by the fact that in some regions the healthcare system was overloaded.

The VoxCheck experts once again note that there are no US biological laboratories in Ukraine, and no country is engaged in the production or testing of biological weapons here. They also found that antibiotic resistance is an international trend that occurs due to the limited number of effective drugs available and the low number of new drug developments. According to the publication, even states that spend a lot of money on financing the healthcare system cannot cope with this problem.

Propagandists spread this message to discredit Ukrainians and create artificial panic about their presence in Europe. They say that helping Ukrainians is dangerous. Detector Media also wrote about other messages and fakes with which Russia is trying to discredit both the Ukrainian military and refugees.

Pro-Kremlin media write that at one of the OSCE meetings on security cooperation, the so-called ambassador of the Russian Foreign Ministry, Rodion Miroshnyk, was not allowed to attend the meeting. In the messages, the authors claim that the OSCE was “simply afraid” that a Russian representative might reveal “facts that are inconvenient for the Western public”. And they summarize that such actions are “russophobia”.

The analysts of the StopFake project analyzed the case and explained that the decision to not allow Miroshnyk to attend the meeting is solely due to the incompetence of the “ambassador”,  who is actually a collaborator and former press secretary of the ex-president and fugitive traitor Viktor Yanukovych.

In 2014, Miroshnyk cooperated with the Russian occupiers and became part of the Kremlin-controlled “administration” of captured Luhansk, a fictitious body. He has been wanted in Ukraine since 2017.

That is, the so-called russophobia is nothing more than a response to the actions of the Russian army, leadership and people. Russians and collaborators bear collective responsibility for the aggression against Ukraine, which they supported either with appropriate statements or silence. Worldwide condemnation and sanctions against the aggressor are the consequences of Russia’s criminal actions, and not vice versa, as Moscow is trying to convince everyone.

This thesis was spread in the Ukrainian segment of Facebook. The reports say that Ukraine allegedly did not declare martial law or war on Russia in general, which means that Ukraine is fighting illegally. In particular, they argue that such actions of the Ukrainian leadership are involved in an irresistible desire to seize Western resources.

There is a war going on in Ukraine, and this is understandable without announcements. For example, politician and diplomat Andrii Shevchenko explained in a comment to MediaSapiens that from a legal point of view, a declaration of war is an external matter of the state. He adds that international law does not focus on words or statements, but on actions. Therefore, from the point of view of international law, what is happening is an obvious war, a violation of the sovereignty of Ukraine.

Back in March 2022, former Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine Hanna Maliar explained that there is no need to adopt a special law or decree on declaring war. She cited Article 3 of the 1974 UN Resolution on Aggression and emphasized that an invasion or attack by the armed forces of a state on the territory of another country, bombing or blockade of ports qualifies as an act of aggression.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that women with medical education began to “escape” from Ukraine en masse, because from October 1, 2023, medical and pharmaceutical workers must register with the military. In support of this thesis, propagandists show alleged data from the State Statistics Service of Ukraine and explain that more than 25 thousand women with medical education allegedly left Ukraine over the past two weeks.

The VoxCheck analysts investigated the case and found that the State Statistics Service does not publish such statistics, and therefore, no data on the migration of doctors and pharmacists simply exists. That is, propagandists came up with this information. After all, migration statistics on the State Statistics Service website have not been updated since January 2022 due to martial law. Experts explained that in Ukraine, at the state level, the migration movement of the population is monitored according to several indicators: the number of arrivals and departures and the corresponding coefficients of these processes. Moreover, such indicators are formed annually, not weekly. And they do not separate out information about the professions of those who arrived and those who left, that is, such data is not collected. Data can be classified by type of area, gender, age, etc.

Also, statistics on the migration movement of the population are published by the State Migration Service of Ukraine. But this body also does not provide information on the distribution of migrants by profession.

Since October 1, 2023, medical and pharmaceutical workers must indeed register with the military, but registration with the military does not mean mobilization or the establishment of restrictions on traveling abroad. The Ministry of Health notes that registration is necessary only to summarize data on the existing reserve of doctors in the country. The travel of this category of women is unlimited.

On October 5, 2023 at 13:24, Russian invaders attacked the village of Hroza, Kupiansk district, Kharkiv region. The Russians hit a local store and café, where a funeral was being held for a fellow villager who was a military man. The Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Ihor Klymenko said that in total there were 60 people on the territory, and at least 52 people died, including a child. Also recorded were seven victims who were seriously injured - they were at a distance of at least 50 meters from the café itself. On the air of the national telethon, the minister also said that 330 residents lived in the village and “from every family, from every yard, one person was present at this memorial dinner”. Anonymous telegram channels that broadcast pro-Kremlin rhetoric are spreading messages that Ukraine struck the village, and this happened, supposedly, at the request of Volodymyr Zelenskyi. Propagandists convince people that in fact the tragedy is “beneficial” for the Ukrainian leadership for its own profit. In particular, we are talking about receiving additional humanitarian assistance and increasing financial support. In addition, they wrote that there were Ukrainian soldiers in the café, which means that the Russian army was allegedly targeting military and military targets. But they finally explain: “The West has reduced its negativity towards Russia, so Ukraine is obviously increasing it”.

However, the head of the Kharkiv Military Regional Administration, Oleh Syniehub, said that there were civilians and cars at the scene of the strike. Subsequently, the chief of police of the region, Volodymyr Tymoshko, confirmed this to the Suspilne. The Kremlin seeks to hide its own criminal actions against Ukrainians, hiding behind “military targets” that are supposedly a legitimate target. However, it is not military facilities that are suffering from Russian missiles and drones, but Ukrainian peaceful cities, villages and civilian infrastructure. Moreover, any attack on another country, even on military targets, is a crime. Among the dead was the son of a military man, who was reburied that day. The son was also a military man. He was in a café with his wife and mother - they died from a rocket hit. But the memorial site is not a military target, and the son of a fallen soldier did not perform military duties during the memorial dinner.

The head of the Kharkiv region police also explained that it has already been established precisely that the hit was made by an Iskander ballistic missile. This is the type of missile in service in Russia. The head of the Kharkiv Military Regional Administration said that it was a “targeted strike” and the hit was in the very center of the building, which resulted in so many casualties.

The authors resort to conspiracy theories when they write that Zelenskyi seeks to profit from the war in Ukraine and personally gives orders to shell Ukrainian cities and villages. These attempts indicate the demonization of Ukraine and the creation of an erroneous impression about it among partner countries. For example, similar rhetoric is used on anonymous telegram channels in response to the arrival of foreign politicians in Ukraine. Then propaganda systematically promotes the thesis that the worries in Ukraine are not real, but only attempts to intimidate foreigners and get as many weapons as possible.

The missile attack on the village on October 5 was the largest in terms of casualties in 2023 in Ukraine and the largest since a full-scale invasion in the region.

In the American segment of the social network Facebook, a message is being circulated that NATO allegedly sent troops to Ukraine to fight Russia. The post contains a video in which a man expresses support for the candidacy of US ex-President Donald Trump in the White House elections in 2024 and notes that “NATO troops have been sent to Ukraine”.

As fact-checkers of the PolitiFact project note, there are no reliable news or official sources that could confirm the message that there are no NATO troops in Ukraine. The man in the video refers to Russian sources.

Moreover, NATO press officer Matthias Eichenlaub commented to the fact-checkers, where he noted: “There are no NATO troops in Ukraine”. The official website also contains no information about these military personnel in Ukraine. “And we have a responsibility to ensure the conflict does not escalate and spread beyond Ukraine. That would be even more dangerous, destructive, and even more deadly”, the alliance’s website says.

Russian propaganda continues to spread messages that Russia is fighting the West on the territory of Ukraine. Thus, the Russians are trying to justify their defeats at the front and absolve themselves of responsibility for crimes in Ukraine.

A number of anonymous telegram channels with pro-Russian rhetoric are disseminating information that on Ukraine’s Independence Day, children sang the Ukrainian Anthem in English. They say that this proves that Ukraine has, in fact, already fully become a “puppet” of the West, which means it has lost its independence.

The specialists from the VoxCheck project drew attention to the manipulation. They found out that the anthem was performed by students of Nadvirnianskyi Lyceum No. 1 in the Ivano-Frankivsk region and this video was posted on the official Facebook page of the institution on March 6, 2017. Accordingly, the children did not complete this version for Independence Day. Project analysts also note that international partners do not stop expressing their support for the sovereignty, independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, citing numerous speeches by the US President, NATO Secretary General and other officials in Western countries. In addition, they remind that the anthem of Ukraine was also heard in concert halls of other countries, where spectators greeted it standing.

By spreading this message, propagandists want to undermine trust in Western partners and justify Russia’s crimes against Ukrainians. They say that Russia is really helping Ukraine maintain its independence in front of the “collective West” and if Russia loses, Ukraine will finally be occupied by Western countries. Detector Media has already written about how the Russians are scaring Ukrainians with the “occupation” of the western regions of the country by Poland.

This thesis was spread on social networks in the Russian segment. The messages told how Volodymyr Zelenskyi assigned the 131st separate reconnaissance battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces the name of Yevhen Konovalets. Meanwhile, propagandists, in response to this, added that such actions emphasize the true “Nazi” essence of Ukraine, where officials are no longer afraid to “glorify Bandera’s supporters”.

Russian propaganda is once again speculating on the topic of Ukrainian nationalism and distorting it into “Nazism”. It seems that being a Ukrainian, taking care of one’s own state interests, is already grounds for receiving accusations of Nazism from the Russians. The authors appeal to Ukrainians and call them “nationalists” to hint at supposedly radical views among civilians. Russian propaganda deliberately exaggerates the weight of bearers of nationalist views in Ukrainian society, describing them as sharing opinions with representatives of Nazi Germany and mocking supporters of Russia. And propagandists also reduce the approval of historical figures in the Ukrainian context to “Nazism”.

And there is nothing wrong with the fact that the Ukrainian president named the reconnaissance battalion after a historical figure. Yevhen Konovalets is one of the most famous figures of the Ukrainian national movement of the twentieth century. Over the course of his 47 years, he managed to go from a student at the Faculty of Law of Lviv University to a colonel in the UPR army, commander of the Sichovi Striltsi, chairman of the Ukrainian Nationalists, founder and first leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The basic principle of nationalism is the value of the nation as the highest form of social unity and its primacy in the processes of the state. The term “nationalist” itself is not something bad, but is characterized by loyalty and devotion to one's nation.

Read more about the ideas of Ukrainian nationalism here. A researcher of political history of the early twentieth century, Doctor of Historical Sciences Oleksandr Zaitsev, spoke about how the nationalists of that time saw Ukraine. In particular, he explained that the Ukrainian version of nationalism is characterized by the fact that in the 1920s and 30s it was the nationalism of a stateless nation. Or a nation that lost its statehood during the Ukrainian Revolution, having suffered defeat in the creation of a single, integral state.

By the way, read the case in which Zelenskyi allegedly put on a jumper with an embroidered OUN coat of arms, although first of all it is the coat of arms of Ukraine.

This thesis was spread by pro-Kremlin media. The reports write that children in Ukraine “do not want” to learn the Ukrainian language through the so-called “total Ukrainization” of society. That is, the authors hint that teachers deliberately force schoolchildren to study Ukrainian, and they resist. In the publications, the authors provide figures (allegedly for how much the percentage of the study of the Ukrainian language has decreased). And they conclude: “Ukrainians are forced to immerse themselves in culture, but they don’t need it”. In support of this thesis, propagandists cite material from the French newspaper Le Monde.

The VoxCheck fact-checkers worked on the case and found out that in the Le Monde material, media professionals actually write about the deterioration of the general level of knowledge among Ukrainian children. They cited Russian aggression, a full-scale invasion and attacks on civilian infrastructure, including shelling of schools, as the reason for this. Using a reverse search on Google, experts found the material and analyzed it further. It states that 57% of teachers observe a deterioration in students’ knowledge of the Ukrainian language, up to 45% - a decrease in mathematical skills, and up to 52% - in foreign languages. Preschool education is also experiencing problems: about ⅔ of preschool children do not attend kindergartens. In frontline zones this figure is ¾. The material refers to a UNICEF press release in which these data are presented.

However, neither UNICEF nor the journalists of the French newspaper were accused of the so-called “total, forced and violent Ukrainization”. This is simply an invention of Russian propaganda who decided to manipulate the data and supposedly explain that children resist learning the language, although this is absolutely not the case. Such figures are the result of Russian aggression against Ukraine, the daily shelling of peaceful Ukrainian cities, critical and civilian infrastructure. The point is that Ukrainian children do not deny studying subjects, do not express widespread dissatisfaction - in fact, Russia hinders quality education, and a study from UNICEF is proof of this.

Read the case, when propagandists lied that they fired at an alleged Ukrainian Armed Forces base in Romny. In fact, it turned out to be a secondary school. And as a result of the Shahed drone attack, four people were killed: the school principal, deputy director, secretary and librarian. At the time the drone hit, there were 19 teachers at the school.

How Russia justifies deportation and other war crimes in Ukraine against Ukrainian children - read in our investigation as well.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Ukrainian refugees in Europe have begun to demonstrate their Nazi tendencies. They claim that this is a direct threat to the territorial integrity of the EU. In support of this thesis, evidence is provided that a Ukrainian barista offers Europeans coffee with a swastika on it. All this, they say, is happening in a German town. Video evidence is added to publications. It's a lie.

The analysts from the VoxCheck project analyzed the case and determined that the video is an advertisement for online late art courses in Bolivia, and there is no mention of Ukrainians in it. The video has an Instagram page tagged, so the fact-checkers decided to check it out. The page is actually active and posts are posted there.The fact-checkers came across the original video used by propagandists. There is no mention of Ukraine there either. And it is impossible to say for sure that it was the swastika that was depicted on the coffee. That is, the authors of the online courses did not add any context to the Instagram message, so there may be different interpretations. Although the video received more than 384 thousand likes with 4,800 subscribers, in the comments, users mock and hint at the theme of Nazism. The fact-checkers claim that the video could have been used to attract attention.

With all that, neither the Instagram page nor the video have anything to do with Ukrainians. Propagandists explained the video modifications in a context that was favorable to them. It’s as if a Ukrainian refugee in Germany is selling coffee with a swastika design. Thus, the authors seek to demonize Ukrainian refugees and show that Europe does not support Ukraine and Ukrainians in general. Thus, Russian propaganda is trying to present Ukrainian refugees as criminals or terrorists, as a cultural and economic threat to the EU - in order to reduce support for Ukraine. We mentioned this in our own research.

This thesis was spread in pro-Kremlin media. The reports described how on September 18, 2023, the International Court of Justice in The Hague began a hearing on Ukraine's claim against Russia for violating the Genocide Convention. At the same time, Russian media are spreading messages that the court’s decision will be as “politicized” as possible, because Ukraine allegedly cannot collect “any evidence” of Russian crimes.

StopFake fact-checkers worked on the case and explained that the International Court of Justice itself is an independent institution that makes decisions without the involvement of third parties. In addition, a joint UN Commission operates to investigate and record Russian crimes. Moreover, the Commission has previously presented several reports describing systemic crimes by Russians against Ukrainians, in particular, premeditated murders, illegal detention, torture, rape and other types of sexual violence, as well as illegal transfers and deportations of protected persons and children. That is, the thesis that there is no evidence to prove the criminality of the Russian army is untrue. Thus, the propagandist authors are only trying to abdicate responsibility by calling various government institutions “incompetent” or “biased”. The Kremlin did the same thing, for example, when it denied the arrest of Putin by the International Criminal Court.

By the way, Detector Media analysts analyzed the manipulation, which stated that the UN investigation “found no evidence of 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”. We also disclosed a message that allegedly the UN Security Council “does not care about the suffering of the residents of Donbas”.

This thesis is being spread on social networks in the Russian segment, in particular on pro-Kremlin telegram channels. The authors write that the Russians are allegedly moving quickly at the front and making bold decisions that are “destructive for Ukrainians”. At the same time, Ukraine’s partners, according to the authors of the message, are carried away by the advancement of the Russian military on the battlefield.

Specialists from the Center for Strategic Communication and Information Security determined that there were no statements from official missions of the United States or the EU. That is, this is not the position of the US or EU authorities - but propagandists simply threw in such information. By comparison, US Deputy Secretary of State Victoria Nuland recently commented that she was, on the contrary, amazed at the progress Ukraine has made, especially in the south.

Thus, the Russians are trying to sow panic among citizens, saying that Ukrainian partners are already carried away by Russia’s achievements on the battlefield. Russia wants to strengthen its narrative about the “failure of the counteroffensive” and discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine, allegedly the Ukrainian military is not coping with the assigned tasks.

This thesis was spread in pro-Kremlin media. The messages added how the West was allegedly trying to destroy Ukraine, “to lead it to the grave” so that it would lose everything in the war. Therefore, the messages call for “marriage” with Russia, and it is better to “sever relations” with Western countries; according to the authors, the West is not interested in the Ukrainian victory. The publications refer to material from a foreign publication, which sets out these opinions with reference to authoritative sources.

Analysts from the StopFake project took up this case and found out that the foreign material referred to by propagandists turned out to be full of Kremlin messages. That is, the author expressed his vision in relation to the Russian-Ukrainian war. The material was published on one of the Slovak news sites. Among other things, the author of the material repeated many disinformation stories that coincided with the Russian agenda. For example, the war is supposedly “interesting to the West for the sake of making money” or that it is better to “be friends and cooperate” with Russia, etc. But this is not the official position of the Slovak government, but the author’s own opinion in the column.

Using quotes from public figures, military officers, politicians and other public figures, Russian propaganda is trying to convince consumers of disinformation of the authenticity of such expressions. Like, if the journalist himself stated this, he can be trusted, because he is an authoritative source. Although the publications do not characterize how authoritative the information presented in the column is. After all, propagandists use the tactic of appealing to authority.

This thesis was spread in pro-Kremlin media. The messages added that it was as if it had become clear that Volodymyr Zelenskyi was a protégé of Britain. Namely, he is a member of the secret British intelligence organization - MI6. The publications also promoted the opinion that all decisions of the Ukrainian president seem to be made in London. That is, they claim that Ukraine is under external influence.

Analysts from EU vs Disinfo began to analyze this case and found out that such a thesis is a conspiracy thesis, because the propagandists never provided any evidence that Zelenskyi belonged to that organization. But using the rhetoric of “external influence”, propagandists show that all political decisions in Ukraine are supposedly made by Western officials while Ukrainian politicians are subject to these decisions, without the right to appeal them. Any events occurring in Ukraine that are not in favor of Russia are allegedly caused by external control. This is how the authors strive to create an image of a puppet country that cannot exist on its own. Let's say Ukraine constantly needs “protection”.

But such messages are generally beneficial for Russian propaganda in order to deny the existence of statehood in Ukraine. They say that Ukrainian officials are not in charge there, but all powers are transferred to a third party, especially to Western politicians. Russia sees such actions as a potential threat to its existence and presents it as one of the reasons for a full-scale invasion - a fight against the “collective West”.

Propagandists are distributing materials on social networks that allegedly confirm that the southeast is fighting for all of Ukraine. They say that Western Ukraine does not adequately evaluate these efforts. It was noticed in the NotaYenota project.

The specialists found out that Russia regularly restores this message, adapting it to different regions of Ukraine. For example, materials are being distributed to the western regions according to which supposedly only Western Ukraine is fighting, while Eastern Ukraine is holed up in the Carpathians. The opposite message is being spread to the southern and eastern regions.

Project specialists note that these messages do not correspond to reality, since representatives of all regions are fighting at the front for Ukraine. To confirm them, Russians manipulate data and create deliberately false infographics. In particular, in the West only regional territorial recruitment centers are considered, and in the East - regional, district and other branches. Previously, the eastern regions had a higher population density, but now the situation has changed due to Russian aggression. In addition, in the infographics one can notice the typo “southeast”, which is typical for Russian speakers.

Propagandists use this message to turn residents of the western regions against the eastern ones and thus destabilize the situation from within. Detector Media wrote about how Russian propaganda manipulates people from different regions of the country, especially (de)occupied territories.

This thesis was spread on social networks, in particular on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Volodymyr Zelenskyi is ready to sign a “lifetime agreement” to carry out the war in order to receive “eternal aid from the West”. They say that Zelenskyi cannot calm down and expresses his thirst for unlimited resources. As a result, propagandists summarize: Zelenskyi is throwing Ukrainians into the capitalist “Western meat grinder”.

The president, obviously, is not going to sign any agreement on conducting an “eternal war” on the territory of Ukraine. Such words from Russian propagandists are too exaggerated and create the apocalyptic impression that Ukraine is supposedly governed from the outside, and its president is pandering to Western officials for his own profit. Russian propaganda has repeatedly manipulated the issue of receiving humanitarian aid: it portrayed Zelenskyi as a beggar who only needs to whine about weapons and other resources. Propagandists also wrote how Ukrainians allegedly cheat or commit outright crimes - shelling civilians - all in order to take possession of what they want.

These attempts indicate the demonization of Ukraine and the creation of an erroneous impression about it among partner countries. For example, similar rhetoric is used in anonymous telegram channels in response to the arrival of foreign politicians in Ukraine. Propaganda systematically promoted the thesis that the worries in Ukraine were not real, but only attempts to intimidate foreigners and get as many weapons as possible.

This thesis was widespread in propaganda media. Reports stated that on the night of September 13, 2023, a series of explosions were heard in temporarily occupied Sevastopol. Three fire epicenters were recorded. Subsequently, it turned out that soldiers of the Special Operations Forces of the Ukrainian Armed Forces carried out an attack on the city and, as a result, destroyed a Russian landing ship, as well as a submarine. Ukrainian intelligence reported that the vessels most likely will not be able to be restored. Pro-Kremlin telegram channels called such an attack “terrorist” on the part of Ukraine. They say that the attack was allegedly directed at civilians, and the Ukrainian army is only hiding behind the destruction of ships.

Analysts of the StopFake project analyzed this propaganda thesis and explained that Ukraine does not violate any norms of international law because it attacks military targets, with the help of which Russia commits war crimes against Ukrainians. Actually, terrorism is deliberate and targeted attacks by Russia on peaceful Ukrainian cities. The fact-checkers explained that by carrying out attacks on territories temporarily occupied by Russia, Ukraine is only defending itself. Such acts comply with the norms of international law.

The same ships were used by the occupiers to kill Ukrainians and destroy Ukrainian civilian infrastructure. According to Article 51 of the UN Charter on the right to self-defense, Ukraine legally attacks Russian military targets in occupied Crimea. That is, Ukraine is defending itself from a terrorist country, and this is not about a terrorist act.