Fact checks

Propagandists fabricated photos from OLX marketplace Russian propaganda has falsely claimed that a mobilized Ukrainian service member was allegedly given the uniform of a deceased Czech "mercenary." Russian Telegram channels shared the story alongside photos highlighting a chevron with the Czech flag and two purported bullet holes on a jacket. The propagandists alleged that the "Czech soldier" had been killed by Ukrainians he was serving with. This claim is entirely false. The uniform shown in the photos does not match the standard used by the Ukrainian Armed Forces. Ukraine's military personnel wear a five-color digital camouflage known as "pixel." In…

Russian propagandists created a news story from an unknown "Ukrainian newspaper" and then accused it of altering the photo of a Ukrainian soldier Russian media outlets, z-Telegram channels, bots on social network X and Reddit are spreading an alleged screenshot of a news story by an unnamed Ukrainian newspaper about a rehabilitation center for soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, illustrated with the photo of a wounded soldier. The Russian propagandists claim that the "newspaper" edited the photo with Photoshop adding the lower limb of a soldier who lost it in the war. They also claim that Ukrainian media outlets…

To amplify their disinformation, propagandists employed a 'pocket' foreign pseudo-journalist and fabricated a video purportedly linked to the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) Russian media outlets and Telegram channels falsely claimed that after Republican Donald Trump's victory in the U.S. presidential election, Ukrainian soldiers began surrendering eight times more frequently. The sources for this disinformation included a post on X (formerly Twitter) by Irish "journalist" Chay Bowes, a doctored video attributed to the U.S. think tank ISW, and alleged "data" from Euronews. This claim is entirely false. Chay Bowes, portrayed as a journalist from Ireland, is in fact…

Propagandists faked video with results of Eurostat 'survey' Russian Telegram channels and bots on social media platforms X and Facebook shared a video that was allegedly created by the EU's statistical office Eurostat. The clip presents the alleged results of a public opinion poll of Europeans regarding the unity of citizens in Russia and Ukraine. In particular, it is noted that 77% of respondents "believe" that Russians are united, whereas only 19% of surveyed citizens are confident in the unity of Ukrainians. According to the "survey" distributed by propagandists, only 38% of citizens of EU countries are in favor of…

After the victory of Republican candidate Donald Trump in the U.S. presidential election, Russian propaganda resorted to manipulations in the wake of this result. In particular, on the morning of November 7, a video emerged on Z-Telegram channels that had been allegedly published on the Instagram Stories of the American TV Channel CNN. The video, supposedly filmed in Times Square in New York City, features a billboard with the words “Congratulations to Donald Trump for winning the U.S. presidential election and congratulations to hundreds millions of American citizens on the fact that billions of their dollars will now not be…

The author of the fake video is a collaborator from Kharkiv who fled to Russia after the full-scale invasion Russian Telegram channels, as well as bots on TikTok and YouTube, are spreading a video featuring a woman who says that recently “a certain percentage of Ukrainian citizens” have allegedly bought real estate in Kharkiv and the Kharkiv region in order to "legally" end up in Russia in the coming years. This is a fake. The woman in the video is Maryna Onishchenko, a Ukrainian from Kharkiv who moved to the aggressor country after Russia’s full-scale invasion. She is a collaborator…

Russian propagandists falsified documents, manipulated and edited photos to 'confirm' Ukraine's meddling in Georgia elections Parliamentary elections were held in Georgia on October 26. According to the Georgian Central Election Commission, the pro-Russian ruling party "Georgian Dream" won the elections. However, the country's president Salome Zourabichvili and opposition political parties did not recognize these results and declared massive falsifications. Against this background, many Georgian citizens, who do not agree with these results, began to protest. Russian propaganda immediately "found" a "Ukrainian trace" in these protests to aggravate the situation. Russian propaganda media began to spread fake materials even before the…

Russian propagandists used holiday theme to mislead Western and Ukrainian audiences Pro-Kremlin Telegram channels began to share the allegedly new cover of the German political satire magazine "Titanic" for October, depicting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a caricature style. In the picture, he is holding a pumpkin basket of sweets, "stolen" from children celebrating Halloween. The picture is accompanied by the caption "Ukraine needs more." This cover is fake as it was not published on the official Titanic website. The real October issue of the magazine was published in late September and looked different. The cover of the November issue,…

Propagandists faked videos on behalf of the Institute for the Study of War (ISW) and Reporters Without Borders Recently, the Kremlin's propaganda machine has increasingly resorted to creating video fakes and attributing them to international organizations and independent think tanks. Primarily, this is done to mislead the audience and to make the fake itself appear more credible. For example, recently, pro-war Telegram channels and pro-Russian media outlets, including English-language ones, posted a video allegedly created by an American think tank, the Institute for the Study of War (ISW). The video states that, according to an ISW study, 70% of Ukrainian…

Propagandists created fake news story about bill in Verkhovna Rada, attributing it to Ukrainska Pravda Russian foreign-language media outlets have been spreading reports to foreign audiences that the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine is supposedly going to pass a bill that would provide a payment of 400,000 hryvnias to men between the ages of 19 and 21 who sign a contract with the Armed Forces. This would allegedly double the payment for signing a contract from 200,000 UAH. To support the narrative, pro-war Telegram channels began circulating a video with the logo of the Ukrayinska Pravda online publication about this "bill".…