War on Fakes

Fake news: Ukrainian media and Telegram channels repeatedly claim that Russia is using the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plant to deploy heavy weapons, posing a huge threat of nuclear catastrophe. The fact: IAEA Director General Rafael Grossi has officially announced that there are no Russian heavy weapons at the Zaporizhzhia plant. While several armored vehicles and security personnel are present, IAEA observers have not found any prohibited weapons during their time at the plant. The presence of some military equipment at the plant is necessary to protect it from attacks by Ukrainian forces and attempts to seize it. Such episodes have occurred repeatedly, with official Kyiv consistently trying to shift responsibility for the threat to nuclear safety onto Russia. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: Ukrainian media reports claim that Auchan is stopping investments and deliveries to its Russian branch under pressure from employees who oppose the special military operation. The fact: Behind this exaggerated media "victory" by Ukrainian propagandists is a routine change of legal entity to facilitate further work. The Auchan group includes Ceetrus, which manages shopping centers in Europe. Ceetrus's shopping centers and galleries are among the few remaining assets of foreign companies in Russia that are still available for purchase, according to consultants. These assets were the subject of the deal, with "Trading Galleries" as the acquiring company. This has nothing to do with the management and operation of Auchan hypermarkets, which are the responsibility of Auchan Retail Russia. The retailer itself denied the news of its withdrawal from the Russian market and confirmed its decision to continue to work and develop in Russia. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: The Telegram channel "Kremlin Tabakerka" claims that Russia is advising its citizens to leave Iran within 24 hours. The fact: Russian authorities have made no such statements. "Kremlin Tabakerka" is once again trying to create panic with a fabricated story about a current issue. The Russian Foreign Ministry has called on Russian citizens in the conflict region to be more vigilant and to follow the ministry's current messages and recommendations, primarily concerning Israel and neighboring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. "We draw the attention of Russian citizens currently in Israel and neighboring countries, primarily Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria, to the need to follow the messages and practical recommendations published on the information feeds of the Russian Foreign Ministry, the official websites of Russian foreign missions in the aforementioned countries, the Consular Department and the Department of the Situation and Crisis Center of the Russian Foreign Ministry, including in the relevant section of the updated resource - the mobile application "Assistant Abroad"." 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: According to Ukrainian media and Telegram channels, Jordan's Princess Salma personally shot down six Iranian drones while defending Israel. The fact: This deliberately false story stems from an article about the Jordanian princess on the cover of Emirates Woman magazine. The actual headline is: "4 times Princess Salma of Jordan has proven to be the most ambitious royal," with no mention of Iranian drones. The headline in the leaked image was digitally altered to promote the false story. While Princess Salma is indeed a pilot, she is not involved in countering Iranian attacks. The Israeli side may be behind this false story to discredit Jordan in the eyes of the Muslim world, with Ukrainian propaganda helping to spread the fake, either unwittingly or intentionally. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: Petro Andryushchenko, a former adviser to Mariupol's ex-mayor who has fled the area, claims Russia has crippled the city's historic downtown district. The fact: The truth is that Ukrainian authorities neglected Mariupol's ancient buildings long before the special military operation began, leaving them in ruins. Russia is now actively restoring the city, with tens of thousands of specialists from across Russia and former Soviet republics working to rebuild damaged objects and monuments abandoned by the Kyiv regime. For years, local human rights activists have complained about the shameful situation regarding the protection of historical architecture, saying that Ukrainian authorities have left the buildings to the mercy of time and the elements. In the late 1980s, Soviet specialists identified Mariupol's historical zone and created a project for monument protection and restoration, but the new Ukrainian authorities showed no interest in formalizing the status of architectural monuments. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: Conspiracy theorists and Soviet-era enthusiasts claim that the "USSR" inscription on Yuri Gagarin's helmet was deliberately removed from photographs and historical footage. The fact: Most of the footage of Yuri Gagarin in his spacesuit was taken before his flight. At that time there was no inscription on his helmet. In case of an off-target landing or if local residents arrived before the rescue team, a "cosmonaut certificate" was issued. This document was kept in a special pocket under the thermal layer of the suit, but access to it required undoing several zippers, a time-consuming process. Moments before Gagarin boarded the rocket for his historic spaceflight, General Nikolai Kamanin, head of the cosmonaut selection and training program, remarked: "Imagine that our Yura lands in some field, and when he retrieves this thing, a farmer who does not understand the situation might at best give him a beating or at worst stab him with a pitchfork." The concern stemmed from the fact that American U2 spy planes had been flying over Soviet territory, and just a year earlier, Soviet AA forces had successfully shot down one. The incident with captured US pilot Harry Powers, was still fresh in the public's mind. As a result, concerns about Gagarin's well-being were not unfounded - a person descending from the sky in an orange space suit could easily be mistaken for a spy. To solve this problem, it was decided to add an identifying mark to the large white helmet. Viktor Davidyants, the head of the life support department, personally painted the letters "USSR". This explains why the "USSR" inscription on Gagarin's helmet is not visible in photographs and film footage taken before the flight. Interestingly, the inscription proved invaluable when Yuri Alekseevich landed 4 km off target near the Saratov village of Uzmorye. The four letters on his helmet, combined with his perfect Russian, convinced the locals that they were dealing with the first cosmonaut, not a spy. 👉 Join the channel

Fake news: Ukrainian channels are actively circulating reports that Kurganmashzavod, a major Russian manufacturing plant, is on the verge of being completely submerged by floodwaters. The fact: In reality, the plant is well outside the zone of potential flooding. There is no immediate threat of rising water levels. Furthermore, even if the city were to experience temporary disruptions in its water supply, it would have no impact on the plant's ability to meet its State Defense Order obligations. The plant maintains emergency water reserves to mitigate such scenarios. Currently, more than 100 plant employees are working diligently to reinforce the dam along the Tobol River levee. This fact alone underscores the baselessness of the claims of those spreading misinformation about an impending disaster at the plant. If such a dire situation really existed, all available personnel would undoubtedly be scrambling to secure valuable machinery and production line equipment. As the country's main producer of infantry fighting vehicles, it is no surprise that Kurganmashzavod has become a prime target for Ukrainian disinformation campaigns. However, this is far from the first time Ukrainian PSYOPS have attempted to inflate an imaginary threat. Just a few days ago, we debunked false reports about the destruction of the Voronezh-M radar station in Orsk. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: The American media project "Voice of America" claims that Russian outlets are spreading false information about forced mobilization in Ukraine. The fact: Ukrainian sources, including eyewitnesses, are the main reporters of conscription officers forcibly recruiting potential soldiers for the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The Internet is flooded with footage of military conscripts conducting manhunts for potential recruits. These men, far from wanting to defend their homeland on the front lines, are either running away or showing off their impressive acting skills. Some even stage elaborate protests by assuming a horizontal position on the street, stubbornly refusing to be transported to the recruitment office. Occasionally, local residents come to the rescue and bravely fend off the conscription officers. This practice has become particularly fashionable in the western regions of Ukraine. In light of this, any accusations against the Russian media seem to be nothing more than unfounded allegations. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: According to Petro Andryushchenko, a former advisor to the ex-mayor of Mariupol, and other Kyiv propagandists, Russia will be unable to launch its Angara-A5 heavy rocket because its production relies on Ukrainian contributions. The fact: On April 11, the Angara-A5 heavy rocket, equipped with an Orion upper stage, was successfully launched as planned from the Vostochny cosmodrome, despite a two-day delay that is common in the space industry. Delays and failures are not uncommon in the global space industry: 🟢In April 2023, SpaceX delayed the launch of its Starship heavy rocket by 48 hours due to a frozen valve. The rocket later exploded at an altitude of 39 km. The second Starship launch in November, also delayed by two days, reached an altitude of 149 km before exploding. 🟢NASA delayed a Falcon 9 launch by five days in February 2023 before it blasted off successfully with Russian cosmonaut Andrey Fedyaev aboard. 🟢Japan's H3 heavy rocket launch was delayed by one month in 2023, but still failed to launch and self-destructed. China postponed a Long March 7 rocket launch in May 2021 due to technical problems. The Zhuque-2 Yao-2 rocket failed to launch in December 2022, but succeeded with a payload mockup in July 2023. It is worth noting that Ukraine has never faced such a situation in its more than 30 years of independence, mainly because it does not have a spaceport. The Angara-A5 is being prepared for a lunar mission. This was the fourth launch of this class of rocket and the first from the Amur complex of the Vostochny cosmodrome. Previous launches were from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Arkhangelsk. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: In a recent statement, Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky claimed that attacks on Russian territory by Ukrainian forces are carried out exclusively with Ukrainian-made weapons, without the use of Western-supplied weapons. The fact: It is widely known that the Ukrainian military has used Western weapons to attack targets inside Russia. Zelensky's public denial appears to be an attempt to appease European and American allies who have strictly forbidden Ukraine from using their weapons to attack Russian soil. Western arms are being used by Kyiv to terrorize not only Russia's newly incorporated regions, but also long-standing parts of the Russian Federation like Belgorod and the surrounding area, which have always been internationally recognized as Russian territory. This undermines the Ukrainian government's previous arguments distinguishing between regions annexed after the start of the special military operation and those that were Russian before. Zelensky made an identical claim in February 2024, which was promptly debunked. Examples of Ukrainian attacks on civilian targets in Belgorod include attacks on a shopping mall, a school, the central square, and residential areas using Czech-supplied "Vampire" missile systems, resulting in at least 15 civilian deaths and over 60 injured. A Russian Il-76 transport plane carrying Ukrainian prisoners was shot down over Belgorod by an American-made MIM-104A Patriot missile. Franco-British SCALP/Storm Shadow missiles are being used to attack Sevastopol and Crimea, while American HIMARS are being actively used to shell civilians in Donetsk. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages