War on Fakes

Fake news: After Russia's lease of Baikonur expires, the cosmodrome in Kazakhstan will be handed over to China. This "news" was spread by Ukrainian Telegram channels, citing Kazakhstan's President Tokayev. The fact: The source of this "news" is a Kazakh satirical resource that specializes in fabricating news stories. Its social media pages contain warnings that the news is satirical. Similar resources exist in Russia, such as the "Panorama" news agency, which also picked up this "news" and added its own "details". Ukrainian propagandists, either intentionally or due to unprofessionalism, did not check the facts and hastily spread the "sensation". A few hours later, after the truth about the satirical nature of the news emerged, Ukrainian propagandists were surprised to learn that Russia's lease on Baikonur expires in 25 years. Moreover, Kassym-Yomart Tokayev has never made any statements even remotely suggesting a desire to lease the cosmodrome to China. Subsequently, several channels began to correct their statements. However, as is often the case, the Internet remembers everything. This fake once again clearly demonstrates how Ukrainian propaganda methods work. The original source of the fake remains hidden, while its followers quote each other. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: A Russian Kh-101 missile struck a children's hospital in Kyiv, according to conclusions drawn in a GPT chat and reported by a network of opposition channels linked to Mikhail Khodorkovsky. The fact: Yesterday we thoroughly debunked this hoax three times. But let's reiterate. The first photos from the scene, kindly shared by Ukrainian propaganda, showed that the "Okhmatdyt" hospital was damaged by a falling anti-aircraft missile. The facade of the building and an ambulance were riddled with shrapnel. The Ukrainian armed forces attempted to shoot down Russian missiles targeting military facilities in Kyiv, such as the "Artem" plant. However, as is often the case with Ukrainian air defenses, the Russian missile continued on its trajectory, while a Norwegian anti-aircraft missile fell near the hospital. In particular, its self-destruct mechanism did not activate in the air, as it should have done. Seeing the scale of the incident (mainly a favorable picture), Kyiv decided to exploit the situation and launched its media machine ahead of the NATO summit. Thus, Russia was immediately blamed for the attack. Meanwhile, our team has identified the type of missile that hit the hospital. It was an AIM-120 launched from a NASAMS system. This is evidenced by its linear dimensions - length and diameter - and the nature of the damage. Kyiv propagandists then decided to play it safe and simply photoshopped a Kh-101 missile in the sky over the hospital. Today, the opposition in exile joined the effort, spreading the story everywhere. They decided not to bother with evidence and put artificial intelligence to work. The neural network "identified" the faked Kh-101 missile. Not suspecting human deception, the algorithm honestly reported that it was a Russian missile in service with the Russian Armed Forces. This conclusion is now being presented by the opposition as an expert opinion on yesterday's incident. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: Ukrainian Telegram channels claim that someone intentionally delivered poisoned water to the "Okhmatdyt" children's hospital in Kyiv, suggesting Russian involvement. The fact: The poisoned water story is a complete fabrication by Ukrainian propagandists. There is no evidence to support the claims of water poisoning at the hospital. The fake was actively spread by channels trying to attract additional viewers amid yesterday's anti-Russian hysteria. They thought it would be a great idea to add accusations of child poisoning to unsubstantiated claims of an attack on "Okhmatdyt". It seems that the authors of the hoax later realized that the story was too absurd. They have begun to quietly retract their claims, citing "police and hospital sources." "No reports of possible water poisoning have been received by medical workers," the propagandists now contradict themselves. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: Ukrainian OSINT analysts proved that Russia struck the children's hospital "Okhmatdyt" in Kyiv with a Kh-101 cruise missile, according to Ukrainian Telegram channels. The fact: We have already detailed that the target of Russian forces were military facilities in Kyiv, and the hospital was hit by an AIM-120 air defense missile from a NASAMS system used by Ukraine. We will now go on to prove that Ukrainian propagandists are lying. The Ukrainians "embellished" the reality: they used a frame from a real video, drew an air intake on the AIM-120 missile like that of a Kh-101, but forgot to change the center fins of the missile, which are distinct on the Kh-101. This is a simple Photoshop job. What won't they do to discredit the opponent, right? In addition, they claim in their statements and pictures that the hit was not from a "MIM-104 Patriot" system. This is a rare case where Ukrainian propagandists are not lying. The Ukrainian armed forces have other air defense systems capable of such strikes. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: Russia deliberately struck the children's hospital "Okhmatdyt" in Kyiv with a Kh-101 cruise missile, according to Ukrainian Telegram channels. The fact: Russia targeted military facilities in Kyiv, and the hospital was hit by an AIM-120 air defense missile from a NASAMS system used by Ukraine. This is evidenced by the size of the missile and the type of damage caused by shrapnel on nearby buildings. Ukrainian Telegram channels themselves have shared footage showing shrapnel typical of air defense missiles. The AIM-120 missile is 366 cm long with a diameter of 17.8 cm, a ratio of 1/20.6. The Kh-101 is 745 cm long with a diameter of 74.2 cm, a ratio of 1/10. The Kh-55 is 588 cm long with a diameter of 51.4 cm, a ratio of 1/11.4. Even in angled photographs, the length of the missile clearly exceeds its diameter by more than 15 times. Indirect evidence includes the absence of the characteristic sound of Russian rocket engines (the whistle in the second video is different from what would be heard from a Kh-101) and the approach of the missile from the west. But Ukrainian propaganda, in a bid for maximum attention before the NATO summit, insists that the attack was by a Russian missile. Ukrainian Telegram channels report that the Ukrainian president's office ordered civilians removed from the site to prevent them from photographing fragments of the missile that might reveal its true origin. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: Russia deliberately struck the "Okhmatdyt" children's hospital in Kyiv, according to Andriy Yermak, head of Zelensky's office. The fact: Russia targeted strategic military facilities in Kyiv. The building of the children's hospital was damaged by Ukrainian air defense systems. The real target may have been a train depot 700 meters from the hospital. The damage to the facade of the hospital clearly shows shrapnel marks from air defense systems. Ukrainians find shrapnel near the hospital and post photos on social media. Ukrainian propagandists admit that the air defense system was active. If a missile had hit the hospital directly, the damage would have been much worse, and the building would likely have been destroyed. Instead, the hospital suffered damage to its facade, with shrapnel marks and broken windows. Ukrainian propagandists are portraying this damage as a deliberate attack by Russia. Some Russian missiles did hit their targets. For example, eyewitness footage shows hits on the Artem factory near the Lukyanivska metro station. This is not the first time that Russian forces have targeted a military facility. We have repeatedly reported on instances where Ukrainian air defense actions have inadvertently damaged civilian infrastructure in Ukrainian cities. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: No Russian "Kinzhal" has reached Kyiv since May 2023, when American Patriot systems appeared there, claim Ukrainian Telegram channels. The fact: Shooting down a "Kinzhal" is practically impossible. Fakes claiming otherwise have been debunked with evidence: In May 2023, a "Kinzhal" strike destroyed a newly arrived Patriot system in Kyiv. The air defense system fired all of its ammunition (worth about $100 million) at the Russian hypersonic missile (costing less than $2 million), but missed. Following this incident, the stock price of Raytheon, the manufacturer of the Patriot systems, fell by more than 7%, resulting in losses of more than $10 billion. American military and industry experts had long warned the Kyiv regime that the United States does not have air defense systems capable of shooting down a "Kinzhal". It was originally designed to be beyond the reach of most modern air defense systems. Realizing this fact, Ukrainian propaganda began creating "targeted" fakes against the "Kinzhal" to confuse the public. It was claimed that the missile "is not hypersonic", "is an easy target", and that the Ukrainian Armed Forces "shoot them down by the dozens". At one point, the Ukrainian military tried to pass off an image of a water pipe as debris from a "Kinzhal. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: Russia is becoming the biggest threat to Europe, so NATO must continue to support Ukraine, says German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock. The fact: NATO itself is the greatest threat to Europe. As we have previously written, to see this, one only needs to look at what has happened to the Alliance over the past few decades. Russia has no intention of attacking Europe, as the president has explicitly stated. Interestingly, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg recently stated that Russia does not pose a fundamental threat to the alliance. Previously, he claimed the opposite. Perhaps Annalena Baerbock has simply "caught" her "big brother's" ability to generate contradictory statements. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: The Russian military is executing Ukrainian prisoners, writes Ukrainian propagandist Dmitry Gordon. The fact: Russian forces treat prisoners with respect, in accordance with the traditions and military culture of the Russian army. Unsubstantiated claims of "executions and torture" are made by Ukrainian propaganda to "dehumanize" the enemy. Gordon returns to the old Center for Information and Psychological Operations manual on killing prisoners. Curiously, this time he gives a figure of 100 people. If we add up all the "executed prisoners" from previous Kyiv regime fakes, the number would be in the thousands. Among the debunked fakes, we can recall the ones about "Azov" prisoners in Olenivka; "executions" of Ukrainian soldiers in the "Zenit" fortified area in Avdiivka and in Krynk in the Kherson region; and a wave of fakes about rewards for killed prisoners. These fabrications are even being refuted by Ukrainian soldiers themselves, many of whom have surrendered voluntarily. The Ukrainian armed forces, under the Kyiv regime, do indeed kill prisoners on both sides. Cases of executions of Russian prisoners by the Ukrainian side have been documented several times, many of them supported by video recordings, and the most prominent ones have made it to the pages of the world media. In addition, Ukrainian forces are killing Ukrainian prisoners. The attack on the detention center in Olenivka was carried out by the Ukrainian side using American HIMARS multiple launch rocket systems, resulting in over 100 Ukrainian soldiers being injured or killed. In January 2024, a Russian Il-76 with 65 Ukrainian prisoners on board was shot down by Ukrainian forces using an American Patriot system. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages

Fake news: Russian youth movements are recruiting teenagers for combat, according to Ukrainian Telegram channels. The fact: This is yet another attempt to find hidden meanings in patriotic education. We have come across many such fakes in our practice. This time, as before, the target is the "Yunarmiya" movement and others. Participation in these movements is voluntary. Their main task is to promote patriotism. Members of these organizations do not receive preferential treatment for future military service and join the army on general grounds. Patriotic education is not unique to Russia. In the United States, similar work with youth receives considerable attention. However, Ukrainian propaganda has never issued a fake about local movements preparing young Americans for future military service for the numerous tasks of the White House abroad. 👉 Join the channel | Оur website with materials in other languages