❗️Information about the alleged “destroyed Ukrainian Armed Forces trucks with drones” is a fake.

The russian ministry of defense claimed that “Iskander-M” and “Geran-2” supposedly destroyed 20 trucks carrying Ukrainian strike UAVs and killed 60 Ukrainian soldiers.

As “evidence,” russia’s ministry of defense published a corresponding video.

✅ In reality, according to the Chernihiv Regional Prosecutor’s Office, the attack damaged and destroyed trucks transporting grain. A 47-year-old civilian truck driver was killed in the attack.

The fake about “trucks with UAVs” and “eliminated” Ukrainian soldiers is an attempt to justify yet another strike on civilian targets and to conceal the death of a civilian.

Moreover, even their so-called “evidence” actually confirms a war crime rather than excuses it, since the footage clearly shows civilian transport, with no “drone trucks” or soldiers.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

Cultural symbols of Ukrainian defenders.

🪽 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️russia continues to use “russian houses” to spread propaganda in Global South countries under the guise of “culture and sports.”

▫️Recently, in several countries, “russian houses” organized screenings—presented as documentaries—of a propaganda film claiming that “culture and sports are being revived” in russian-occupied Ukrainian territories. These screenings took place in Argentina, India, Egypt, Cambodia, Nicaragua, and other countries.

▫️Besides films, the russians actively organize photo exhibitions abroad depicting the alleged “revival of Mariupol” and showing children who died in Donbas as “victims of the Kyiv regime,” although in reality they perished due to the war started by russia.

‼️The true aim of these actions is to use manipulation and blatant lies to justify russia’s invasion of Ukraine and promote russian influence and the kremlin’s geopolitical interests in the Global South.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ russian propaganda is spreading yet another fake about the alleged use of chemical weapons by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

▫️ The so-called “military expert” andrey marochko claimed that Ukrainian troops supposedly used toxic substances against civilians in Pokrovsk. According to him, Ukrainian drones “sprayed a substance used to fight rodents,” allegedly causing civilian deaths.

✅ This is manipulation and lies aimed at discrediting Ukrainian forces in the eyes of residents of frontline areas and creating an atmosphere of fear. Ukraine is a signatory to the Chemical Weapons Convention and strictly adheres to its international obligations. The russian side has provided no evidence to support such claims.

‼️ In reality, it is the russian army that systematically violates international law by using prohibited chemical substances on the battlefield. These incidents have been repeatedly documented by Ukrainian units, and Kyiv regularly informs the international community about them.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

The russian foreign intelligence service (SVR) is once again spreading fake stories about an alleged “London provocation.”

russia’s SVR claimed that the United Kingdom is supposedly preparing a sabotage attack against Ukrainian or foreign vessels to blame moscow.

According to the SVR, “russian defectors” allegedly trained in the UK are to take part in the attack.

✅ Such statements are yet another example of kremlin propaganda that has nothing to do with reality. The SVR regularly spreads similar fakes to create an informational alibi in case of its own provocations or new terrorist acts.

The goal is to justify russia’s aggressive actions, discredit Ukraine’s allies, and shape the image of a “strong russia” supposedly fighting the entire West.

Meanwhile, it is russia that stands behind a series of sabotage operations in EU and NATO countries, particularly in the Baltic Sea.

Earlier, the Center had already reported on another SVR fake about the UK allegedly “preparing provocations against a russian tanker.” Like all other SVR “predictions,” this one also never came true.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️Key points from President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s press conference with Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof

▫️Today, russian forces attacked a maternity hospital in Sumy with drones. Fortunately, people were in shelters, and there were no casualties this time.

▫️Ukraine values every format of defense support from the Netherlands — including military aid packages with Patriot systems and F-16 fighter jets.

▫️The Netherlands, Germany, Canada, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway are the main contributors to the PURL program.

▫️Ukrainian-made weapons are among the most effective in Europe — and Ukraine is ready to expand production significantly.

▫️russia will do everything to prevent Ukraine from developing its gas fields. The government is working to ensure funding for gas imports so that citizens have stable supplies.

▫️Amid intensified russian attacks, Ukraine will be prepared for all energy-related challenges.

▫️Stricter measures are needed regarding russia’s use of the Baltic Sea for tanker passage and other operations.

▫️Ukraine will become a member of the European Union — this is the choice of the Ukrainian people. The country is meeting all requirements for EU accession.

▫️The U.S. government shutdown has not halted weapons supplies to Ukraine.

▫️Ukraine expects the adoption of the 19th EU sanctions package and continued joint pressure on russia’s war machine.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

❗️Claims about the alleged “use of banned phosphorus munitions by the Armed Forces of Ukraine” are fake.

Pro-russian sources are spreading a video featuring a russian soldier who, without any evidence, claims that Ukrainian troops allegedly “use phosphorus shells.”

✅ This fake aims to discredit the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Such videos are part of russian information and psychological operations — they lack any proof, relying solely on emotional storytelling.

Ukraine strictly adheres to international humanitarian law and does not use prohibited weapons. In contrast, russia has repeatedly used phosphorus munitions against civilians, particularly in the Donetsk and Kharkiv regions.

Earlier, the Center had already debunked a fake about the alleged “use of chemical weapons by the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

The kremlin is spinning the nuclear drum, putting the whole world at risk.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ Intelligence agencies of Estonia and Denmark warn that russia’s activity in the Baltic Sea is becoming increasingly dangerous and poses a direct threat to Europe.

▫️ The Estonian Defence Forces Intelligence Centre released a report highlighting the growing threat from russia’s “shadow fleet” in the Baltic Sea, including unregistered oil tankers and military vessels conducting provocations near NATO countries’ territories.

▫️ Denmark’s Defence Intelligence Director Thomas Arnkiel reported that russian warships deliberately approached Danish vessels, targeted helicopters with weapons, and jammed GPS signals, creating collision risks in strategically important straits between the Baltic and North Seas.

✅ Since the start of the full-scale war against Ukraine, the Baltic Sea has become a key route for russian oil exports — accounting for over 60% of maritime deliveries. Monitoring the “shadow fleet” vessels is therefore not only a security issue but also an economic one, as restricting them would reduce kremlin profits and limit funding for the war.

‼️ The Baltic Sea is becoming a front line in deterring russia’s hybrid aggression. This requires decisive and coordinated action by European states, as it concerns the security of the entire region.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ Activists of Ukrainian movements in the temporarily occupied territories report that in schools across Crimea, representatives of the occupation administration, together with russian military personnel, are inspecting children’s mobile phones — looking for banned apps, VPN services, and even the Ukrainian language in phone settings. If a phone is found to have a Ukrainian keyboard, the child and their parents may be summoned “for questioning” or subjected to additional checks.

▫️ Such “raids” are another tool of total control and ideological pressure. The occupiers aim to eradicate any signs of Ukrainian identity. Checking students’ phones is not a “safety measure” but a systematic attempt to intimidate children and impose loyalty to the russian regime.

‼️ These actions are part of a broader policy of russification and the destruction of Ukrainian culture in temporarily occupied territories. Previously, the Center reported that the occupation authorities persecute parents whose children continue to study in Ukrainian online schools, threatening fines and the loss of parental rights.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ In his show “vesti nedeli”, propagandist dmitry kiselyov dedicated another “historical monologue” to NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, attempting to discredit the politician through fabricated historical parallels.

▫️ kiselyov accused the NATO Secretary General of “russophobia,” seizing on one of his statements during a speech at the U.S. Military Academy. Rutte said, “We won the Second World War,” referring to the alliance of democratic countries. However, the propagandist chose to interpret this as a statement on behalf of the Netherlands. He also deliberately distorted historical facts: downplaying Dutch resistance during the occupation while emphasizing the actions of a small number of collaborators to portray the nation as “Hitler’s accomplices.”

▫️ russia systematically uses history as a weapon in its information warfare. By manipulating the past, the kremlin seeks to justify its current aggression and create an illusion of moral superiority over the West.

❗️ A specific focus of these information attacks is the discrediting of individual European leaders. russian media deliberately portray politicians who support Ukraine as “immoral” and “russophobic”, aiming to undermine trust in their decisions and frame solidarity with Ukraine as a form of personal hostility toward russia.

↩️ The Center monitors and analyzes how russian propaganda employs hate speech against Western states and their leaders as part of the Russian HateSpeech project.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ russian sanctioned tankers continue to operate freely in European waters, polluting the seas with oil.

▫️ According to a journalistic investigation, at least five tankers from russia’s “shadow fleet” have left oil slicks near European coasts, despite some of them already being under UK sanctions. This highlights that the threat posed by russia’s “shadow fleet” to Europe also has an environmental dimension.

▫️ russian companies find ways to bypass restrictions by changing flags, owners, and routes. Tankers often turn off their transponders and ignore environmental and navigation rules, creating risks of accidents and ecological disasters in the Baltic, North, and Mediterranean Seas.

‼️ The “shadow fleet” problem goes far beyond sanctions policy — it is a European security issue. When vessels linked to russia operate uncontrollably near NATO countries’ coasts, it is not only about evading sanctions but also about russia’s deliberate destabilization of the situation in European states.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ russian propaganda is once again attempting to justify terrorist attacks on Ukrainian cities by spreading false claims that Ukrainian Armed Forces are “hiding in residential buildings” in Kherson and Zaporizhzhia.

▫️ kremlin-controlled media claim that Ukrainian troops “use residential neighborhoods as cover” and that local residents supposedly “report” these locations to russian occupiers. In this way, the enemy tries to create the illusion that russian forces are not responsible for the destruction of the cities — portraying their attacks as mere “responses to local requests”.

❗️ In reality, such statements are another cynical attempt to excuse russia for its daily terrorist assaults on Ukrainian cities. Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, and other frontline regions are regularly targeted by airstrikes, missiles, and drones, resulting in civilian casualties and the destruction of critical infrastructure. The kremlin continues to distort reality to shift responsibility for its own war crimes onto Ukraine.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

russian activity in the Baltic Sea poses a direct threat to Europe.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ russian propaganda has launched another fake aimed at discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and foreigners fighting on Ukraine’s side.

▫️ Propaganda outlets spread a fabricated story about alleged “Polish mercenaries” who “use drugs that allow them to go without sleep or food for up to two weeks.” The only source of this information is the account of a man presented as a russian soldier. There is no other convincing evidence or confirmation of these claims.

‼️ Such claims are part of a systematic kremlin campaign to discredit Ukrainian soldiers and foreign volunteers who joined Ukraine’s defense. By spreading fakes about “foreign mercenaries,” russia seeks to promote the narrative of a “war against the entire West,” not just Ukraine. In this way, the kremlin tries to justify its own defeats on the front to the russian audience.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ russia has intensified its information attacks against the United States, using artificial intelligence and a large-scale disinformation ecosystem.

▫️ According to the U.S.- based company NewsGuard, which analyzes the reliability of information sources, it is the kremlin that stands behind most attempts to influence American society through disinformation, deepfakes, fake websites, and social media.

▫️ russia has built an entire network of disinformation platforms known as Pravda, which the Center has previously reported on. This network now includes over 150 websites in 49 countries, which have spread more than 3.6 million pieces of content with kremlin narratives in just one year. These outlets systematically attack U.S. media, labeling them as “fake” or “propagandistic.”

▫️ Such platforms deliberately “pollute” search engines and AI models with disinformation materials. As a result, AI algorithms begin to replicate kremlin messages, misleading users. The Center has already explained this strategy.

❗️ In this way, russia seeks to attack democratic societies from within, undermining citizens’ trust in their own governments. The kremlin is turning the digital space and AI technologies into a powerful tool of strategic influence, posing a threat to security and democratic processes.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ russian propaganda is actively spreading statements from putin’s “birthday” speech to the military, where the dictator once again repeated the same worn-out clichés about the so-called “special military operation goals” and “protection of russians.”

▫️ The dictator is again trying to justify the start of the full-scale aggression, claiming that “the decisions made in February 2022 were correct and timely,” and promising to “achieve all the goals of the operation.” Yet, even in the fourth year of the war, the kremlin still cannot clearly explain what those “goals” actually are.

▫️ putin is also trying to encourage russians to join the army by exaggerating russia’s alleged successes on the battlefield. But behind these words lie thousands of deaths — soldiers who die every day for the dictator’s imperial ambitions.

❗️ Notably, these statements directly contradict the kremlin’s messages about “being ready for peace.” In reality, they prove the opposite — moscow has no intention of stopping the war and is merely preparing its society for a prolonged conflict.

🇺🇦 Center for Countering Disinformation

⚡️ The President of the Central African Republic (CAR), Faustin-Archange Touadéra, awarded 18 russian “instructors,” thanking them for “peace and security” in the country. The ceremony was attended by russia’s ambassador to the CAR, aleksandr bikantov, and the head of the “russian house” in Bangui, dmitry sityi.

▫️ russia officially calls these individuals “military advisers” or “instructors,” but in reality, they are representatives of the wagner PMC or its successor structures.

▫️ Such events demonstrate that russia systematically uses African countries as a platform to expand its political and military influence under the guise of “friendship” and “cultural ties.” The kremlin promotes the narrative of a “grateful Africa,” trying to portray itself as a “protector,” while in fact exploiting the continent’s resources and spreading propaganda.

❗️ The presence of the head of the “russian house” alongside the military once again proves that these centers are part of russia’s information and military apparatus — not hubs of “cultural diplomacy,” as the kremlin tries to present them.

↪️ The Center also covered dmitry sityi’s activities in its analytical report “russian agents of influence in Africa”. He is one of the key figures behind russian information campaigns on the continent.

🪽 Center for Countering Disinformation