Disinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine#Allegations of NATO aggression

{{main|Russian information war against Ukraine}}

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| caption1 = Russian mural of a pro-war "Z" symbol and the slogan "truth is with us".

| image2 = Интервью Владимира Путина ВГТРК 02.jpeg

| caption2 = Russian presenter Vladimir Solovyov has broadcast disinformation and propaganda supporting the invasion of Ukraine.{{cite news |title=Ukraine War: Russia Is Running an Orwellian Propaganda Campaign |url=https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-putin-s-propaganda-channeling-the-rabid-protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-1.10638976 |work=Haaretz |date=27 February 2022 |access-date=13 March 2022 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313204118/https://www.haaretz.com/world-news/europe/.premium.HIGHLIGHT-putin-s-propaganda-channeling-the-rabid-protocols-of-the-elders-of-zion-1.10638976 |url-status=live }}

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Disinformation (a lie or exaggeration meant to sway opinion) has been spread by the Russian state, state-controlled media, propagandists, and Russian web brigades as part of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Its purpose is to build support for Russia's invasion, and to weaken opposition to the war.{{Cite news |last=agencies |first=Staff and |date=1 May 2022 |title='Troll factory' spreading Russian pro-war lies online, says UK |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/01/troll-factory-spreading-russian-pro-war-lies-online-says-uk |access-date=29 August 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en |archive-date=3 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220803194140/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/01/troll-factory-spreading-russian-pro-war-lies-online-says-uk |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last1=Mozur |first1=Paul |last2=Satariano |first2=Adam |last3=Krolik |first3=Aaron |date=15 December 2022 |title=An Alternate Reality: How Russia's State TV Spins the Ukraine War |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/technology/russia-state-tv-ukraine-war.html |access-date=19 June 2023 |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=18 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221218175158/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/15/technology/russia-state-tv-ukraine-war.html |url-status=live }} It also seeks to sow disunity among Western countries who support Ukraine; to counter NATO; and to cover up or create plausible deniability for Russian war crimes.

Russian documents were obtained and filed in court by the FBI, which outline a Russian operation to manipulate influential people in Europe and to target people on social media with posts, comments and fake news. The goal being to sow division, undermine support for Ukraine, and discredit Ukraine's allies using psychological warfare. The documents identified Germany as particularly vulnerable to Russian influence.{{cite web | last=Vela | first=Jakob Hanke | title=FBI dossier reveals Putin's secret psychological warfare in Europe | website=Politico | date=5 September 2024 | url=https://www.politico.eu/article/fbi-dossier-reveals-russian-psy-ops-disinformation-campaign-election-europe/ | access-date=26 November 2024}}

The following are common themes in Russian propaganda and disinformation, along with some of the common rebuttals.

File:New Russia on territory of Ukraine.PNG ideas such as Novorossiya (New Russia).{{cite book |last1=Kimmage |first1=Michael |title=Collisions: The Origins of the War in Ukraine and the New Global Instability |date=2024 |publisher=Oxford University Press |page=129}}]]

{{Further|Anti-Ukrainian sentiment|Russian irredentism|Russian nationalism|Russian world}}

Russian propaganda has attacked Ukrainian nationhood and national identity, portraying Ukrainians as "Little Russians" or "part of an all-Russian nation". This has been a theme in Russian imperialist and nationalist rhetoric since the seventeenth century. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long questioned the Ukrainian people's identity{{Cite news |date=29 August 2014 |title=Putin says Russians and Ukrainians 'practically one people' |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-putin-people-idUSKBN0GT14720140829 |access-date=4 November 2022 |archive-date=4 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104235724/https://www.reuters.com/article/us-ukraine-crisis-putin-people-idUSKBN0GT14720140829 |url-status=live }} and the country's legitimacy.{{Cite magazine |last=Marson |first=James |date=25 May 2009 |title=Putin to the West: Hands off Ukraine |language=en-US |magazine=Time |url=http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900838,00.html |access-date=4 November 2022 |issn=0040-781X |archive-date=12 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221112123014/https://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1900838,00.html |url-status=live }} In his 2021 essay "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians", Putin called Russians and Ukrainians "one people" and claimed there is "no historical basis" for the "idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians".Düben, B A. "[https://doi.org/10.31389/lseppr.86 Revising History and ‘Gathering the Russian Lands’: Vladimir Putin and Ukrainian Nationhood"]. LSE Public Policy Review, vol. 3, no. 1, 2023 Since then, Russia's official and media narrative is that Ukraine has always been Russian. In announcing the invasion, Putin repeatedly denied Ukraine's right to exist, claiming that it was created by the Russian Bolsheviks and that it never had "real statehood".{{cite web |last1=Durand |first1=Olivia |title=Putin's invasion of Ukraine attacks its distinct history and reveals his imperial instincts |url=https://theconversation.com/putins-invasion-of-ukraine-attacks-its-distinct-history-and-reveals-his-imperial-instincts-177669 |website=The Conversation |date=24 February 2022}} Björn Alexander Düben, professor of international affairs, writes that "Putin's historical claims do not hold up to serious academic scrutiny" and that he is "embracing a neo-imperialist account that exalts Russia's centuries-long repressive rule over Ukraine, while simultaneously presenting Russia as a victim of 'US imperialism'".

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former Russian president, has called Ukraine part of Russia.{{cite news |title=Putin ally says 'Ukraine is Russia' and historical territory needs to 'come home' |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/putin-ally-says-ukraine-is-definitely-russia-rules-out-talks-with-zelenskiy-2024-03-04/ |work=Reuters |date=4 March 2024}} He wrote that "Ukraine is NOT a country, but artificially collected territories" and that Ukrainian "is NOT a language" but a "mongrel dialect" of Russian.{{cite web |last1=Karatnycky |first1=Adrian |title=What a Russian Victory Would Mean for Ukraine |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/12/19/ukraine-russia-war-stalemate-victory-congress-military-aid/ |website=Foreign Policy |date=19 December 2023 |access-date=19 January 2024 |archive-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118225914/https://foreignpolicy.com/2023/12/19/ukraine-russia-war-stalemate-victory-congress-military-aid/ |url-status=live }} He has said that Ukraine should not exist in any form and that Russia will continue to wage war against any independent Ukrainian state.{{cite news |title=Putin Ally Says There's '100 Percent' Chance of Future Russia-Ukraine Wars |url=https://www.newsweek.com/putin-ally-says-theres-100-percent-chance-future-russia-ukraine-wars-1861639 |work=Newsweek |date=17 January 2024 |access-date=19 January 2024 |archive-date=19 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240119105406/https://www.newsweek.com/putin-ally-says-theres-100-percent-chance-future-russia-ukraine-wars-1861639 |url-status=live }}

Such denial of nationhood is said to be part of a campaign of incitement to genocide by Russian authorities.{{Cite news |last=Borger |first=Julian |date=27 May 2022 |title=Russia is guilty of inciting genocide in Ukraine, expert report concludes |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/27/russia-guilty-inciting-genocide-ukraine-expert-report |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en |archive-date=1 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220601005202/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/27/russia-guilty-inciting-genocide-ukraine-expert-report |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Baiou |first=Sabrine |date=27 May 2022 |title=An Independent Legal Analysis of the Russian Federation's Breaches of the Genocide Convention in Ukraine and the Duty to Prevent |url=https://newlinesinstitute.org/russia/an-independent-legal-analysis-of-the-russian-federations-breaches-of-the-genocide-convention-in-ukraine-and-the-duty-to-prevent/ |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=New Lines Institute |language=en |archive-date=16 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220616060728/https://newlinesinstitute.org/russia/an-independent-legal-analysis-of-the-russian-federations-breaches-of-the-genocide-convention-in-ukraine-and-the-duty-to-prevent/ |url-status=live }} United Nations special rapporteurs have condemned the Russian occupation authorities for attempting "to erase local [Ukrainian] culture, history, and language" and to forcibly replace them with Russian language and culture.{{cite web |title=Targeted destruction of Ukraine's culture must stop: UN experts |url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/02/targeted-destruction-ukraines-culture-must-stop-un-experts |publisher=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights |date=22 February 2023 |access-date=22 January 2024 |archive-date=18 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240118225914/https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/02/targeted-destruction-ukraines-culture-must-stop-un-experts |url-status=live }}

After the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, Russian rhetoric portrayed Ukrainian governments as illegitimate, calling them the "Kyiv regime" or "junta".{{Cite web |date=26 October 2021 |title=Disinfo: Ukraine is ruled by a Nazi junta |url=https://euvsdisinfo.eu/report/ukraine-is-ruled-by-a-nazi-junta |website=EU vs Disinfo |access-date=4 November 2022 |archive-date=4 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104235711/https://euvsdisinfo.eu/report/ukraine-is-ruled-by-a-nazi-junta |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=GERASYMCHUK |first1=SERGIY |date=7 May 2022 |title=Bulgaria: Hard Choice between Weapons for Ukraine and Unity of the Coalition |publisher=European Pravda |agency=European Union and the International Renaissance Foundation |url=https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/eng/articles/2022/05/7/7138984/ |access-date=27 February 2023 |archive-date=9 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509115900/https://www.eurointegration.com.ua/eng/articles/2022/05/7/7138984/ |url-status=live }} Putin said they were "led by a band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis",{{Cite news |date=25 February 2022 |title=Putin says Ukraine run by 'band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis'; urges Ukrainian army to stage coup |url=https://globalnews.ca/video/8646406/putin-says-ukraine-run-by-band-of-drug-addicts-and-neo-nazis-urges-ukrainian-army-to-stage-coup/ |access-date=4 November 2022 |website=Global News |language=en-US |archive-date=4 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104235709/https://globalnews.ca/video/8646406/putin-says-ukraine-run-by-band-of-drug-addicts-and-neo-nazis-urges-ukrainian-army-to-stage-coup/ |url-status=live }} and claimed Ukraine is "under external control" by the West or the United States.{{Cite web |date=7 December 2021 |title=Disinfo: Ukraine is militarized and under external control |url=https://euvsdisinfo.eu/report/ukraine-is-militarised-and-under-external-control |website=EU vs Disinfo |access-date=4 November 2022 |archive-date=4 November 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221104235724/https://euvsdisinfo.eu/report/ukraine-is-militarised-and-under-external-control |url-status=live }}

The official governmental website of Ukraine says that Ukrainians consider themselves an independent nation.{{cite web |last1=Lutska |first1=Veronika |title=Why should you not consider Ukrainians and Russians as 'one nation'? |url=https://war.ukraine.ua/articles/why-should-you-not-consider-ukrainians-and-russians-as-one-nation-here-are-six-points-from-a-historical-and-a-modern-perspective/ |website=War.Ukraine.ua |date=1 April 2022}} A poll conducted in April 2022 by "Rating" found that the vast majority (91%) of Ukrainians (excluding the Russian-occupied territories) do not support the thesis that "Russians and Ukrainians are one people".{{cite web | url=https://ratinggroup.ua/research/ukraine/vosmoy_obschenacionalnyy_opros_ukraina_v_usloviyah_voyny_6_aprelya_2022.html | title=Восьме загальнонаціональне опитування: Україна в умовах війни (6 квітня 2022) | website=Ratinggroup.ua | date=6 April 2022 | access-date=2 March 2024 | archive-date=16 April 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416030558/https://ratinggroup.ua/research/ukraine/vosmoy_obschenacionalnyy_opros_ukraina_v_usloviyah_voyny_6_aprelya_2022.html | url-status=live }}

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| caption1 = Pro-Russian activists with a sign likening the Ukrainian government to the Nazis, and waving a Victory Banner

| image2 = Ukraine solidarity protest Berlin Straße des 17 Juni 2022-02-27 114.jpg

| caption2 = A sign saying "Denazify Putin" at a Ukraine solidarity protest

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Putin falsely claimed that the Ukrainian government were neo-Nazis and announced that one of his goals was the "de-Nazification of Ukraine". Putin's claims were repeated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council; many diplomats walked out in protest.{{cite news |date=1 March 2022 |title=Watch: U.N. Envoys Stage Walkout As Russia's Lavrov Begins Address |publisher=NBC News |via=YouTube |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViaBYRnWHFM |access-date=27 February 2023 |archive-date=19 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519080751/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ViaBYRnWHFM |url-status=live }}{{cite web |date=2 March 2022 |title=Lavrov embodies Moscow's steely posture |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-sergey-lavrov-e5d83adaee90b6d66687a6bddcabc8e2 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307170150/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-sergey-lavrov-e5d83adaee90b6d66687a6bddcabc8e2 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |website=AP News|access-date=16 October 2023}}{{cite news |date=1 March 2022 |title=Russian actions aim to save people, demilitarize, denazify Ukraine – Lavrov |publisher=TASS |url=https://tass.com/politics/1414061 |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-date=19 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519083643/https://tass.com/politics/1414061 |url-status=live }} These claims were repeated in Russian media to justify the war.{{cite news| title=How the Russian Media Spread False Claims About Ukrainian Nazis| first=Charlie| last=Smart| work=The New York Times| date=2 July 2022| access-date=11 October 2022| url=https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/07/02/world/europe/ukraine-nazis-russia-media.html| archive-date=3 July 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703010648/https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2022/07/02/world/europe/ukraine-nazis-russia-media.html| url-status=live}} In April 2022, Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti published an article by Timofey Sergeytsev, "What Russia should do with Ukraine", where he argued that Ukraine and Ukrainian national identity must be wiped out, because he claimed most Ukrainians are at least "passive Nazis".{{cite web |last=Brown |first=Chris |date=5 April 2022 |title=A Kremlin paper justifies erasing the Ukrainian identity, as Russia is accused of war crimes |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kremlin-editorial-ukraine-identity-1.6407921 |access-date=5 April 2022 |publisher=Canadian Broadcasting Corporation |archive-date=7 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407203005/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/kremlin-editorial-ukraine-identity-1.6407921 |url-status=live }}{{cite web |date=5 April 2022 |title=Ukraine 'to be renamed' after war |url=https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/ukraine-to-be-renamed-after-war/news-story/53982bf183b7209a744b62ad0feb470e |access-date=5 April 2022 |website=The Australian |language=en |archive-date=5 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405161228/https://www.theaustralian.com.au/world/the-times/ukraine-to-be-renamed-after-war/news-story/53982bf183b7209a744b62ad0feb470e |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Ball |first=Tom |title=Russia's vision for renaming Ukraine includes executing rebels |language=en |newspaper=The Times |url=https://www.thetimes.com/article/russias-vision-for-renaming-ukraine-includes-executing-rebels-snl53h9fs |access-date=6 April 2022 |issn=0140-0460 |archive-date=5 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220405093857/https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/russias-vision-for-renaming-ukraine-includes-executing-rebels-snl53h9fs |url-status=live }} By May, references to de-Nazifying Ukraine in Russian media began to wane, reportedly because it had not gained traction with the Russian public.{{Cite magazine |last=Gessen |first=Masha |date=18 May 2022 |title=Inside Putin's Propaganda Machine |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/inside-putins-propaganda-machine |magazine=The New Yorker |language=en-US |access-date=24 May 2022 |archive-date=8 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608063714/https://www.newyorker.com/news/annals-of-communications/inside-putins-propaganda-machine |url-status=live }}

These allegations of Nazism are widely rejected as untrue and part of a Russian disinformation campaign to justify the invasion, with many pointing out that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish and had relatives who were victims of the Holocaust.{{cite journal| title=Putin's Abuse of History: Ukrainian 'Nazis', 'Genocide', and a Fake Threat Scenario |author=Grzegorz Rossoliński-Liebe, Bastiaan Willems |year=2022|doi=10.1080/13518046.2022.2058179|journal=The Journal of Slavic Military Studies|volume=35|issue=1|pages=1–10|s2cid=250340541 |doi-access=free}} Some of the world's leading historians of Nazism and the Holocaust put out a statement rejecting Putin's claims, which was signed by hundreds of other historians and scholars of the subject. It says:{{blockquote|"We strongly reject the Russian government's ... equation of the Ukrainian state with the Nazi regime to justify its unprovoked aggression. This rhetoric is factually wrong, morally repugnant and deeply offensive to the memory of millions of victims of Nazism and those who courageously fought against it."}}

The authors say that Ukraine "has right-wing extremists and violent xenophobic groups" like any country, but "none of this justifies the Russian aggression and the gross mischaracterization of Ukraine".{{Cite news |last1=Tabarovsky |first1=Izabella |last2=Finkel |first2=Eugene |date=27 February 2022 |title=Statement on the War in Ukraine by Scholars of Genocide, Nazism and World War II |language=en |work=The Jewish Journal of Greater Los Angeles |url=https://jewishjournal.com/news/worldwide/345515/statement-on-the-war-in-ukraine-by-scholars-of-genocide-nazism-and-world-war-ii/ |url-status=live |access-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220304065227/https://jewishjournal.com/news/worldwide/345515/statement-on-the-war-in-ukraine-by-scholars-of-genocide-nazism-and-world-war-ii/ |archive-date=4 March 2022}} The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum denounced Putin's claims, saying "once again, innocent people are being killed purely because of insane pseudo-imperial megalomania".{{cite news| title=Auschwitz museum says Russia's war in Ukraine is an 'act of barbarity that will be judged by history'| first=John| last=Haltiwanger| date=24 February 2022| work=Business Insider| url=https://www.businessinsider.com/auschwitz-museum-says-russias-war-in-ukraine-is-an-act-of-barbarity-2022-2| access-date=11 October 2022| archive-date=24 February 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224163759/https://www.businessinsider.com/auschwitz-museum-says-russias-war-in-ukraine-is-an-act-of-barbarity-2022-2| url-status=live}} The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem condemned Putin's abuse of Holocaust history.{{cite web |date=24 February 2022 |editor-last=Hollinger |editor-first=Andrew |title=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum condemns Russia's invasion Of Ukraine and Vladimir Putin's exploitation of Holocaust history as a pretext for war |url=https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/museum-condemns-russias-invasion-of-ukraine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220225015426/https://www.ushmm.org/information/press/press-releases/museum-condemns-russias-invasion-of-ukraine |archive-date=25 February 2022 |access-date=25 February 2022 |publisher=United States Holocaust Memorial Museum |publication-place=Washington, DC |quote=In justifying this attack, Vladimir Putin has misrepresented and misappropriated Holocaust history by claiming falsely that democratic Ukraine needs to be 'denazified.' Equally groundless and egregious are his claims that Ukrainian authorities are committing 'genocide' as a justification for the invasion of Ukraine.}}{{cite news |date=27 February 2022 |title=Yad Vashem Statement Regarding the Russian Invasion of Ukraine |publisher=Yad Vashem |publication-place=Jerusalem, Israel |format=Press Release |url=https://www.yadvashem.org/press-release/27-february-2022-14-25.html |url-status=live |access-date=4 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309221034/https://www.bostonglobe.com/2022/02/24/opinion/putins-hitler-like-tricks-tactics-ukraine/ |archive-date=9 March 2022 |quote=... the propagandist discourse accompanying the current hostilities is saturated with irresponsible statements and completely inaccurate comparisons with Nazi ideology and actions before and during the Holocaust. Yad Vashem condemns this trivialization and distortion of the historical facts of the Holocaust.}} Ukrainian Jews likewise rejected claims of Ukraine being a neo-Nazi state.{{cite news| title=Putin wants to de-Nazify Ukraine — that's ludicrous, say the country's Jews| first=Zoya| last=Sheftalovich| date=25 April 2022| work=Politico| url=https://www.politico.eu/article/in-the-face-of-war-ukraine-jews-embrace-a-dual-identity/| access-date=11 October 2022| archive-date=11 October 2022| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221011090115/https://www.politico.eu/article/in-the-face-of-war-ukraine-jews-embrace-a-dual-identity/| url-status=live}}

Kremlin claims of Nazism against Ukraine are partly an attempt to drum-up support for the war among its citizens. Russian propaganda has framed it as a continuation of the Soviet Union's "Great Patriotic War" against Nazi Germany, even though Russia supports far-right groups across Europe.{{cite web |last1=Garner |first1=Ian |title=Russia and Ukraine Are Fighting for the Legacy of World War II |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/26/russia-ukraine-war-soviet-legacy/ |website=Foreign Policy |date=26 March 2022 |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-date=10 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230510152814/https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/26/russia-ukraine-war-soviet-legacy/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=The 'Death Cult' Keeping Russia in Ukraine |url=https://www.thebulwark.com/the-death-cult-keeping-russia-in-ukraine/ |work=The Bulwark |date=1 June 2022 |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-date=11 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611170355/https://www.thebulwark.com/the-death-cult-keeping-russia-in-ukraine/ |url-status=live }} In the words of Miriam Berger for The Washington Post, "the rhetoric of the 'fight against fascism' resonates deeply in Russia, which suffered huge losses in the fight against Nazi Germany".{{Cite news |last=Berger |first=Miriam |date=25 February 2022 |title=Putin says he will 'denazify' Ukraine. Here's the history behind that claim. |language=en |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/24/putin-denazify-ukraine/ |url-status=live |url-access=subscription |access-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303000147/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/24/putin-denazify-ukraine/ |archive-date=3 March 2022}} Some Soviet imagery was used as part of this propaganda drive, and Ukrainian flags were replaced with Victory Banners in some occupied towns.{{cite news |last1=Tharoor |first1=Ishaan |title=Soviet flags keep rising over Russian-occupied Ukraine |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/02/soviet-putin-russia-revenge-of-history/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=2 May 2022 |archive-date=4 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504233428/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/02/soviet-putin-russia-revenge-of-history/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title='It's a reference to the USSR — to its return' Why is the Kremlin incorporating Soviet symbols into its war propaganda? |url=https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/05/05/it-s-a-reference-to-the-ussr-to-its-return |work=Meduza |date=5 May 2022 |language=en |archive-date=5 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505190445/https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/05/05/it-s-a-reference-to-the-ussr-to-its-return |url-status=live }}

Experts on disinformation say that Russia's portrayal of Ukrainians as Nazis helps them justify Russian war crimes; Russia's UN representative justified the Hroza missile attack in this way.{{cite news |title=Russia claims 'neo-Nazis' were at wake for Ukrainian soldier in village café where missile killed 52 |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-bombed-village-nazis-un-7046e5a951ed4d66e02762fad26213ed |work=Associated Press |date=10 October 2023 |access-date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=10 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231010214249/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-bombed-village-nazis-un-7046e5a951ed4d66e02762fad26213ed |url-status=live }} Historian Timothy Snyder said the Russian regime calls Ukrainians "Nazis" to justify genocidal acts against them. He said pro-war Russians use "Nazi" to mean "a Ukrainian who refuses to be Russian".{{cite news |author-link=Timothy Snyder |date=8 April 2022 |title=Russia's genocide handbook – The evidence of atrocity and of intent mounts |work=Thinking about... – Opening the future by understanding the past |publisher=Substack |url=https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook |url-status=live |access-date=1 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220411190711/https://snyder.substack.com/p/russias-genocide-handbook?s=r |archive-date=11 April 2022 |author-last=Snyder |author-first=Timothy}} Russian neo-fascist Aleksandr Dugin proposed to simply "identify Ukrainian Nazism with Russophobia". Dugin argued that Russia should be the only country allowed to define Ukrainian Nazism and Russophobia, in the same way that Jews have what he calls a "monopoly" on the definition of antisemitism.{{Cite web |last=Dugin |first=Aleksandr |title=Denazification means complete eradication of Russophobia in Ukraine and elsewhere |url=https://www.geopolitika.ru/en/article/denazification-means-complete-eradication-russophobia-ukraine-and-elsewhere |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220822214216/https://www.geopolitika.ru/en/article/denazification-means-complete-eradication-russophobia-ukraine-and-elsewhere |archive-date=22 August 2022 |access-date=7 September 2022}}

File:Ukraine solidarity protest Berlin Unter den Linden 2022-02-27 108.jpg.]]

Ukrainian officials respond that Russia's own actions in Ukraine are like those of Nazi Germany,{{cite news |title=Ukraine's Zelensky says Russia acting like 'Nazi Germany' |url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/ukraines-zelensky-says-russia-acting-like-nazi-germany/ |work=The Times of Israel |agency=AFP |date=24 February 2022 |access-date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=16 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231016173637/https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/ukraines-zelensky-says-russia-acting-like-nazi-germany/ |url-status=live }} and some commentators, including Snyder, have likened Putin's Russia to a fascist state (see Ruscism).{{cite news |last1=Đokić |first1=Aleksandar |title=When Russia calls others 'Nazis', it should be taking a hard look at itself |url=https://www.euronews.com/2023/04/13/when-russia-calls-others-nazis-it-should-be-taking-a-hard-look-at-itself |work=Euronews |date=13 April 2023 |access-date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=21 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230821160904/https://www.euronews.com/2023/04/13/when-russia-calls-others-nazis-it-should-be-taking-a-hard-look-at-itself |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=Yes, Putin and Russia are fascist – a political scientist shows how they meet the textbook definition |url=https://theconversation.com/yes-putin-and-russia-are-fascist-a-political-scientist-shows-how-they-meet-the-textbook-definition-179063 |website=The Conversation |date=30 March 2022 |access-date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=30 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630131507/https://theconversation.com/yes-putin-and-russia-are-fascist-a-political-scientist-shows-how-they-meet-the-textbook-definition-179063 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Putin's attack on Ukraine echoes Hitler's takeover of Czechoslovakia |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/02/24/hitler-czechoslovakia-sudeten-putin-ukraine/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=24 February 2022 |access-date=10 October 2023 |archive-date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329193152/https://www.washingtonpost.com/history/2022/02/24/hitler-czechoslovakia-sudeten-putin-ukraine/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |title=How Putin's Russia embraced fascism while preaching anti-fascism |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/how-putins-russia-embraced-fascism-while-preaching-anti-fascism/ |publisher=Atlantic Council |date=17 April 2022 |access-date=16 October 2023 |archive-date=4 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230604185259/https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/how-putins-russia-embraced-fascism-while-preaching-anti-fascism/ |url-status=live }} Many Russian units who took part in the invasion are linked to neo-Nazism themselves, including the Rusich Group and Kremlin-sponsored Wagner Group.Šmíd, Tomáš & Šmídová, Alexandra. (2021). [https://www.researchgate.net/publication/352051011_Anti-government_Non-state_Armed_Actors_in_the_Conflict_in_Eastern_Ukraine Anti-government Non-state Armed Actors in the Conflict in Eastern Ukraine]. Czech Journal of International Relations, Volume 56, Issue 2. pp.48-49.{{cite news |title=Russian mercenaries in Ukraine linked to far-right extremists |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/20/russian-mercenaries-in-ukraine-linked-to-far-right-extremists |work=The Guardian |last=Townsend |first=Mark |date=20 March 2022 |quote=Russian mercenaries fighting in Ukraine, including the Kremlin-backed Wagner Group, have been linked to far-right extremism ... Much of the extremist content, posted on Telegram and the Russian social media platform VKontakte (VK), relates to a far-right unit within the Wagner Group called Rusich ... One post on the messaging app Telegram, dated 15 March, shows the flag of the Russian Imperial Movement (RIM), a white-supremacist paramilitary ... Another recent VK posting lists Rusich as part of a coalition of separatist groups and militias including the extreme far-right group, Russian National Unity. |access-date=20 April 2023 |archive-date=27 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220327141257/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/20/russian-mercenaries-in-ukraine-linked-to-far-right-extremists |url-status=live }}{{cite news| url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/23/russian-neo-nazis-participate-in-denazifying-ukraine-der-spiegel-a77762| work=The Moscow Times| title=Russian Neo-Nazis Participate in 'Denazifying' Ukraine – Der Spiegel| date=23 May 2022| access-date=18 August 2023| archive-date=14 January 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240114154836/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/05/23/russian-neo-nazis-participate-in-denazifying-ukraine-der-spiegel-a77762| url-status=live}} Other openly neo-Nazi groups have been involved in recruiting, training and fighting on the Russian side, such as the Russian Imperial Legion, AAST and Atomwaffen Division Russland.{{cite web | url=https://malcontentment.com/washingtons-defunct-atomwaffen-division-had-deep-ties-to-the-terrorist-org-russia-imperialist-movement/ | title=Washington's Defunct Atomwaffen Division had Deep Ties to the Terrorist Org, Russia Imperialist Movement | date=4 July 2022 }}{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VuS1EAAAQBAJ&dq=%22according+to+intelligence+reports%2C+members+of+the+AWD+trained+with+the+Imperial+Russian+Movement+in+a+camp+outside+of+St.+Petersburg%22&pg=PT82 | title=Terrorism and Counterterrorism | isbn=978-1-000-86414-4 | last1=Nacos | first1=Brigitte L. | date=16 May 2023 | publisher=Taylor & Francis }}{{page needed|date=September 2024}}{{cite web | url=https://www.newamerica.org/future-frontlines/reports/putin-mobilization-wagner-group/ | title=Putin's Stealth Mobilization: Russian Irregulars and the Wagner Group's Shadow Command Structure }}{{cite web | url=https://www.hsaj.org/articles/22672 | title=Vanguard of a White Empire: Rusich, the Russian Imperial Movement, and Russia's War of Terror | date=13 June 2023 }} Russian far-right groups also played a major role among the Russian proxy forces in Donbas.{{cite web |last1=Likhachev |first1=Vyacheslav |date=July 2016 |title=The Far Right in the Conflict between Russia and Ukraine |url=https://www.ifri.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/rnv95_uk_likhachev_far-right_radicals_final.pdf |access-date=1 March 2022 |publisher=Russie.NEI.Visions in English |pages=21–22 |quote=Members of far-right groups played a much greater role on the Russian side of the conflict than on the Ukrainian side, especially at the beginning. |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313153346/https://www.ifri.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/rnv95_uk_likhachev_far-right_radicals_final.pdf |url-status=live }}{{cite book |editor1-last=Averre |editor1-first=Derek |editor2-last=Wolczuk |editor2-first=Kataryna |title=The Ukraine Conflict: Security, Identity and Politics in the Wider Europe |date=2018 |publisher=Routledge |pages=90–91 |quote=Separatist ideologues in the Donbas, such as they are, have therefore produced a strange melange since 2014. Of what Marlène Laruelle (2016) has called the 'three colours' of Russian nationalism designed for export—red (Soviet), white (Orthodox) and brown (fascist) ... there are arguably more real fascists on the rebel side than the Ukrainian side.}}

Like many countries, Ukraine has a far-right fringe, such as Right Sector and Svoboda.{{cite news |last=Berger |first=Miriam |date=24 February 2022 |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/24/putin-denazify-ukraine/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220227/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/02/24/putin-denazify-ukraine/ |archive-date=27 February 2022 |title=Russian President Valdimir Putin says he will 'denazify' Ukraine. Here's the history behind that claim. |newspaper=The Washington Post |access-date=16 October 2023}}{{cite news |last=Campbell |first=Eric |title=Inside Donetsk, the separatist republic that triggered the war in Ukraine |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-03/inside-the-separatist-republic-that-triggered-the-war-in-ukraine/100871262 |access-date=16 October 2023 |publisher=Australian Broadcasting Corporation |date=3 March 2022 |archive-date=3 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303140132/https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-03-03/inside-the-separatist-republic-that-triggered-the-war-in-ukraine/100871262 |url-status=live }} Analysts generally agree that the Russian government greatly exaggerates far-right influence in Ukraine, as there is no widespread support for far-right ideology in the government, military, or electorate.{{Cite web |last=Farley |first=Robert |date=31 March 2022 |title=The Facts on 'De-Nazifying' Ukraine |url=https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/the-facts-on-de-nazifying-ukraine/ |website=FactCheck.org |language=en-US |access-date=6 May 2023 |archive-date=12 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220612010441/https://www.factcheck.org/2022/03/the-facts-on-de-nazifying-ukraine/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last=Abbruzzese |first=Jason |date=24 February 2022 |title=Putin says he is fighting a resurgence of Nazism. That's not true |publisher=NBC News |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/live-blog/russia-ukraine-conflict-live-updates-n1289655/ncrd1289673 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224112830/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/live-blog/russia-ukraine-conflict-live-updates-n1289655/ncrd1289673 |archive-date=24 February 2022}} In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, a coalition of far-right parties including Right Sector received only 2% of votes and did not win any seats.{{cite news |last1=Arredondas |first1=Margarita |title=Azov Battalion key to Russian propaganda justifying invasion of Ukraine |url=https://atalayar.com/en/content/azov-battalion-key-russian-propaganda-justifying-invasion-ukraine |work=Atalayar |date=5 April 2022 |access-date=6 May 2023 |archive-date=6 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230506125054/https://atalayar.com/en/content/azov-battalion-key-russian-propaganda-justifying-invasion-ukraine |url-status=live }} Ukraine's Azov Brigade began as a far-right volunteer militia. It was a focus of Kremlin propaganda, which falsely claimed they were "anti-Russian neo-Nazis persecuting ethnic Russians". Azov has been mentioned on Russian TV more often than Putin's ruling United Russia party.{{Cite book |last1=Gunaratna |first1=Rohan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=eD4CEQAAQBAJ&dq=in+Russian+State+Media+as+anti-Russian+neo-Nazis+persecuting+ethnic+Russians&pg=PA164 |title=A Research Agenda for Far-Right Violence and Extremism |last2=Pethö-Kiss |first2=Katalin |date=12 April 2024 |publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing |isbn=978-1-80220-962-4 |pages=164–166 |language=en}} By the time of the invasion, the brigade had been largely de-politicized.{{cite news |title=Azov Regiment takes centre stage in Ukraine propaganda war |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220325-azov-regiment-takes-centre-stage-in-ukraine-propaganda-war |work=France 24 |date=25 March 2022 |access-date=6 May 2023 |archive-date=25 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325182731/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220325-azov-regiment-takes-centre-stage-in-ukraine-propaganda-war |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Ritzmann |first1=Alexander |title=The myth far-right zealots run Ukraine is Russian propaganda |url=https://www.euronews.com/2022/04/12/the-myth-far-right-zealots-run-ukraine-is-russian-propaganda-view |work=Euronews |date=12 April 2022 |access-date=6 May 2023 |archive-date=2 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220602130250/https://www.euronews.com/2022/04/12/the-myth-far-right-zealots-run-ukraine-is-russian-propaganda-view |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=McCallum |first1=Alasdair |title=Much Azov about nothing: How the 'Ukrainian neo-Nazis' canard fooled the world |url=https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2022/08/19/1384992/much-azov-about-nothing-how-the-ukrainian-neo-nazis-canard-fooled-the-world |website=Monash University |date=19 August 2022 |access-date=7 July 2023 |archive-date=14 July 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230714020617/https://lens.monash.edu/@politics-society/2022/08/19/1384992/much-azov-about-nothing-how-the-ukrainian-neo-nazis-canard-fooled-the-world |url-status=live }} A 2022 Counter Extremism Project report concluded that the Azov Brigade can no longer be defined as neo-Nazi.{{Cite web |last=Braschayko |first=Andrea |date=13 June 2023 |title=Le accuse di 'nazismo' all'esercito dell'Ucraina |url=https://www.valigiablu.it/ucraina-esercito-nazismo-simboli/ |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=Valigia Blu |language=it |archive-date=22 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231022074957/https://www.valigiablu.it/ucraina-esercito-nazismo-simboli/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=23 August 2022 |title=Western Extremists and the Russian Invasion of Ukraine in 2022 |url=https://www.counterextremism.com/content/western-extremists-and-russian-invasion-ukraine-2022 |access-date=16 October 2023 |website=Counter Extremism Project |language=en}}

File:A rally in support of Novorossiya in Moscow on June 11, 2014 (12).jpg in Moscow on 11 June 2014]]

File:2023-07-27. В Курске почтили память детей, погибших на Донбассе 01.jpg, a state-sponsored event in Kursk in July 2023]]

{{Further|Accusations of genocide in Donbas|War in Donbas (2014–2022)#Casualties}}

In his announcement of the invasion, Putin baselessly claimed that Ukraine was carrying out genocide in the mainly Russian-speaking Donbas region.{{cite news |last=Hinton |first=Alexander |date=25 February 2022 |title=Putin's claims that Ukraine is committing genocide are baseless, but not unprecedented |work=The Conversation |url=https://theconversation.com/putins-claims-that-ukraine-is-committing-genocide-are-baseless-but-not-unprecedented-177511 |access-date=25 February 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220226/https://theconversation.com/putins-claims-that-ukraine-is-committing-genocide-are-baseless-but-not-unprecedented-177511 |archive-date=26 February 2022}}{{cbignore}} He said the purpose of Russia's "military operation" was to "protect the people" of the Russian-controlled breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Putin claimed they had been facing "genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime" for eight years. There is no evidence for Putin's claims of genocide, and they have been widely rejected as a pretext for invasion.{{cite news |last=Stanley |first=John |title=The antisemitism animating Putin's claim to 'denazify' Ukraine |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/vladimir-putin-ukraine-attack-antisemitism-denazify |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220301/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/vladimir-putin-ukraine-attack-antisemitism-denazify |archive-date=1 March 2022 |access-date=28 February 2022 |work=The Guardian |date=26 February 2022}}{{cbignore}}{{cite news |title=Ukraine crisis: Vladimir Putin address fact-checked |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60477712 |access-date=24 February 2022 |work=BBC News |date=22 February 2022 |archive-date=23 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220223162137/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60477712 |url-status=live }}{{cite news|title=United States: Russia's claim of 'genocide in Ukraine' is reprehensible falsehood |url=https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3406104-united-states-russias-claim-of-genocide-in-ukraine-is-reprehensible-falsehood.html |agency=Ukrinform |date=17 February 2022 |access-date=22 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218120707/https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-polytics/3406104-united-states-russias-claim-of-genocide-in-ukraine-is-reprehensible-falsehood.html |archive-date=18 February 2022 |url-status=live}}{{cite news|title=US accuses Moscow of creating Ukraine invasion pretext with 'genocide' claims |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220216-us-accuses-moscow-of-creating-ukraine-invasion-pretext-with-genocide-claims |publisher=France 24|agency=Agence France-Presse |date=15 February 2021 |access-date=23 February 2022 |archive-date=24 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224034042/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220216-us-accuses-moscow-of-creating-ukraine-invasion-pretext-with-genocide-claims |url-status=live}} The European Commission called the allegations "Russian disinformation".{{cite press release|date=24 January 2022 |title=Disinformation About the Current Russia-Ukraine Conflict – Seven Myths Debunked |url=https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/news/disinformation-about-current-russia-ukraine-conflict-seven-myths-debunked-2022-01-24_en |access-date=22 February 2022 |website=Directorate-General for European Neighbourhood Policy and Enlargement Negotiations |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220218045942/https://ec.europa.eu/neighbourhood-enlargement/news/disinformation-about-current-russia-ukraine-conflict-seven-myths-debunked-2022-01-24_en |archive-date=18 February 2022 |url-status=live}} Over 300 scholars on genocide issued a statement rejecting Russia's abuse of the term "genocide" to "justify its own violence".{{cite journal| title=Beyond Putin's Analogies: The Genocide Debate on Ukraine and the Balkan Analogy Worth Noting| first=Shpend| last=Kursani| year=2022|doi=10.1080/14623528.2022.2099633| journal=Journal of Genocide Research| volume=1| issue=3–4| pages=1–13| s2cid=250513465}} Ukraine brought a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to challenge Russia's claim. The ICJ said it had not seen any evidence of genocide by Ukraine.{{cite news |title=UN international court of justice orders Russia to halt invasion of Ukraine |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/16/un-international-court-of-justice-orders-russia-to-halt-invasion-of-ukraine |work=The Guardian |date=16 March 2022 |access-date=6 June 2023 |archive-date=2 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502134241/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/16/un-international-court-of-justice-orders-russia-to-halt-invasion-of-ukraine |url-status=live }}

Altogether, about 14,300 people were killed in the Donbas War, both soldiers and civilians. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 6,500 were Russian proxy forces, 4,400 were Ukrainian forces, and 3,404 were civilians on both sides of the frontline.{{cite web |url= https://ukraine.un.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/Conflict-related%20civilian%20casualties%20as%20of%2031%20December%202021%20%28rev%2027%20January%202022%29%20corr%20EN_0.pdf |title= Conflict-related civilian casualties in Ukraine |page= 3 |work= OHCHR |date= 27 January 2022 |access-date= 27 January 2022 |archive-date= 21 April 2022 |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220421134529/http://ukraine.un.org/sites/default/files/2022-02/Conflict-related%20civilian%20casualties%20as%20of%2031%20December%202021%20(rev%2027%20January%202022)%20corr%20EN_0.pdf |url-status= live }} The vast majority of civilian deaths were in the first year, and the death rate in the Donbas War was actually falling before the 2022 Russian invasion: in 2019 there were 27 conflict-related civilian deaths, in 2020 there were 26 deaths, and in 2021 there were 25 deaths, over half of them from mines and unexploded ordnance. By comparison, after Russia's full-scale invasion, 4,163 civilians were killed in March 2022,{{cite web | title=Ukraine: civilian casualty update 14 August 2023 | url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/08/ukraine-civilian-casualty-update-14-august-2023#:~:text=Civilian%20casualties%20from%201%20to,is%20not%20yet%20known)%2C%20and | work=OHCHR | date=14 August 2023 | access-date=18 August 2023 | archive-date=18 August 2023 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230818020542/https://www.ohchr.org/en/news/2023/08/ukraine-civilian-casualty-update-14-august-2023#:~:text=Civilian%20casualties%20from%201%20to,is%20not%20yet%20known)%2C%20and | url-status=live }} meaning that more civilians died in that one month alone than in the entire eight years of the Donbas War. Since the invasion, Russian state-controlled media and pro-Kremlin Telegram channels falsely accused Ukrainian troops of attacking civilian targets in Mariupol and bombing Ukrainian cities.{{cite news|last=Coalson|first=Robert|url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-war-tv-brainwashing/31776244.html|title='Military Brainwashing': Russian State TV Pulls Out The Stops To Sell Kremlin's Narrative On The War In Ukraine|website=RFE/RL|date=29 March 2022|access-date=11 May 2022|archive-date=14 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514032853/https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-ukraine-war-tv-brainwashing/31776244.html|url-status=live}}{{cite news |title=Propaganda War Over Mariupol's Destruction Is Only Just Starting |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-22/propaganda-war-over-mariupol-s-destruction-is-only-just-starting |work=Bloomberg |date=22 April 2022 |access-date=11 May 2022 |archive-date=11 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511173016/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-04-22/propaganda-war-over-mariupol-s-destruction-is-only-just-starting |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title='No one will ever listen to Russia:' Why Ukraine is winning the propaganda war |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-russia-information-war-1.6408380 |work=CBC News |date=6 April 2022 |access-date=11 June 2022 |archive-date=11 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220611144258/https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/ukraine-russia-information-war-1.6408380 |url-status=live }} According to Russian website Bumaga, an anonymous former employee of Yevgeny Prigozhin's media company "Patriot" said that most of their reports about "victims of Ukrainian Armed Forces" in Donbas were staged.{{cite web | last=Баркалова | first=Екатерина | title=Как работали СМИ "фабрики троллей" и что там происходило во время мятежа? | website=«Бумага» | date=5 July 2023 | url=https://paperpaper.io/kak-rabotali-smi-fabriki-trollej-i-ch/ | language=ru | access-date=30 August 2024}}{{cite web | last=Voichuk | first=Iryna | title=Victims of "Donbas genocide" were paid actors, Prigozhin's fired trolls reveal | website=Euromaidan Press | date=14 July 2023 | url=https://euromaidanpress.com/2023/07/14/victims-of-donbas-genocide-were-paid-actors-prigozhins-fired-trolls-reveal/ | access-date=30 August 2024}}

{{anchor|Allegations of NATO aggression}}

{{Further|Russian opposition to Ukrainian NATO membership|Russia–NATO relations}}

File:NATO CSTO (pre-2022).PNG

Russian propaganda often claims that NATO and its "eastward expansion" provoked the invasion and that Russia had to invade Ukraine in self-defense.{{cite news

|title=Full text: Putin's declaration of war on Ukraine

|url=https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/full-text-putin-s-declaration-of-war-on-ukraine

|publisher=The Spectator

|date=24 February 2022 |access-date=4 June 2023 |archive-date=28 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220228192447/https://www.spectator.co.uk/article/full-text-putin-s-declaration-of-war-on-ukraine

|url-status=live

}} In his two speeches just before the invasion, Putin said that Ukraine joining NATO would be a threat, and warned that NATO might use Ukraine to launch a surprise attack on Russia. He falsely claimed that NATO was building up its forces and military infrastructure in Ukraine, and that the Ukrainian military was under NATO control.{{cite news

|title=Fact check: Russia's disinformation campaign targets NATO

|url=https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-russias-disinformation-campaign-targets-nato/a-64675398

|publisher=Deutsche Welle

|date=13 February 2023 |access-date=16 May 2023 |archive-date=17 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517224440/https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-russias-disinformation-campaign-targets-nato/a-64675398

|url-status=live

}}{{Cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/extracts-putins-speech-ukraine-2022-02-21/|title = Extracts from Putin's speech on Ukraine|work = Reuters|date = 21 February 2022 |url-access=registration |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20231202132403/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/extracts-putins-speech-ukraine-2022-02-21/ |archive-date=2 December 2023}} Russian state media falsely claimed that thousands of NATO soldiers had been killed in the invasion.{{cite news

|title=Elon Musk slammed for amplifying fake story about hundreds of 'Nato trainers' dying in Ukraine

|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/elon-musk-fake-story-nato-ukraine-b2276877.html

|work=The Independent

|date=6 February 2023 |access-date=16 May 2023 |archive-date=15 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515155650/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/elon-musk-fake-story-nato-ukraine-b2276877.html

|url-status=live

}}

Although it seeks to join, Ukraine is not a member of NATO; a collective security alliance of 32 member states, similar to the Russian-led CSTO.{{cite web

|title=NATO-Russia: Setting the record straight

|url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/115204.htm

|publisher=NATO

|access-date=16 May 2023 |archive-date=6 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230606182156/https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/115204.htm

|url-status=live

}} In 1999, Russia signed the Charter for European Security, affirming the right of each state to choose its security arrangements and join alliances if they wish.

{{Cite web |date=19 November 1999 |title=Istanbul Document 1999 |url=https://www.osce.org/node/39569 |url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140601124042/https://www.osce.org/node/39569 |archive-date=1 June 2014

|access-date=21 July 2015 |publisher=Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe |page=[https://www.osce.org/files/f/documents/6/5/39569.pdf#page=10 3] (PDF)}}

Putin claimed that NATO broke a promise not to let any Eastern European countries join. This unwritten promise was allegedly made by American and German diplomats to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990, but the diplomats and NATO denied ever making any formal proposal.{{cite web|title=In Ukraine Conflict, Putin Relies on a Promise That Ultimately Wasn't|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/us/politics/russia-ukraine-james-baker.html|date=9 January 2022|access-date=28 May 2024|website=The New York Times|archive-date=1 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301223355/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/01/09/us/politics/russia-ukraine-james-baker.html|url-status=live}}{{cite web |last1=Zanchetta |first1=Barbara |title=Did Putin invade Ukraine because of NATOs "broken promise"? |url=https://www.kcl.ac.uk/did-putin-invade-ukraine-because-of-natos-broken-promise |publisher=King's College London |date=18 March 2022 |access-date=16 May 2023 |archive-date=15 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230515155651/https://www.kcl.ac.uk/did-putin-invade-ukraine-because-of-natos-broken-promise |url-status=live }} Such a promise was never included in any treaty,{{cite web|title=Russia's belief in Nato 'betrayal' – and why it matters today|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/12/russias-belief-in-nato-betrayal-and-why-it-matters-today|date=12 January 2022|access-date=28 May 2024|website=The Guardian|archive-date=20 January 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220120112422/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jan/12/russias-belief-in-nato-betrayal-and-why-it-matters-today|url-status=live}} and the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991. From then until the Russian invasion, 14 Eastern European countries willingly joined NATO. Political scientist Filip Kostelka says many of these countries sought NATO membership "to protect themselves from the Russian threat. They did not need to be pushed".{{cite web |last1=Kostelka |first1=Filip |title=John Mearsheimer's lecture on Ukraine: Why he is wrong and what are the consequences |url=https://euideas.eui.eu/2022/07/11/john-mearsheimers-lecture-on-ukraine-why-he-is-wrong-and-what-are-the-consequences/ |website=EUIdeas |publisher=European University Institute |date=11 July 2022}} The last time a country bordering Russia had joined NATO prior to the invasion was in 2004.{{cite web |title=NATO member countries |url=https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52044.htm#:~:text=2004%20%2D%20The%20second%20wave%20of,%2C%20Romania%2C%20Slovakia%20and%20Slovenia. |date=8 June 2023 |access-date=5 July 2023 |archive-date=19 November 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141119033339/https://www.nato.int/cps/en/natohq/topics_52044.htm#:~:text=2004%20%2D%20The%20second%20wave%20of,%2C%20Romania%2C%20Slovakia%20and%20Slovenia. |url-status=live }}

Putin has not always opposed NATO. According to Michael McFaul and Robert Person, this suggests Putin did not truly believe it to be a military threat.{{cite journal |last1=Person |first1=Robert |last2=McFaul |first2=Michael |title=What Putin Fears Most |journal=Journal of Democracy |date=April 2022 |volume=33 |issue=2 |pages=18–27 |doi=10.1353/jod.2022.0015 |url=https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/what-putin-fears-most/#f8 |access-date=8 June 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240406093802/https://www.journalofdemocracy.org/articles/what-putin-fears-most/ |archive-date=6 April 2024 |url-status=live |issn=1045-5736|url-access=subscription }}{{cite book |last1=McFaul |first1=Michael |last2=Person |first2=Robert |editor1-last=Brands |editor1-first=Hal |title=War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World |date=2024 |publisher=JHU Press |pages=48–50 |chapter=Why Putin Invaded Ukraine}} In 2002, Putin said Ukraine's relationship with NATO was not Russia's concern. Russia did not make threats about the Baltic states joining NATO in 2004. Putin said in 2005 that if Ukraine wanted to join NATO, "we will respect their choice, because it is their sovereign right to decide their own defence policy, and this will not worsen relations between our countries".Vladimir V. Putin, [http://www.en.kremlin.ru/events/president/transcripts/22952 "France 3 Interview, 7 May 2005"]. President of Russia. It was not until his 2007 Munich speech that Putin openly opposed NATO enlargement. Nevertheless, Russia deepened co-operation with NATO in 2010, and the two continued to co-operate until Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.

When Russia occupied Crimea and invaded the Donbas in 2014, Ukraine was officially a neutral country and was not seeking NATO membership.{{cite web |last1=Blank |first1=Stephen |title=Ukrainian neutrality would not appease Putin or prevent further Russian aggression |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukrainian-neutrality-would-not-appease-putin-or-prevent-further-russian-aggression/ |publisher=Atlantic Council |date=28 January 2022 |access-date=8 March 2024 |archive-date=8 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308150443/https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/ukrainian-neutrality-would-not-appease-putin-or-prevent-further-russian-aggression/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |last1=Lutsevych |first1=Orysia |title=How to end Russia's war on Ukraine: Safeguarding Europe's future, and the dangers of a false peace |url=https://www.chathamhouse.org/2023/06/how-end-russias-war-ukraine/fallacy-3-ukraine-should-adopt-neutrality |publisher=Chatham House |doi=10.55317/9781784135782 |date=27 June 2023 |access-date=8 March 2024 |archive-date=8 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308150445/https://www.chathamhouse.org/2023/06/how-end-russias-war-ukraine/fallacy-3-ukraine-should-adopt-neutrality |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Deschytsia states new government of Ukraine has no intention to join NATO |url=https://en.interfax.com.ua/news/general/198372.html |work=Interfax-Ukraine |date=29 March 2014}} In December 2014, Ukraine's parliament voted to end this neutral status in response to Russia's aggression,{{cite news |title=Ukraine drops non-aligned status in swipe at Moscow |url=https://www.france24.com/en/20141223-ukraine-parliament-votes-scrap-non-aligned-status-russia-nato |work=France 24 |date=23 December 2014 |access-date=8 March 2024 |archive-date=8 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240308140645/https://www.france24.com/en/20141223-ukraine-parliament-votes-scrap-non-aligned-status-russia-nato |url-status=live }} and Ukraine only applied to join NATO in response to the 2022 invasion. Steven Pifer thus argues that Russia's own aggressive actions have done the most to push Ukraine towards NATO.{{cite web |last1=Pifer |first1=Steven |title=One. More. Time. It's not about NATO |url=https://cisac.fsi.stanford.edu/news/one-more-time-it%E2%80%99s-not-about-nato |publisher=Center for International Security and Cooperation |date=26 July 2022}} When Russia invaded in 2022, Ukraine was a long way from membership. Members of the alliance have been wary of letting Ukraine join, partly due to Putin's warnings.{{cite web

|title=The West's last war-time taboo: Ukraine joining NATO

|url=https://www.politico.eu/article/west-war-taboo-ukraine-join-nato/

|website=Politico

|date=6 December 2022 |access-date=16 May 2023 |archive-date=12 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230112144803/https://www.politico.eu/article/west-war-taboo-ukraine-join-nato/

|url-status=live

}}

Russia's invasion led Finland to join NATO, doubling the length of Russia's border with NATO.{{cite news

|title=Finland doubling NATO's border with Russia in blow to Putin

|url=https://apnews.com/article/nato-finland-ukraine-b056e7e0f12520e85ea2d81cd30eabc9

|work=Associated Press

|date=3 April 2023 |access-date=16 May 2023 |archive-date=17 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230517032430/https://apnews.com/article/nato-finland-ukraine-b056e7e0f12520e85ea2d81cd30eabc9

|url-status=live

}} Putin said that Finland's membership was not a threat, unlike Ukraine's, but warned against any military buildup in Finland.{{cite news |title=Putin sees no threat from NATO expansion, warns against military build-up |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-calls-finland-sweden-joining-nato-mistake-with-far-reaching-consequences-2022-05-16/ |work=Reuters |date=17 March 2022 |access-date=16 May 2023 |archive-date=21 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021135339/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-calls-finland-sweden-joining-nato-mistake-with-far-reaching-consequences-2022-05-16/ |url-status=live }}

File:BBC Bias Brainwashes the Country (52716899706).jpg

Peter Dickinson of the Atlantic Council suggested the real reason Putin opposes NATO is not because he believes it is a threat, but because it "prevents him from bullying Russia's neighbors".{{cite news

|last1=Dickinson

|first1=Peter

|title=Russia's aggression against Ukraine leaves no room for negotiations

|url=https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/24/russias-aggression-against-ukraine-leaves-no-room-for-negotiations

|work=Euronews

|date=24 July 2023 |access-date=9 October 2023 |archive-date=5 August 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230805023600/https://www.euronews.com/2023/07/24/russias-aggression-against-ukraine-leaves-no-room-for-negotiations

|url-status=live

}} Tom Casier writes that Russia's annexation of southeastern Ukraine reveals that the real motive for the invasion is to create a "Greater Russia".{{cite journal| author=Tom Casier| volume=16| issue=2| title=No Great Russia without Greater Russia: The Kremlin's Thinking behind the Invasion of Ukraine| year=2023| doi=10.22215/cjers.v16i2.4148| journal=Canadian Journal of European and Russian Studies| pages=14–29| url=https://www.researchgate.net/publication/376095810| doi-access=free}}

Shortly before his death in a plane crash, Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian military leadership of lying about NATO aggression to justify the invasion.{{cite news

|title=Wagner chief accuses Moscow of lying to public about Ukraine

|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/23/wagner-chief-accuses-moscow-of-lying-to-public-about-ukraine-yevgeny-prigozhin

|work=The Guardian

|date=23 June 2023 |access-date=24 August 2023 |archive-date=23 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623183228/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/jun/23/wagner-chief-accuses-moscow-of-lying-to-public-about-ukraine-yevgeny-prigozhin

|url-status=live

}} Prigozhin was a close ally of Putin and his Wagner Group played an important role in the invasion.

{{cite news

|title=Wagner head Prigozhin says Russian army attacked his forces |url=https://www.dw.com/en/wagner-head-prigozhin-says-russian-army-attacked-his-forces/a-66016855

|work=Deutsche Welle

|date=23 June 2023 |access-date=23 June 2023 |archive-date=23 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230623194309/https://www.dw.com/en/wagner-head-prigozhin-says-russian-army-attacked-his-forces/a-66016855

|url-status=live

}}

An article published by the Institute for the Study of War concluded:

"Putin didn't invade Ukraine in 2022 because he feared NATO. He invaded because he believed that NATO was weak, that his efforts to regain control of Ukraine by other means had failed, and that installing a pro-Russian government in Kyiv would be safe and easy. His aim was not to defend Russia against some non-existent threat but rather to expand Russia's power, eradicate Ukraine's statehood, and destroy NATO, goals he still pursues".{{cite web |title=Weakness is Lethal: Why Putin Invaded Ukraine and How the War Must End |url=https://understandingwar.org/backgrounder/weakness-lethal-why-putin-invaded-ukraine-and-how-war-must-end |website=Institute for the Study of War |date=1 October 2023}}

The Russian government accused NATO of waging a "proxy war" against Russia, because its members have sent military aid to Ukraine after the invasion.

{{cite web

|last1=Hughes

|first1=Geraint

|title=Is the war in Ukraine a proxy conflict?

|url=https://www.kcl.ac.uk/is-the-war-in-ukraine-a-proxy-conflict |publisher=King's College London

|date=12 October 2022

}} Russian state media falsely claimed that some Ukrainian military units fighting the invasion were under NATO command.

{{cite news

|title=War in Ukraine: Fact-checking Russian claims that Nato troops are fighting in Ukraine

|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/62974506

|work=BBC News

|date=21 September 2022

}} NATO says it is not at war with Russia, but supports Ukraine's "right to self-defense, as enshrined in the UN Charter". Lawrence Freedman wrote that calling Ukraine a NATO "proxy" wrongly implied that "Ukrainians are only fighting because NATO put them up to it, rather than because of the more obvious reason that they have been subjected to a vicious invasion". He said that any weakening of Russia caused by the war would result from "Moscow's folly ...not NATO's intent".

{{cite web

|last1=Freedman

|first1=Lawrence

|author1-link=Lawrence Freedman

|title=Ukraine is not a proxy war |url=https://www.newstatesman.com/world/europe/ukraine/2023/01/ukraine-proxy-war-russia-vladimir-putin-nato

|website=The New Statesman

|date=23 January 2023

}} Geraint Hughes said that calling Ukraine NATO's "proxy" insults and belittles Ukrainians, denies their autonomy and implies they do not really have the will to defend their country.

Countering claims of NATO waging a proxy war, it is pointed out that NATO states have actually been slow in sending weaponry to Ukraine, especially advanced weapons, and they prevented Ukraine from firing those weapons into Russia.{{cite web |title=Fake of the week: Russia is waging war against NATO in Ukraine |url=https://www.euractiv.pl/section/demokracja/news/fake-of-the-week-russia-is-waging-war-against-nato-in-ukraine/ |website=Euractiv |date=6 September 2023}} NATO refused to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine, and the US told Ukraine to stop attacking refineries and early-warning radars in Russia.{{cite web |last1=Goncharenko |first1=Oleksiy |title=Western weakness in Ukraine could provoke a far bigger war with Russia |url=https://www.atlanticcouncil.org/blogs/ukrainealert/western-weakness-in-ukraine-could-provoke-a-far-bigger-war-with-russia/ |website=Atlantic Council |date=7 April 2024}}{{cite news |title=U.S. concerned about Ukraine strikes on Russian nuclear radar stations |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2024/05/29/us-ukraine-nuclear-warning-strikes/ |newspaper=The Washington Post |date=29 May 2024}}

Russia has falsely asserted several times that Ukraine is not a sovereign country, but its government is controlled by foreign powers whose companies, banks and investment funds like BlackRock or Vanguard control a large portion of Ukranian soil and forbid to bury Ukranian corpses below it. However, under Ukranian law, foreign market agents like corporations and individuals are not allowed to own Ukranian land.{{Cite web |last=Robakidze |first=Davit |date=2024-07-03 |title=Disinformation, As If The Head Of BlackRock Bought Ukrainian Lands And Banned The Burial Of Military Personnel {{!}} Mythdetector.com |url=https://mythdetector.com/en/ukrainian-lands-and-banned-the-burial-of-military-personnel/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=BlackRock allegedly owns 47% of Ukraine's territory and has banned Ukraine from burying its military |url=https://disinfo.detector.media/en/post/blackrock-allegedly-owns-47-of-ukraines-territory-and-has-banned-ukraine-from-burying-its-military |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=disinfo.detector.media |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Доткова |first=Василена |date=2023-10-26 |title=PolitiCheck: It is not true that GMO is legally grown in Ukraine or that the land is owned by American companies - Factcheck.bg |url=https://factcheck.bg/en/politicheck-it-is-not-true-that-gmo-is-legally-grown-in-ukraine-or-that-the-land-is-owned-by-american-companies/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=Factcheck.bg – Проверка на факти |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Stellino |first=Molly |title=Fact check: False claim that President Zelenskyy sold huge amount of land in Ukraine to US companies |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/09/13/fact-check-ukraines-president-did-not-sell-farmland-us-companies/7942775001/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=USA TODAY |language=en-US}}

{{Expand section|date=March 2025}}

Many people outside Ukraine, including politicians and commentators, regard 24 February 2022 as the start of Russia's war with Ukraine. According to political scientist Andreas Umland, this approach diminishes the significance of Russian armed overtake of Ukrainian Crimea and its covert intervention in the Ukrainian Donbas. Such approach helps Russian propaganda to justify its aggression. Umland and co-authors regard 20 February 2014 - the day Russia supposedly issued orders to prepare for the invasion, which is also engraved on the Russian Crimea campaign medal - as the start of the Russia-Ukraine war,{{Cite web |title=Why the Russo- Ukrainian War Started Already in February 2014 |url=https://www.ui.se/english/publications/other-publications/2024/why-the-russo--ukrainian-war-started-already-in-february-2014/ |access-date=2025-03-10 |website=www.ui.se |language=sv}} while most researchers prefer 27 February, the day Russian forces occupied Crimean parliament.* {{cite web |date=January 2021 |title=Ukraine v. Russia (re Crimea) (decision) |url=https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=002-13090 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240222212428/https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/eng?i=002-13090 |archive-date=22 February 2024 |access-date=22 February 2024 |publisher=European Court of Human Rights |quote=The Ukrainian Government maintains that the Russian Federation has from 27 February 2014 exercised effective control over the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol ... There was sufficient evidence that during the relevant period the respondent State [Russia] had exercised effective control over Crimea.}}

• {{cite book |last1=Sasse |first1=Gwendolyn |title=Russia's War Against Ukraine |date=2023 |publisher=Wiley & Sons |page=2004 |quote=Russia's war against Ukraine began with the annexation of Crimea on 27 February 2014. On that day, Russian special forces without any uniform insignia appeared in Crimea, quickly taking control of strategic, military and political institutions.}}
• {{cite book |last1=Käihkö |first1=Ilmari |title=Slava Ukraini!: Strategy and the Spirit of Ukrainian Resistance 2014–2023 |date=2023 |publisher=Helsinki University Press |page=72 |quote=If asked when the war began, many Ukrainians believe it was when the unmarked Russian 'little green men' occupied Crimea on February 27, 2014, or February 20, the date given on the official Russian campaign medal 'For the Return of Crimea'.}}{{Cite book |last=Plokhy |first=Serhii |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=e3eoEAAAQBAJ&dq=began+eight+years+earlier,+on+February+27,+2014,+when+Russian+armed&pg=PT9 |title=The Russo-Ukrainian War: The Return of History |date=2023-05-09 |publisher=W. W. Norton & Company |isbn=978-1-324-05120-6 |pages=xxi |language=en}}{{Cite book |last=Brands |first=Hal |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WxP-EAAAQBAJ&dq=First,+what+we+often+call+%E2%80%9Cthe+Ukraine+War%E2%80%9D++didn%E2%80%99t+start+in+February+2022,+even+if&pg=PA2 |title=War in Ukraine: Conflict, Strategy, and the Return of a Fractured World |date=2024-04-02 |publisher=JHU Press |isbn=978-1-4214-4984-5 |pages=2 |language=en |quote=First, what we often call “the Ukraine War” didn’t start in February 2022[...] the war between Ukraine and Rus sia began in 2014 with Vladimir Putin’s taking of Crimea and his intervention— first through proxies and then with regular forces—in the Donbas.}}

On 18 February 2022, the Luhansk People's Republic showed a video purportedly showing removal of a car full of explosives prepared to blow up a train full of women and children evacuating to Russia. The video's metadata showed that it had been recorded on 12 June 2019.

The breakaway Donetsk People's Republic also released a video on 18 February 2022 that claimed to show Poles trying to blow up a chlorine tank. The video was further distributed by Russian media. The video's metadata showed that it was created on 8 February 2022, and included different pieces of audio or video, including a 2010 YouTube video from a military firing range in Finland. Ukrainian intelligence attributed responsibility for the video to the Russian intelligence service GRU.

According to Bellingcat, a supposed bombing of a "separatist police chief" by a "Ukrainian spy", broadcast on Russian state television, showed visual evidence of the bombing of an old "green army vehicle". The old car's registration plate was that of the separatist police chief, but the same licence plate was also seen on a different, new SUV.

On 22 February 2022, the Russian people's militias in Ukraine accused Ukraine of a "terrorist attack" that killed three civilians in a car on the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway.{{cite news

|title=Separatists in east Ukraine accuse Kyiv over blast that killed three people

|url=https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-698223

|work=The Jerusalem Post

|date=22 February 2022

|access-date=24 September 2023

|archive-date=16 December 2023

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231216125321/https://www.jpost.com/breaking-news/article-698223

|url-status=live

}} France 24 described the incident as a false flag attempt with corpses likely coming from a morgue to set up the scene.{{cite news

|title=Russia's false flag attack in Ukraine

|url=https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/20220223-russia-s-false-flag-attack-in-ukraine

|work=France24

|date=23 February 2022

|access-date=24 September 2023

|archive-date=9 October 2023

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231009162311/https://www.france24.com/en/tv-shows/truth-or-fake/20220223-russia-s-false-flag-attack-in-ukraine

|url-status=live

}}

On 7 September 2022, at the Eastern Economic Forum, Putin claimed that Russia did not "start" any military operations, but was only trying to end those that started in 2014, after a "coup d’état in Ukraine".{{cite news |title=Putin says Russia has 'not lost a thing' from war in Ukraine |url=https://thehill.com/policy/international/3632905-putin-says-russia-has-not-lost-a-thing-from-war-in-ukraine/ |work=The Hill |date=7 September 2022 |access-date=4 June 2023 |archive-date=24 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220924234723/https://thehill.com/policy/international/3632905-putin-says-russia-has-not-lost-a-thing-from-war-in-ukraine/ |url-status=live }} Conversely, Russia's annexation of Crimea in February 2014 is regarded as the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War.{{cite news| title=For Ukraine, the war started in 2014, not in 2022| work=Le Monde| date=19 February 2023| url=https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/02/19/for-ukraine-the-war-started-in-2014-not-in-2022_6016441_4.html| author=Jean-Pierre Filiu| access-date=1 December 2023| archive-date=26 November 2023| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231126093659/https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2023/02/19/for-ukraine-the-war-started-in-2014-not-in-2022_6016441_4.html| url-status=live}}

Before Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the intensity of the hostilities in the Donbas had been steadily declining since the signing of the Minsk agreements in February 2015.{{cite news |title=From 'frozen' conflict to full-scale invasion |url=https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/03/06/from-frozen-conflict-to-full-scale-invasion |work=Meduza |date=6 March 2022 |access-date=30 September 2022 |archive-date=22 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922010411/https://meduza.io/en/feature/2022/03/06/from-frozen-conflict-to-full-scale-invasion |url-status=live }}

{{main|Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory}}

In March 2022, Russia alleged that Ukraine was developing biological weapons in a network of labs linked to the US.

{{Cite news

|last=Wong

|first=Edward

|date=11 March 2022 |title=U.S. Fights Bioweapons Disinformation Pushed by Russia and China

|work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/us/politics/russia-ukraine-china-bioweapons.html

|access-date=13 March 2022 |issn=0362-4331

|archive-date=14 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314115329/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/10/us/politics/russia-ukraine-china-bioweapons.html

|url-status=live

}} The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and Chinese state media amplified Russian claims.

{{Cite news

|last=Rising

|first=David

|date=11 March 2022 |title=China amplifies unsupported Russian claim of Ukraine biolabs

|work=Associated Press

|url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-covid-health-biological-weapons-china-39eeee023efdf7ea59c4a20b7e018169

|access-date=11 March 2022 |archive-date=11 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311112049/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-covid-health-biological-weapons-china-39eeee023efdf7ea59c4a20b7e018169 |url-status=live

}}

• {{Cite news

|last=McCarthy

|first=Simone

|date=10 March 2022 |title=China's promotion of Russian disinformation indicates where its loyalties lie

|publisher=CNN

|url=https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/10/china/china-russia-disinformation-campaign-ukraine-intl-dst-hnk/index.html

|access-date=11 March 2022 |archive-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310213748/https://edition.cnn.com/2022/03/10/china/china-russia-disinformation-campaign-ukraine-intl-dst-hnk/index.html |url-status=live

}}

• {{Cite web

|title=Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian's Regular Press Conference on March 8, 2022 |url=https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202203/t20220309_10649938.html

|access-date=12 March 2022 |website=fmprc.gov.cn

|archive-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310150853/https://www.fmprc.gov.cn/mfa_eng/xwfw_665399/s2510_665401/2511_665403/202203/t20220309_10649938.html

|url-status=live }} QAnon promoters also echo disinformation.

{{Cite news

|last=O'Sullivan

|first=Donie

|title=Analysis: Russia and QAnon have the same false conspiracy theory about Ukraine

|date=10 March 2022 |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/09/media/biolab-ukraine-russia-qanon-false-conspiracy-theory/index.html

|access-date=14 March 2022 |work=CNN

|archive-date=13 March 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313134502/https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/09/media/biolab-ukraine-russia-qanon-false-conspiracy-theory/index.html

|url-status=live

}}{{Cite news |date=12 March 2022 |title=China and QAnon embrace Russian disinformation justifying war in Ukraine |publisher=France 24 |url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220312-china-and-qanon-embrace-russian-disinformation-justifying-war-in-ukraine |access-date=14 March 2022 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313192414/https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220312-china-and-qanon-embrace-russian-disinformation-justifying-war-in-ukraine |url-status=live }}

• {{Cite news

|last=Ling

|first=Justin

|title=False Claims of U.S. Biowarfare Labs in Ukraine Grip QAnon

|work=Foreign Policy

|url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/02/ukraine-biolabs-conspiracy-theory-qanon/ |access-date=14 March 2022 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313083753/https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/02/ukraine-biolabs-conspiracy-theory-qanon/

|url-status=live

}} BBC Reality Check found no evidence supporting the claims.

{{Cite news

|title=Ukraine war: Fact-checking Russia's biological weapons claims

|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60711705

|date=15 March 2022|access-date=16 March 2022

|publisher=BBC

|archive-date=31 March 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331001141/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60711705|url-status=live

}} The United Nations also refuted this.

{{Cite web

|title=United Nations Not Aware of Any Biological Weapons Programmes, Disarmament Chief Affirms as Security Council Meets to Address Related Concerns in Ukraine {{!}} Meetings Coverage and Press Releases |url=https://www.un.org/press/en/2022/sc14827.doc.htm

|access-date=18 March 2022 |publisher=United Nations

|archive-date=22 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322003542/https://www.un.org/press/en/2022/sc14827.doc.htm

|url-status=live

}} Russian biologists in and outside of Russia have debunked the claims, calling the allegations "transparently false".

{{cite news

|last=Mackey

|first=Robert

|date=17 March 2022 |title=Russia Is Lying About Evidence of Bioweapons Labs in Ukraine, Russian Biologists Say

|url=https://theintercept.com/2022/03/17/russia-ukraine-bioweapons-misinformation/ |work=The Intercept

|access-date=21 March 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330103200/https://theintercept.com/2022/03/17/russia-ukraine-bioweapons-misinformation/

|url-status=live

}}

According to researcher Adam Rawnsley, the Kremlin has a history of discrediting ordinary biology labs in former Soviet republics, and previously spread conspiracy theories about Georgia and Kazakhstan similar to those deployed against Ukraine.

{{Cite news

|last=Rawnsley

|first=Adam

|date=18 March 2022 |title=What You Don't Know About Russia's 'Bioweapons' Bullshit

|work=The Daily Beast

|url=https://www.thedailybeast.com/you-dont-know-about-russias-bioweapons-propaganda-in-the-ukraine-war

|access-date=18 March 2022 |archive-date=26 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220326131801/https://www.thedailybeast.com/you-dont-know-about-russias-bioweapons-propaganda-in-the-ukraine-war

|url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Stronski |first=Paul |title=Ex-Soviet Bioweapons Labs Are Fighting COVID-19. Moscow Doesn't Like It. |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/25/soviet-bioweapons-labs-georgia-armenia-kazakhstan-coronavirus-russia-disinformation/

|access-date=18 March 2022 |website=Foreign Policy |archive-date=18 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318235127/https://foreignpolicy.com/2020/06/25/soviet-bioweapons-labs-georgia-armenia-kazakhstan-coronavirus-russia-disinformation/

|url-status=live

}}

Prior to March 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defence made unsubstantiated accusations that the United States was manufacturing bio-weapons in Ukraine. In March the Ministry followed up with another conspiracy theory: the US was training birds to spread disease in Ukraine among Russian citizens, according to Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Ministry of Russian state-controlled media. He mentioned specific details, including a strain of influenza with 50% mortality, and Newcastle disease. Media reports included maps, documents, and photos of birds with American military insignia, and claimed that infected birds had been captured alive in eastern Ukraine.

{{Cite news

|last=Villareal

|first=Daniel

|title=Russian Conspiracy Theory Says U.S. Training Birds to Spread Bio Weapons |url=https://www.newsweek.com/russian-conspiracy-theory-says-us-training-birds-spread-bio-weapons-1687399

|date=11 March 2022 |website=Newsweek

|access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=30 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220330103109/https://www.newsweek.com/russian-conspiracy-theory-says-us-training-birds-spread-bio-weapons-1687399

|url-status=live

}}

{{cite news

|last1=Myers

|first1=Steven Lee

|last2=Thompson

|first2=Stuart A.

|title=Truth Is Another Front in Putin's War

|date=20 March 2022 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/20/world/asia/russia-putin-propaganda-media.html

|work=The New York Times

|access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331020223/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/20/world/asia/russia-putin-propaganda-media.html

|url-status=live

}}

• {{cite news

|last1=Borger

|first1=Julian

|last2=Rankin

|first2=Jennifer

|last3=Farrer

|first3=Martin

|title=Russia makes claims of US-backed biological weapon plot at UN

|date=11 March 2022 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/russia-un-claims-us-backed-biological-weapon-plot-kremlin-foreign-fighters-ukraine

|work=The Guardian

|access-date=29 March 2022 |archive-date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329020109/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/11/russia-un-claims-us-backed-biological-weapon-plot-kremlin-foreign-fighters-ukraine

|url-status=live

}}

A U.S. State Department spokesman laughed these claims off and called them "outright lies", "total nonsense", "absurd", "laughable" and "propaganda". CIA Director William Burns told the U.S.Senate that Russia made these claims to prepare the terrain for a biological or chemical attack against Ukraine, which they would then blame on the United States and Ukraine.

On 28 October 2022 Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, accused Ukraine of using drones with "combat mosquitoes" which spread "dangerous viruses".

{{Cite news

|title="Combat mosquitoes" follow "dirty bomb": Russian representative to UN tells more frenzy lies

|work=Yahoo! News

|url=https://www.yahoo.com/news/combat-mosquitoes-dirty-bomb-russian-151700522.html

|date=28 October 2022

|access-date=9 November 2022

|archive-date=9 November 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221109100600/https://www.yahoo.com/news/combat-mosquitoes-dirty-bomb-russian-151700522.html

|url-status=live

}}

{{See also|Nuclear threats during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Ukraine and weapons of mass destruction}}

In March 2022, Russian state-controlled news agencies claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine was developing a plutonium-based dirty bomb nuclear weapon at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.{{Cite news |title=Russia, without evidence, says Ukraine making nuclear 'dirty bomb' |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-without-evidence-says-ukraine-making-nuclear-dirty-bomb-2022-03-06/ |date=6 March 2022 |access-date=24 October 2022 |work=Reuters |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221021065610/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-without-evidence-says-ukraine-making-nuclear-dirty-bomb-2022-03-06/ |archive-date=21 October 2022 |url-status=live}}

In a series of calls to foreign defence officials made in October 2022, Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu similarly claimed that Ukraine was preparing a "provocation" involving the use of a dirty bomb.{{Cite news |title=Ukraine war: Kyiv denounces Russia's 'dirty bomb' claims |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63369175 |date=24 October 2022 |access-date=24 October 2022 |work=BBC News |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221024102634/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-63369175 |archive-date=24 October 2022 |url-status=live}}{{Cite news |title=Russian Defense Chief Claims—Without Evidence—Ukraine Could Use 'Dirty Bomb' |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/10/23/russian-defense-chief-claims-without-evidence-ukraine-could-use-dirty-bomb/ |last=Porterfield |first=Carlie |date=23 October 2022 |access-date=24 October 2022 |work=Forbes |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221023205914/https://www.forbes.com/sites/carlieporterfield/2022/10/23/russian-defense-chief-claims-without-evidence-ukraine-could-use-dirty-bomb/ |archive-date=23 October 2022 |url-status=live}} The Institute for the Study of War suggested a desire to slow or suspend foreign aid to Ukraine as a possible motive for the allegations. The foreign ministries of France, the United Kingdom and the United States rejected "Russia's transparently false allegations". In a briefing, the Russian Ministry of Defence used photos of the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station, the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant, the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and a photo from a 2010 presentation by the Slovenian {{Interlanguage link|Radioactive Waste Management Agency|sl|Agencija za radioaktivne odpadke}} as "evidence" for its claims.{{Cite news |title=Минобороны РФ выдало фото российских научных разработок за доказательство изготовления украинцами "грязной бомбы" |url=https://theins.ru/antifake/256443 |date=28 October 2022 |access-date=29 October 2022 |work=The Insider |language=ru |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221028164103/https://theins.ru/antifake/256443 |archive-date=28 October 2022 |url-status=live}}

{{Main|War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine|Russian 2022 war censorship laws}}

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity were recorded and extensively documented, including attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, wilful killings, unlawful confinement, torture, rape, and unlawful deportations of children.{{cite news

| work=UN News

| title=Human Rights Council: Russia responsible for 'widespread death and destruction' in Ukraine

| date=27 February 2023

| url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133927

| access-date=16 March 2023

| archive-date=16 March 2023

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316204907/https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/02/1133927

| url-status=live

}}

• {{cite web

| title=War crimes, indiscriminate attacks on infrastructure, systematic and widespread torture show disregard for civilians, says UN Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine

| url=https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/03/war-crimes-indiscriminate-attacks-infrastructure-systematic-and-widespread

| date=16 March 2023

| work=Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR)

| access-date=16 March 2023

| archive-date=16 March 2023

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230316130444/https://www.ohchr.org/en/press-releases/2023/03/war-crimes-indiscriminate-attacks-infrastructure-systematic-and-widespread

| url-status=live

}}

• {{cite news

|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/05/ukraine-russian-forces-must-face-justice-for-war-crimes-in-kyiv-oblast--new-investigation/

|title=Ukraine: Russian forces must face justice for war crimes in Kyiv Oblast

|date=6 May 2022

|work=Amnesty International

|access-date=6 May 2022

|archive-date=6 May 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220506090359/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/05/ukraine-russian-forces-must-face-justice-for-war-crimes-in-kyiv-oblast--new-investigation/

|url-status=live

}} Russian officials denied the war crimes perpetrated by Russian forces. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the Bucha massacre a "fake attack" against Russia, claiming it was staged. He said that Russian forces had left Bucha on 30 March while evidence of killings had emerged, according to him, four days later.

{{cite web

|date=4 April 2022 |title=Lavrov slams situation in Bucha as fake attack staged by West |url=https://tass.com/world/1432013

|url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404212156/https://tass.com/world/1432013 |archive-date=4 April 2022 |access-date=4 April 2022

|agency=TASS

}}

• {{cite news

|date=4 April 2022 |title=Russia to demand convening UN SC session over Bucha provocation again |agency=TASS

|url=https://tass.com/politics/1431949

|url-status=live |access-date=5 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404113217/https://tass.com/politics/1431949 |archive-date=4 April 2022

}}

On 4 April at the United Nations, Russian representative Vasily Nebenzya said that the bodies in the videos were not there when Russian forces withdrew from Bucha.

{{cite news

|last=Ball

|first=Tom

|date=5 April 2022 |title=Satellite images show bodies in Bucha before Russian retreat

|language=

|work=The Times

|url=https://www.thetimes.com/world/russia-ukraine-war/article/satellite-images-show-bodies-in-bucha-before-russian-retreat-from-suburb-of-ukraine-capital-z2lr2tcpl

|url-access=subscription

|access-date=5 April 2022 |issn=0140-0460

}} This was contradicted by satellite images showing that the bodies were there as early as 19 March;

{{cite news

|date=5 April 2022 |title=Bucha killings: Satellite image of bodies site contradicts Russian claims |work=BBC News

|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/60981238

|url-status=live

|access-date=4 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220407203106/https://www.bbc.com/news/60981238 |archive-date=7 April 2022

}} the position of the corpses in the satellite images matches the smartphone photos taken in early April.

{{cite news

|title=Satellite images of corpses in Bucha contradict Russian claims

|first=Alex

|last=Hern

|work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/05/satellite-images-of-corpses-in-bucha-prove-russian-claims-wrong

|url-status=live

|access-date=6 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220406004443/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/05/satellite-images-of-corpses-in-bucha-prove-russian-claims-wrong |archive-date=6 April 2022

}}

The Russian Defence Ministry's Telegram channel said Russian forces did not target civilians during the battle. According to them, a massacre could not have been covered up by the Russian military, and the mass grave in the city was filled with victims of Ukrainian airstrikes. The Ministry said it had analyzed a video purporting to show the bodies of dead civilians in Bucha, and the corpses were moving. The BBC's Moscow office investigated this claim and concluded there was no evidence the video had been staged.

{{cite news

|title=Questions over Russian Bucha denials |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60949706

|url-status=live

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220403132026/https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-europe-60949706

|archive-date=3 April 2022 |access-date=3 April 2022 |work=BBC News

}} Russia also released a video that, according to the Kremlin, showed a corpse supposedly moving, although this was quickly deemed false after investigations by fact-checking websites determined that it was a corpse reflected in the rearview mirror of a car.{{Cite web |title=El bulo difundido por Rusia sobre los cadáveres que “se mueven” en Bucha |url=https://www.newtral.es/cadaveres-bucha-se-mueven-rusia-bulo/20220408/ |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=Newtral |language=es}}{{Cite web |title=Es falso que este video muestra a un cadáver moviendo una mano en Bucha, Ucrania: se trata de una gota en la ventanilla del auto - Chequeado |url=https://chequeado.com/verificacionfb/es-falso-que-este-video-muestra-a-un-cadaver-moviendo-una-mano-en-bucha-ucrania-se-trata-de-una-gota-en-la-ventanilla-del-auto/ |access-date=2025-06-17 |language=es-AR}}

Another attempt to depict the massacre as fake aired on the Russian state television channel Russia-24, using a video that the channel claimed showed Ukrainians arranging mannequins in order to "stage" the Bucha massacre. The footage was quickly identified as coming from a television set filmed in Saint Petersburg. Workers for the television show confirmed that the video was from a Russian television show.{{cite web |date=8 April 2022 |title=Fact-check: Viral video does not prove Bucha killings were staged |url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/04/08/fact-check-viral-mannequin-video-does-not-prove-bucha-killings-were-staged |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220408182926/https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/04/08/fact-check-viral-mannequin-video-does-not-prove-bucha-killings-were-staged |archive-date=8 April 2022 |access-date=13 April 2022 |website=euronews |language=en}} Similarly, a video showing Ukrainian soldiers pulling dead bodies with cables in Bucha was widely shared by pro-Russian social media, supposedly to prove that the scene was staged. The provenance of the video is the Associated Press; its report explains that the use of cables was due to concern of the dead bodies being possibly booby-trapped.{{cite news |last1=Dejaifve |first1=Aude |last2=Bamas |first2=Arthur |date=6 April 2022 |title=Fresh round of fake videos claim the Bucha massacre was staged |url=https://observers.france24.com/en/europe/20220408-fresh-round-of-fake-videos-claim-the-bucha-massacre-was-staged |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220416095031/https://observers.france24.com/en/europe/20220408-fresh-round-of-fake-videos-claim-the-bucha-massacre-was-staged |archive-date=16 April 2022 |accessdate=14 April 2022 |work=France 24 |language=en}}{{cite news |date=2 April 2022 |title=GRAPHIC: Bodies dot streets on outskirts of Kyiv |url=http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Ukraine-War-Victims/f78bea06617b455099ef6f99d572431a |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220406212316/http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/Ukraine-War-Victims/f78bea06617b455099ef6f99d572431a |archive-date=6 April 2022 |access-date=14 April 2022 |agency=Associated Press}} Videos showing Ukrainian forces searching for explosives under the corpses, falsely claiming they were placing the bodies to fake the massacre, were also shared in social media.{{Cite web |date=2022-04-07 |title=Video shows soldiers checking bodies for explosives in Bucha |url=https://apnews.com/article/fact-checking-734309387941 |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=AP News |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2022-04-08 |title=Fact-check: Viral video does not prove Bucha killings were staged |url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/04/08/fact-check-viral-mannequin-video-does-not-prove-bucha-killings-were-staged |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=euronews |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Dangadze |first=Mariam |date=2022-04-08 |title=A Mannequin From Russia Blamed For Appearing In Ukrainian Fabricated War Videos {{!}} Mythdetector.com |url=https://mythdetector.com/en/a-mannequin-from-russia-blamed-for-appearing-in-ukrainian-fabricated-war-videos/ |access-date=2025-06-17 |language=en-US}} Russian officials also blamed Ukrainian forces for the Mariupol theatre airstrike,

{{cite news

|title=Russia accuses Ukraine of trying to frame it over Mariupol theatre attack |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-mariupol-theatre-russia-idINL2N2VK0SL

|access-date=4 May 2022 |work=Reuters

|date=17 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220418193941/https://www.reuters.com/article/ukraine-crisis-mariupol-theatre-russia-idINL2N2VK0SL

|archive-date=18 April 2022 |language=en

}} though independent sources confirmed that Russia was responsible.

{{cite web

|title=Ukraine: Deadly Mariupol Theatre Strike 'A Clear War Crime' By Russian Forces

|url=https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/06/ukraine-deadly-mariupol-theatre-strike-a-clear-war-crime-by-russian-forces-new-investigation/

|access-date=30 June 2022

|work=Amnesty International

|date=30 June 2022

|archive-date=9 July 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220709202101/https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/news/2022/06/ukraine-deadly-mariupol-theatre-strike-a-clear-war-crime-by-russian-forces-new-investigation/

|url-status=live

}}

File:Dnipro after Russian missile attack, 2023-01-14 (02-01).jpg after Russian missile strike on 14 January 2023. Dmitry Peskov claimed that the residential building probably collapsed due to a Ukrainian air defense counterattack.]]

In November 2022, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that the Russian military was attacking civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. According to Peskov, the Russian army only attacked targets directly or indirectly connected to military potential. In January 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed their responsibility for the Dnipro residential building airstrike, which killed over 40 civilians.

{{Cite web

|language=ru

|url=https://theins.info/news/258559

|title="Цель удара достигнута". Минобороны России подтвердило ракетные удары по Украине 14 января, в результате которых погибли более 20 человек

|website=The Insider

|archive-date=16 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230116002628/https://theins.info/news/258559 |url-status=live

}} But Peskov said that Russian forces never attack residential buildings and the residential building probably collapsed because of a Ukrainian air defence counterattack.{{Cite web

|title=Kremlin refutes accusations of missile attack on apartment block in Dnepropetrovsk

|url=https://tass.com/politics/1562725

|website=TASS news agency

|date=16 January 2023

|language=English

|access-date=6 May 2023

|archive-date=24 March 2023

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230324124811/https://tass.com/politics/1562725

|url-status=live

}}

In December 2022, Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for his statements about the killings in Bucha on charges of "spreading false information" about the armed forces. Yashin was tried over a YouTube video released in April 2022 in which he discussed the discovery of murdered Ukrainian civilians in the suburban town of Bucha, near Kyiv.

{{cite web

|url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/12/09/kremlin-critic-yashin-given-85-years-in-jail-for-bucha-massacre-claims-a79652

|title=Kremlin Critic Yashin Given 8.5 Years in Jail for Bucha Massacre Claims

|website=The Moscow Times

|date=9 December 2022

|archive-date=28 December 2022

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221228190433/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/12/09/kremlin-critic-yashin-given-85-years-in-jail-for-bucha-massacre-claims-a79652

|url-status=live

}} In February 2023, Russian journalist {{ill| Maria Ponomarenko|sv|Maria Ponomarenko}} was sentenced to six years in prison for publishing information about the Mariupol theatre airstrike.{{cite news

|title=Russia Jails Anti-War Journalist 6 Years for 'Fake News'

|url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/02/15/russia-jails-anti-war-journalist-6-years-for-fake-news-a80230

|work=The Moscow Times

|date=15 February 2023 |access-date=6 May 2023 |archive-date=3 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603015326/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2023/02/15/russia-jails-anti-war-journalist-6-years-for-fake-news-a80230

|url-status=live

}}

In May 2022, Russian state media claimed that Ukraine was using black magic to fend off the Russian military. RIA Novosti said that evidence of black magic had been found in an eastern Ukrainian village; according to their report, Ukrainian soldiers had allegedly consecrated their weapons "with blood magick" at a location with a "satanic seal".

{{Cite news

|url=https://www.vice.com/en/article/russian-state-media-claims-to-discover-militarized-ukrainian-witches/

|title=Russian State Media Claims to Discover Militarized Ukrainian Witches |work=Vice.com

|date=6 May 2022 |access-date=18 May 2022 |archive-date=19 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220519185334/https://www.vice.com/en/article/dypmpk/russian-state-media-claims-to-discover-militarized-ukrainian-witches

|url-status=live

}}

• {{Cite news

|url=https://meaww.com/russian-media-claims-ukrainians-using-satanic-seal-to-stop-putins-invasion-to-ukraine

|title=Is Ukraine using BLACK MAGIC against Russia? State media claims 'Satanic seal' was found

|first=Tuhin

|last=Chakraborty

|work=Meaww

|date=4 May 2022 |access-date=5 August 2022 |archive-date=5 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220505034654/https://meaww.com/russian-media-claims-ukrainians-using-satanic-seal-to-stop-putins-invasion-to-ukraine |url-status=live

}}

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and also a former Russian president and prime minister, described the invasion as a sacred war against Satan.{{cite news

|title=Medvedev says Russia is fighting a sacred battle against Satan

|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/medvedev-says-russia-is-fighting-sacred-battle-against-satan-2022-11-04/

|work=Reuters

|date=4 November 202

|access-date=10 May 2023 |archive-date=21 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230221002408/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/medvedev-says-russia-is-fighting-sacred-battle-against-satan-2022-11-04/

|url-status=live

}} Vladimir Solovyov, a presenter on state-owned channel Russia-1, also called the invasion a "holy war" against "Satanists" and said Russia is up against fifty countries "united by Satanism".{{cite web

|title=Russian State TV Host Says Country Entering 'Holy War Mode'

|url=https://www.newsweek.com/russian-state-television-vladimir-solovyov-ukraine-holy-war-1775589

|website=Newsweek

|date=22 January 2023 |access-date=10 May 2023 |archive-date=23 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230423152501/https://www.newsweek.com/russian-state-television-vladimir-solovyov-ukraine-holy-war-1775589

|url-status=live

}}

Assistant secretary of Russia's Security Council Aleksey Pavlov called for the "de-Satanisation" of Ukraine in October 2022, claiming that the country had turned into a "totalitarian hypersect".

{{Cite news

|title=Russia's Security Council claims there are 'hundreds of sects' in Ukraine and demands 'desatanisation' |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/10/25/7373464/

|date=25 October 2022

|access-date=27 October 2022

|work=Ukrainska Pravda

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027112218/https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/10/25/7373464/

|archive-date=27 October 2022

|url-status=live

}} In an article for the Russian state-owned Argumenty i Fakty newspaper, he identified the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish movement as one of the "hundreds of neo-pagan cults" operating in Ukraine. Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, wrote a letter to Russian authorities, asking them to condemn Pavlov's comments, which he described as "a new variety of old blood libels".

{{Cite news

|title=Russian chief rabbi protests as top official describes Chabad as a supremacist cult

|url=https://www.timesofisrael.com/russian-chief-rabbi-protests-as-top-official-describes-chabad-as-a-supremacist-cult/

|last=Gross

|first=Judah Ari

|date=26 October 2022

|access-date=27 October 2022

|work=The Times of Israel

|archive-date=27 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221027075809/https://www.timesofisrael.com/russian-chief-rabbi-protests-as-top-official-describes-chabad-as-a-supremacist-cult/ |url-status=live

}} About 70% of Ukrainians are religious, and half of those attend religious services.

{{Cite news

|title=Russia-Ukraine war live: 'Heaviest of battles' ahead in Kherson, says Kyiv |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/oct/26/russia-ukraine-war-live-news-russian-forces-battle-kherson-kyiv

|last1=Ambrose

|first1=Tom

|date=26 October 2022

|access-date=27 October 2022

|work=The Guardian

|last2=Ho

|first2=Vivian

|quote=Vladimir Putin justified the invasion of Ukraine with claims of the need to 'denazify' the country. Yesterday, Russia's security council pivoted from 'denazification' to 'desatanisation'

|last3=Sullivan

|first3=Helen

|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221026104721/https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2022/oct/26/russia-ukraine-war-live-news-russian-forces-battle-kherson-kyiv |archive-date=26 October 2022

|url-status=deviated

}}

In March 2022, videos were discovered purporting to show Ukrainian-produced disinformation about missile strikes inside Ukraine which were then "debunked" as some other event outside Ukraine. However, this may be the first case of a disinformation false-flag operation, as the original, supposedly "Ukraine-produced" disinformation was never disseminated by anyone, and was in fact preventive disinformation created specifically to be debunked and cause confusion and mitigate the impact on the Russian public of real footage of Russian strikes within Ukraine that may get past Russian-controlled media. According to Patrick Warren, head of Clemson's Media Forensics Hub, "It's like Russians actually pretending to be Ukrainians spreading disinformation. ... The reason that it's so effective is because you don't actually have to convince someone that it's true. It's sufficient to make people uncertain as to what they should trust."{{Cite news |last1=Silverman |first1=Craig |last2=Kao |first2=Jeff |title=In the Ukraine Conflict, Fake Fact-Checks Are Being Used to Spread Disinformation |date=8 March 2022 |url=https://www.propublica.org/article/in-the-ukraine-conflict-fake-fact-checks-are-being-used-to-spread-disinformation |website=ProPublica |access-date=8 March 2022 |archive-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310005504/https://www.propublica.org/article/in-the-ukraine-conflict-fake-fact-checks-are-being-used-to-spread-disinformation |url-status=live }}

The Olenivka prison massacre, described by most independent experts as a Russian-orchestrated sabotage, has been reported by Russian media as a missile attack by Ukraine. While the exact cause of the incident has still not been conclusively confirmed, most experts conclude the Russian version highly improbable.{{Cite news |title=Russia claims Ukraine used US arms to kill jailed POWs. Evidence tells a different story. |url=https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/08/europe/olenivka-donetsk-prison-attack/index.html |access-date=18 August 2022 |website=CNN |archive-date=17 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220817043731/https://www.cnn.com/interactive/2022/08/europe/olenivka-donetsk-prison-attack/index.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |date=4 August 2022 |title=US says Russia aims to fabricate evidence in prison deaths |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-moscow-donetsk-prisoners-of-war-609be7f88cbcb2e730b7c5d1bf368df5 |access-date=18 August 2022 |website=AP NEWS |language=en |archive-date=24 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220824015815/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-moscow-donetsk-prisoners-of-war-609be7f88cbcb2e730b7c5d1bf368df5 |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |title=Institute for the Study of War |url=http://dev-isw.bivings.com/ |access-date=18 August 2022 |website=Institute for the Study of War |language=en |archive-date=25 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220325065358/https://www.understandingwar.org/backgrounder/russian-offensive-campaign-assessment-march-24 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |title=Ołeniwka. Jak Rosja ukryła zbrodnię wojenna ujawniając ją |url=https://oko.press/oleniwka-jak-rosja-ukryla-zbrodnie-wojenna-ujawniajac-ja/ |access-date=18 August 2022 |website=oko.press |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818141051/https://oko.press/oleniwka-jak-rosja-ukryla-zbrodnie-wojenna-ujawniajac-ja/ |url-status=live }}

The Russian state media agency TASS claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fled Kyiv following the invasion and also that he had surrendered. Zelenskyy used social media to post statements, videos and photos to counter the Russian disinformation.{{cite news|url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-kyiv-technology-misinformation-5e884b85f8dbb54d16f5f10d105fe850|title=Russian propaganda 'outgunned' by social media rebuttals|first=David|last=Klepper|work=Associated Press|date=5 March 2022|access-date=6 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220306005127/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-volodymyr-zelenskyy-kyiv-technology-misinformation-5e884b85f8dbb54d16f5f10d105fe850|archive-date=6 March 2022|url-status=live}}{{cite news|url=https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/02/26/world/volodymyr-zelenskyy-wartime-president/|title=Ukraine's TV comedian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy finds his role as wartime leader|first1=Marc|last1=Champion|first2=Daryna|last2=Krasnolutska|date=26 February 2022|access-date=6 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226123724/https://www.japantimes.co.jp/news/2022/02/26/world/volodymyr-zelenskyy-wartime-president/|archive-date=26 February 2022|url-status=live}}

Russian state-owned television channel Russia-1 spread false claims that Zelenskyy fled Ukraine following the 10 October 2022 missile strikes.{{Cite news |url=https://www.agents.media/propaganda-obstreli/ |title=Российское телевидение сообщило об "бегстве Зеленского" из Киева, но умолчало про жертвы среди гражданских |date=10 October 2022 |access-date=10 October 2022 |website=Agentstvo |language=ru |archive-date=10 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221010195154/https://www.agents.media/propaganda-obstreli/ |url-status=live }}

Fake videos made with Artificial Intelligence were created as part of a propaganda war against Ukraine and shared in social media. These included depictions of children in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, fake ads targeting children encouraging them to denounce critics of the Ukrainian government, or fictitious statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy using deepfake technology about the country's surrender, among others.{{cite web |last=ქურასბედიანი |first=ალექსი |date=2025-06-09 |title=AI-Generated Photo Of Ukrainian Children In Military Uniforms Circulated Online {{!}} Mythdetector.com |url=https://mythdetector.com/en/ai-generated-photo-of-ukrainian-children/ |access-date=2025-06-16 |language=en-US}}{{cite web |date=2025-03-28 |title=Fake Ukraine ad urges kids to report relatives enjoying Russian music |url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/03/28/fake-ukrainian-tv-advert-urges-children-to-report-relatives-listening-to-russian-music |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=euronews |language=en}}{{cite web |date=2024-06-26 |title=Photos of Ukrainian children generated by artificial intelligence |url=https://behindthenews.ua/en/feiki/inshe/photos-of-ukrainian-children-generated-by-artificial-intelligence-607/ |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=behindthenews.ua |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Fake Ukrainian TV advert urges children to report relatives listening to Russian music |url=https://consent.yahoo.com/v2/collectConsent?sessionId=3_cc-session_a5b9d956-83dc-43c9-b435-639c28c8dcc9}}{{cite news |date=2022-03-16 |title=Deepfake video of Zelenskyy could be 'tip of the iceberg' in info war, experts warn |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/03/16/1087062648/deepfake-video-zelenskyy-experts-war-manipulation-ukraine-russia |access-date=2025-06-16 |periodical=NPR |language=en}}{{cite web |title=Ukraine war: Deepfake video of Zelenskyy telling Ukrainians to 'lay down arms' debunked |url=https://news.sky.com/story/ukraine-war-deepfake-video-of-zelenskyy-telling-ukrainians-to-lay-down-arms-debunked-12567789 |access-date=2025-06-16 |website=Sky News |language=en}}

Russian disinformation has also attempted to promote anti-refugee sentiments in Poland and other countries with an influx of mostly Ukrainian refugees from the war. Social media accounts with ties to Russia have promoted stories of refugees committing crimes or being unfairly privileged, or about locals discriminating against refugees (in particular, against black and non-Ukrainian refugees). Such disinformation is intended to weaken international support for Ukraine.{{Cite news |title=Internet zalała propaganda z Kremla. "Łączą starą narrację z nową". Jak się nie nabrać? [RADY EKSPERTA] |url=https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7%2C114883%2C28174061%2C%20wojna-w-ukrainie-polska-siec-zalala-propaganda-z-kremla-jak.html |access-date=28 August 2022 |website=gazetapl |language=pl |archive-date=22 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322201538/https://wiadomosci.gazeta.pl/wiadomosci/7,114883,28174061, |url-status=live }}

• {{Cite web |title=Ukrainian refugees and disinformation: situation in Poland, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania |url=https://edmo.eu/2022/04/05/ukrainian-refugees-and-disinformation-situation-in-poland-hungary-slovakia-and-romania/ |access-date=28 August 2022 |website=EDMO |language=en-US |archive-date=5 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220905161224/https://edmo.eu/2022/04/05/ukrainian-refugees-and-disinformation-situation-in-poland-hungary-slovakia-and-romania/ |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite news |last=Holroyd |first=Matthew |date=24 August 2022 |title=Five of the most viral misinformation posts since Ukraine war began |url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/08/24/ukraine-war-five-of-the-most-viral-misinformation-posts-and-false-claims-since-the-conflic |access-date=28 August 2022 |website=euronews |language=en |archive-date=28 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828055539/https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/08/24/ukraine-war-five-of-the-most-viral-misinformation-posts-and-false-claims-since-the-conflic |url-status=live }}
• {{Cite web |title=Anti-Ukrainian fake news – Special Services – Gov.pl website |url=https://www.gov.pl/web/special-services/anti-ukrainian-fake-news |access-date=28 August 2022 |website=Special Services |language=en-GB |archive-date=28 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828055537/https://www.gov.pl/web/special-services/anti-ukrainian-fake-news |url-status=live }}

The law of Ukraine "On Protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the State language" approved on April 25, 2019 gives priority to the Ukrainian language in more than 30 spheres of public life: in particular in public administration, media, education, science, culture, advertising, services. However, it does not regulate private communication nor ban the use of Russian language in the country, contrary to what some online claims created by Russia have asserted.{{Cite web |date=May 16, 2019 |title=Кому варто боятися закону про мову? |url=http://language-policy.info/2019/05/komu-varto-boyatysya-zakonu-pro-movu/ |access-date=2022-05-14 |website=Портал мовної політики |language=uk}}{{Cite web |date=2025-06-04 |title=Ukrainians did not ban the Russian language, but established Ukrainian for official use |url=https://antidisinfo.net/ukrainians-did-not-ban-the-russian-language-but-established-ukrainian-for-official-use/ |access-date=2025-06-18 |website=Antidisinfo |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |last=Uribe |first=Maria Ramirez |title=No, the Russian language was not banned from Ukraine |url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/jun/08/sergey-lavrov/russian-has-not-been-banned-ukraine-despite-repeat/ |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=@politifact |language=en-US}} Russian remains a widely used language in Ukraine in pop culture and in informal and business communication.{{cite book |last1=Bilaniuk |first1=Laada |title=Multilingualism in Post-Soviet Countries |author2=Svitlana Melnyk |publisher=Multilingual Matters |year=2008 |isbn=978-1-84769-087-6 |editor=Aneta Pavlenko |editor-link=Aneta Pavlenko |page=85 |chapter=A Tense and Shifting Balance: Bilingualism and Education in Ukraine |access-date=November 25, 2015 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=WO_I4d612fMC&pg=PA85 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160508130654/https://books.google.com/books?id=WO_I4d612fMC&pg=PA85 |archive-date=May 8, 2016 |url-status=live}}

On August 20, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine banned the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine by adopting the {{Ill|Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations"|uk|Закон України «Про захист конституційного ладу у сфері діяльності релігійних організацій»}}.{{Cite news |last=Service |first=RFE/RL's Ukrainian |title=Ukrainian Lawmakers Approve Law Banning Religious Groups Tied To Russian Orthodox Church |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/ukrainian-orthodox-church-moscvow-patriarchate-legislation/33085600.html |access-date=2024-08-20 |work=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-08-20 |title=Ukraine's parliament passes law banning Russian Orthodox Church |url=https://news.liga.net/en/politics/news/ukraines-parliament-passes-law-banning-russian-orthodox-church-in-ukraine |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=LIGA |language=en}} Ukrainian religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church will be banned 9 months from the moment the {{Ill|State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolicy and Freedom of Conscience|uk|Державна служба України з етнополітики та свободи совісті}} issues the order, if this religious organization does not sever relations with the Russian Orthodox Church in accordance with Orthodox canon law.{{Cite web |title=Ukrainian Parliament bans Russian-linked religious organizations, targets UOC-MP |url=https://english.nv.ua/nation/verkovna-rada-adopts-a-draft-bill-and-therefore-bans-all-moscow-ruled-religious-organizations-50444399.html |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=english.nv.ua |language=en}}{{Cite web |title=Parliament passes law banning religious organisations linked to Russia |url=https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2024/08/20/7471107/ |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=Ukrainska Pravda |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-08-20 |title=The Ukrainian Parliament supported the draft law on banning the UOC MP |url=https://babel.ua/en/news/110038-the-ukrainian-parliament-supported-the-draft-law-on-banning-the-uoc-mp |access-date=2024-08-20 |website=babel.ua |language=en}} This prohibition did not extend to Eastern Orthodoxy in general, contrary to what some online claims asserted.{{Cite news |last= |first= |date=2024-08-23 |title=Fact Check: Ukrainian MPs vote to allow Russia-linked church to be banned, not Christianity |url=https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/ukrainian-mps-vote-allow-russia-linked-church-be-banned-not-christianity-2024-08-23/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |work=Reuters |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2024-07-04 |title=Trump ally debunked: Ukraine not burning Russian-linked churches |url=https://kyivindependent.com/ukraine-fights-disinformation-not-christians-amid-russian-aggression/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=The Kyiv Independent |language=en}}

A number of fabricated CNN headlines and stories went viral on social media,{{Cite news |last=Dale |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Dale |date=6 March 2022 |title=Fact check: Phony images masquerading as CNN coverage go viral amid war in Ukraine |work=CNN|url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/05/politics/fact-check-fake-cnn-ukraine/index.html |access-date=12 March 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331024716/https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/05/politics/fact-check-fake-cnn-ukraine/index.html |url-status=live }} including of a faked image of CNN reporting that Steven Seagal had been seen alongside the Russian military, false tweets claiming that a CNN journalist had been killed in Ukraine,{{Cite news |date=26 February 2022 |title=Fact Check-CNN did not tweet that a journalist was killed in both Ukraine and Afghanistan, claims stem from imposter accounts |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-cnn-journalist-idUSL1N2V10K6 |access-date=12 March 2022 |archive-date=28 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328205941/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-cnn-journalist-idUSL1N2V10K6 |url-status=live }} a CNN lower third that was digitally altered to include a claim that Putin had issued a statement warning India not to interfere in the conflict,{{Cite news |date=27 February 2022 |title=Fact Check-CNN chyron quoting Putin warning against India's interference in the 2022 Ukraine crisis is a fake |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-cnn-india-idUSL1N2V20L6 |access-date=12 March 2022 |archive-date=12 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220312111814/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-cnn-india-idUSL1N2V20L6 |url-status=live }} and another that was altered to claim that Putin planned to delay the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine until "Biden delivers weapons to Ukraine for Russia to capture",{{Cite news |date=12 February 2022 |title=Fact Check-Screenshot of CNN news report about Biden and Russia has been digitally altered |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-cnn-chyron-idUSL1N2UN0FU |access-date=12 March 2022 |archive-date=18 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220318123614/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-cnn-chyron-idUSL1N2UN0FU |url-status=live }} as well as a fabricated CNN tweet supposedly reporting on a figure referred to as "the Kharkiv Kid finder" alongside an image that actually portrayed the YouTuber Vaush, who lives in the US and was not in Kharkiv at the time.{{ubl|{{Cite news |date=8 March 2022 |title=Fact Check-CNN did not tweet a story about 'the Kharkiv kid finder' |url=https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-ukraine-cnn-idUSL2N2VB0UM |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313102453/https://www.reuters.com/article/factcheck-ukraine-cnn-idUSL2N2VB0UM |archive-date=13 March 2022 |access-date=12 March 2022 |work=Reuters}}|{{Cite news |last=Kochi |first=Sudiksha |date=11 March 2022 |title=Fact check: Fabricated CNN tweet about 'Kharkiv Kid Finder' spreads online |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/03/11/fact-check-fabricated-cnn-tweet-kharkiv-kid-finder/9430694002/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329203352/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/factcheck/2022/03/11/fact-check-fabricated-cnn-tweet-kharkiv-kid-finder/9430694002/ |archive-date=29 March 2022 |access-date=12 March 2022 |website=USA Today}}}}

Other Western stations, including the BBC, DW and Euronews, have seen similar fakes distributed.{{ubl|{{Cite news |date=13 April 2022 |title=BBC warns of fake video claiming Ukraine carried out Kramatorsk attack |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/13/bbc-warns-fake-video-claiming-ukraine-carried-out-kramatorsk-attack |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415005837/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/13/bbc-warns-fake-video-claiming-ukraine-carried-out-kramatorsk-attack |archive-date=15 April 2022 |access-date=29 August 2022 |website=The Guardian |language=en }}|{{Cite news |title=Fact check: Fake news and content targets international media {{!}} DW {{!}} 8 July 2022 |url=https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-fake-news-and-content-targets-international-media/a-62381229 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220828000451/https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-fake-news-and-content-targets-international-media/a-62381229 |archive-date=28 August 2022 |access-date=29 August 2022 |website=Deutsche Welle |language=en-GB }}|{{Cite web |date=29 August 2023 |title=Fake Euronews video about Ukrainian refugees is being spread online |url=https://www.euronews.com/2023/08/29/dont-fall-for-this-doctored-euronews-report-spread-by-pro-kremlin-channels |access-date=21 April 2024 |website=Euronews |language=en |archive-date=21 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240421225955/https://www.euronews.com/2023/08/29/dont-fall-for-this-doctored-euronews-report-spread-by-pro-kremlin-channels |url-status=live }}}}

{{Further|Soviet imagery during the Russo-Ukrainian War}}

File:День Победы в Сакском районе, 2022, 33.jpg, Crimea, 9 May 2022]]

A video showing an elderly woman holding the Soviet national flag to greet the Ukrainian military has been widely spread in Runet since March 2022. The grandmother with a red flag was turned into an iconic image by Russian propaganda. Allegedly, it represents the desire of "ordinary Ukrainians" to reunite with their "Russian brothers".

Anna Ivanivna, the subject of the "grandmother with red flag" video, explained that she mistook the Ukrainian military for Russian invaders and she wanted to "placate" them with a Soviet flag so they would not destroy the village. She now regrets it and feels like a "traitor".{{Cite news |last=Trofimov |first=Yaroslav |date=29 May 2022 |title=A Ukrainian Woman Greeted Troops With a Soviet Flag. Now, She Tells Putin to Stop Killing Ukrainians. |language=en-US |work=The Wall Street Journal |url=https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-ukrainian-woman-greeted-troops-with-a-soviet-flag-now-she-tells-putin-to-stop-killing-ukrainians-11653816640 |access-date=6 September 2022 |issn=0099-9660 |archive-date=8 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220608105156/https://www.wsj.com/articles/a-ukrainian-woman-greeted-troops-with-a-soviet-flag-now-she-tells-putin-to-stop-killing-ukrainians-11653816640 |url-status=live }} Her house near Kharkiv was destroyed by the Russian army, and she and her husband have been evacuated. She cursed the Russian army which she deemed was responsible for shelling her house. The Ukrainian military appealed to the public to not chastise Anna Ivanivna, who was a victim herself.{{cite news | url = https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/05/5/7344253/ | title = "Grandmother with USSR flag" curses the Russian army because it destroyed her house | date = 5 May 2022 | publisher = Ukrainska Pravda | access-date = 21 May 2022 | archive-date = 14 May 2022 | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220514161123/https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2022/05/5/7344253/ | url-status = live }}{{Cite news |date=15 June 2022 |title=Babushka Z: The woman who became a Russian propaganda icon |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61757667 |access-date=28 August 2022 |archive-date=6 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220706224430/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-61757667 |url-status=live }}

On 16 January 2024, Russia carried out a missile strike on a multi-storey building in Kharkiv, claiming it had killed a dozen "French mercenaries". Local authorities said that 17 civilians were injured and that there was no military target in the building.{{cite news| title=Paris dismisses Russian claim of French 'mercenaries' in Ukraine| url=https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240118-paris-dismisses-russian-claim-of-french-mercenaries-in-ukraine| work=France24| date=18 January 2024| access-date=5 February 2024| archive-date=4 February 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240204234422/https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240118-paris-dismisses-russian-claim-of-french-mercenaries-in-ukraine| url-status=live}} Russian media even published a list of 13 French men ostensibly killed in the attack. French network Radio France Internationale (RFI) contacted two people on the list, Alexis Drion and Béranger Minaud, volunteers of the International Legion of Ukraine who were both in France during this attack on Kharkiv, and made an interview with them, confirming they never died and that the story is Russian propaganda. RFI assumes this was tied to the French announcement of a delivery of 40 SCALP missiles to the Ukrainian Army.{{cite news| title=Comment la Russie a faussement annoncé la mort de "mercenaires" français en Ukraine| work=RFI| url=https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/les-dessous-de-l-infox-la-chronique/20240126-attaque-informationnelle-la-russie-imagine-la-mort-de-mercenaires-fran%C3%A7ais-en-ukraine| date=26 January 2024| access-date=5 February 2024| archive-date=5 February 2024| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240205150938/https://www.rfi.fr/fr/podcasts/les-dessous-de-l-infox-la-chronique/20240126-attaque-informationnelle-la-russie-imagine-la-mort-de-mercenaires-fran%C3%A7ais-en-ukraine| url-status=live}}

• "Russian soldiers will be welcomed as heroes by civilians for liberating them in Ukraine" {{cite web

|title='Never saw such hell': Russian soldiers in Ukraine call home

|website=Associated Press News

|url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-intercepts-2b14732d88b3f58d4a9d0b2b562bdb28

|date=1 February 2023 |access-date=26 October 2023 |archive-date=26 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026110117/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-intercepts-2b14732d88b3f58d4a9d0b2b562bdb28

|url-status=live

}}

• Ukrainians confront Russian tanks with bare hands {{cite web

|title='Shoot, we are unarmed': Verified videos show Ukrainians confronting Russian soldiers

|url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/03/02/shoot-we-are-unarmed-verified-videos-show-ukrainians-confronting-russian-soldiers

|date=2 March 2022 |access-date=26 October 2023 |archive-date=26 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026142421/https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2022/03/02/shoot-we-are-unarmed-verified-videos-show-ukrainians-confronting-russian-soldiers

|url-status=live

}}

• Ukrainians jubilant as Ukraine retakes Kherson {{cite news

|title=Ukrainians celebrate soldiers retaking Kherson, Russia's latest defeat

|newspaper=Reuters

|url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-urges-ukraine-be-open-talks-with-russia-washington-post-2022-11-06/

|date=11 November 2022 |last1=Landay '

|first1=Jonathan

|access-date=26 October 2023 |archive-date=18 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230118165533/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/us-urges-ukraine-be-open-talks-with-russia-washington-post-2022-11-06/

|url-status=live

}}

• "No strikes are being made on civilian infrastructure" - In February 2022 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov{{cite web |title=Lavrov: No strikes being made on civilian infrastructure in Ukraine |url=https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/74265/ |date=25 February 2022 |access-date=26 October 2023 |archive-date=11 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211191008/https://interfax.com/newsroom/top-stories/74265/ |url-status=live }} "Russian armed forces do not attack civilian objects on the territory of Ukraine" - June 2023 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov {{cite web

|title=Lavrov for the BNR: Russian armed forces do not attack civilian objects in Ukraine

|url=https://bnr.bg/en/post/101845406/lavrov-for-the-bnr-russian-armed-forces-do-not-attack-civilian-objects-in-ukraine

|date=30 June 2023 |access-date=26 October 2023 |archive-date=26 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026110116/https://bnr.bg/en/post/101845406/lavrov-for-the-bnr-russian-armed-forces-do-not-attack-civilian-objects-in-ukraine

|url-status=live

}}

• Russia's full-scale aggression has caused $137.8 billion damage to Ukraine's infrastructure in a year.{{cite web

|title=When Buildings Can Talk: Real Face of Civilian Infrastructure Ruined by Russian Invaders

|url=https://ukraineworld.org/en/articles/stories/infrastructure-ruined

|date=2 February 2023 |access-date=26 October 2023 |archive-date=26 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026110121/https://ukraineworld.org/en/articles/stories/infrastructure-ruined

|url-status=live

}}

• "Civilians are not being targeted"

{{cite web

|title=RUSSIA FALSELY CLAIMS ATTACKS DON'T TARGET UKRAINIAN CIVILIANS |url=https://ge.usembassy.gov/russia-falsely-claims-attacks-dont-target-ukrainian-civilians/

|date=3 August 2022

}}

• The United Nations estimated that as of 24 July, the war had killed or injured more than 12,000 civilians
• Civilians are tortured and killed
• Civilians suffer wilful killings, attacks, unlawful confinement, torture, rape and sexual violence, as well as forcible transfer and deportation of children - Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, to the General Assembly

{{cite web |title=Statement by Erik Møse, Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, to the General Assembly Third Committee, New York [EN/RU/UK]

|url=https://reliefweb.int/report/ukraine/statement-erik-mose-chair-independent-international-commission-inquiry-ukraine-general-assembly-third-committee-new-york-enruuk

|date=25 October 2023

}}

• At least 10,000 killed civilians confirmed by the UN since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion - November 2023{{cite news

| work=UN News

| title=Ukraine: Civilian casualties mount as war enters second winter

| url=https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/11/1143852

| date=21 November 2023

| access-date=1 December 2023

| archive-date=29 November 2023

| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231129170917/https://news.un.org/en/story/2023/11/1143852

| url-status=live

}}

• The Kremlin claimed "they do not intend to impose anything by force."

{{cite web

|title=Countering disinformation with facts - Russian invasion of Ukraine

| date=4 February 2022 |url=https://www.international.gc.ca/world-monde/issues_development-enjeux_developpement/response_conflict-reponse_conflits/crisis-crises/ukraine-fact-fait.aspx?lang=eng

|access-date=26 October 2023

}}

• Civilians who refuse Russian passports denied medical facilities

{{cite web

|title=Medical care not provided to people in occupied territories of Kherson region without Russian passport

|url=https://www.ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/3778662-medical-care-not-provided-to-people-in-occupied-territories-of-kherson-region-without-russian-passport.html |date=26 October 2023

}}

• Civilians without passports threatened with deportation{{cite web

|title=Russia Threatens Ukrainians Who Refuse Russian Citizenship

|url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/16/russia-threatens-ukrainians-who-refuse-russian-citizenship

|date=16 May 2023 |access-date=26 October 2023 |archive-date=26 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231026110116/https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/16/russia-threatens-ukrainians-who-refuse-russian-citizenship

|url-status=live

}}

• "Ukrainian citizens can decide on their future" - President Putin 12 June 2021 {{cite web

|title=Article by Vladimir Putin "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians"

|url=http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181

|date=12 June 2021 |access-date=26 October 2023 |archive-date=25 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125053520/http://en.kremlin.ru/events/president/news/66181

|url-status=live

}}

{{See also|Wikipedia and the Russian invasion of Ukraine}}

Amongst Russia's attempts to control the free press and present their own views are attacks on Wikipedia, which has been on a government registry of prohibited websites for over 10 years.

In May 2022, the Wikimedia Foundation was fined 5 million rubles for articles about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia claimed to have uncovered 16.6 million messages spreading "fakes" about the invasion on platforms including Wikipedia.{{cite web |title=Russian Search Engines to Label Wikipedia as 'War Fakes' Spreader |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/21/russian-search-engines-to-label-wikipedia-as-war-fakes-spreader-a78363 |date=21 July 2022 |access-date=18 April 2023 |archive-date=9 May 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230509141323/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/07/21/russian-search-engines-to-label-wikipedia-as-war-fakes-spreader-a78363 |url-status=live }} The Wikimedia Foundation appealed the ruling in June, stating the "information at issue is fact-based and verified by volunteers who continuously edit and improve articles on the site; its removal would therefore constitute a violation of people's rights to free expression and access to knowledge."{{Cite web |last=Brodkin |first=Jon |date=28 February 2023 |title=Russia fines Wikipedia for publishing facts instead of Kremlin war propaganda |url=https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/02/russia-fines-wikipedia-for-publishing-facts-instead-of-kremlin-war-propaganda/ |access-date=22 October 2023 |website=Ars Technica |language=en-us |archive-date=3 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230603183708/https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2023/02/russia-fines-wikipedia-for-publishing-facts-instead-of-kremlin-war-propaganda/ |url-status=live }}

In November 2022, a Russian court fined the Wikimedia Foundation 2 million rubles for not deleting "false" information in seven articles about the "special military operation", including the Bucha massacre and the Mariupol theatre airstrike.{{cite web |title=Russia fines Wikimedia Foundation over Ukraine war entries |website=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-fines-wikimedia-foundation-over-ukraine-war-entries-2022-11-01/ |date=1 November 2022 |access-date=18 April 2023 |archive-date=28 February 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230228183917/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/russia-fines-wikimedia-foundation-over-ukraine-war-entries-2022-11-01/ |url-status=live }}

In February 2023, a Russian court imposed a fine of 2 million rubles on the Wikimedia Foundation for failing to remove "misinformation" about the Russian military.{{Cite news |date=28 February 2023 |title=Russian court fines Wikipedia over military 'misinformation' |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/technology/russian-court-fines-wikipedia-over-military-misinformation-2023-02-28/ |access-date=22 October 2023 |archive-date=3 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230403055706/https://www.reuters.com/technology/russian-court-fines-wikipedia-over-military-misinformation-2023-02-28/ |url-status=live }} In April 2023, another fine of 800,000 rubles was imposed on the Wikimedia Foundation for not removing materials about Russian rock band {{ill|Psiheya|ru|Психея (группа)}}, with another fine of 2 million rubles being imposed in relation to other articles such as the Russian language version of Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.{{cite web |title=Russian Court Fines Wikipedia for Article About Ukraine War |url=https://www.voanews.com/a/russian-court-fines-wikipedia-for-article-about-ukraine-war/7049589.html |date=13 April 2023 |access-date=18 April 2023 |archive-date=18 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230418135053/https://www.voanews.com/a/russian-court-fines-wikipedia-for-article-about-ukraine-war/7049589.html |url-status=live }}

{{See also|Misinformation in the Gaza war}}

On 8 October 2023, a video supposedly of Hamas thanking Ukraine for supplying them was shared by an X account linked to the Wagner Group. It was viewed over 300,000 times and shared by American far-right accounts. The next day, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev tweeted, "Well, Nato buddies, you've really got it, haven't you? The weapons handed to the Nazi regime in Ukraine are now being actively used against Israel."{{cite news |last1=Ganguly |first1=Manisha |last2=Farah |first2=Hibaq |date=11 October 2023 |title=How Israel-Hamas war disinformation is being spread online |language=en-GB |work=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/oct/11/how-israel-hamas-war-disinformation-is-being-spread-online |url-status=live |access-date=12 October 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231012013100/https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/oct/11/how-israel-hamas-war-disinformation-is-being-spread-online |archive-date=12 October 2023 |issn=0261-3077}}{{Cite web |last=Faerseth |first=John |date=18 October 2023 |title=No evidence that Hamas has received NATO weapons donated to Ukraine |url=https://www.logicallyfacts.com/en/article/no-evidence-that-hamas-has-received-nato-weapons-donated-to-ukraine |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231021014029/https://www.logicallyfacts.com/en/article/no-evidence-that-hamas-has-received-nato-weapons-donated-to-ukraine |archive-date=21 October 2023 |access-date=18 October 2023 |website=Logically |language=en}}{{Cite web |last=Gonzales |first=Angelo |date=18 October 2023 |title=What you need to know about disinformation in the Israel-Hamas war |url=https://www.rappler.com/technology/features/what-you-need-to-know-about-disinformation-in-the-israel-hamas-war/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231018114137/https://www.rappler.com/technology/features/what-you-need-to-know-about-disinformation-in-the-israel-hamas-war/ |archive-date=18 October 2023 |access-date=18 October 2023 |website=Rappler |language=en-US}}

In April 2022, Canada's Communications Security Establishment said there was a coordinated effort by Russia to promote false reports about Ukraine harvesting organs from dead soldiers, women and children.{{Cite web |last=Tunney |first=Catharine |date=1 April 2022 |title=Canadian intelligence agency calls out false Russian claim that Ukraine is harvesting organs |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cse-russia-disinformation-1.6404933 |access-date=17 December 2023 |website=CBC News |archive-date=17 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217024347/https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/cse-russia-disinformation-1.6404933 |url-status=live }}

In May 2023, RT aired a documentary titled Tanks for Kidneys, which promotes false claims that Ukraine has been selling organs since 2014, including from children in orphanages and Ukrainian soldiers.{{Cite web |last=Faerseth |first=John |date=4 December 2023 |title='Tanks for Kidneys': Accusing Ukraine of organ trafficking to weaken Western support |url=https://www.logicallyfacts.com/en/analysis/tanks-for-kidneys-accusing-ukraine-of-organ-trafficking-to-weaken-western-support |access-date=17 December 2023 |website=Logically |language=en |archive-date=17 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231217024347/https://www.logicallyfacts.com/en/analysis/tanks-for-kidneys-accusing-ukraine-of-organ-trafficking-to-weaken-western-support |url-status=live }}

In 2025, false news reports gained traction online and fuelled conspiracy theories that Russian airstrikes in Ukraine usually target pedophile and child trafficking schemes.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-03 |title=Fact check: No, Russia didn't bomb a 'pedo enclave' in Ukraine |url=https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2025/06/03/fact-check-no-russia-didnt-bomb-a-pedo-enclave-in-ukraine |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=euronews |language=en}}{{Cite web |date=2023-08-17 |title=Lies about alleged people and organ trafficking in Ukraine are spread tendentiously and without evidence |url=https://meta.mk/en/lies-about-alleged-people-and-organ-trafficking-in-ukraine-are-spread-tendentiously-and-without-evidence/ |access-date=2025-06-17 |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |title=FAKE: Zelenskyi is trafficking Ukrainian children to European pedophiles |url=https://voxukraine.org/en/fake-zelenskyi-is-trafficking-ukrainian-children-to-european-pedophiles |access-date=2025-06-17 |website=voxukraine.org |language=en-US}}

{{Further|Crocus City Hall attack#Russian allegations of Ukrainian and Western involvement}}

In March 2024, four Tajik ISIS–K gunmen launched an attack on a concert hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia, with rifles and incendiaries, killing 145.{{cite news |last=Roth |first=Andrew |title=New Islamic State videos back claim it carried out Moscow concert hall attack |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/24/new-islamic-state-videos-back-claim-it-carried-out-moscow-concert-hall-attack |access-date=24 March 2024 |work=the Guardian |publisher=Guardian News & Media |date=24 March 2024 |archive-date=24 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240324131035/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/24/new-islamic-state-videos-back-claim-it-carried-out-moscow-concert-hall-attack |url-status=live }}{{cite web | last=Rosenberg | first=Steve | title=Why is Russia trying to frame Ukraine for concert massacre? | website=BBC Home | date=8 April 2024 | url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-68759150 | access-date=10 June 2025}} Ukrainian officials described Russian claims that the perpetrators of the Crocus City Hall attack tried to escape to Ukraine as "very doubtful and primitive" disinformation, recalling that the border is heavily guarded by soldiers and drones, mined in many areas, and constantly shelled from both sides.{{cite news |title=Center for Countering Disinformation pushes back against Russian allegations of involvement in mass shooting |url=https://english.nv.ua/nation/ukraine-denies-russia-propaganda-about-involvement-in-moscow-mass-shooting-50403759.html |work=The New Voice of Ukraine |date=23 March 2024}} Latvia-based Russian news outlet Meduza has reported that pro-government and state-funded media in Russia have been instructed by the Russian government to highlight possible "traces" of Ukrainian involvement in the attack.{{cite news |title=Kremlin tells pro-government media to emphasize possible 'traces' of 'Ukrainian involvement' in reporting on Moscow terrorist attack |url=https://meduza.io/en/news/2024/03/23/kremlin-tells-pro-government-media-to-emphasize-possible-traces-of-ukrainian-involvement-in-reporting-on-moscow-terrorist-attack |work=Meduza |date=23 March 2024 |access-date=23 March 2024 |archive-date=23 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323150508/https://meduza.io/en/news/2024/03/23/kremlin-tells-pro-government-media-to-emphasize-possible-traces-of-ukrainian-involvement-in-reporting-on-moscow-terrorist-attack |url-status=live }}

On the evening of the attack, Russian television channel NTV broadcast a doctored video using audio deepfaking, purporting to show Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, confirming Ukrainian involvement in the attack, supposedly saying, "It's fun in Moscow today, I think it's very fun. I would like to believe that we will arrange such fun for them more often."{{Cite web |last1=Robinson |first1=Adam |last2=Robinson |first2=Olga |last3=Sardarizadeh |first3=Shayan |date=23 March 2024 |title=Russian TV airs fake video blaming Ukraine for Moscow attack |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/live/world-68642036?ns_mchannel=social&ns_source=twitter&ns_campaign=bbc_live&ns_linkname=65feee133c0b7a6946ae3614%26Russian%20TV%20airs%20fake%20video%20blaming%20Ukraine%20for%20Moscow%20attack%262024-03-23T15%3A40%3A04.475Z&ns_fee=0&pinned_post_locator=urn:asset:b8f8fd75-07a2-4302-866a-aeeb2c5e0aff&pinned_post_asset_id=65feee133c0b7a6946ae3614&pinned_post_type=share |access-date=23 March 2024 |website=BBC News |language=en-gb}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/03/deepfake-video-terror-moscow-putin-ukraine-claims/|title=A Deepfake Is Already Spreading Confusion and Disinformation About the Moscow Terror Attack|author=Samantha Michaels|date=23 March 2024|accessdate=23 March 2024|website=Mother Jones|archive-date=23 March 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240323200255/https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2024/03/deepfake-video-terror-moscow-putin-ukraine-claims/|url-status=live}} The deepfake was created by patching together previous news streams of the Ukrainian 1+1 channel.{{cite web |title=НТВ показал в новостях фейковое видео, где секретарь СНБО Украины "подтвердил причастность киевского режима" к теракту в "Крокус Сити Холле" |trans-title=NTV showed a fake video on the news, where the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine “confirmed the involvement of the Kyiv regime” in the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall |url=https://meduza.io/news/2024/03/23/ntv-pokazal-v-novostyah-feykovoe-video-gde-sekretar-snbo-ukrainy-podtverdil-prichastnost-kievskogo-rezhima-k-teraktu-v-krokus-siti-holle |publisher=Meduza |date=23 March 2024 |access-date=23 March 2024 |archive-date=22 March 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240322235208/https://meduza.io/news/2024/03/23/ntv-pokazal-v-novostyah-feykovoe-video-gde-sekretar-snbo-ukrainy-podtverdil-prichastnost-kievskogo-rezhima-k-teraktu-v-krokus-siti-holle |url-status=live }}

In late March 2024, more than 50% of Russians believed that Ukraine was responsible for the terrorist attack, while 27% said Islamic State was responsible and 6% blamed the so-called "collective West", according to a survey conducted by OpenMinds. The Islamic State was blamed most often by young people aged 18–30 who opposed the war in Ukraine.{{cite news |title=Financial Times: poll shows over half of Russians believe Kyiv behind deadly terrorist attack in Moscow |url=https://meduza.io/en/news/2024/04/01/financial-times-poll-shows-over-half-of-russians-believe-kyiv-behind-deadly-terrorist-attack-in-moscow |work=Meduza |date=1 April 2024}} Russia's Investigative Committee investigation completed in 2025 indicated no Ukrainian involvement, contrary to the previous public statements from the authorities.{{Cite web |last=Oglobin |first=Slava |date=2025-03-21 |title=Следствие опровергло заявления Путина и Бортникова о причастности Украины к теракту в «Крокусе» • «Агентство» |url=https://www.agents.media/sledstvie-oproverglo-zayavleniya-putina-i-bortnikova-o-prichastnosti-ukrainy-k-teraktu-v-krokuse/ |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=«Агентство» |language=ru-RU}}

{{Main|Ghost of Kyiv}}

File:Ghost of Kyiv Art.jpg.]]

On the second day of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, videos and picture went viral on social media, with claims that a Ukrainian pilot nicknamed the "Ghost of Kyiv" had shot down 6 Russian fighter jets in the first 30 hours of the war. There is no credible evidence that he existed.{{cite news |last1=Thompson |first1=Stuart |last2=Alba |first2=Davey|author-link2=Davey Alba |title=Fact and Mythmaking Blend in Ukraine's Information War |work=The New York Times |date=3 March 2022 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/technology/ukraine-war-misinfo.html |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303154004/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/03/technology/ukraine-war-misinfo.html |archive-date=3 March 2022}} A video of the alleged pilot was shared on Facebook and the official Twitter account of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, was later found to be from the video game Digital Combat Simulator World.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/60528276|title=Ukraine conflict: Further false images shared online|publisher=BBC|first=Alistair|last=Coleman|date=25 February 2022|access-date=7 March 2022|url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307141848/https://www.bbc.com/news/60528276 |archive-date=7 March 2022}}{{cite web|url=https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/feb/28/facebook-posts/ghost-kyiv-clip-video-game-not-video-fighting-ukra/|title=This 'Ghost of Kyiv' clip is from a video game, not a video of fighting in Ukraine|work=politifact|first=Madison|last=Czopek|date=28 February 2022|access-date=7 March 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220303070047/https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2022/feb/28/facebook-posts/ghost-kyiv-clip-video-game-not-video-fighting-ukra/|archive-date=3 March 2022|url-status=live}} An altered photo was also shared by the former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.{{cite news |date=1 March 2022 |title=Fact check: Ukraine's 'Ghost of Kyiv' fighter pilot |url=https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-ukraines-ghost-of-kyiv-fighter-pilot/a-60951825 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |access-date=2 March 2022 |archive-date=1 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301121017/https://www.dw.com/en/fact-check-ukraines-ghost-of-kyiv-fighter-pilot/a-60951825 |url-status=live }} On 30 April 2022, Ukrainian Air Force asked the "Ukrainian community not to neglect the basic rules of information hygiene" and to "check the sources of information, before spreading it",{{Cite news|title=How Ukraine's 'Ghost of Kyiv' legendary pilot was born|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61285833|date=2 May 2022|access-date=3 May 2022|website=BBC News|archive-date=4 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504093039/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-61285833|url-status=live}} stating that the Ghost of Kyiv "embodies the collective spirit of the highly qualified pilots of the Tactical Aviation Brigade who are successfully defending Kyiv and the region".{{cite news|last=Shoaib|first=Alia|date=1 May 2022|title=Ukraine's Air Force debunks 'Ghost of Kyiv' death, says it is not one man but represents all pilots|url=https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-ghost-of-kyiv-died-in-battle-2022-4|work=Business Insider|access-date=2 May 2022|archive-date=3 May 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503212004/https://www.businessinsider.com/ukraine-ghost-of-kyiv-died-in-battle-2022-4|url-status=live}}

The Ukrainian Air Force later admitted that the Ghost of Kyiv was a fabrication.{{Cite web |last=Galey |first=Patrick |date=2 May 2022 |title=Ukraine admits the 'Ghost of Kyiv' isn't real, but the wartime myth worked against Russia |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/ukraine-admits-ghost-kyiv-isnt-real-wartime-myth-russia-rcna26867 |access-date=20 April 2024 |website=www.nbcnews.com |language=en}}{{Cite news |last=Bubola |first=Emma |date=1 May 2022 |title=Ukraine acknowledges that the 'Ghost of Kyiv' is a myth. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/01/world/europe/ghost-kyiv-ukraine-myth.html |access-date=20 April 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=4 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220504004143/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/05/01/world/europe/ghost-kyiv-ukraine-myth.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Beachum |first=Lateshia |date=1 May 2021 |title=The 'Ghost of Kyiv' was never alive, Ukrainian air force says |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/01/ghost-of-kyiv-propaganda/ |access-date=20 April 2024 |newspaper=The Washington Post |archive-date=2 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502212919/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/05/01/ghost-of-kyiv-propaganda/ |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |date=2 May 2022 |title=Ukraine admits 'Ghost of Kyiv' fighter pilot is a myth |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-europe-media-social-cc6e278ae22f37476eb95e5133541047 |access-date=20 April 2024 |website=AP News |language=en |archive-date=2 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220502202154/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-kyiv-europe-media-social-cc6e278ae22f37476eb95e5133541047 |url-status=live }} Despite this, The Times and several other outlets published stories without evidence{{Cite web |last=Axe |first=David |title=The 'Ghost Of Kyiv,' Who Was Never Real, Just Got Killed In The Press |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/04/30/the-ghost-of-kyiv-who-was-never-real-just-got-killed-in-the-press/ |access-date=20 April 2024 |website=Forbes |language=en |archive-date=3 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220503223039/https://www.forbes.com/sites/davidaxe/2022/04/30/the-ghost-of-kyiv-who-was-never-real-just-got-killed-in-the-press/ |url-status=live }} asserting that the pilot was real and had died.

{{Main|2022 Snake Island campaign}}

On 24 February 2022, the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda published a viral audio recording in which the crew of a Russian warship offered Ukrainian border guards on Serpent Island to surrender to the Russian forces. One of the border guards responded by saying, "Russian warship, go fuck yourself".

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the death of the border guards. A few days later, Ukrainian officials reported that the border guards were alive and had been captured by Russian troops.{{Cite web |date=28 February 2022 |orig-date= |title=Kim Iversen Debunks FAKE Russia-Ukraine War Videos Spread Widely On Social Media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98cXig0hOVw |access-date=26 September 2022 |work=The Hill |archive-date=15 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220815112531/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=98cXig0hOVw |url-status=live }} The New York Times stated that "The Ghost of Kyiv" story was likely to be false and that the claim that the Snake Island border guards had all been killed was false, and that both cases were either propaganda or campaigns to raise morale.

{{see also|Military deception}}

In the summer of 2022, a number of Ukrainian officials spread misleading information about the impending Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south of the country in the Kherson Oblast in order to regain control of Kherson.{{Cite news |last=Kramer |first=Andrew E. |date=26 September 2023 |title=Disinformation is a weapon regularly deployed in Russia's war in Ukraine. |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-disinformation.html |access-date=9 January 2024 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331 |archive-date=9 January 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240109114237/https://www.nytimes.com/2023/09/26/world/europe/ukraine-russia-war-disinformation.html |url-status=live }} Ukrainian special forces have said that the highly publicized Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kherson Oblast was a military disinformation campaign aimed at distracting Russian forces from the real offensive that was being prepared in the Kharkiv Oblast. Taras Berezovets, a spokesman for the Ukrainian special forces brigade, said: "[It] was a big special disinformation operation. ... [Russia] thought it would be in the south and moved their equipment. Then, instead of the south, the offensive happened where they least expected, and this caused them to panic and flee".{{Cite news |date=10 September 2022 |title=Ukraine's southern offensive 'was designed to trick Russia' |language=en |website=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/10/ukraines-publicised-southern-offensive-was-disinformation-campaign |url-status=live |access-date=15 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220911090543/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/sep/10/ukraines-publicised-southern-offensive-was-disinformation-campaign |archive-date=11 September 2022}}{{Cite web |last=Times |first=The Brussels |title=Ukraine using disinformation tactics to recapture territory in Kharkiv region |url=https://www.brusselstimes.com/287513/ukraine-using-disinformation-tactics-to-recapture-territory-in-kharkiv-region |access-date=28 November 2023 |website=www.brusselstimes.com |language=en}}

Alexander Titov from Queen's University Belfast notes that the rumours about new Russian mobilisation are "partly a misinformation campaign launched by Kyiv to sow dissent in Russia" and that the "spreading rumours of imminent mobilisation in Russian is clearly part of Ukraine's psychological warfare, but the more they do it without anything happening, the less credible it becomes".{{Cite web |last=Titov |first=Alexander |date=28 September 2023 |title=Ukraine war: Putin avoids further mobilisation while Kyiv suffers manpower shortage |url=http://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-putin-avoids-further-mobilisation-while-kyiv-suffers-manpower-shortage-214590 |access-date=3 December 2023 |website=The Conversation |language=en-US |archive-date=3 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231203093840/http://theconversation.com/ukraine-war-putin-avoids-further-mobilisation-while-kyiv-suffers-manpower-shortage-214590 |url-status=live }}

On 22 September 2022, the "conscript base" of the 2022 Russian mobilisation from the hacker group Anonymous began to spread in Ukrainian Telegram channels. As it was claimed, the distributed file allegedly contained the passport data of more than 305 thousand Russians subject to mobilisation "first of all". It was also noted that Anonymous hackers obtained the data by hacking the website of the Russian defence ministry, but the group itself didn't report this leak. The ministry didn't comment on the alleged leak, but reposted "War on Fakes", a Telegram channel. The report says that the published database "is compiled from several open databases and has nothing to do with the Ministry of Defense." Ruslan Leviev, the founder of Conflict Intelligence Team, and Andrei Zakharov, a correspondent of the BBC News Russian, are of the opinion that the "conscript base" is a fake.{{Cite web |title=В телеграме опубликовали "базу призывников" от Anonymous. Эксперты назвали ее фейковой |url=https://meduza.io/news/2022/09/22/v-telegrame-opublikovali-bazu-prizyvnikov-ot-anonymous-eksperty-nazvali-ee-feykovoy |access-date=12 January 2023 |website=Meduza |language=ru |archive-date=22 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922170842/https://meduza.io/news/2022/09/22/v-telegrame-opublikovali-bazu-prizyvnikov-ot-anonymous-eksperty-nazvali-ee-feykovoy |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Чикнаева |first=Вита |date=22 September 2022 |title=В соцсетях появилась "база призывников" |url=https://paperpaper.ru/papernews/2022/9/22/v-socsetyah-poyavilas-baza-prizyvnik/ |access-date=12 January 2023 |website=«Бумага» |language=ru-RU |archive-date=22 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220922171835/https://paperpaper.ru/papernews/2022/9/22/v-socsetyah-poyavilas-baza-prizyvnik/ |url-status=live }}

File:Обращение Алексея Резникова (30-12-2022).png announced a second wave of Russian mobilization, which was supposed to begin on 5 January 2023]]

In December 2022, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and head of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov claimed that a new wave of mobilisation would begin on 5 January 2023, but this didn't happen. Then in January of the same year, Ukrainian officials continued to claim that 500,000 people would be mobilized that same month.

On 9 January 2023, information spread on social networks that the Federal Security Service sent all border services an order to restrict the departure of Russian citizens subject to conscription for military service.{{Cite web |last=Султаналиева |first=Чынара |date=13 January 2023 |title=Фактчек: Россия с 9 января ограничивает выезд военнообязанным? |url=https://factcheck.kg/faktchek-rossiya-s-9-yanvarya-ogranichivaet-vyezd-voennoobyazannym/,%20https://factcheck.kg/faktchek-rossiya-s-9-yanvarya-ogranichivaet-vyezd-voennoobyazannym/ |access-date=2 December 2023 |website=Factcheck.kg |language=ru-RU }}{{Dead link|date=December 2024 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} On 11 January, this statement was published, among other things, by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called that as "information sabotage". The head of the human rights group Agora, Pavel Chikov, called the "orders" a fake, because "the orders were executed inappropriately, although they are similar to the original ones".{{Cite web |date=11 January 2023 |title="Это утка и информационная диверсия". Кремль отрицает слухи о запрете на выезд из России мужчинам призывного возраста |url=https://meduza.io/news/2023/01/11/eto-utka-i-informatsionnaya-diversiya-kreml-otritsaet-sluhi-o-zaprete-na-vyezd-iz-rossii-muzhchinam-prizyvnogo-vozrasta |access-date=2 December 2023 |website=Meduza |language=ru |archive-date=11 January 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230111233422/https://meduza.io/news/2023/01/11/eto-utka-i-informatsionnaya-diversiya-kreml-otritsaet-sluhi-o-zaprete-na-vyezd-iz-rossii-muzhchinam-prizyvnogo-vozrasta |url-status=live }} Factcheck.kg noted that, according to the Russian GOST for official documents, the date must be indicated in a "verbal-digital way" and that when writing an order it is also necessary to refer to the law. Paragraph 12 contains an extra character, which is also unacceptable. Also the document is not certified by the seal or signature of the relevant officials or organizations and, thus, is a fake.

On 5 September 2023, a document allegedly signed by Sergei Shoigu on a new wave of Russian mobilization appeared in the Ukrainian media and Telegram channels (including UNIAN). Regional and federal representatives of the Russian authorities called the "order" a fake. Russian independent media SOTA concluded that it was a fake and provided a number of arguments to support this opinion; for example, in Russian legislation there are not "representatives of military commissariats", but military commissars.{{Cite web |title=В телеграм-каналах появился "приказ" Шойгу о мобилизации 200 тысяч человек. Региональные власти назвали его фейком. В Госдуме заявили, что сейчас мобилизация не нужна |url=https://meduza.io/news/2023/09/05/v-telegram-kanalah-poyavilsya-prikaz-shoygu-o-mobilizatsii-200-tysyach-chelovek-regionalnye-vlasti-nazvali-ego-feykom-v-gosdume-zayavili-chto-seychas-mobilizatsiya-ne-nuzhna |access-date=3 December 2023 |website=Meduza |language=ru |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202200437/https://meduza.io/news/2023/09/05/v-telegram-kanalah-poyavilsya-prikaz-shoygu-o-mobilizatsii-200-tysyach-chelovek-regionalnye-vlasti-nazvali-ego-feykom-v-gosdume-zayavili-chto-seychas-mobilizatsiya-ne-nuzhna |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Пономарёва |first=Аля |date=8 September 2023 |title="Другого пути у Путина нет". Слухи в соцсетях об осенней мобилизации |language=ru |work=Радио Свобода |url=https://www.svoboda.org/a/drugogo-puti-u-putina-net-sluhi-v-socsetyah-ob-osenney-mobilizacii/32584022.html |access-date=3 December 2023 |archive-date=2 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231202200436/https://www.svoboda.org/a/drugogo-puti-u-putina-net-sluhi-v-socsetyah-ob-osenney-mobilizacii/32584022.html |url-status=live }} A few days later, on 11 September, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces published an unsubstantiated statement that Russia could soon launch a major mobilization campaign of 400,000 to 700,000 people.{{Cite news |date=11 September 2023 |title=Ukraine says Russia may soon launch big mobilisation drive |language=en |work=Reuters |url=https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-russia-may-soon-launch-big-mobilisation-drive-2023-09-11/ |access-date=3 December 2023 |archive-date=24 November 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231124234325/https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/ukraine-says-russia-may-soon-launch-big-mobilisation-drive-2023-09-11/ |url-status=live }}

The media focused much less on how other countries' propaganda during Russia's invasion of Ukraine worked to promote certain narratives.

Russosphere is a French-language social network that promotes pro-Russian propaganda in Africa. It was created in 2021, but fully launched in February 2022, prior to the invasion of Ukraine.{{Cite news |date=1 February 2023 |title=Russia in Africa: How disinformation operations target the continent |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64451376 |access-date=15 April 2023 |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415083943/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-64451376 |url-status=live }} It amassed over 65,000 followers on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, as well as Telegram and VK.{{Cite web |last=Bond |first=Shannon |date=1 February 2023 |title=A pro-Russian social media campaign is trying to influence politics in Africa |url=https://www.npr.org/2023/02/01/1152899845/a-pro-russian-social-media-campaign-is-trying-to-influence-politics-in-africa |access-date=15 April 2023 |website=NPR |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415020653/https://www.npr.org/2023/02/01/1152899845/a-pro-russian-social-media-campaign-is-trying-to-influence-politics-in-africa |url-status=live }} The network's posts typically accuse France of modern-day "colonialism", describe the Ukrainian Army as "Nazis" and "Satanists", and praise the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company. In early 2023, the BBC and Logically reported that Russosphere was created by Luc Michel, a Belgian far-right activist.{{Cite web |last1=Walter |first1=Kyle |last2=Backovic |first2=Nick |title=Kremlin-Tied Propagandists Spearhead New Influence Operations |url=https://www.logically.ai/resources/kremlin-tied-propagandists-spearhead-new-influence-operations |access-date=15 April 2023 |website=Logically |language=en |archive-date=15 April 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230415115556/https://www.logically.ai/resources/kremlin-tied-propagandists-spearhead-new-influence-operations |url-status=live }}

In March 2022, Visegrád 24 posted an unsourced tweet falsely claiming that Leonardo DiCaprio had donated $10 million to Ukraine. The false story was picked up by news outlets around the world, such as India's Hindustan Times, the U.K.'s The Independent and the Daily Mail, and American conservative websites The Daily Caller and the Washington Examiner, before being retracted.{{Cite web |last=Dale |first=Daniel |author-link=Daniel Dale |date=12 March 2022 |title=Fact check: How a false story about Leonardo DiCaprio donating $10 million to Ukraine spread around the world |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/12/politics/fact-check-dicaprio-donation-10-million-ukraine/index.html |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220830220147/https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/12/politics/fact-check-dicaprio-donation-10-million-ukraine/index.html |archive-date=30 August 2022 |access-date=25 January 2024 |website=CNN |language=en}}

In December 2023, Microsoft revealed that messages recorded by US actors on the website Cameo have been repurposed to spread misinformation about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy being a drug addict on social media and Russian state media.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67644699 |title=Russia tricks US actors into appearing in propaganda videos |last=Yousif |first=Nadine |website=BBC News |date=8 December 2023 |access-date=8 December 2023 |archive-date=8 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231208002149/https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-67644699 |url-status=live }} Wired reported that images of Western celebrities edited to contain pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian quotes were spread on Facebook, with the operation being linked to Doppelganger, a Russian disinformation campaign.{{cite magazine |url=https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ukraine-taylor-swift-disinformation/ |title=Fake Taylor Swift Quotes Are Being Used to Spread Anti-Ukraine Propaganda |last=Gilbert |first=David |magazine=Wired |date=6 December 2023 |access-date=8 December 2023 |archive-date=11 December 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231211105526/https://www.wired.com/story/russia-ukraine-taylor-swift-disinformation/ |url-status=live }}

{{Broader|Media freedom in Russia}}

On 4 March 2022, Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, with the Russian government deciding what is the truth, leading to some media outlets in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine or shutting their media outlet.{{Cite news |work=Moscow Times |title=Over 150 Journalists Flee Russia Amid Wartime Crackdown On Free Press – Reports |date=3 April 2022 |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/07/over-150-journalists-flee-russia-amid-wartime-crackdown-on-free-press-reports-a76809 |access-date=3 April 2022 |quote=Dozhd, Ekho Moskvy and Znak have closed down after being blocked by the authorities |archive-date=8 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220308225548/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/07/over-150-journalists-flee-russia-amid-wartime-crackdown-on-free-press-reports-a76809 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/04/putin-signs-law-introducing-jail-terms-for-fake-news-on-army-a76768 |title=Putin Signs Law Introducing Jail Terms for 'Fake News' on Army |website=Moscow Times |date=4 March 2022 |access-date=13 March 2022 |archive-date=14 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220314132340/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/04/putin-signs-law-introducing-jail-terms-for-fake-news-on-army-a76768 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Even Russia's Kremlin-backed media is going off message and beginning to question Putin's war on Ukraine |url=https://fortune.com/2022/03/11/russia-kremlin-backed-media-off-message-question-putin-war-ukraine-invasion/ |work=Fortune |date=11 March 2022 |access-date=13 March 2022 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313210940/https://fortune.com/2022/03/11/russia-kremlin-backed-media-off-message-question-putin-war-ukraine-invasion/ |url-status=live }} Although the 1993 Russian Constitution has an article expressly prohibiting censorship,{{cite news |title=Explained: What Russia's war on Ukraine has meant for its news media |url=https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-russia-war-ukraine-news-media-7825151/ |work=The Indian Express |date=18 March 2022 |access-date=20 March 2022 |archive-date=29 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329004411/https://indianexpress.com/article/explained/explained-russia-war-ukraine-news-media-7825151/ |url-status=live }} the Russian censorship apparatus Roskomnadzor ordered the country's media to only use information from Russian state sources or face fines and blocks, and accused a number of independent media outlets of spreading "unreliable socially significant untrue information" about the shelling of Ukrainian cities by the Russian army and civilian deaths.{{cite news |author= |title=Russia Bans Media Outlets From Using Words 'War,' 'Invasion' |date=26 February 2022 |magazine=Moscow Times |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/26/russia-bans-media-outlets-from-using-words-war-invasion-a76605 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220227/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/26/russia-bans-media-outlets-from-using-words-war-invasion-a76605 |archive-date=27 February 2022}}{{Cite news |date=24 February 2022 |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/24/use-only-official-sources-about-ukraine-war-russian-media-watchdog-tells-journalists-a76567 |title=Use Only Official Sources About Ukraine War, Russian Media Watchdog Tells Journalists |website=Moscow Times |access-date=24 February 2022 |archive-date=24 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220224123216/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/24/use-only-official-sources-about-ukraine-war-russian-media-watchdog-tells-journalists-a76567 |url-status=live }}

Roskomnadzor launched an investigation against the Novaya Gazeta, Echo of Moscow, inoSMI, MediaZona, New Times, TV Rain, and other independent Russian media outlets for publishing "inaccurate information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian Army".{{cite news |title=Russian Government Orders Media Outlets To Delete Stories Referring To 'Invasion' Or 'Assault' On Ukraine |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/roskomnadzor-russia-delete-stories-invasion/31724838.html|archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220227/https://www.rferl.org/a/roskomnadzor-russia-delete-stories-invasion/31724838.html |archive-date=27 February 2022 |work=Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, RFE/RL |date=26 February 2022}} On 1 March 2022, the Russian government blocked access to TV Rain, as well as Echo of Moscow, in response to their coverage of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. The channel closed, with its general director announcing they would be "temporarily halting its operations", on 3 March 2022; its frequencies were later reassigned to the Russian state propaganda outlet Sputnik Radio.{{Cite news |url=https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/russian-tv-channel-says-it-is-temporarily-halting-work-2022-03-03/ |title=Russian TV channel says it is temporarily halting work |date=3 March 2022 |work=Reuters |access-date=4 March 2022 |quote=Dozhd (Rain) is temporarily halting its work|archive-date=5 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220305094317/https://www.reuters.com/business/retail-consumer/russian-tv-channel-says-it-is-temporarily-halting-work-2022-03-03/ |url-status=live}}{{Cite web |last= |first= |date=8 March 2022 |title=Russia to Broadcast State-Run Sputnik Radio on Banned Liberal Station's Frequency |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/08/russia-to-broadcast-state-run-sputnik-radio-on-banned-liberal-stations-frequency-a76826 |access-date= |website=The Moscow Times |language=en |archive-date=7 October 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221007150237/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/03/08/russia-to-broadcast-state-run-sputnik-radio-on-banned-liberal-stations-frequency-a76826 |url-status=live }} Novaya Gazeta ceased publications on 28 March 2022 and its publishing license was revoked on 5 September, but it was quickly revived in Latvia as Novaya Gazeta Europe.{{Cite web |date=28 March 2022 |title=Russian independent newspaper Novaya Gazeta suspends publication |url=https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220328-russian-independent-newspaper-novaya-gazeta-suspends-publication |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=France 24 |language=en |archive-date=7 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240407040336/https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220328-russian-independent-newspaper-novaya-gazeta-suspends-publication |url-status=live }}{{Cite web |last=Times |first=The Moscow |date=5 September 2022 |title=Russia Revokes Novaya Gazeta Newspaper Print License |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/09/05/russia-revokes-novaya-gazeta-newspaper-print-license-a78718 |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=The Moscow Times |language=en}}{{Cite news |title=Exiled Novaya Gazeta Team Publishes In Latvia |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/novaya-gazeta-exile-latvia-publication/31838037.html |access-date=13 February 2024 |work=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |language=en}} The websites of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, The Moscow Times, Radio France Internationale, The New Times and BBC News Russian were blocked.{{Cite web |last=Times |first=The Moscow |date=28 February 2022 |title=Russia Blocks Number of Independent and Ukrainian Media Outlets |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/28/russia-blocks-number-of-independent-and-ukrainian-media-outlets-a76649 |access-date=13 February 2024 |website=The Moscow Times |language=en |archive-date=2 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602110547/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/28/russia-blocks-number-of-independent-and-ukrainian-media-outlets-a76649 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=RFE/RL |title=Russia Blocks Websites Of The Moscow Times, Radio France International Over Ukraine War Coverage |url=https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-blocks-moscow-times-ukraine-war/31804960.html |access-date=13 February 2024 |work=RadioFreeEurope/RadioLiberty |language=en |archive-date=10 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220510000120/https://www.rferl.org/a/russia-blocks-moscow-times-ukraine-war/31804960.html |url-status=live }}

As of December 2022, more than 4,000 people were prosecuted under "fake news" laws in connection with the war in Ukraine.{{cite news |last1=Weir |first1=Fred |title=In Russia, critiquing the Ukraine war could land you in prison |url=https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2022/1205/In-Russia-critiquing-the-Ukraine-war-could-land-you-in-prison |work=CSMonitor.com |date=5 December 2022 |access-date=4 June 2023 |archive-date=2 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602022102/https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Europe/2022/1205/In-Russia-critiquing-the-Ukraine-war-could-land-you-in-prison |url-status=live }} Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that "These new laws are part of Russia's ruthless effort to suppress all dissent and make sure the [Russian] population does not have access to any information that contradicts the Kremlin's narrative about the invasion of Ukraine."{{cite news |title=Russia Criminalizes Independent War Reporting, Anti-War Protests |url=https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/07/russia-criminalizes-independent-war-reporting-anti-war-protests |work=Human Rights Watch |date=7 March 2022 |access-date=4 June 2023 |archive-date=13 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220313135022/https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/03/07/russia-criminalizes-independent-war-reporting-anti-war-protests |url-status=live }}

Due to Russian fake news laws, Russian authorities blocked Facebook and Twitter, while TikTok in Russia banned new uploads. However a study by Tracking Exposed found out that TikTok had blocked all non-Russian content, but has continued to host old videos uploaded by Russia-based accounts and permitted Russian state media to continue posting, described as establishing a "splinternet" within a global social media platform.{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/mar/10/tiktok-users-in-russia-can-see-only-old-russian-made-content | title=TikTok users in Russia can see only old Russian-made content | website=TheGuardian.com | date=10 March 2022 | access-date=13 May 2022 | archive-date=13 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513030337/https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/mar/10/tiktok-users-in-russia-can-see-only-old-russian-made-content | url-status=live }} TikTok's vague censorship has permitted pro-Kremlin news but blocked foreign accounts and critics of the war, as a result "Russians are left with a frozen TikTok, dominated by pro-war content".{{Cite news | url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/13/study-finds-tiktiks-ban-on-uploads-in-russia-failed-leaving-it-dominated-by-pro-war-content/ | title=Study finds TikTok's ban on uploads in Russia failed, leaving it dominated by pro-war content | date=13 April 2022 | access-date=13 May 2022 | archive-date=13 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513131352/https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/13/study-finds-tiktiks-ban-on-uploads-in-russia-failed-leaving-it-dominated-by-pro-war-content/ | url-status=live }}{{Cite news | url=https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/12/tiktok-russian-state-media-propaganda/ | title=On TikTok, Russian state media is still posting propaganda | date=13 April 2022 | access-date=13 May 2022 | archive-date=14 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220514001309/https://techcrunch.com/2022/04/12/tiktok-russian-state-media-propaganda/ | url-status=live }}

{{Further|China and the Russian invasion of Ukraine}}

The BBC reported that coverage of the war was heavily censored on social media in China. Many stories and accounts supporting one or the other side were removed. A Taiwanese research group accused Chinese media of "regularly quoting disinformation and conspiracy theories from Russian sources".{{Cite news |last1=Wang |first1=Kai |date=12 March 2022 |title=Ukraine: How China is censoring online discussion of the war |website=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60684682 |url-status=live |access-date=28 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728134448/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/60684682 |archive-date=28 July 2022}}

In March 2022, China Global Television Network (CGTN) paid for digital ads on Facebook targeting users with newscasts featuring pro-Kremlin talking points after Meta Platforms banned Russian state media advertisements.{{Cite news |last=Gold |first=Ashley |date=9 March 2022 |title=China's state media buys Meta ads pushing Russia's line on war |url=https://www.axios.com/chinas-state-media-meta-facebook-ads-russia-623763df-c5fb-46e4-a6a8-36b607e1b672.html |work=Axios |access-date=10 March 2022 |archive-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310001812/https://www.axios.com/chinas-state-media-meta-facebook-ads-russia-623763df-c5fb-46e4-a6a8-36b607e1b672.html |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Wen Liu |first=Tracy |date=23 March 2022 |title=Chinese State Media Is Pushing Pro-Russian Misinformation Worldwide |work=Foreign Policy |url=https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/23/chinese-state-media-russian-misinformation-worldwide/ |access-date=23 March 2022 |archive-date=23 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220323145828/https://foreignpolicy.com/2022/03/23/chinese-state-media-russian-misinformation-worldwide/ |url-status=live }} The same month, CGTN repeated unsubstantiated Russian claims of biological weapons labs in Ukraine.{{Cite news |last=Rising |first=David |date=11 March 2022 |title=China amplifies unsupported Russian claim of Ukraine biolabs |work=Associated Press |url=https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-covid-health-biological-weapons-china-39eeee023efdf7ea59c4a20b7e018169 |access-date=11 March 2022 |archive-date=11 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220311112049/https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-covid-health-biological-weapons-china-39eeee023efdf7ea59c4a20b7e018169 |url-status=live }} A leaked internal directive from The Beijing News ordered its employees not to publish news reports that were "negative about Russia". An analysis found that nearly half of Weibo's social media posts used Russia sources which were pro-Putin or described Ukraine in negative terms, while another third of posts were anti-West and blamed NATO, while very few posts described the war in neutral terms. Several history professors have penned an open letter that strongly opposed China's support for "Russia's war against Ukraine" but their post was quickly deleted by censors, while a celebrity who criticized Russia over the invasion had her account suspended.{{Cite news | url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/china/china-russia-disinformation-campaign-ukraine-intl-dst-hnk/index.html | title=China's promotion of Russian disinformation indicates where its loyalties lie | website=CNN | date=10 March 2022 | access-date=12 May 2022 | archive-date=12 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220512010902/https://www.cnn.com/2022/03/10/china/china-russia-disinformation-campaign-ukraine-intl-dst-hnk/index.html | url-status=live }}{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/20/chinese-article-urging-country-to-cut-ties-with-putin-gets-1m-views | title=Chinese article urging country to cut ties with Putin gets 1m views | website=TheGuardian.com | date=20 March 2022 | access-date=12 May 2022 | archive-date=11 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220511111310/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/20/chinese-article-urging-country-to-cut-ties-with-putin-gets-1m-views | url-status=live }}{{Cite news | url=https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/03/17/tiktok-s-ban-on-foreign-content-in-russia-risks-turning-it-into-a-propaganda-platform | title=What do Russians see on TikTok? | date=17 March 2022 | access-date=13 May 2022 | archive-date=17 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220517132207/https://www.euronews.com/next/2022/03/17/tiktok-s-ban-on-foreign-content-in-russia-risks-turning-it-into-a-propaganda-platform | url-status=live }}

{{See also|Denialism|Doublethink|Selective exposure theory}}

File:Vladimir Putin and Konstantin Ernst 24 March 2014.jpeg, chief of Russia's main state-controlled TV station Channel One{{cite news |title=Canada sanctions 10 Putin allies, including Russia's leading TV propagandists |url=https://www.icij.org/investigations/russia-archive/canada-sanctions-10-putin-allies-including-russias-leading-tv-propagandists/ |work=The International Consortium of Investigative Journalists |date=8 March 2022 |access-date=13 March 2022 |archive-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310042720/https://www.icij.org/investigations/russia-archive/canada-sanctions-10-putin-allies-including-russias-leading-tv-propagandists/ |url-status=live }}]]

Facebook uncovered a Russian campaign using fake accounts, and attempts to hack the accounts of high-profile Ukrainians.{{cite news

|title=Facebook and TikTok ban Russian state media in Europe |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/28/facebook-ukraine-russian-disinformation/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220301/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/02/28/facebook-ukraine-russian-disinformation/ |archive-date=1 March 2022 |first1=Elizabeth |last1=Dwoskin |first2=Cat |last2=Zakrzewski |date=28 February 2022}} There are reports of Russian government staff searching for "organic content" posted by genuine users in support of the Kremlin, while making sure that these do not run afoul of platform guidelines, then amplifying these posts. Researchers have found that Russia's Internet Research Agency has operated numerous troll farms who spam critics of the Kremlin with pro-Putin and pro-war comments.{{Cite news | url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/01/russia-trolling-ukraine-traction-tiktok | title=Russia's trolling on Ukraine gets 'incredible traction' on TikTok | website=TheGuardian.com | date=May 2022 | access-date=13 May 2022 | archive-date=13 May 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220513161157/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/may/01/russia-trolling-ukraine-traction-tiktok | url-status=live }}

In February 2022, Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat judged that the quality of Russian misinformation videos had weakened, but remained especially effective for the older generation of Russians.

Some observers noted what they described as a "generational struggle" among Russians over perception of the war, with younger Russians often opposed to the war and older Russians more likely to accept the narrative presented by state-controlled mass media in Russia.{{cite news |title=How do young Ukrainians and Russians feel about another war? |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/7/not-worth-fighting-for-young-ukrainians-and-russians-shun-war |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=7 February 2022 |access-date=13 March 2022 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307230451/https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/7/not-worth-fighting-for-young-ukrainians-and-russians-shun-war |url-status=live }} Kataryna Wolczuk, an associate fellow of Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia programme, said that "[Older] Russians are inclined to think in line with the official 'narrative' that Russia is defending Russian speakers in Ukraine, so it's about offering protection rather than aggression." About two-thirds of Russians use television as their primary source of daily news.{{cite news |title=How Russian media outlets are preparing an attack on Ukraine |url=https://www.dw.com/en/how-russian-media-outlets-are-preparing-an-attack-on-ukraine/a-60801837 |publisher=Deutsche Welle |date=16 February 2022 |access-date=20 March 2022 |archive-date=28 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328162253/https://www.dw.com/en/how-russian-media-outlets-are-preparing-an-attack-on-ukraine/a-60801837 |url-status=live }} According to the cyber threat intelligence company Miburo, about 85% of Russians get most of their news from Russian state-controlled media.{{cite magazine |last1=Stengel |first1=Richard |title=Putin May Be Winning the Information War Outside of the U.S. and Europe |url=https://time.com/6179221/putin-information-war-column/ |magazine=Time |date=20 May 2022 |access-date=15 July 2023 |archive-date=18 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220818141722/https://time.com/6179221/putin-information-war-column/ |url-status=live }}

Many Ukrainians say that their relatives and friends in Russia trust what the state-controlled media tells them and refuse to believe that there is a war in Ukraine and that the Russian army is shelling Ukrainian cities.{{cite news |title='My cousins are killing one another': War in Ukraine splits mixed families |url=https://www.wionews.com/world/my-cousins-are-killing-one-another-war-in-ukraine-splits-mixed-families-457947 |publisher=WION |date=1 March 2022 |access-date=13 March 2022 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307093621/https://www.wionews.com/world/my-cousins-are-killing-one-another-war-in-ukraine-splits-mixed-families-457947 |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Ukrainians Find That Relatives in Russia Don't Believe It's a War |first=Valerie |last=Hopkins |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/06/world/europe/ukraine-russia-families.html |work=The New York Times |date=6 March 2022 |access-date=13 March 2022 |archive-date=10 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220310004725/https://www.nytimes.com/2022/03/06/world/europe/ukraine-russia-families.html |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Relationships across the Ukraine-Russia border feel the strain of war |first=Ryan |last=Lucas |url=https://www.npr.org/2022/03/06/1084800742/relationships-across-the-ukraine-russia-border-feel-the-strain-of-war?t=1646640661231 |publisher=NPR |date=6 March 2022 |access-date=13 March 2022 |archive-date=7 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220307093615/https://www.npr.org/2022/03/06/1084800742/relationships-across-the-ukraine-russia-border-feel-the-strain-of-war?t=1646640661231 |url-status=live }}

Some Western commentators have claimed that the main reason many Russians have supported Putin and the "special military operation" in Ukraine has to do with the propaganda and disinformation.{{cite news |title='Pure Orwell': how Russian state media spins invasion as liberation |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/pure-orwell-how-russian-state-media-spins-ukraine-invasion-as-liberation |work=The Guardian |date=25 February 2022 |access-date=5 May 2022 |archive-date=21 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220321124351/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/25/pure-orwell-how-russian-state-media-spins-ukraine-invasion-as-liberation |url-status=live }}{{cite magazine |last1=Yaffa |first1=Joshua |title=Why Do So Many Russians Say They Support the War in Ukraine? |url=https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-do-so-many-russians-say-they-support-the-war-in-ukraine |magazine=The New Yorker |date=29 March 2022 |access-date=5 May 2022 |archive-date=15 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220415070009/https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/why-do-so-many-russians-say-they-support-the-war-in-ukraine |url-status=live }}{{cite news |title=Russians in the dark about true state of war amid country's Orwellian media coverage |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/03/media/russia-media-ukraine-cmd-intl/index.html |work=CNN |date=3 April 2022 |access-date=5 May 2022 |archive-date=9 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220409160202/https://edition.cnn.com/2022/04/03/media/russia-media-ukraine-cmd-intl/index.html |url-status=live }} At the end of March, a poll conducted in Russia by the Levada Center concluded the following: When asked why they think the military operation is taking place, respondents said it was to protect and defend civilians, ethnic Russians or Russian speakers in Ukraine (43%), to prevent an attack on Russia (25%), to get rid of nationalists and "denazify" Ukraine (21%), and to incorporate Ukraine and/or the Donbas region into Russia (3%)."{{cite news |title=Russian Public Accepts Putin's Spin on Ukraine Conflict |url=https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/research/public-opinion-survey/russian-public-accepts-putins-spin-ukraine-conflict |work=Chicago Council on Global Affairs |date=12 April 2022 |access-date=5 May 2022 |archive-date=9 May 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220509104241/https://www.thechicagocouncil.org/research/public-opinion-survey/russian-public-accepts-putins-spin-ukraine-conflict |url-status=live }}

In China,{{Cite news |last=Dwoskin |first=Elizabeth |date=8 April 2022 |title=China is Russia's most powerful weapon for information warfare |language=en-US |newspaper=The Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/08/russia-china-disinformation/ |access-date=8 May 2022 |issn=0190-8286 |archive-date=19 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419074515/https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/04/08/russia-china-disinformation/ |url-status=live }}{{cite news |last1=Repnikova |first1=Maria |author-link=Maria Repnikova |last2=Zhou |first2=Wendy |date=11 March 2022 |title=What China's Social Media Is Saying About Ukraine |url=https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/china-xi-ukraine-war-america/627028/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317144658/https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2022/03/china-xi-ukraine-war-america/627028/ |archive-date=17 March 2022 |access-date=21 March 2022 |work=The Atlantic}} India,{{Cite news |date=2 March 2022 |title=#IStandWithPutin trending in India amid Russia-Ukraine conflict |url=https://www.dtnext.in/News/TopNews/2022/03/02180433/1356157/IStandWithPutin-trending-in-India-amid-RussiaUkraine-.vpf |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329031620/https://www.dtnext.in/News/TopNews/2022/03/02180433/1356157/IStandWithPutin-trending-in-India-amid-RussiaUkraine-.vpf |archive-date=29 March 2022 |website=DT Next}}{{Cite news |last=Poddar |first=Umang |date=8 March 2022 |title=How Indians on the internet view India's tacit support of Russia |url=https://qz.com/india/2136155/how-indians-on-the-internet-view-indias-tacit-support-of-russia/ |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220329031744/https://qz.com/india/2136155/how-indians-on-the-internet-view-indias-tacit-support-of-russia/ |archive-date=29 March 2022 |website=Quartz}} Indonesia,{{Cite news |date=9 March 2022 |title=Why Are Indonesian Netizens Expressing Support for Russia's Invasion of Ukraine? |url=https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/why-are-indonesian-netizens-expressing-support-for-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/ |access-date=21 March 2022 |first=Sebastian |last=Strangio |website=The Diplomat |archive-date=22 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220322110635/https://thediplomat.com/2022/03/why-are-indonesian-netizens-expressing-support-for-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/ |url-status=live }} Malaysia,{{Cite news |first=Hadi |last=Azmi |date=19 March 2022 |title=How Russia and Ukraine are trying to win the battle on Malaysia's social media |url=https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/3171049/ukraine-war-battle-malaysias-social-media-propaganda-tool-russia-and |website=South China Morning Post |access-date=20 April 2022 |archive-date=19 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220319083849/https://www.scmp.com/week-asia/article/3171049/ukraine-war-battle-malaysias-social-media-propaganda-tool-russia-and |url-status=live }} Africa,{{cite news |last=Gathara |first=Patrick |title=Why Africa does not appear to be 'standing with Ukraine' |url=https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/3/23/why-africa-does-not-appear-to-be-standing-with-ukraine |publisher=Al Jazeera |date=23 March 2022 |access-date=20 April 2022 |archive-date=1 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220401063713/https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2022/3/23/why-africa-does-not-appear-to-be-standing-with-ukraine |url-status=live }} the Arab world,{{cite news |title=Ukraine War: Arab Social Media Unsympathetic, Sees Western Hypocrisy |url=https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-russia-war-arab-social-media-hypocrisy-west-1696106 |work=Newsweek |date=7 April 2022 |access-date=20 April 2022 |archive-date=19 April 2022 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20220419085554/https://www.newsweek.com/ukraine-russia-war-arab-social-media-hypocrisy-west-1696106 |url-status=live }} and Latin America,{{cite news |last=Latif |first=Asad |title=Latin American media respond to Ukraine invasion with mix of deja vu, consternation |url=https://www.straitstimes.com/world/latin-american-media-respond-to-ukraine-invasion-with-mix-of-deja-vu-consternation |work=The Straits Times |date=17 March 2022 |access-date=20 April 2022 |archive-date=17 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220317090045/https://www.straitstimes.com/world/latin-american-media-respond-to-ukraine-invasion-with-mix-of-deja-vu-consternation |url-status=live }} some social media users trended towards showing sympathy for Russian narratives. A study performed by Airlangga University revealed that 71% of Indonesian netizens supported the invasion.{{Cite news |editor-last=Iswara |editor-first=Aditya Jaya |date=15 March 2022 |title=Kenapa Mayoritas Netizen Indonesia Dukung Invasi Rusia ke Ukraina dan Kagum dengan Putin? |trans-title=Why do the majority of Indonesian netizens support the Russian invasion of Ukraine and admire Putin? |language=id |work=Kompas |agency=BBC News Indonesia |url=https://www.kompas.com/global/read/2022/03/15/133000370/kenapa-mayoritas-netizen-indonesia-dukung-invasi-rusia-ke-ukraina-dan?page=all |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=20 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220320003521/https://www.kompas.com/global/read/2022/03/15/133000370/kenapa-mayoritas-netizen-indonesia-dukung-invasi-rusia-ke-ukraina-dan?page=all |url-status=live }} This support was due to affection for Putin's strongman leadership, as well as anti-US and anti-Western political alignments.{{Cite news |title=5 Alasan yang Bikin Banyak Warga RI Dukung Rusia Invasi Ukraina |trans-title=5 reasons why many Indonesians support Russia's invasion of Ukraine |language=id |date=14 March 2022 |work=CNN Indonesia |url=https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20220314083053-134-770749/5-alasan-yang-bikin-banyak-warga-ri-dukung-rusia-invasi-ukraina |access-date=20 April 2022 |archive-date=4 April 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220404041640/https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20220314083053-134-770749/5-alasan-yang-bikin-banyak-warga-ri-dukung-rusia-invasi-ukraina |url-status=live }} Additionally, many Indonesians supported Russia due to positive reports of Ramzan Kadyrov and claims of the Azov Regiment covering their bullets with pork lard to be used against Muslim Chechen troops in the invasion.{{Cite news |date=11 March 2022 |title=Mengapa Banyak Warga Indonesia Dukung Putin Invasi Ukraina? |language=id |trans-title=Why Do Many Indonesians Support Putin's Invasion of Ukraine? |work=CNN Indonesia |at=Page 2 |url=https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20220311071348-106-769708/mengapa-banyak-warga-indonesia-dukung-putin-invasi-ukraina/2 |access-date=20 April 2022 |archive-date=31 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220331085450/https://www.cnnindonesia.com/internasional/20220311071348-106-769708/mengapa-banyak-warga-indonesia-dukung-putin-invasi-ukraina/2 |url-status=live }}{{Cite news |last=Anggadhitya |first=Riffa |date=10 March 2022 |title=Masyarakat Indonesia Dinilai Media Asing Lebih Dukung Rusia Dibanding Ukraina, Kenapa Ya? |trans-title=Indonesian people are considered by foreign media to be more supportive of Russia than Ukraine, why yes? |language=id |work=Pikiran Rakyat |url=https://cimahi.pikiran-rakyat.com/internasional/pr-513938770/masyarakat-indonesia-dinilai-media-asing-lebih-dukung-rusia-dibanding-ukraina-kenapa-ya?page=all |access-date=27 March 2022 |archive-date=28 March 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220328200038/https://cimahi.pikiran-rakyat.com/internasional/pr-513938770/masyarakat-indonesia-dinilai-media-asing-lebih-dukung-rusia-dibanding-ukraina-kenapa-ya?page=all |url-status=live }}

A series of four online polls by Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation found that between 25 February and 3 March, the share of respondents in Moscow who considered Russia an "aggressor" increased from 29% to 53%, while the share of those who considered Russia a "peacemaker" fell by half from 25% to 12%.{{cite news | title=Anti-war momentum growing in Russia, poll from opposition leader Navalny claims | newspaper=The Independent | date=8 March 2022 | url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-alexey-navalny-putin-b2030915.html | access-date=13 March 2022 | archive-date=9 March 2022 | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220309010105/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/russia-ukraine-war-alexey-navalny-putin-b2030915.html | url-status=live }} On 5 April 2022, Alexei Navalny said the "monstrosity of lies" in the Russian state media "is unimaginable. And, unfortunately, so is its persuasiveness for those who have no access to alternative information."{{cite news |title=Channelling Goebbels: The obscenity of Russian state TV news, as it conceals war crimes for Putin |url=https://inews.co.uk/opinion/channelling-goebbels-the-obscenity-of-russian-state-tv-news-as-it-conceals-war-crimes-for-putin-1559603?ico=best_of_opinion |work=inews.co.uk. |date=6 April 2022 |access-date=8 April 2022 |archive-date=5 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230605011707/https://inews.co.uk/opinion/channelling-goebbels-the-obscenity-of-russian-state-tv-news-as-it-conceals-war-crimes-for-putin-1559603?ico=best_of_opinion |url-status=live }} He tweeted that "warmongers" among Russian state media personalities "should be treated as war criminals. From the editors-in-chief to the talk show hosts to the news editors, [they] should be sanctioned now and tried someday."{{cite news |title=Navalny Calls for Sanctions Against Russian State Media 'Warmongers' |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/04/06/navalny-calls-for-sanctions-against-russian-state-media-warmongers-a77237 |work=Moscow Times |date=6 March 2022 |access-date=8 April 2022 |archive-date=10 June 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230610145020/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/04/06/navalny-calls-for-sanctions-against-russian-state-media-warmongers-a77237 |url-status=live }}

On 3 April 2024, Russia's Defense Ministry announced that "around 16,000 citizens" had signed military contracts in the last 10 days to fight as contract soldiers in the Russo-Ukrainian War, with most of them saying they were motivated to "avenge those killed" in the Crocus City Hall attack.{{cite news |title=Russian Military Says Recruited 100K Contract Soldiers Since Start of 2024 |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/04/03/russian-military-says-recruited-100k-contract-soldiers-since-start-of-2024-a84721 |work=The Moscow Times |date=3 April 2024 |access-date=4 April 2024 |archive-date=4 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240404082919/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2024/04/03/russian-military-says-recruited-100k-contract-soldiers-since-start-of-2024-a84721 |url-status=live }}

File:NAFO North Atlantic Fella Organization logo.svg]]

File:Destroyed tank in front of Russian embassy Berlin 2023-02-24 48.jpg mascot on a destroyed Russian tank displayed in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin]]

The United States Department of State and the European External Action Service of the European Union (EU) published guides aiming to respond to Russian disinformation. Twitter paused all ad campaigns in Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to curb misinformation spread by ads.{{Cite news |last=Wagner |first=Kurt |date=26 February 2022 |title=Twitter Pauses Ads in Russia, Ukraine to Keep Focus on Safety |work=Bloomberg News |url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-25/twitter-pauses-ads-in-russia-ukraine-to-keep-focus-on-safety |access-date=25 February 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226005638/https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-02-25/twitter-pauses-ads-in-russia-ukraine-to-keep-focus-on-safety |archive-date=26 February 2022}} European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced an EU-wide ban of Russian state-sponsored RT and Sputnik news channels on 27 February, after Poland and Estonia had done so days before.{{cite news |last=Kayali |first=Laura |date=27 February 2022 |title=EU to ban Russia's RT, Sputnik media outlets, von der Leyen says |work=Politico |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-announces-rt-sputnik-ban/ |url-status=live |access-date=27 February 2022 |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220227/https://www.politico.eu/article/ursula-von-der-leyen-announces-rt-sputnik-ban/ |archive-date=27 February 2022 }}

Reddit, an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website, quarantined subreddits r/Russia, the national subreddit of Russia, and r/GenZedong, a self-described "Dengist" subreddit in March 2022, after both the subreddits were spreading Russian disinformation. In the case of r/Russia, the site's administrators removed one of its moderators for spreading disinformation. Sister sub of r/Russia, r/RussiaPolitics was also quarantined for similar reasons. When the subreddits are quarantined, they don't show up in searches, recommendations and user feeds, and anyone who tries to access the quarantined subreddits would be shown a warning regarding the content, which they must acknowledge in order to access it.{{Cite news |last=Yeo |first=Amanda|date=1 March 2022 |title=Reddit has quarantined r/Russia due to misinformation |url=https://mashable.com/article/reddit-russia-subreddit-quarantined-ukraine |access-date=1 September 2022|website=Mashable|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220301061122/https://mashable.com/article/reddit-russia-subreddit-quarantined-ukraine |archive-date=1 March 2022}}{{Cite magazine |last=Chow |first=Andrew R.|date=24 March 2022 |title=Reddit Moves to Control Hate Speech and Misinformation in Two Forums|url=https://time.com/6160519/reddit-international-hate-speech-ban/|access-date=22 March 2022 |magazine=Time|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220419134031/https://time.com/6160519/reddit-international-hate-speech-ban/ |archive-date=19 April 2022}}

In May 2022, a group calling themselves NAFO was created with the object of posting irreverent comments about the war and memes promoting Ukraine or mocking the Russian war effort and strategy using a "cartoon dog" based on the Shiba Inu. NAFO was seen by The Washington Post as having a significant impact on Russian troll farms.{{Cite news |last=Taylor |first=Adam |date=1 September 2022 |title=With NAFO, Ukraine turns the trolls on Russia |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/01/nafo-ukraine-russia/ |access-date=11 September 2022 |archive-date=7 September 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220907153751/https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/09/01/nafo-ukraine-russia/ |url-status=live }} On 28 August 2022, the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine tweeted its appreciation of NAFO, with an image of missiles being fired and a "Fella" dressed in a combat uniform, hands on face, in a posture of appreciation.{{Cite tweet |user=DefenceU |number=1563851548643426304 |title=We usually express gratitude to our international partners for the security assistance. But today we want to give a shout-out to a unique entity – North Atlantic Fellas Organization #NAFO. Thanks for your fierce fight against kremlin's propaganda &trolls. We salute you, fellas!}}

• African Stream
• Cyberwarfare by Russia
• {{Annotated link|Crucified boy}}
• {{Annotated link|Information warfare}}
• Nuclear threats during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
• Panfilov's Twenty-Eight Guardsmen – WW2 example of Soviet disinformation
• {{Annotated link|Russian web brigades}}
• Social media in the Russo-Ukrainian War – The avenue by which much disinformation has spread
• Vulkan files leak – Leaks implicating the Russian company NTC Vulkan in acts of cybercrime
• Information war during the Russo-Georgian War

{{reflist|refs=

{{cite news |last1=Harding |first1=Luke |last2=Roth |first2=Andrew |last3=Walker |first3=Shaun |date=21 February 2022 |title='Dumb and lazy': the flawed films of Ukrainian 'attacks' made by Russia's 'fake factory' |newspaper=The Guardian |url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/21/dumb-and-lazy-the-flawed-films-of-ukrainian-attacks-made-by-russias-fake-factory |access-date=23 February 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220222222430/https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/feb/21/dumb-and-lazy-the-flawed-films-of-ukrainian-attacks-made-by-russias-fake-factory |archive-date=22 February 2022}}

{{cite news |last=Bowman |first=Verity |date=21 February 2022 |title=Four Russian false flags that are comically easy to debunk |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/02/21/five-russian-false-flags-comically-easy-debunk |access-date=23 February 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20220221141409/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2022/02/21/five-russian-false-flags-comically-easy-debunk |archive-date=21 February 2022}}

{{cite news |last=Zaks |first=Dmitry |date=21 February 2022 |title= Information War Rages Ahead of Feared Russian Invasion |newspaper=Moscow Times |agency=Agence France-Presse |url=https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/21/information-war-rages-ahead-of-feared-russian-invasion-a76491 |access-date=23 February 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220221151631/https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/02/21/information-war-rages-ahead-of-feared-russian-invasion-a76491 |archive-date=21 February 2022}}

{{cite news |last=Scott |first=Mark |title=As Ukraine conflict heats up, so too does disinformation |date=27 January 2022 |newspaper=Politico |url=https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-ukraine-disinformation-nato-united-states-special-forces-winter-olympics-moscow-kremlin-kyiv |access-date=23 February 2022 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220204153023/https://www.politico.eu/article/russia-ukraine-disinformation-nato-united-states-special-forces-winter-olympics-moscow-kremlin-kyiv |archive-date= 4 February 2022}}

}}

• [https://mediamanipulation.org/research/tracking-social-media-takedowns-and-content-moderation-during-2022-russian-invasion Tracking Social Media Takedowns and Content Moderation During the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine]

{{Disinformation}}

{{2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine}}

{{Russia–Ukraine relations}}

{{Russo-Ukrainian War navbox}}

disinfo

Category:Fake news

Category:Prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine

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Category:Pseudohistory