Over the past two years, “Verified” has sorted out hundreds of fake photos and videos discrediting Ukraine and Ukrainians. Some were completed in just a few clicks, while others apparently took days and weeks of work to prepare. But in 2024, a new “lazy” type of anti-Ukrainian disinformation has become popular, requiring nothing more than imagination to create.
Probably the main common feature of the vast majority of anti-Ukrainian fakes described and analyzed by the authors of “Verified” is their reliance on changing someone else’s or creating their own audiovisual content. Whether it's fake videos with logos of famous international media, fake photographs from graffiti on the streets of European cities or fake covers foreign satirical magazines - all this needs to be created one way or another. Some fakes take very little time (if you only need edit inscription on someone else's photo) and resources (for example, for creating fake advertisements you only need a printer), and you will have to invest additional funds in some fakes (for example, to order video messages celebrities on the Cameo service, the fake factory spent several thousand dollars). Sometimes a whole set of methods is used: to fake a biographical film A fake website was created about Vladimir Zelensky, videos from Hollywood stars were ordered, and a page for a non-existent film producer was created on the social network X, where fabricated pages of the script and a poster were also posted.
However, it also happens that in order to generate and virally spread a whole layer of fakes, it is enough to take already published photos and videos, and then, without changing anything in them, add several sentences to the original signature that quite significantly distort reality. This method has been actively practiced by the Telegram channel in recent months.Dill fresh"
The channel, which has about 30,000 subscribers, was created March 12, 2022. Its description says that the “editorial staff” consists of residents of the “Zaporozhye region of the Russian Federation, the temporarily occupied territories of the DPR (Slavyansk and Kramatorsk) and LPR (Russian Federation)”, as well as “Kharkiv partisans working at risk to their lives.”
For the first time, “Ukropsky Fresh” was mentioned in the “Verified” reviews two and a half months after its creation - on May 25, 2022, it acted as the primary source, as it turned out, fake photographs of “No Entry to Ukrainians” signs on store windows in the Czech Republic. Subsequently this channel published fake covers magazines, fake advertisements and edited screenshots sites.
No later than the summer of 2023, “lazy” fakes began to appear in Ukropsky Fresh, the creation of which does not require content specially created for the purpose of disinformation. Not all of them went viral, but some still received millions of views as they were retold by Russian media and large pro-Kremlin Telegram channels, including the channels of TV presenter Ruslan Ostashko and blogger Alexander Semchenko, “The World Today with “Yuri Podolyak””, “Sanya in Florida”, “Ne.Sahar”, “Ukraina.ru” and “Sheikh Tamir”.
Crime reports
The earliest “lazy” fake discovered by Verified appeared in Ukropsky Fresh on June 23, 2023. Then the channel reported, that a criminal case was opened against the commander of the 92nd separate mechanized brigade (OMBR) Pavel Fedosenko: the colonel of the Armed Forces of Ukraine was allegedly accused of embezzling 1.14 million UAH. As part of the investigation, it was alleged that alleged accomplices were also detained - the ex-director of a certain private enterprise and Major Vladimir Shinkarenko. The post also included several photos taken during the process. This information, however, was not widely disseminated - according to TGStat, reposts and retellings received only about 150,000 views.
It turned outthat the authors simply took pictures from a publication that appeared in the morning of the same day on Facebook* of the Specialized Prosecutor's Office of Ukraine in the field of defense of the Eastern region. The department's report actually spoke of losses of UAH 1.14 million due to the fraud of contractors. The former director of a Kharkov company and a technical supervision engineer was suspected of taking property during construction on the territory of one of the military units in the Kharkov region. Another suspect was also reported - the former deputy commander of the unit, who approved reports of completed work, some of which were not actually carried out. The publication did not disclose the names, number of the military unit and the preventive measure chosen for the accused, but Ukrainian fact checkers couldn't find in any databases or other sources of open criminal proceedings where Fedosenko was a suspect.
In 2024, Ukropsky Fresh began releasing similar fakes much more often, sometimes every other day. For example, on January 22 there wrote, that in the Kharkov region they found the body of an employee of the territorial recruitment center (TCK, in modern Ukraine - an analogue of Russian military registration and enlistment offices), and the father of a mobilized Ukrainian was allegedly suspected of murder. “This is what Zelensky has brought the population of his country to: people are ready to kill military commissars, just so as not to go to the front and die for the interests of the Kyiv regime,” the post said.
This story spread across other Telegram channels and media and received millions of views, but again it turned out, that “Ukropsky Fresh” simply invented a criminal case against the mobilized father. The photo given in the post as evidence was taken three days earlier. published press service of the Kharkov regional prosecutor's office. According to investigators, the murder occurred during a domestic conflict between two comrades who were drinking alcohol. In their fake, the authors correctly retold some of the details of what happened, but the motive of the criminal and the place of work of the victim are the fruit of their imagination.
January 28 in the same channel told, as if the “Rivne police” (probably meaning the city of Rivne or the Rivne region) detained a soldier of the 14th Mechanized Infantry Brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces who came on vacation for selling narcotic substances. The serviceman was allegedly arrested just two days after the start of his vacation, and he brought the amphetamine from near Kupyansk. “However, there is no need to think about closing drug supply channels for the Ukrainian Armed Forces - this is excellent business for the Zelensky regime,” the post says.
Attached to it are photographs of the arrest the day before. published press service of the Rivne region police, and there not mentionedthat the drug dealer turned out to be a military man. The agency reported that operatives detained a 38-year-old resident of the city of Berezno, while the police documented the first operational purchase in early January.
February 23 “Fresh Dill” told, as if they tried to kill a TCC employee in Kyiv. The man was allegedly riding a tram when an unknown person on the street threw a brick at his head. “As a result, he suffered a serious skull injury and was urgently hospitalized. It is noteworthy that in Kyiv public pages people approve of this act. Some note that they should have thrown a bigger brick. This is how much it is necessary to bring people to rejoice at the pierced head of the military commissar,” states the Telegram channel.
A day earlier, in Kyiv communities, public pages and blogs, and indeed wrotethat a brick was thrown at a moving tram. As a result, a man was injured, whose place of work or service is not indicated in any sources there wasn't. Moreover, most commentators condemned the hooligan act.
The next day, February 24, “Ukropsky Fresh” continued the theme and reported about another crime: allegedly in Kyiv, two mobilized after receiving summonses beat and robbed a TCC employee, hitting him on the head with a brick. The post ends with the words: “The detainees face a real prison sentence, which for them is preferable to service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine.”
In this case, authentic video from surveillance cameras and photographs of detainees who were arrested the day before were used. published Kyiv police on social networks. According to the press release, the victim was indeed a serviceman, but it was not specified that he worked at the TCC. There is also nothing about the motives of the criminals and whether they received summonses. didn't say.
March 14 authors of the Telegram channel reportedthat a resident of the village of Malaya Rogan in the Kharkov region was detained for feeding poisoned food to soldiers of the 113th separate territorial defense brigade (OBrTrO). Almost the entire platoon allegedly became victims of the criminal: 11 people died, and another nine were taken to intensive care in serious condition. Allegedly, the motive of the man shown in the photo was this: due to the shelling of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, his relatives were killed, and his son was forcibly sent to the front, where he later died.
How it turned out, actually in the picture, published On March 13, the Kharkov regional prosecutor's office photographed a resident of the city of Balakleya, who was accused of collaboration for his public statements.
March 26 “Fresh Dill” told about a bank robbery in Lvov, which was allegedly committed by two soldiers of the 103rd ObrTrO, who subsequently tried to escape abroad. The motive for their crime was said to be a reluctance to return to the front, and the post included four photographs from the scene of the incident.
The robbery really happened - it happened on March 25, and on the same day I wrote about it press service police of the Lviv region. The identities of the men were established - they turned out to be two Lviv residents aged 31 and 40 years old, about their service in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and their attempt to cross the border not reported. Boss Patrol Police Department Evgeny Zhukov emphasized: “They thought they would disguise themselves in uniform as a fisherman and a military man. Jacket, cap and sweatpants. They have nothing to do with the army, nor with camouflage skills.”
April 1 (and not as a joke) channel told, as if the Kharkov branch of the SBU detained a woman - she publicly complained about soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine who used drugs in a school building. The post also contains a photo of the detainee - this is allegedly the 54-year-old headmistress of school No. 38, where, according to the authors of the publication, the fighters were stationed.
Fact checkers from the Ukrainian project “Gvara Media” found outwhat's really director Kharkov Lyceum No. 38 - a man named Alexander Poklonsky. And the photo used by Ukropsky Fresh two hours earlier published press service of the Kharkov regional prosecutor's office. From the department's message it follows that the photo shows a 54-year-old kindergarten worker who, according to investigators, passed information about the Ukrainian army to the Russian military and is now suspected of treason.
Crimes that never happened
As follows from the above examples, the authors of “Ukropsky Fresh” follow the reports of Ukrainian law enforcement agencies and, based on their publications, invent stories with the aim of discrediting the Armed Forces of Ukraine and Ukrainians. However, the creators of fakes do not always need reports about real crimes - sometimes any records from social networks are enough for them, and they will add criminal details themselves.
So, February 25 at Ukropsky Fresh wrotethat Ukrainian Armed Forces soldiers in Kharkov tricked a second-grader into giving them his “last savings.” The post said that sappers from the local interregional demining center “processed” schoolboy Ivan Filenko - they brainwashed the boy, and he gave them all his family savings. The parents were allegedly unable to get their money back.
This time the misinformation was based on a screenshot post from the account its_kharkov on Instagram*, where photo from the Training Center of the Civil Defense Operational Rescue Service of the State Emergency Service of Ukraine. February 12 on the department’s website wrotethat second-grader Ivan Filenko visited the center with gifts - with the money he had saved for a long time, the boy bought the necessary equipment and handed it over to the sappers. How clarified Ukrainian journalists, a schoolboy bought gloves with saved pocket money, which are visible in the photo. Ivan’s parents said that they were present at the presentation of gifts, and his mother, in a comment for Gvara Media, noted that the authors of Ukropsky Fresh use their imagination well.
March 25 this channel told a similar story about how paratroopers from the 25th separate airborne brigade of the Ukrainian Armed Forces fraudulently took all the savings from 89-year-old Maria Betse. The woman was allegedly the mother of a 55-year-old mobilized sergeant who died near Kupyansk. She allegedly received a call from a man who introduced himself as the commander of her deceased son and wanted to discuss the transfer of the “coffin” payments due to the mother to the needs of the brigade. Having taken possession of the money, the scammers allegedly fled, and the woman contacted the police.
As in the case of the schoolboy, the authors of the fake made up part of the story. It turned outthat on March 18 on his Facebook about Betz wrote volunteer Vasily Ezhak. According to him, the 89-year-old Ukrainian woman herself contacted him and offered to donate the money she received from the state after the death of her son to the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. In the city council at the same time emphasizedthat the woman did not complain about fraud.
April 5 channel authors shared “the tragic story of a resident of Dergachi” Natalya Ostroverkh, who was allegedly beaten by soldiers of the 113th Brigade. According to the post, this woman has been disabled in group II since childhood and has problems with her knee joint. When Ostroverkh went for humanitarian aid, soldiers allegedly began to mock her at the delivery point: “It came to the point of violence, as a result of which she was hit very hard on her sore knee.” It is reported that after the attack, the woman began to experience severe pain, and according to the results of the examination, she requires joint replacement.
“Ukropsky Fresh” did not lie about the health of the heroine of the story, but completely fabricated the fact of the beating (both military and civilian). The woman herself talks about this told journalists of "Gvara Media". According to her, on social networks she often appeals for help from concerned citizens, attaching their photos and documents to posts, which the attackers took advantage of. For example, such a publication appeared in one of the local public pages two days before the entry in Ukropsky Fresh.
Reports from official departments
It would be a mistake to think that all such “lazy” fakes are about murders, robberies, thefts and drug trafficking. Sometimes the authors of “Ukropsky Fresh” publish fiction that has nothing to do with crime, but is still based on materials from the press services of various Ukrainian departments.
For example, according to post of March 26, which then spread in the media and other channels, gaining millions of views, in the city of Lozovaya, Kharkov region, several women told the authorities about their spouses who were draft dodgers, so that they would be sent to the Ukrainian army. As a result, the head of the local TCC allegedly awarded these wives with diplomas, and a few days later one of those mobilized men, like reported, died.
Actually in Lozovaya awarded women and men who participated in events to preserve the memory of fallen Ukrainian soldiers, and the ceremony was conducted not by a military commissar, but by the mayor of Lozova. The photographs used by Ukropsky Fresh as evidence were included in the photo report, which was published on March 25 on website cities and on the official page on Facebook.
March 30 in the Telegram channel published a video from the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, which was captioned: “Ukraine is preparing for war with Poland: countries are digging trenches in the West.” It is clarified that the construction of defensive structures is taking place in the Volyn region, and the soldiers of the Ukrainian Armed Forces are allegedly “in some bewilderment, trying to find logic in the construction of fortifications on the border with the EU.”
Original video appeared on the resources of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine two days earlier, on March 28. The authors of the video, as they found out, fact checkers, captured fortification work on another border - the fact is that the Volyn region borders with Poland in the west and Belarus in the north. By words Head of the regional administration Yuri Pogulyayko, work on strengthening defense capabilities is going on along the Belarusian-Ukrainian border.
The next day, March 31, “Fresh Dill” toldthat the Kharkov authorities are creating new territorial defense units of teenagers and women. It was reported that residents of the northern regions of the region were allegedly ordered to report to a special training center, where they would receive basic military training under the guidance of Ukrainian Armed Forces instructors.
It turned outthat the photographs attached to the post are taken from publications 150th training center of the Troops Forces Command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine on March 28. There was nothing said about the new missile defense of the Kharkov region or other Ukrainian region. It was about recruiting recruits to the school of basic combined arms training on the basis of general selection, that is, the photo shows volunteers who signed up through the TCC, and these are adult men and women, not teenagers. According to reports from Ukrainian journalists who called to the training center, where only adults are taught.
Creating this kind of fakes requires minimal costs. Authors do not need to generate original content or invent a narrative from scratch - just take photos and videos and add a few sentences about the Ukrainian military to the real story.
Having analyzed both the above examples and many other fabricated messages from Ukropsky Fresh, we can formulate the main narratives of this channel:
- many civilians in Ukraine treat the Ukrainian Armed Forces fighters with distrust and contempt and are afraid of them;
- Ukrainian soldiers often beat and rob their fellow citizens, and many soldiers use drugs;
- Of all the military, Ukrainians hate TCC employees the most, who are often killed right on the streets.
Of course, from time to time scandals arise in Ukraine that are related to crimes committed by the military - about them reports Ukrainian press. Moreover, the military personnel themselves periodically complain to the negative attitude of Ukrainians towards TCC employees, however, “Ukropsky Fresh”, through its fakes, exaggerates public sentiment.
In this text, in addition to its own analyses, “Verified” used materials from fact-checking projects “Gvara Media" And "Vox Ukraine"
*Russian authorities think Meta Platforms Inc., which owns the social networks Facebook and Instagram, is an extremist organization; its activities in Russia are prohibited.
Cover photo: processed frame from the series “Streets of Broken Lights” / social networks
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