Pro-Russian sources are spreading information about the death of a military man from Konotop, Dmytro Oleksandrovych Boiko. Propagandists claim that the guy was supposedly only 16 years old - to confirm this, they provide a screenshot from an unknown database of personal data of Ukrainian citizens. The publications accuse the Ukrainian military of concealing the real age of the young man, since the obituaries indicate a completely different date of birth – July 28,2005. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that the deceased warrior was actually 18 years old, as local media reported. This was confirmed by Konotop Lyceum No. 9, which the deceased fighter graduated from. According to the lyceum management, the guy’s date of birth is indeed July 28, 2005, and he graduated from school (full 11 grades) two years ago. However, another Dmytro Oleksandrovych Boiko, born on February 16, 2008, lives in Konotop. The guy plays football in the youth sports school in the city of Konotop. In one of the recordings of a football match between the teams of Konotop and Shostka, he scores the third goal, and one can see that the young man looks completely different from the deceased soldier. Consequently, another message about minors serving in the Ukrainian army turned out to be fake.

This news fits into the Kremlin’s narrative about children and teenagers in the Ukrainian Armed Forces in order to disrupt the mobilization process in Ukraine. Detector Media has already refuted other Russian fabrications on this topic.

Propagandists began disseminating information on social networks and the media that Ukraine intends to mobilize Russians and Belarusians who are in the country with the status of political refugees. In such “news” they attach a fake “document” in which, as they claim, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Oleksandr Syrskyi addresses the Minister of Defense of Ukraine Rustem Umierov with a corresponding initiative. “It says that the Ukrainian command initiated the conscription of citizens of the Russian Federation and Belarus with the status of political refugees to serve in a special unit formed from foreigners”, propagandists write. This “document” was allegedly signed personally by Commander-in-Chief Alexander Syrskyi. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found that, despite the fact that neither Russian media nor social media users provide any additional information about who published the “document”, Russian propaganda began discussing it with various “experts” in propaganda programs.

StopFake submitted an information request to the Public Relations Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They asked whether such an initiative and such a document really existed. They were told that this information was not true.

In addition, the fact of forgery of the “document” is confirmed by the presence of a number of gross errors, which were probably made by a person who does not speak Ukrainian. For example, propaganda uses the word “we care” in a sentence where we should have written “we urge.” It is likely that the propagandists mistranslated the Russian word “boy” (to try to help someone), which would have been more appropriate in a Russian document. Another example is with the phrase “the issue of conscripting foreigners”. The word “call” (call, invite) is incorrectly used in the context of the appeal “about mobilization”. Propaganda should have written “the issue of conscription (mobilization) of foreigners”.

They are spreading such manipulations to disrupt the mobilization process in Ukraine.  Detector Media also refuted other fabrications of Russian propaganda on this issue.

Propagandists spread information on social networks and Russian public pages that Ukrainians are ready to live even in the Chornobyl zone just to save their lives. “Enterprising Ukrainians began to make minimal repairs and sell “safe houses near Prypiat”. Among the main advantages is the absence of a shopping center. The price of pleasure is $6,500”, social network users report, distributing in their publications a video announcing the “sale of a house near Prypiat”. A male voice in the video talks about the plot and the house for sale, and on the video itself there are the inscriptions “Safe house near Prypiat”, “No shopping center”, “Renovated, clean, comfortable, stove heating”. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that in fact this announcement concerns the sale of a house in the village of Krasnianka, Vinnytsia region and has nothing to do with either the Chornobyl exclusion zone or attempts by potential buyers to avoid mobilization in Ukraine.

They found the real video, distributed on social networks and Russian media, on the Ukrainian YouTube channel “It’s easy to move to a village”. The channel was created in December 2022 and is dedicated to reviews of private houses for sale located in rural areas. The mentioned video is located in the YouTube Shorts section of the channel and has received more than 19 thousand views to date.

It is interesting that both the voice-over of the presenter, the background music, the detailed information about the property, and the photographs of the house and yard completely coincide with the fake advertisement about “selling a house near Chornobyl”. This makes it obvious that we are talking about the same ad. However, at the beginning of the original video, the presenter states that the house is located in the village of Krasnianka, Tyvrovskyi district, Vinnytsia region. In the fake publications, this information was cut out using video editing programs and, for greater reliability, text was added to the video itself, confirming that the house is located near Prypiat. There is no text in the actual ad in the video. In addition, the price of the house was changed in the fake ad. According to the authors of the fake, a plot of land near Prypiat costs $6,500, but in the original video the price is listed as $2,500. This was done, obviously, in order to show: Ukrainians are ready to give up considerable sums of money just to get away from Territorial centers of recruitment and social support.

The Chornobyl exclusion zone is located in the north of the Kyiv region. It was formed as a result of radioactive contamination of the territory after the accident at the 4th power unit of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant on April 26, 1986. Its area is 36545 hectares. Consequently, the sale of houses near Prypiat is prohibited in Ukraine, and information about this is another fake of Russian propaganda with the aim of discrediting the mobilization campaign in Ukraine. The original video was deliberately altered to create a false narrative that Ukrainians are willing to live even in the exclusion zone just to avoid Territorial centers of recruitment and social support.

“Ukrainian women are actively preparing to evade mobilization”, with this title, propagandists are massively distributing a video on social networks in which a woman puts on an artificial belly to simulate pregnancy. “These life hacks are already very popular. Everything was done properly - men in wigs, and women with artificial bellies”, write users distributing this video. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that, despite the inscriptions in Ukrainian “pov: heard about the mobilization of women” and “Register, girls!”, this video is distributed exclusively by pro-Russian groups and Z-channels on Telegram. There is no evidence that this video is popular among Ukrainian women.

StopFake journalists were able to investigate that this video first appeared online even before Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in June 2021 on the YouTube channel “Nadiia Korobeinykova”. There are obviously no inscriptions “pov: I heard about the mobilization of women!” and “Register, girls!”. The description of the original video notes that this video is a brief instruction on how to “make your own” artificial belly to simulate pregnancy. Using the phone number indicated in the description, StopFake journalists were able to find more detailed information about this profile on YouTube.

This phone number is also listed in the contacts of the Facebook page used for promotional orders of artificial bellies to simulate pregnancy. Having looked through their publications, journalists were unable to find a single one advertising artificial bellies as a means of evading mobilization. The website indicated in the page description states that artificial bellies for simulating pregnancy are suitable for clothing stores, themed photo and video shoots, for couples who seek help from surrogacy or decide to adopt a child.

Reports that Ukrainian women are learning to make artificial bellies to “evade mobilization” are not realistic. The fact is that in Ukraine women can only mobilize voluntarily. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said at the final press conference in December 2023 that there would be no mobilization of women in the country during martial law. Now military registration applies only to those women who have received education in medical and pharmaceutical specialties, but they can serve only of their own free will.

Propagandists spread such fake news to discredit the mobilization in Ukraine and cause panic among the local population. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other Russian fabrications about mobilization in Ukraine.

Russian propagandists, on behalf of Alina Bondarchuk, deputy head of the Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council, claim that Ukrainian military prisoners are being used as part of the “Evader” flash mob.

In fact, Alina Bondarchuk did not make a corresponding statement. They write about this in the Center itself. There is no information with similar content on her official Facebook page, where the correspondence was allegedly taken from. In addition, the official profile of the Deputy Head of the Center has a different name and a different photo.

Such fakes are being spread as part of Russia’s large-scale information campaign called “Evader” in order to discredit the work of the Center, which, in particular, is counteracting this information campaign. Discrediting mobilization, sowing discord among Ukrainian society, and undermining Ukraine’s ability to defend itself are the main goals of this IPSO.

The Russian media write that in Ukraine they want to mobilize Ukrainian teachers. The fake robs substantiated this thesis with photographs of basic military training, which soldiers of the 107th Troops Brigade allegedly conducted specifically for teachers. It's a lie.

VoxCheck analysts explained that the photo distributed by propagandists depicted voluntary training in basic preparation of citizens for national resistance. According to the law, school teachers are not mobilized in Ukraine.

According to Article 23 of the Law “On Mobilization Preparation and Mobilization”, employees of general education institutions, among others, have the right to a deferment, provided that they work at least 0.75 times the salary. In the new mobilization law, this provision also remains unchanged.

The Russians launched a large-scale information campaign aimed at romanticizing evasion of mobilization and the evaders themselves. Videos have systematically begun to appear on TikTok and other social networks in which supposedly Ukrainian men film themselves abroad on vacation and call themselves “evaders”. This was reported by the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.

Such content quickly gains views and comments from the audience - approving and critical, but discussions under these videos only propel them into trends. “Folk” songs have even been created for such videos, the lyrics of which always contain the main message – praise of the evaders, the GUR adds.

The following things indicate a targeted Russian information campaign:

the synchronicity of the appearance of numerous songs and videos “heroizing” men who refuse to stand up in defense of their own country;

anonymity of video authors;

promotion of this content by organized groups of bots.

The head of the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council, Lieutenant Andrii Kovalenko, commented on the situation: “The pseudo-flash mob with the hashtag evader is another hostile IPSO. This is a classic technology of splitting society, which uses the same principle as the technology of splitting by language, only in this case the enemy incites hatred, leveling the constitutional obligation”.

Discrediting mobilization, sowing discord among Ukrainian society, and undermining Ukraine’s ability to defend itself are the main goals of this IPSO.

Read also: “Defending the Fatherland is a punishment”, “the party of draft dodgers would defeat the Servant of the People”. Theses of Russian propaganda on mobilization in Ukraine are in the MediaSapiens section.

Russian propaganda media add that in Ukraine they are supposedly going to make not only men, but also all women aged 18 to 60 years old, liable for military service. According to Russian propaganda, the basis for this has already been prepared in the law on the electronic register of military personnel signed by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi.

“In the near future, the borders will be closed to women in Ukraine”, Kremlin resources write.

The case was studied by StopFake analysts, who said that Law No. 10062 does not talk about establishing military service for women, or including them in the register of those liable for military service.

The law itself is called “On amendments to certain laws of Ukraine regarding improving the procedure for processing and using data in state registers for military registration and acquiring the status of a war veteran during martial law”, that is, first of all, the purpose of the law is to simplify the mechanism for granting a military operations participant status.

Kremlin media and social media users began spreading false information that a disabled man in Ukraine named Yevhen Khaimov died several days after “forced mobilization”. These messages included a photograph of the deceased and details about his death.

StopFake found out that Yevhen Khaimov actually died, but joined the Ukrainian Defense Forces back in March 2022 and defended the country of death on January 26, 2024 in the Donetsk region. His wife Maryna filed a petition to award him the title of “Hero of Ukraine (posthumously)”. Neither relatives nor officials reported that Khaimov had a disability.

Fakes about mobilization in Ukraine have intensified against the backdrop of news about the preparation for voting of bills concerning changes in the rules for attracting military personnel to serve in the army. Recently, the Disinformation Chronicles refuted fake news that police officers are detaining men and handing them over to employees of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers.

Thus, the allegations of “forced mobilization” and the death of a disabled man a few days later are untrue. Russian propaganda used the real death of a military man to spread disinformation.

Fakes about mobilization in Ukraine have intensified against the backdrop of news about the preparation for voting of bills concerning changes in the rules for attracting military personnel to serve in the army. Recently, the Disinformation Chronicles refuted the fake news that police officers are detaining men and handing them over to employees of the Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Centers, for which a pensioner received a draft notice, and also that in Ukraine they are allegedly calling for families to mobilize into the Armed Forces.

Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that students of the Kyiv Military Lyceum named after Ivan Bohun have become recruits of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and will be involved in hostilities.

However, this information is not true. This was reported by the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine.

The Kyiv Military Lyceum named after Ivan Bohun is a secondary educational institution in which teenagers aged 13-17 years study, that is grades 8-11. Lyceum students undergo military training, but they are not involved in the actions of the Defense Forces, because this is contrary to the current legislation of Ukraine. Contract service is only possible upon reaching 18 years of age.

This fake story about the “mobilization of Ukrainian teenagers” is part of the Russian campaign to disrupt mobilization in Ukraine. Previously, we have repeatedly refuted information that Zelenskyi allegedly mobilizes minors.

Pro-Russian propagandists are spreading information that the Odesa territorial recruitment center is allegedly requiring schoolchildren to register at the polling stations in order to send them to the army.

However, this information has been manipulated, write experts on the VoxCheck project. According to Ukrainian legislation, young men in the year they turn 17 must be assigned to conscription stations. This postscript does not mean that they will be mobilized.

The original message on the Facebook page of the Odesa Territorial center of recruitment and social support, to which propagandists refer, actually says that at the recruiting stations in the region, registration of young men born in 2007 continues, and those of them who received draft notices for registration must appear at the Territorial center of recruitment and social support. However, this is a legal procedure for registering pre-conscripts, which existed even before the full-scale invasion. According to it, every year during January - March, pre-conscription conscripts who turn 17 in the year of registration are assigned to conscription stations. That is, the Territorial center of recruitment and social support acts in accordance with the law. In particular, registration with the Territorial center of recruitment and social support is carried out in order to determine the conscription resources available in the state.

In addition, it should be understood that a draft notice for registration and a draft notice for mobilization are of two different types and they are issued to different categories of the population. Registration to a recruiting station does not mean mobilization. Men from 18 to 25 years old can be mobilized if they are liable for military service, that is, they served in the army, served in a military department at a university, or studied at a higher military educational institution. In addition, conscripts can voluntarily join the army by concluding a contract with the Ukrainian Armed Forces. The rest of the men are subject to mobilization from the age of 25.

Previously, we refuted information about the alleged mobilization of 1000 students of Taras Shevchenko National University of Kyiv.

Russian propagandists are distributing a video about the everyday life of two young Ukrainians: one is relaxing, having fun with girls, drinking alcohol and drugs, while the other is fighting.

Russian propaganda is trying to undermine the authority of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, as well as sow discord in Ukrainian society. The Center for Countering Disinformation at the National Security and Defense Council writes about this.

The authors of the video staged “two realities” of Ukrainians, deliberately manipulating sensitive topics for the Ukrainian people in order to attract attention and provoke conflict. However, Russian propagandists ignore the fact that Ukrainians enlist in the military not for popularity and “luxury conditions”, but to protect their country and future.

This manipulative video appeared against the backdrop of public discussions of the Law of Ukraine “On mobilization preparation and mobilization”. More materials on this topic can be found here.

Propagandists are spreading information that ticks are not exterminated in the Poltava region because most of the workers have been mobilized to the Armed Forces of Ukraine. There is also allegedly a problem with the provision of medical care - tick tests and treatment of Lyme disease (borreliosis) are practically not carried out in the region. However, this is a fake.

Specialists of the VoxCheck project drew attention to it. They found out that there is no reason to claim that the increase in morbidity is related to the mobilization of workers. The problem with the treatment of parks and squares depends on the local authorities and can be solved through agreements with contracting organizations. Even in conditions of full-scale war, tests and treatment of Lyme disease, which is one of the infectious diseases transmitted by ticks, are carried out.

In the Poltava region, there is indeed an increase in cases of Lyme disease, but this is an all-Ukrainian trend. In 2023, almost 5,000 cases of Lyme disease were registered in Ukraine - approximately 12 cases per 100,000 population. Incidence in the Poltava region (36.97 per 100,000 population) is the highest in Ukraine. In 2023, 497 cases of Lyme disease were reported in the region, compared to 367 cases in 2022. In 2022, 3,875 cases were recorded in the country (9.3 cases per 100,000 population).

Also, in the Poltava region, areas where there are natural foci of diseases transmitted by ticks have been identified. Insects that carry the causative agent of Lyme disease are found in every district of the region. Tick-borne viral encephalitis is less common. Myrhorod and Poltava districts, as well as the city of Poltava, are risk areas. Ticks can also transmit other diseases, but not all of them are carriers of pathogens.

It is important to see the doctor and take a prophylactic course of antibiotics if you develop symptoms of Lyme disease. Vaccination is the best protection, especially for those who are often outdoors.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to discredit the mobilization process in Ukraine. Detector Media wrote what other fakes Russian propaganda invented for this.

Russian telegram channels are distributing a photo of a “document” from the Taras Shevchenko national university of Kyiv on “exemption from training of 1000 students in connection with their conscription for military service during mobilization”. In addition, the relevant document states that the reason for such an order was an appeal from representatives of the SBU, as well as the Shevchenko district territorial center of procurement and social support.

Experts from the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council undertook to analyze this information. They found out that in fact the photo of the “document” is just another photoshop of Russian propagandists.

Firstly, the execution of the document does not meet the legal requirements for the execution of organizational and administrative documents.

Secondly, the numbering of the order does not correspond to the numbering that is used to register orders of the National National Institution, which are posted in the public domain.

After all, the fictitious document contains many spelling errors, which also indicate its falsity.

This fake appeared as part of a large-scale propaganda campaign to discredit mobilization in Ukraine. Propagandists speculate on a sensitive topic for many Ukrainians and resort to such fabrications that are intended to demoralize, mislead and intimidate society. Previously, we refuted information that Zelenskyi allegedly mobilizes minors.

Russian telegram channels are disseminating information that Kyiv has allegedly begun to prepare young men for confrontation with Russian troops during the upcoming defense in the Sumy direction. According to propagandists, “young men will have to form partisan movements and begin sabotage”. In addition, Russian propaganda says that Kyiv has allegedly already begun to use such a detachment in one of the directions. And as a result, a sixteen-year-old Ukrainian medic of the 1st Infantry Battalion of the 67th DUK Mechanized Infantry Brigade with the call sign “Troy” allegedly died.

The Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council denied this information. In fact, the statement about the training of “young Ukrainian partisans” to fight the Russians is an invention of Russian propagandists that does not correspond to reality. There is also fake information about the death of a Ukrainian combat medic precisely as a result of the partisan movement again. Unfortunately, Anastasia Marianchuk with the call sign “Troy” actually died on March 18, 2024, but from enemy shelling, and not because she joined one of the so-called “detachments”. In addition, she was not 16, but 22 years old.

This fake nourishes the propaganda narrative that Nazism rules in Ukraine, so the country needs to be “denazified”. However, this is only one of the justifications for unprovoked Russian aggression. In the end, propagandists seek to demonize both the Ukrainian authorities and the Ukrainian Armed Forces, since they have allegedly already begun to involve children in physical confrontation with Russia. Previously, we refuted the information that in Kyiv they allegedly distribute “propaganda” to women, elderly people and children so that they could be mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

Russian resources disseminate information that during his visit to Kyiv on March 18, 2024, American Senator Lindsey Graham insisted on the mobilization of Ukrainians who are not even 25 years old. In asserting this, Russian propagandists refer to an article by The Washington Post.

In fact, this information is distorted, write the Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security at the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine. Russian propagandists have twisted Graham's words, which originally appeared in The Washington Post: “I would hope that those eligible to serve in the Ukrainian military would join. I can’t believe it’s at 27. You’re in a fight for your life, so you should be serving — not at 25 or 27.” That is, the American senator did not call on Ukraine to mobilize those who are not even 25. He only said that in such an existential war it is not necessary to wait until the age of 27 (current conscription age).

This is not the first time that propagandists have had difficulty translating Graham's statements. For example, in May 2023, Russian propaganda attributed to the senator the words that supposedly “the deaths of Russians are the result of a successful investment of money by the American authorities”. However, these words turned out to be nothing more than manipulation.

Russian propagandists claim that Ukraine intends to mobilize three million childless women. “It seems that Ukraine has taken the path of self-destruction”, comments Russian propaganda, manipulating new material from TEXTY.org.ua, where journalists are trying to calculate the country’s mobilization reserve. “War until the last Ukrainian. The only hope is that Russia will win faster than a drug addict can destroy the entire country”, say social media users. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that at the moment there are no plans for large-scale mobilization of women in Ukraine. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyi said at a conference in December 2023 that there would be no mobilization of women in the country during martial law. Military registration of women applies only to persons who have received education in medical and pharmaceutical specialties, but they can serve only at their own request. The analysis of TEXTY journalists also does not indicate the plans of the Ukrainian authorities to mobilize women.

Russian propaganda systematically uses the topic of mobilization in Ukraine to spread disinformation, convincing that the Ukrainian authorities intend to “fight until the last Ukrainian”, and due to large losses they are already recruiting women, pensioners and minors into the army. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted such fakes.

Propagandists in anonymous telegram channels are spreading another “shock news”: allegedly in the Odesa region, a Territorial center of procurement and social support car tried to catch up and stop a minibus, which led to a fatal accident for four people. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that the propagandists took information about an accident that actually occurred in the Dnipropetrovsk region and came up with information about the Territorial center of procurement and social support car.

This story is being spread in the context of Russia’s disinformation narrative that the mobilization throughout Ukraine is accompanied by constant violations of human rights, Ukrainians are refusing to serve en masse, and the government is ready to “force everyone to serve” in order to continue the war. Detector Media has repeatedly refuted other fakes within this narrative.

In mid-March 2024, Russian propagandists spread information that Ukraine was allegedly not releasing citizens of African countries and was “forcibly” mobilizing them for military operations. Like, this was reported by the American television channel ABC News, where a Congolese citizen allegedly claimed that he was offered to fight for Ukraine. However, this is manipulation.

After disseminating this information, StopFake decided to check whether a Congolese citizen really complained to an American TV channel that he was not being allowed out of Ukraine and was being “forced” to mobilize for military action. They found out that the news was false.

In the video distributed by Russian propaganda, the foreigner cannot be heard complaining that he is not allowed to leave Ukraine. At the beginning of the video, the voice of a TV presenter talks about a person from the Congo who claims that he was the target of discrimination when trying to board an evacuation train. What follows is the direct language of a foreigner who says that he was offered to fight for Ukraine. After his comment, the video ends. It is impossible to draw conclusions about why he was not released from the country and whether they really tried to “forcibly” mobilize him.

In this regard, StopFake tried to find this news on the American ABC News channel and reconsider whether there was perhaps additional context that could help understand this situation better. The video shows that the Congolese citizen's name is Pira Diantuadi. We managed to find an article about this man on the ABC News website. It turned out that it was published in the spring of 2022 and was dedicated to foreign refugees trying to leave Ukraine after the full-scale Russian invasion. The authors of the material tried to figure out whether there was discrimination on racial grounds during the evacuation from the country. In particular, Diantuadi complained that, despite promising to put only “women and children” on the evacuation train, he saw Ukrainian men being put on the evacuation train. The material is accompanied by an insert where Diantuadi talks about the proposal to fight for Ukraine, which the propagandists took advantage of. However, the material does not contain any conclusions that Ukraine tried to deliberately not let foreigners out of the country and “forcibly” mobilize them.

The ABC News article also noted that the interview with the Congolese citizen was conducted in Poland. The inscriptions in Polish in the background of the video confirm this. That is, the foreigner still managed to leave Ukraine at the beginning of the Russian invasion. Therefore, Russian propaganda tried to use the story of the “travel ban” and “forced” mobilization of foreign citizens in a new way, publishing an old video of a person in order to discredit Ukraine in the eyes of citizens of the countries of the South.

It should be added that according to Ukrainian legislation, foreigners cannot be mobilized. As the head of the personnel department of the headquarters of the Ground Forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, Colonel Roman Horbach, explained in a comment to ArmyInform, a foreigner can only want this himself.

“According to the law, foreigners can be drafted into the Defense Forces. But they are not called up for mobilization, but are accepted for military service voluntarily under a contract in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine”, said Roman Horbach.

An alleged screenshot of a message from Volodymyr Zelenskyi on X (former Twitter) is being circulated online, in which he allegedly made a statement in English: “I will sign a decree that will require all Western countries to deport Ukrainian men living there back to Ukraine”. It is not true.

VoxCheck analysts investigated this case and found out that it was satirical news. The X page from which the message was distributed is a parody and does not belong to Zelenskyi. On the real Volodymyr Zelenskyi’s X page,  there is no such message.

In addition, the colors of the verification checkmarks for X are different in both accounts. Thus, since 2022, the accounts of politicians and government agencies have a gray check mark; Zelenskyi’s account has it in exactly this color. In the fake screenshot, it is blue, which is the color of the checkmark that users who have an X Premium subscription may have.

Photos of an anti-tank ditch are being circulated online; according to the authors of the publications, it was dug on the western borders of Ukraine. “This was done on the orders of dictator Zelenskyi so that Ukrainians would not run away to free democratic countries”, they comment on the message. However, this is a lie.

Analysts from the StopFake project took on the case and found that the photo actually shows an anti-tank ditch located in the Donbas and Luhansk regions. The photo of the ditch also shows military journalist Vlad Voloshyn; he published this photo on his Facebook on March 3, 2024. His message says that the photo was taken in March 2024 in one of the “hot destinations in Donbas”.

Moreover, he wrote that the ditch was built many years ago - and he saw it with his own eyes in 2016. That is, the construction does not in any way affect the western borders of Ukraine, because it is a propaganda fiction.

Read on Censor.NET: Ukraine “dug” a ditch on the border with Moldova to stop the flight of men from mobilization.

A video is being circulated on social networks in the Russian segment in which a so-called Ukrainian volunteer allegedly received gratitude from the Ministry of Defense for his “active civic position and assistance to the army” - and in addition, he was “handed” a draft notice to the nearest Territorial center of recruitment and social support. In the messages, the authors of the fake conclude that in Ukraine you “shouldn’t” trust anyone, because they still want to mobilize a volunteer who decided to help of his own free will. However, just like the gratitude from the Ministry of Defense, the draft notice is fake.

The case was analyzed by VoxCheck specialists, who explained that the gratitude and the agenda do not comply with state design standards and contain various errors. For example, with regard to gratitude from the Ministry of Defense, in the special order “On departmental incentive awards” they give an example of a sketch of a “certificate”. It is different from the one in the fake video.

Moreover, in the text of gratitude itself there are many errors: in words “Vasylenko”, “heating means”, etc.

The situation with the draft notice is the same: instead of the current name of Kropyvnytskyi, the fake document used the old one - Kirovohrad. They also wrote a military commissariat, although there should be a territorial center for recruitment and social support.

That is, Russian propagandists wanted to show that in Ukraine they “use” people for their own purposes, for example, for widespread mobilization. In the message, the Kremlin’s minions convinced that the volunteer was doing something useful, helping the army, but the “evil Ukrainian authorities” decided to mobilize him anyway.

However, according to the law “On mobilization preparation and mobilization” and Article 23 of the legislative initiative, the status of a volunteer does not fall under the category of persons who may be exempt from mobilization. First of all, volunteer activity is a voluntary, socially oriented, non-profit activity that is performed by volunteers by providing volunteer assistance. In theory, a Ukrainian volunteer can be mobilized or served with a draft notice if there are specific grounds for this.

Russian propagandists are spreading information that people of retirement age are being mobilized into the Armed Forces of Ukraine. To prove this, they refer to correspondence “between grandmother and granddaughter on Telegram”. The grandmother seems to be complaining that they brought her a draft notice to mobilize.

The VoxCheck project specialists looked into this information and found out that it was a fake.

Firstly, the mobilization of women in Ukraine is voluntary. Moreover, pensioners are not mobilized in Ukraine. During martial law in Ukraine, citizens liable for military service between the ages of 18 and 60 who are capable of performing military duties may be conscripted. At the same time, senior officers can, if they wish, serve in the army up to 65 years of age.

Secondly, the grandmother’s age exceeds the mobilization age limit. On the agenda in the correspondence one can see that the woman’s year of birth is 1950, so as of November 2023, the date of publication of the news, the woman was 72 or 73 years old. In addition, since 2014, not a single woman has been forcibly mobilized - Ukrainian women voluntarily joined the ranks of the Defense Forces.

So the correspondence on Telegram could have been forged. The words “grandchildren” in audio messages on Telegram sound in the Russian manner and with incorrect accents, in particular, in the words “creatures” and “come out”. Such correspondence can be created between any two people, whatever one wants to call them, and pass it off as a dialogue between relatives. The photo of the draft notice in the correspondence is of poor quality, so it is impossible to confirm the authenticity of the document.

• Read also: Dead man allegedly received a draft notice

Russian media and social network users are disseminating information that Ukraine has allegedly announced the formation of a women's battalion Snow White in the Chernihiv region. They say it will consist of girls from 16 to 30 years old. Such publications are accompanied by comments that in Ukraine there are not enough people to fight, so women are sent en masse to the front. However, this is fake.

Specialists from the StopFake project drew attention to it. They found out that in reality this was not about creating a women's battalion. Russian propagandists took photographs from a real event - training in the basics of using small arms, which was carried out by military personnel of the regional directorate of forces of the North territorial defense forces  for the local population of the Chernihiv region - and presented it in a completely different, false context. These trainings were indeed conducted by the 119th Troops Brigade, but not a single recruitment, as propagandists write about it, was carried out during the exercises. The purpose of the meeting was to prepare the population for national resistance, which includes the basics of tactical medicine, the rules of handling weapons and engineering training.

By spreading such fakes, propagandists want to arouse distrust of the Ukrainian population in the government and discredit the mobilization. Detector Media has previously refuted fakes about the mobilization process in Ukraine.

The social network TikTok is distributing a video in which a serviceman of the Armed Forces of Ukraine allegedly died during hostilities received a draft notice from the Territorial center of recruitment and social support. The video with the relevant documents was allegedly recorded by the close family of the deceased woman.

The Center for Strategic Communications and Information Security claims that the video is fake and created by the Russians. This is evidenced by several factors.

Firstly, from the pronunciation one can hear that the Ukrainian language is foreign to a person, he makes a huge number of mistakes and has a specific accent.

Secondly, one senses inept acting – the woman is clearly overacting with negative emotions.

Thirdly, the draft notice states that the military man is an “ordinary” one, but there is no such rank in the Armed Forces of Ukraine; in Ukraine it is a “soldier”.

Fourth, the “documents” date back to May and June 2022, but the video appeared online on February 23, 2024—on the eve of the anniversary of the full-scale invasion.

It should be noted that in Ukraine there were indeed cases when people who had already died received draft notices. However, they are not associated with the “arbitrariness of the Territorial centers of recruitment and social support”, as propagandists claim, but with a certain confusion in the databases. For example, the district administration may not have informed the Territorial center of recruitment and social support about the death of a person, which is why it was on the agenda list.

This fake appeared as part of a large-scale propaganda campaign to discredit mobilization in Ukraine. Propagandists speculate on a sensitive topic for many Ukrainians and resort to such fabrications that are intended to demoralize, mislead and intimidate society. Previously, we refuted the information that Silpo’s receipts allegedly issued draft notices.