The Center for Countering Disinformation has published a selection of fakes and disinformation campaigns that the enemy spread last week. «Trybun» journalists analyzed the main ones.
Zelenskyy promised Poland the western territories of Ukraine in exchange for help during the counteroffensivе
The source of the disinformation is an article by Polish journalist Marek Galas for the NDP publication, which actively promotes Russian narratives in the Western information space. Such information was disseminated in social networks, in particular, on telegram channels broadcasting pro-Kremlin rhetoric. Reports say that Zelenskyy is asking for help and he is ready to give everything, even the territories of Western Ukraine.
The author of the article argues his conclusion with the out-of-context remark made by the President that there will be no borders between Poland and Ukraine in the future. However, Volodymyr Zelenskyy did not say that Poland could take the territories of Ukraine, he spoke about the all-encompassing friendship between the two brother states.
Specialists of the Center for Counteracting Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council explained that no such statement was made by Zelenskyy. It's fake that aims to discredit Ukraine's ally Poland in order to stop military aid and support to us in the international arena.
The Russian publics spread another popular fake: the most Western leaders are meeting with Xi Jinping, while Zelenskyy is «only» going to Poland. For example, Xi Jinping met with Putin, it allegedly shows that «Xi Jinping and Putin really run the agenda». Zelenskyy is not so «influential» to meet with such politicians.
The command of the Armed Forces of Ukraine does not care about its own units in Bakhmut
Last week, Russian propaganda focused on Ukrainian losses, particularly in the battles for Bakhmut in Donetsk oblast. According to Hanna Malyar, the Deputy Minister of Defense of Ukraine, the goal of the Russians is to use an emotionally sensitive topic in order to make people distrust the decisions of the military leadership and shift the blame for the killed Ukrainians away from themselves. She called the fake spread by the Russians «another vainly created Russian narrative.» According to the Deputy Head of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, the «appalling facts of war» cannot be suppressed by distorting reality in social networks or mass media.
«The facts are too obvious. Russian aggression directly caused every death of a Ukrainian military or civilian. The enemies have a choice – they can withdraw from our land. We have no choice – we are defending our state,» Malyar emphasized. She stressed that the losses of the Russian invaders were incomparably higher. Earlier, the Deputy Minister of Defense said that in some battles the occupiers lost ten times more manpower than the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Fake covers with the image of the President of Ukraine
Enemy Telegram channels are spreading the cover of the British weekly newspaper The New European, which allegedly depicts Volodymyr Zelenskyy sitting on the lap of the Dalai Lama and the Prime Minister of the UK standing next to him with his hands on his sides. Thus, the author of the picture hints that Zelenskyy is ready for anything to get money.
The Center for Countering Disinformation explains that in fact, according to the newspaper's official website, The New European edition with such a cover does not exist. Moreover, the last issue of the newspaper was #336 (April 13-19, 2023), and #337 indicated on the picture is still being prepared. It confirms that the cover is fake once again.
Enemy Telegram channels also spread the cover of the Spanish satirical publication El Jueves, which allegedly depicts the President of Ukraine and the Ukrainian military under the central heading of the issue «Their last Easter».
In fact, the edition of El Jueves was not published with such a cover. It is possible to check if you open the official website of the magazine. In addition, the last printed edition of the publication is #2.386. At the same time, the mentioned cover shows #2.388, which is another direct proof of its fakeness.
Spreading similar fake covers of well-known Western publications, the enemy wants to discredit Ukraine and its President on the world stage.
Ukraine has neither the strength nor the means for a counteroffensive
Rumors about the imminent start of the Ukrainian offensive have been circulating in the press and social networks for several weeks now, but there has been recently published more and more information about it. It is often assumed that the Ukrainian counteroffensive will start after the spring thaw when muddy conditions known as bezdorizhzhia (roadlessness) stop making the movement of troops and heavy armor more difficult in Ukraine and armored vehicles can pass through rough terrain, as well as when Ukraine can gather a sufficient number of troops.
The BBC noted that the Ukrainian offensive depends not so much on the weather as on the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, General Valerii Zaluzhnyi, who decides on its launch.
Despite the fact that Russia managed to capture a large territory in Luhansk and Kharkiv regions during the summer offensive of 2022,in September the Armed Forces of Ukraine launched a counteroffensive, liberating Izium and Lyman, and subsequently forcing Russian troops to withdraw from the right bank of the Dnipro River, where they entered at the beginning of the invasion.
Since then, maneuvering operations have practically stopped in the war, and Russian forces have begun to slowly push back the Ukrainian army in the Bakhmut direction, as well as to attack in other directions – near Avdiivka, Vugledar, in the Svatove-Kreminna line.
The Russian forces – mainly «Wagner Group» - managed to semi-encircle the city of Bakhmut and partially capture it, but even in this area, where the Russians demonstrated the greatest success, there is no significant breakthrough to speak of. This military advance does not go beyond the tactical level.
In March, Russian offensive attempts near Vugledar and Avdiivka led to minor advances, but, showing the stubborn resistance, the Armed Forces of Ukraine stopped enemy movement. The losses of Russian troops near Vugledar became so significant that this news caused a real barrage of criticism in pro-Russian military telegram channels.
The situation in the north of Luhansk oblast, where the fighting is taking place on the Svatove-Kreminna line, has also not changed recently. There, the intensity of hostilities is even lower.
Currently, Russia maintains an advantage in heavy and light armored vehicles, barrel and jet artillery, but most importantly – in aviation. However, the Russians are building strongholds, anti-tank lines and trenches in the rear. These positions are created not only in the occupied territories, including Crimea, but also in the border regions of Russia, where Ukraine is not going to conduct offensives – at least according to officials' public statements.
Moreover, according to open sources, Russia itself is accumulating forces on the Kreminna-Svatove line – perhaps in order to seize the initiative by launching its own offensive.
On April 5, the Reuters agency published an article, saying that Ukraine trained 40,000 soldiers for the offensive. The agency refers to an anonymous serviceman of one of the new brigades, and therefore it is a very rough estimate.
Indirectly, this figure is confirmed by the leak of secret Pentagon documents, which was reported by the New York Times last week. These documents say that nine brigades of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are ready, as well as three more will be ready by the end of April.
That is, the number of new units, according to these data, may already approach 50 thousand trained military personnel, which fully corresponds to the information provided by Reuters.
As for equipment, it is also difficult to determine how well equipped the strike forces of the Armed Forces of Ukraine are. Previously, the representatives of the Ukrainian leadership and the Armed Forces of Ukraine complained about the lack of Western armored vehicles. Judging by reports in open sources, the main battle tanks, for example, were delivered to Ukraine only a few dozen – it is obviously less than needed for the offensive.
Regarding weapons, Oryx researchers note that the vast majority of tanks provided by Poland were transferred to the newly created mechanized brigades. According to Oryx, those machines that did not take part in combat were upgraded, they were equipped at least dynamic protection kits against cumulative ammunition. Poland also delivered 14 Leopard 2A4 tanks to the Armed Forces of Ukraine and the country intends to deliver 60 PT-91 tanks. In addition to Polish Leopards, 18 German Leopard 2A6s and British Challenger 2s have already arrived in Ukraine. Previously, it was reported about other supplies, in particular about the transfer of 28 M-55S tanks to Ukraine by Slovenia – a deeply modernized version of the old Soviet T-55. They were also not involved in hostilities. These tanks have a combat capacity significantly lower than that of the more modern T-72, but they can be useful in the second echelons. Ukraine has already received from the US 90 heavy wheeled armored vehicles Stryker, BMP Marder, a lot of special equipment, in particular, engineering, command, repair and evacuation vehicles, wheeled armored vehicles of various classes.
This auxiliary equipment indicates the offensive intentions of the Ukrainian army even more than tanks handed over by the Americans.
Ukrainian counteroffensive is «Russian roulette» for the US and NATO
Russian mass media note that the expected Ukrainian offensive «does not look promising.» The actions of the Ukrainian authorities can lead the US and NATO to a real disaster, if Kyiv fails.
Russian mass media said that this opinion was expressed by journalist Steven Brien in an article for Asia Times. According to him, if the Russian army finally breaks through the defense systems of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, then nothing will be able to stop it. The author of the article emphasized that the main danger for the West might be Kyiv's decision to wait for even more equipment and ammunition in order to carry out its counteroffensive. However, Russia will not allow such a scenario. Ukraine can try to wait until the US and NATO supply all the necessary heavy equipment and ammunition, but this process will probably take several years.
Brian believes that if the Russian troops break through the contact line in Donbas, nothing will stop them, and they will move towards Kyiv and the Dnipro at a speed that threatens the West. The journalist is sure that the Russian military industry is much more prepared for protracted hostilities than the Western one. In addition, the lack of shells seems to have a serious impact on the situation.
«NATO is almost out of ammunition, and even pro-Ukrainian European politicians are starting to get nervous about the war. There is also a negative reaction to the destruction of the Nord Stream gas pipeline, which undermined American-German relations,» he notes. Steven Brien believes that it would be much more profitable and safer for the West to insist on negotiations with Moscow. However, for this, the West must make serious concessions to Russia, which will turn out to be a real «Russian roulette». Nevertheless, if the Biden administration does not change course, they will continue to play Russian roulette with all the consequences,» the author writes.
The anthem of Ukraine contains the words «let's remember the glorious death», «why did he give Ukraine» and «let's lie down with our heads»
The network recalled a comparison of the anthems of the US, Russia and Ukraine, according to which the anthem of Ukraine contains the words «let's remember the glorious death», «why did he give Ukraine» and «let's lie down with our heads».
In fact, the words shown in the picture were never used in the national anthem of Ukraine. The text of the anthem does not contain the phrases «let's remember the glorious death», «why did he give Ukraine away», «let's lie down with our heads», «they call us from the graves».
Terrorists and extremists receive Western weapons supplied to Ukraine
The Russian media spread the statement of the President of Nigeria that the war in Ukraine allegedly became a source of supplying weapons to terrorists.
However, there are no officially recorded cases of Ukraine reselling and supplying weapons from Western partners to the black market.
Pentagon spokesman Patrick Ryder noted that the US does not have any reliable information that Ukraine is reselling Western weapons. The US Ministry of Defense has also repeatedly emphasized that it see no signs that Western weapons are being used outside of their intended purpose.
