General Melnyk, who is quoted by Russian media, did not make any statements about the “destruction of the combat-ready part of the Ukrainian Armed Forces”. Melnyk spoke about the need to replenish the resources of the Ukrainian Armed Forces with Western equipment and new trained personnel for the rotation of Ukrainian soldiers on the front line.

Much has been made of the South African government’s close ties to Russia following news that the country will host Russian president Vladimir Putin in 2023. But images suggesting Putin congratulated former president Jacob Zuma on his birthday – on live TV – are fabricated.

False. Congress has only approved $113 billion for spending in Ukraine. Researchers tracking spending suggest that only around $77 billion has gone directly to Ukraine, a combination of financial, military and other forms of aid. It’s not clear where the $200 billion figure has come from. A Fox News report in February 2023 attributed it to a Ukrainian government statement that Newsweek could not find. Another estimate broadcast on Tucker Carlson Tonight the same month was presented without evidence and upon inspection appears dubious.

Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC) Oleksiy Danilov did not say that surrendering Bakhmut will lead to the collapse of the front to the western borders of Ukraine.

In an interview with the Ukrainian Channel Five television network, former Ukrainian Special Forces Deputy commander Serhiy Kryvonos said that Ukrainians knew how to penetrate into and seize a nuclear power plant in peacetime and therefore, hypothetically, are capable of trying to seize a Russian nuclear plant in response to Russia’s occupation of the Zaporizhzhia atomic plant. Kryvonos was not speaking in any official capacity, he was speaking hypothetically, and his words do not convey any real intent on the part of Ukraine to seize or attack Russian nuclear power stations.

Fox News fired its popular host Tucker Carlson within a week of agreeing to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million to settle a defamation lawsuit.

In Monday’s meeting of the United Nations Security Council, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov repeated accusations against the US, NATO and Ukraine. DW takes a look at the speech and debunks some of his claims.

This claim about corruption levels in Ukraine is false. During a March 29 hearing in the US House of Representatives on Ukraine aid transparency and accountability oversight mechanisms, the inspectors general of three US government agencies involved in the delivery and distribution of aid to Ukraine stated that “there is no evidence that support for Ukraine has been used improperly”. One year after Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, international organizations tracking corruption have not recorded an increase in corruption in Ukraine. According to the Transparency International Corruption Index, Ukraine received 33 points in the 2022 rating, one point higher than 2the previous year.

Statements about Ukraine allegedly planning to ban conscripts from enrolling to universities are completely baseless. Currently, there are no such draft laws in Ukraine, and no initiatives of this kind have been proposed by the authorities. In comments for Focus and TSN, lawyers confirmed that such a decision is extremely unlikely as it can be recognized as unconstitutional.

An edited video apparently showing cocaine on the desk of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has circulated on social media around the world. It is the latest in a string of disinformation targeting the leader since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. The suspicious, powder-like pile did not appear in the original video posted on Zelensky’s Instagram account.

Verdict: False The video was created by the non-partisan anti-corruption organization, RepresentUs. A spokesperson for the organization confirmed the footage of Putin included in the video was not real.

The Kremlin media completely distorted a recent Financial Times article, claiming British experts were predicting a crushing defeat for the planned Ukrainian counteroffensive. The FT did discuss the counteroffensive, but mostly in the context of what difficulties the Ukrainian military will face. The article’s conclusion is that if the Ukrainian attack is fast and brutal, then the front line will spread and the Russians will flee, just as they did during the counteroffensive near Kharkiv last year.

Ukrainian soldiers do not use animals to clear mines. On the contrary, servicemen on the front lines are trying to remove abandoned farm animals from areas shelled by Russians.

Elon Musk promised to make Twitter the “most accurate source of information about the world,” but he has repeatedly used his own account to amplify false claims from some of the most notorious disinformers on the internet, according to an AFP analysis of his online activity.

Gosar referenced a piece that originated as an article published by Russian state media decrying the influence of “Jewish warmongers” in Ukraine.

This claim is inaccurate. The Defense Threat Reduction Agency, a U.S. Defense Department arm that works to deter attacks and emerging threats, in November 2019 awarded a contract for non-COVID-19 training support in Ukraine, the agency said. An agency spokesperson said the contract’s description was modified in 2020, months after the virus emerged, to focus on COVID-19 research. The Defense Department typically modifies contracts over time to address emerging needs. The Defense Department did not pay for COVID-19 research in Ukraine before the virus emerged. We rate this claim False.

A video circulating on social media shows a poster of Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky apparently “snorting” cash donations from passers-by in Milan. But visual clues in the clip, and the complete lack of eye-witnesses, indicate that it is a fake.

Instead of Hungarians, propagandist sources actually wrote about the Rusyns, one of the ethnic groups populating the Eastern Carpathians. However, no such statements were made by either Hungarians or Rusyns. The claims by Petro Getsko, who is wanted internationally for violating Ukrainian territorial integrity, do not represent the position of the Carpathian Rusyns. The ‘Carpatho-Rusyn Nation’ noted that they do not support any of Getko’s appeals and condemn Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

If Russia refuses to voluntarily comply with the Arbitration Tribunal’s decision, Naftohaz has the right to start enforcing it in those states where Russia’s assets are located.

There is no evidence that the wife of the Azov regiment commander Kateryna Prokopenko is engaged in any political activities, especially in Germany. Prokopenko, as the head of the public organization ‘Association of Families of Azovstal Defenders, visited Germany in early April to draw attention to Ukrainian soldiers being released from captivity and pressure international organizations to investigate the terrorist attack in Olenivka. Representatives of the German Foreign Ministry, in turn, promised to help with implementing rehabilitation programs for the families of the soldiers who died in Mariupol and the families of heroes injured in the terrorist attack in Olenivka, as well as soldiers who returned from captivity with amputations. Moreover, Azov is neither neo-Nazi or fascist. It is an old Russian propaganda fake.