Accusations have circulated on social media that President Zelensky of Ukraine has cancelled elections in Ukraine, and extended martial law in order to remain in power. In fact, holding elections now, under wartime conditions, would almost guarantee another Zelensky victory. It would also be illegal under Ukrainian laws that predate Zelensky’s time in power.

On June 28, 2023, a Russian missile hit a crowded restaurant in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk. 13 people died in this attack, including at least 3 children and a leading Ukrainian poet and author (as of July 3). As with pretty much every major strike on civilians, to add insult to injury, false stories immediately began being circulated by pro-Russian influencers online.

Sick: BBC’s fact-checking team have traced false claims of “baby factories” in Ukraine back to a notorious online hoax factory. “Who would possibly lie about something like that?” you might reasonably ask yourself. Depressingly, we have the answer to that question.

A false rumor on Twitter has been traced by the BBC back to pro-Kremlin propaganda channels. The deliberately misleading Twitter post falsely claims that weapons possibly among those sent to Ukraine were used against police in the recent riots in France (summer 2023). The attached image shows a fabricated “screenshot” of a non-existent news article.