Disinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine

A Russian propaganda rally in Sevastopol (Russian-occupied Crimea, Ukraine) in April 2022, portraying the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a defence of the Donbas. The slogan reads: "For the President! For Russia! For Donbas!"

As part of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Russian state and state-controlled media have spread disinformation in their information war against Ukraine.[1] Ukrainian media and politicians have also been accused of using propaganda and deception, although such efforts have been described as more limited than the Russian disinformation campaign.[2]

Russian propaganda and fake news stories have attacked Ukraine's right to exist and accused it of being a neo-Nazi state, committing genocide against Russian speakers, developing nuclear and biological weapons, and being influenced by Satanism. Russian propaganda also accuses NATO of controlling Ukraine and building up military infrastructure in Ukraine to threaten Russia. Some of this disinformation has been spread by so-called Russian web brigades. Russian claims have been widely rejected as untrue and crafted to justify the invasion and even to justify genocidal acts against Ukrainians. The Russian state has denied carrying out war crimes in Ukraine, and Russian media has falsely blamed some of them on Ukrainian forces instead. Some of the disinformation seeks to undermine international support for Ukraine and to provoke hostility against Ukrainian refugees.

Russian disinformation has been pervasive and successful in Russia itself, due to censorship of war news and state control of most media. Because of the amount of disinformation, Russian media has been restricted and its reputation has been tarnished in many Western and developed countries. Russia has been more successful spreading disinformation in the Global South, particularly in the Sahel region of Africa, where Russia uses private military companies to support local regimes (see Wagner Group activities in Africa).[3][4][5][6][7]

## Russian themes

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Main article: Russian information war against Ukraine

Russian mural of a pro-war "Z" symbol and the slogan "truth is with us".

Russian presenter Vladimir Solovyov has broadcast disinformation and propaganda supporting the invasion of Ukraine.[8]

Disinformation (a lie or exaggeration meant to sway opinion) has been spread by the Russian state, state-controlled media, propagandists, and Russian web brigades as part of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Its purpose is to build support for Russia's invasion, and to weaken opposition to the war.[9][10][11][12] It also seeks to sow disunity among Western countries who support Ukraine; to counter NATO; and to cover up or create plausible deniability for Russian war crimes.[13]

Russian documents were obtained and filed in court by the FBI, which outline a Russian operation to manipulate influential people in Europe and to target people on social media with posts, comments and fake news. The goal being to sow division, undermine support for Ukraine, and discredit Ukraine's allies using psychological warfare. The documents identified Germany as particularly vulnerable to Russian influence.[14]

The following are common themes in Russian propaganda and disinformation, along with some of the common rebuttals.

### Denying Ukrainian nationhood and statehood

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Vladimir Putin denied the legitimacy of the Ukrainian state and revived Russian imperialist ideas such as Novorossiya (New Russia).[15]

Further information: Anti-Ukrainian sentiment, Russian irredentism, Russian nationalism, and Russian world

Russian propaganda has attacked Ukrainian nationhood and national identity, portraying Ukrainians as "Little Russians" or "part of an all-Russian nation". This has been a theme in Russian imperialist and nationalist rhetoric since the seventeenth century. Russian President Vladimir Putin has long questioned the Ukrainian people's identity[16] and the country's legitimacy.[17] In his 2021 essay "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians", Putin called Russians and Ukrainians "one people" and claimed there is "no historical basis" for the "idea of Ukrainian people as a nation separate from the Russians".[18] Since then, Russia's official and media narrative is that Ukraine has always been Russian.[18] In announcing the invasion, Putin repeatedly denied Ukraine's right to exist, claiming that it was created by the Russian Bolsheviks and that it never had "real statehood".[19] In June 2025, Putin declared that "all of Ukraine is ours" because he considers Russians and Ukrainians to be "one people".[20]

Björn Alexander Düben, professor of international affairs, writes that "Putin's historical claims do not hold up to serious academic scrutiny" and that he is "embracing a neo-imperialist account that exalts Russia's centuries-long repressive rule over Ukraine, while simultaneously presenting Russia as a victim of 'US imperialism'".[18]

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia and former Russian president, has called Ukraine part of Russia.[21] He wrote that "Ukraine is NOT a country, but artificially collected territories" and that Ukrainian "is NOT a language" but a "mongrel dialect" of Russian.[22] He has said that Ukraine should not exist in any form and that Russia will continue to wage war against any independent Ukrainian state.[23]

Such denial of nationhood is said to be part of a campaign of incitement to genocide by Russian authorities.[24][25] United Nations special rapporteurs have condemned the Russian occupation authorities for attempting "to erase local [Ukrainian] culture, history, and language" and to forcibly replace them with Russian language and culture.[26]

After the 2014 Ukrainian Revolution, Russian rhetoric portrayed Ukrainian governments as illegitimate, calling them the "Kyiv regime" or "junta".[27][28] Putin said they were "led by a band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis",[29] and claimed Ukraine is "under external control" by the West or the United States.[30]

The official governmental website of Ukraine says that Ukrainians consider themselves an independent nation.[31] A poll conducted in April 2022 by "Rating" found that the vast majority (91%) of Ukrainians (excluding the Russian-occupied territories) do not support the thesis that "Russians and Ukrainians are one people".[32]

### Allegations of Nazism

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Pro-Russian activists with a sign likening the Ukrainian government to the Nazis, and waving a Victory Banner

A sign saying "Denazify Putin" at a Ukraine solidarity protest

Putin falsely claimed that the Ukrainian government were neo-Nazis and announced that one of his goals was the "de-Nazification of Ukraine". Putin's claims were repeated by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in a speech to the UN Human Rights Council; many diplomats walked out in protest.[33][34][35] These claims were repeated in Russian media to justify the war.[36] In April 2022, Russian state-owned news agency RIA Novosti published an article by Timofey Sergeytsev, "What Russia should do with Ukraine", where he argued that Ukraine and Ukrainian national identity must be wiped out, because he claimed most Ukrainians are at least "passive Nazis".[37][38][39] By May, references to de-Nazifying Ukraine in Russian media began to wane, reportedly because it had not gained traction with the Russian public.[40]

These allegations of Nazism are widely rejected as untrue and part of a Russian disinformation campaign to justify the invasion, with many pointing out that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is Jewish and had relatives who were victims of the Holocaust.[41] Some of the world's leading historians of Nazism and the Holocaust put out a statement rejecting Putin's claims, which was signed by hundreds of other historians and scholars of the subject. It says:

> "We strongly reject the Russian government's ... equation of the Ukrainian state with the Nazi regime to justify its unprovoked aggression. This rhetoric is factually wrong, morally repugnant and deeply offensive to the memory of millions of victims of Nazism and those who courageously fought against it."[42]

The authors say that Ukraine "has right-wing extremists and violent xenophobic groups" like any country, but "none of this justifies the Russian aggression and the gross mischaracterization of Ukraine".[42] The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum denounced Putin's claims, saying "once again, innocent people are being killed purely because of insane pseudo-imperial megalomania".[43] The US Holocaust Memorial Museum and Yad Vashem condemned Putin's abuse of Holocaust history.[44][45] Ukrainian Jews likewise rejected claims of Ukraine being a neo-Nazi state.[46]

Kremlin claims of Nazism against Ukraine are partly an attempt to drum-up support for the war among its citizens. Russian propaganda has framed it as a continuation of the Soviet Union's "Great Patriotic War" against Nazi Germany, even though Russia supports far-right groups across Europe.[47][48] In the words of Miriam Berger for The Washington Post, "the rhetoric of the 'fight against fascism' resonates deeply in Russia, which suffered huge losses in the fight against Nazi Germany".[49] Some Soviet imagery was used as part of this propaganda drive, and Ukrainian flags were replaced with Victory Banners in some occupied towns.[50][51]

Experts on disinformation say that Russia's portrayal of Ukrainians as Nazis helps them justify Russian war crimes;[36] Russia's UN representative justified the Hroza missile attack in this way.[52] Historian Timothy Snyder said the Russian regime calls Ukrainians "Nazis" to justify genocidal acts against them. He said pro-war Russians use "Nazi" to mean "a Ukrainian who refuses to be Russian".[53] Russian neo-fascist Aleksandr Dugin proposed to simply "identify Ukrainian Nazism with Russophobia". Dugin argued that Russia should be the only country allowed to define Ukrainian Nazism and Russophobia, in the same way that Jews have what he calls a "monopoly" on the definition of antisemitism.[54]

A banner likening Russia's invasion of Ukraine to the Nazi and Soviet Invasion of Poland.

Ukrainian officials respond that Russia's own actions in Ukraine are like those of Nazi Germany,[55][52] and some commentators, including Snyder,[53] have likened Putin's Russia to a fascist state (see Ruscism).[56][57][58][59] Many Russian units who took part in the invasion are linked to neo-Nazism themselves, including the Rusich Group and Kremlin-sponsored Wagner Group.[60][61][62] Other openly neo-Nazi groups have been involved in recruiting, training and fighting on the Russian side, such as the Russian Imperial Legion, AAST and Atomwaffen Division Russland.[63][64][65][66] Russian far-right groups also played a major role among the Russian proxy forces in Donbas.[67][68]

Like many countries, Ukraine has a far-right fringe, such as Right Sector and Svoboda.[69][70] Analysts generally agree that the Russian government greatly exaggerates far-right influence in Ukraine, as there is no widespread support for far-right ideology in the government, military, or electorate.[71][72] In the 2019 Ukrainian parliamentary election, a coalition of far-right parties including Right Sector received only 2% of votes and did not win any seats.[73] Ukraine's Azov Brigade began as a far-right volunteer militia. It was a focus of Kremlin propaganda, which falsely claimed they were "anti-Russian neo-Nazis persecuting ethnic Russians". Azov has been mentioned on Russian TV more often than Putin's ruling United Russia party.[74] By the time of the invasion, the brigade had been largely de-politicized.[75][76][77] A 2022 Counter Extremism Project report concluded that the Azov Brigade can no longer be defined as neo-Nazi.[78][79]

### Donbas genocide allegations

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A rally in support of Novorossiya in Moscow on 11 June 2014 Russian children at a memorial to children allegedly killed by Ukrainian forces in Donbas, a state-sponsored event in Kursk in July 2023

Further information: Accusations of genocide in Donbas and War in Donbas (2014–2022) § Casualties

In his announcement of the invasion, Putin baselessly claimed that Ukraine was carrying out genocide in the mainly Russian-speaking Donbas region.[80] He said the purpose of Russia's "military operation" was to "protect the people" of the Russian-controlled breakaway republics of Donetsk and Luhansk. Putin claimed they had been facing "genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime" for eight years.[80] There is no evidence for Putin's claims of genocide, and they have been widely rejected as a pretext for invasion.[80][81][82][9][83][84] The European Commission called the allegations "Russian disinformation".[85] Over 300 scholars on genocide issued a statement rejecting Russia's abuse of the term "genocide" to "justify its own violence".[86] Ukraine brought a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to challenge Russia's claim. The ICJ said it had not seen any evidence of genocide by Ukraine.[87]

Altogether, about 14,300 people were killed in the Donbas War, both soldiers and civilians. According to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, 6,500 were Russian proxy forces, 4,400 were Ukrainian forces, and 3,404 were civilians on both sides of the frontline.[88] The vast majority of civilian deaths were in the first year,[88] and the death rate in the Donbas War was actually falling before the 2022 Russian invasion: in 2019 there were 27 conflict-related civilian deaths, in 2020 there were 26 deaths, and in 2021 there were 25 deaths, over half of them from mines and unexploded ordnance.[88] By comparison, after Russia's full-scale invasion, 4,163 civilians were killed in March 2022,[89] meaning that more civilians died in that one month alone than in the entire eight years of the Donbas War. Since the invasion, Russian state-controlled media and pro-Kremlin Telegram channels falsely accused Ukrainian troops of attacking civilian targets in Mariupol and bombing Ukrainian cities.[90][91][92] According to Russian website Bumaga, an anonymous former employee of Yevgeny Prigozhin's media company "Patriot" said that most of their reports about "victims of Ukrainian Armed Forces" in Donbas were staged.[93][94]

An excerpt from a speech given by former Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko, taken out of context, began spreading on social media. He appeared to claim, among other things, that he will force children in Donbas to sleep in cellars and that he will restrict Donbas residents from accessing any public services. In his full speech, Poroshenko does not claim that Ukraine will mistreat Donbas residents, but rather that the occupation of Donbas by pro-Russian separatists is causing suffering for local residents. Therefore, by comparing their appalling living conditions with those of Ukrainian citiziens, Ukraine could win the war in Donbas simply due to popular discontent on the other side.[95]

### Allegations of NATO provocation and aggression

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Further information: Russian opposition to Ukrainian NATO membership and Russia–NATO relations

A map of NATO (blue) and the CSTO (orange) when the 2022 invasion began.

Russian propaganda often claims that NATO and its "eastward expansion" provoked the invasion and that Russia had to invade Ukraine in self-defense.[96] In his two speeches just before the invasion, Putin said that Ukraine joining NATO would be a threat, and warned that NATO might use Ukraine to launch a surprise attack on Russia. He falsely claimed that NATO was building up its forces and military infrastructure in Ukraine, and that the Ukrainian military was under NATO control.[97][98] Russian state media falsely claimed that thousands of NATO soldiers had been killed in the invasion.[99]

Although it seeks to join, Ukraine is not a member of NATO; a collective security alliance of 32 member states, similar to the Russian-led CSTO.[100] In 1999, Russia signed the Charter for European Security, affirming the right of each state to choose its security arrangements and join alliances if they wish.[101]

Putin claimed that NATO broke a promise not to let any Eastern European countries join. This unwritten promise was allegedly made by American and German diplomats to Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev in 1990, but the diplomats and NATO denied ever making any formal proposal.[102][100][103] Such a promise was never included in any treaty,[104] and the Soviet Union ceased to exist in 1991. From then until the Russian invasion, 14 Eastern European countries willingly joined NATO. Political scientist Filip Kostelka says many of these countries sought NATO membership "to protect themselves from the Russian threat. They did not need to be pushed".[105] The last time a country bordering Russia had joined NATO prior to the invasion was in 2004.[106]

Putin has not always opposed NATO. According to Michael McFaul and Robert Person, this suggests Putin did not truly believe it to be a military threat.[107][108] In 2002, Putin said Ukraine's relationship with NATO was not Russia's concern.[107] Russia did not make threats about the Baltic states joining NATO in 2004.[107] Putin said in 2005 that if Ukraine wanted to join NATO, "we will respect their choice, because it is their sovereign right to decide their own defence policy, and this will not worsen relations between our countries".[109] It was not until his 2007 Munich speech that Putin openly opposed NATO enlargement. Nevertheless, Russia deepened co-operation with NATO in 2010,[108] and the two continued to co-operate until Russia annexed Crimea in 2014.[100]

When Russia occupied Crimea and invaded the Donbas in 2014, Ukraine was officially a neutral country and was not seeking NATO membership.[110][111][112] In December 2014, Ukraine's parliament voted to end this neutral status in response to Russia's aggression,[113] and Ukraine only applied to join NATO in response to the 2022 invasion. Steven Pifer thus argues that Russia's own aggressive actions have done the most to push Ukraine towards NATO.[114] When Russia invaded in 2022, Ukraine was a long way from membership.[108] Members of the alliance have been wary of letting Ukraine join, partly due to Putin's warnings.[115]

Russia's invasion led Finland to join NATO, doubling the length of Russia's border with NATO.[116] Putin said that Finland's membership was not a threat, unlike Ukraine's, but warned against any military buildup in Finland.[117]

Protesters in London accusing NATO of provocation and aggression against Russia (2023).

Peter Dickinson of the Atlantic Council suggested the real reason Putin opposes NATO is not because he believes it is a threat, but because it "prevents him from bullying Russia's neighbors".[118] Tom Casier writes that Russia's annexation of southeastern Ukraine reveals that the real motive for the invasion is to create a "Greater Russia".[119]

Shortly before his death in a plane crash, Russian oligarch Yevgeny Prigozhin accused the Russian military leadership of lying about NATO aggression to justify the invasion.[120] Prigozhin was a close ally of Putin and his Wagner Group played an important role in the invasion.[121]

An article published by the Institute for the Study of War concluded:

> "Putin didn't invade Ukraine in 2022 because he feared NATO. He invaded because he believed that NATO was weak, that his efforts to regain control of Ukraine by other means had failed, and that installing a pro-Russian government in Kyiv would be safe and easy. His aim was not to defend Russia against some non-existent threat but rather to expand Russia's power, eradicate Ukraine's statehood, and destroy NATO, goals he still pursues".[122]

#### Proxy war claims

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The Russian government accused NATO of waging a "proxy war" against Russia, because its members have sent military aid to Ukraine after the invasion.[123] Russian state media falsely claimed that some Ukrainian military units fighting the invasion were under NATO command.[97][124] NATO says it is not at war with Russia, but supports Ukraine's "right to self-defense, as enshrined in the UN Charter".[100] Lawrence Freedman wrote that calling Ukraine a NATO "proxy" wrongly implied that "Ukrainians are only fighting because NATO put them up to it, rather than because of the more obvious reason that they have been subjected to a vicious invasion". He said that any weakening of Russia caused by the war would result from "Moscow's folly ...not NATO's intent".[125] Geraint Hughes said that calling Ukraine NATO's "proxy" insults and belittles Ukrainians, denies their autonomy and implies they do not really have the will to defend their country.[123]

Countering claims of NATO waging a proxy war, it is pointed out that NATO states have actually been slow in sending weaponry to Ukraine, especially advanced weapons, and they prevented Ukraine from firing those weapons into Russia.[126] NATO refused to enforce a no-fly zone over Ukraine,[125] and the US told Ukraine to stop attacking refineries and early-warning radars in Russia.[127][128]

Russia has falsely asserted several times that Ukraine is not a sovereign country, but its government is controlled by foreign powers whose companies, banks and investment funds like BlackRock or Vanguard control a large portion of Ukrainian soil and forbid to bury Ukrainian corpses below it. However, under Ukrainian law, foreign market agents like corporations and individuals are not allowed to own Ukrainian land.[129][130][131][132]

### Start of the Russia-Ukraine war

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This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to itadding to it or making an edit request. (March 2025)

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Many people outside Ukraine, including politicians and commentators, regard 24 February 2022 as the start of Russia's war with Ukraine. According to political scientist Andreas Umland, this approach diminishes the significance of Russian armed overtake of Ukrainian Crimea and its covert intervention in the Ukrainian Donbas. Such approach helps Russian propaganda to justify its aggression. Umland and co-authors regard 20 February 2014 - the day Russia supposedly issued orders to prepare for the invasion, which is also engraved on the Russian Crimea campaign medal \- as the start of the Russia-Ukraine war,[133] while most researchers prefer 27 February, the day Russian forces occupied Crimean parliament.[134][135][136]

### Alleged assassination and sabotage attempts

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On 18 February 2022, the Luhansk People's Republic showed a video purportedly showing removal of a car full of explosives prepared to blow up a train full of women and children evacuating to Russia. The video's metadata showed that it had been recorded on 12 June 2019.[137]

The breakaway Donetsk People's Republic also released a video on 18 February 2022 that claimed to show Poles trying to blow up a chlorine tank. The video was further distributed by Russian media. The video's metadata showed that it was created on 8 February 2022, and included different pieces of audio or video, including a 2010 YouTube video from a military firing range in Finland.[137][9] Ukrainian intelligence attributed responsibility for the video to the Russian intelligence service GRU.[9]

According to Bellingcat, a supposed bombing of a "separatist police chief" by a "Ukrainian spy", broadcast on Russian state television, showed visual evidence of the bombing of an old "green army vehicle". The old car's registration plate was that of the separatist police chief, but the same licence plate was also seen on a different, new SUV.[10][137][9]

On 22 February 2022, the Russian people's militias in Ukraine accused Ukraine of a "terrorist attack" that killed three civilians in a car on the Donetsk-Gorlovka highway.[138] France 24 described the incident as a false flag attempt with corpses likely coming from a morgue to set up the scene.[139]

### Russia's alleged attempt to end the Donbas War

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On 7 September 2022, at the Eastern Economic Forum, Putin claimed that Russia did not "start" any military operations, but was only trying to end those that started in 2014, after a "coup d’état in Ukraine".[140] Conversely, Russia's annexation of Crimea in February 2014 is regarded as the start of the Russo-Ukrainian War.[141]

Before Russia began its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, the intensity of the hostilities in the Donbas had been steadily declining since the signing of the Minsk agreements in February 2015.[142]

### Ukrainian biological and radiological weapons

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#### Biological weapons labs

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Main article: Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory

In March 2022, Russia alleged that Ukraine was developing biological weapons in a network of labs linked to the US.[143] The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People's Republic of China and Chinese state media amplified Russian claims.[144] QAnon promoters also echo disinformation.[145][146] BBC Reality Check found no evidence supporting the claims.[147] The United Nations and the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists also refuted this.[146][148][149] Russian biologists in and outside of Russia have debunked the claims, calling the allegations "transparently false".[150]

According to researcher Adam Rawnsley, the Kremlin has a history of discrediting ordinary biology labs in former Soviet republics, and previously spread conspiracy theories about Georgia and Kazakhstan similar to those deployed against Ukraine.[151][152]

#### Birds as bio-weapons

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Prior to March 2022, the Russian Ministry of Defence made unsubstantiated accusations that the United States was manufacturing bio-weapons in Ukraine. In March the Ministry followed up with another conspiracy theory: the US was training birds to spread disease in Ukraine among Russian citizens, according to Major General Igor Konashenkov, spokesman for the Ministry of Russian state-controlled media. He mentioned specific details, including a strain of influenza with 50% mortality, and Newcastle disease. Media reports included maps, documents, and photos of birds with American military insignia, and claimed that infected birds had been captured alive in eastern Ukraine.[153][154]

A U.S. State Department spokesman laughed these claims off and called them "outright lies", "total nonsense", "absurd", "laughable" and "propaganda". CIA Director William Burns told the U.S.Senate that Russia made these claims to prepare the terrain for a biological or chemical attack against Ukraine, which they would then blame on the United States and Ukraine.[153][154]

#### Combat mosquitoes

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On 28 October 2022 Vasily Nebenzya, Permanent Representative of Russia to the United Nations, accused Ukraine of using drones with "combat mosquitoes" which spread "dangerous viruses".[155]

#### Ukrainian plans to use a dirty bomb

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See also: Nuclear threats during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and Ukraine and weapons of mass destruction

In March 2022, Russian state-controlled news agencies claimed, without evidence, that Ukraine was developing a plutonium-based dirty bomb nuclear weapon at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant.[156]

In a series of calls to foreign defence officials made in October 2022, Russian Minister of Defence Sergei Shoigu similarly claimed that Ukraine was preparing a "provocation" involving the use of a dirty bomb.[157][158] The Institute for the Study of War suggested a desire to slow or suspend foreign aid to Ukraine as a possible motive for the allegations.[157] The foreign ministries of France, the United Kingdom and the United States rejected "Russia's transparently false allegations".[157] In a briefing, the Russian Ministry of Defence used photos of the Beloyarsk Nuclear Power Station, the Novosibirsk Chemical Concentrates Plant, the aftermath of the September 11 attacks, and a photo from a 2010 presentation by the Slovenian Radioactive Waste Management Agency [sl] as "evidence" for its claims.[159]

### Denial of Russian war crimes

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Main articles: War crimes in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine and Russian 2022 war censorship laws

During the Russian invasion of Ukraine, numerous war crimes and crimes against humanity were recorded and extensively documented, including attacks on civilians and energy-related infrastructure, wilful killings, unlawful confinement, torture, rape, and unlawful deportations of children.[160] Russian officials denied the war crimes perpetrated by Russian forces. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov called the Bucha massacre a "fake attack" against Russia, claiming it was staged. He said that Russian forces had left Bucha on 30 March while evidence of killings had emerged, according to him, four days later.[161]

On 4 April at the United Nations, Russian representative Vasily Nebenzya said that the bodies in the videos were not there when Russian forces withdrew from Bucha.[162] This was contradicted by satellite images showing that the bodies were there as early as 19 March;[163] the position of the corpses in the satellite images matches the smartphone photos taken in early April.[164]

The Russian Defence Ministry's Telegram channel said Russian forces did not target civilians during the battle. According to them, a massacre could not have been covered up by the Russian military, and the mass grave in the city was filled with victims of Ukrainian airstrikes. The Ministry said it had analyzed a video purporting to show the bodies of dead civilians in Bucha, and the corpses were moving. The BBC's Moscow office investigated this claim and concluded there was no evidence the video had been staged.[165] Russia also released a video that, according to the Kremlin, showed a corpse supposedly moving, although this was quickly deemed false after investigations by fact-checking websites determined that it was a corpse reflected in the rearview mirror of a car.[166][167]

Another attempt to depict the massacre as fake aired on the Russian state television channel Russia-24, using a video that the channel claimed showed Ukrainians arranging mannequins in order to "stage" the Bucha massacre. The footage was quickly identified as coming from a television set filmed in Saint Petersburg. Workers for the television show confirmed that the video was from a Russian television show.[168] Similarly, a video showing Ukrainian soldiers pulling dead bodies with cables in Bucha was widely shared by pro-Russian social media, supposedly to prove that the scene was staged. The provenance of the video is the Associated Press; its report explains that the use of cables was due to concern of the dead bodies being possibly booby-trapped.[169][170] Videos showing Ukrainian forces searching for explosives under the corpses, falsely claiming they were placing the bodies to fake the massacre, were also shared in social media.[171][172][173] Russian officials also blamed Ukrainian forces for the Mariupol theatre airstrike,[174] though independent sources confirmed that Russia was responsible.[175]

Residential building in Dnipro after Russian missile strike on 14 January 2023. Dmitry Peskov claimed that the residential building probably collapsed due to a Ukrainian air defense counterattack.

In November 2022, Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov denied that the Russian military was attacking civilian infrastructure in Ukraine. According to Peskov, the Russian army only attacked targets directly or indirectly connected to military potential. In January 2023, the Russian Ministry of Defence confirmed their responsibility for the Dnipro residential building airstrike, which killed over 40 civilians.[176] But Peskov said that Russian forces never attack residential buildings and the residential building probably collapsed because of a Ukrainian air defence counterattack.[177]

In December 2022, Russian opposition politician Ilya Yashin was sentenced to eight-and-a-half years in prison for his statements about the killings in Bucha on charges of "spreading false information" about the armed forces. Yashin was tried over a YouTube video released in April 2022 in which he discussed the discovery of murdered Ukrainian civilians in the suburban town of Bucha, near Kyiv.[178] In February 2023, Russian journalist Maria Ponomarenko [sv] was sentenced to six years in prison for publishing information about the Mariupol theatre airstrike.[179]

### Other Russian claims

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#### Ukrainian Satanism and black magic

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In May 2022, Russian state media claimed that Ukraine was using black magic to fend off the Russian military. RIA Novosti said that evidence of black magic had been found in an eastern Ukrainian village; according to their report, Ukrainian soldiers had allegedly consecrated their weapons "with blood magick" at a location with a "satanic seal".[180]

Dmitry Medvedev, deputy chairman of Russia's Security Council and also a former Russian president and prime minister, described the invasion as a sacred war against Satan.[181] Vladimir Solovyov, a presenter on state-owned channel Russia-1, also called the invasion a "holy war" against "Satanists" and said Russia is up against fifty countries "united by Satanism".[182]

Assistant secretary of Russia's Security Council Aleksey Pavlov called for the "de-Satanisation" of Ukraine in October 2022, claiming that the country had turned into a "totalitarian hypersect".[183] In an article for the Russian state-owned Argumenty i Fakty newspaper, he identified the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic Jewish movement as one of the "hundreds of neo-pagan cults" operating in Ukraine. Russia's chief rabbi, Berel Lazar, wrote a letter to Russian authorities, asking them to condemn Pavlov's comments, which he described as "a new variety of old blood libels".[184] About 70% of Ukrainians are religious, and half of those attend religious services.[185]

#### False flag fakes

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In March 2022, videos were discovered purporting to show Ukrainian-produced disinformation about missile strikes inside Ukraine which were then "debunked" as some other event outside Ukraine. However, this may be the first case of a disinformation false-flag operation,[186] as the original, supposedly "Ukraine-produced" disinformation was never disseminated by anyone, and was in fact preventive disinformation created specifically to be debunked and cause confusion and mitigate the impact on the Russian public of real footage of Russian strikes within Ukraine that may get past Russian-controlled media. According to Patrick Warren, head of Clemson's Media Forensics Hub, "It's like Russians actually pretending to be Ukrainians spreading disinformation. ... The reason that it's so effective is because you don't actually have to convince someone that it's true. It's sufficient to make people uncertain as to what they should trust."[186]

The Olenivka prison massacre, described by most independent experts as a Russian-orchestrated sabotage, has been reported by Russian media as a missile attack by Ukraine. While the exact cause of the incident has still not been conclusively confirmed, most experts conclude the Russian version highly improbable.[187][188][189][190]

#### Flight and surrender of Ukrainian President

[edit]

The Russian state media agency TASS claimed that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy fled Kyiv following the invasion and also that he had surrendered. Zelenskyy used social media to post statements, videos and photos to counter the Russian disinformation.[191][192]

Russian state-owned television channel Russia-1 spread false claims that Zelenskyy fled Ukraine following the 10 October 2022 missile strikes.[193]

#### Use of artificial intelligence for propaganda purposes

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Fake videos made with Artificial Intelligence were created as part of a propaganda war against Ukraine and shared in social media. These included depictions of children in the Ukrainian Armed Forces, fake ads targeting children encouraging them to denounce critics of the Ukrainian government, or fictitious statements by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy using deepfake technology about the country's surrender, among others.[194][195][196][197][198][199]

#### Anti-refugee sentiments

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Russian disinformation has also attempted to promote anti-refugee sentiments in Poland and other countries with an influx of mostly Ukrainian refugees from the war. Social media accounts with ties to Russia have promoted stories of refugees committing crimes or being unfairly privileged, or about locals discriminating against refugees (in particular, against black and non-Ukrainian refugees). Such disinformation is intended to weaken international support for Ukraine.[200]

#### Prohibition of Russian language and Orthodox Christianity

[edit]

The law of Ukraine "On Protecting the functioning of the Ukrainian language as the State language" approved on April 25, 2019 gives priority to the Ukrainian language in more than 30 spheres of public life: in particular in public administration, media, education, science, culture, advertising, services. However, it does not regulate private communication nor ban the use of Russian language in the country, contrary to what some online claims created by Russia have asserted.[201][202][203] Russian remains a widely used language in Ukraine in pop culture and in informal and business communication.[204]

On August 20, 2024, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine banned the Russian Orthodox Church in Ukraine by adopting the Law of Ukraine "On the Protection of the Constitutional Order in the Sphere of Activities of Religious Organizations".[205][206] Ukrainian religious organizations affiliated with the Russian Orthodox Church will be banned 9 months from the moment the State Service of Ukraine for Ethnopolicy and Freedom of Conscience [uk] issues the order, if this religious organization does not sever relations with the Russian Orthodox Church in accordance with Orthodox canon law.[207][208][209] This prohibition did not extend to Eastern Orthodoxy in general, contrary to what some online claims asserted.[210][211]

#### News masquerading as Western coverage

[edit]

A number of fabricated CNN headlines and stories went viral on social media,[212] including of a faked image of CNN reporting that Steven Seagal had been seen alongside the Russian military,[212] false tweets claiming that a CNN journalist had been killed in Ukraine,[212][213] a CNN lower third that was digitally altered to include a claim that Putin had issued a statement warning India not to interfere in the conflict,[212][214] and another that was altered to claim that Putin planned to delay the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine until "Biden delivers weapons to Ukraine for Russia to capture",[215] as well as a fabricated CNN tweet supposedly reporting on a figure referred to as "the Kharkiv Kid finder" alongside an image that actually portrayed the YouTuber Vaush, who lives in the US and was not in Kharkiv at the time.[216]

Other Western stations, including the BBC, DW and Euronews, have seen similar fakes distributed.[217]

#### "Grandmother with red flag"

[edit]

Further information: Soviet imagery during the Russo-Ukrainian War

Propaganda poster of grandmother with red flag, Saky, Crimea, 9 May 2022

A video showing an elderly woman holding the Soviet national flag to greet the Ukrainian military has been widely spread in Runet since March 2022. The grandmother with a red flag was turned into an iconic image by Russian propaganda. Allegedly, it represents the desire of "ordinary Ukrainians" to reunite with their "Russian brothers".[218]

Anna Ivanivna, the subject of the "grandmother with red flag" video, explained that she mistook the Ukrainian military for Russian invaders and she wanted to "placate" them with a Soviet flag so they would not destroy the village. She now regrets it and feels like a "traitor".[219] Her house near Kharkiv was destroyed by the Russian army, and she and her husband have been evacuated. She cursed the Russian army which she deemed was responsible for shelling her house. The Ukrainian military appealed to the public to not chastise Anna Ivanivna, who was a victim herself.[218][220]

#### 13 "French mercenaries" killed in Kharkiv

[edit]

On 16 January 2024, Russia carried out a missile strike on a multi-storey building in Kharkiv, claiming it had killed a dozen "French mercenaries". Local authorities said that 17 civilians were injured and that there was no military target in the building.[221] Russian media even published a list of 13 French men ostensibly killed in the attack. French network Radio France Internationale (RFI) contacted two people on the list, Alexis Drion and Béranger Minaud, volunteers of the International Legion of Ukraine who were both in France during this attack on Kharkiv, and made an interview with them, confirming they never died and that the story is Russian propaganda. RFI assumes this was tied to the French announcement of a delivery of 40 SCALP missiles to the Ukrainian Army.[222]

#### Russian claims about Ukrainian civilians

[edit]

* "Russian soldiers will be welcomed as heroes by civilians for liberating them in Ukraine" [223]
* Ukrainians confront Russian tanks with bare hands [224]
* Ukrainians jubilant as Ukraine retakes Kherson [225]
* "No strikes are being made on civilian infrastructure" - In February 2022 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov[226] "Russian armed forces do not attack civilian objects on the territory of Ukraine" - June 2023 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov [227]
* Russia's full-scale aggression has caused $137.8 billion damage to Ukraine's infrastructure in a year.[228]
* "Civilians are not being targeted"[229]
* The United Nations estimated that as of 24 July, the war had killed or injured more than 12,000 civilians[229]
* Civilians are tortured and killed[223]
* Civilians suffer wilful killings, attacks, unlawful confinement, torture, rape and sexual violence, as well as forcible transfer and deportation of children - Chair of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry on Ukraine, to the General Assembly[230]
* At least 10,000 killed civilians confirmed by the UN since the beginning of the full-scale Russian invasion - November 2023[231]
* The Kremlin claimed "they do not intend to impose anything by force."[232]
* Civilians who refuse Russian passports denied medical facilities[233]
* Civilians without passports threatened with deportation[234]
* "Ukrainian citizens can decide on their future" - President Putin 12 June 2021 [235]

#### Claims of Wikipedia publishing false information

[edit]

See also: Wikipedia and the Russian invasion of Ukraine

Amongst Russia's attempts to control the free press and present their own views are attacks on Wikipedia, which has been on a government registry of prohibited websites for over 10 years.[236]

In May 2022, the Wikimedia Foundation was fined 5 million rubles for articles about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Russia claimed to have uncovered 16.6 million messages spreading "fakes" about the invasion on platforms including Wikipedia.[236] The Wikimedia Foundation appealed the ruling in June, stating the "information at issue is fact-based and verified by volunteers who continuously edit and improve articles on the site; its removal would therefore constitute a violation of people's rights to free expression and access to knowledge."[237]

In November 2022, a Russian court fined the Wikimedia Foundation 2 million rubles for not deleting "false" information in seven articles about the "special military operation", including the Bucha massacre and the Mariupol theatre airstrike.[238]

In February 2023, a Russian court imposed a fine of 2 million rubles on the Wikimedia Foundation for failing to remove "misinformation" about the Russian military.[239][237] In April 2023, another fine of 800,000 rubles was imposed on the Wikimedia Foundation for not removing materials about Russian rock band Psiheya [ru], with another fine of 2 million rubles being imposed in relation to other articles such as the Russian language version of Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast.[240]

#### Support for Hamas

[edit]

See also: Misinformation in the Gaza war

On 8 October 2023, a video supposedly of Hamas thanking Ukraine for supplying them with weapons was shared by an X account linked to the Wagner Group. It was viewed over 300,000 times and shared by American far-right accounts. The next day, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev tweeted, "Well, Nato buddies, you've really got it, haven't you? The weapons handed to the Nazi regime in Ukraine are now being actively used against Israel."[241][242][243]

#### Claims of organ harvesting and pedophilia

[edit]

In April 2022, Canada's Communications Security Establishment said there was a coordinated effort by Russia to promote false reports about Ukraine harvesting organs from dead soldiers, women and children.[244]

In May 2023, RT aired a documentary titled Tanks for Kidneys, which promotes false claims that Ukraine has been selling organs since 2014, including from children in orphanages and Ukrainian soldiers.[245]

In 2025, false news reports gained traction online and fuelled conspiracy theories that Russian airstrikes in Ukraine usually target pedophile and child trafficking schemes.[246][247][248]

#### Involvement in the Crocus City Hall attack

[edit]

Further information: Crocus City Hall attack § Russian allegations of Ukrainian and Western involvement

In March 2024, four Tajik ISIS–K gunmen launched an attack on a concert hall in Krasnogorsk, Russia, with rifles and incendiaries, killing 145.[249][250] Ukrainian officials described Russian claims that the perpetrators of the Crocus City Hall attack tried to escape to Ukraine as "very doubtful and primitive" disinformation, recalling that the border is heavily guarded by soldiers and drones, mined in many areas, and constantly shelled from both sides.[251] Latvia-based Russian news outlet Meduza has reported that pro-government and state-funded media in Russia have been instructed by the Russian government to highlight possible "traces" of Ukrainian involvement in the attack.[252]

On the evening of the attack, Russian television channel NTV broadcast a doctored video using audio deepfaking, purporting to show Oleksiy Danilov, the Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine, confirming Ukrainian involvement in the attack, supposedly saying, "It's fun in Moscow today, I think it's very fun. I would like to believe that we will arrange such fun for them more often."[253][254] The deepfake was created by patching together previous news streams of the Ukrainian 1+1 channel.[253][255]

In late March 2024, more than 50% of Russians believed that Ukraine was responsible for the terrorist attack, while 27% said Islamic State was responsible and 6% blamed the so-called "collective West", according to a survey conducted by OpenMinds. The Islamic State was blamed most often by young people aged 18–30 who opposed the war in Ukraine.[256] Russia's Investigative Committee investigation completed in 2025 indicated no Ukrainian involvement, contrary to the previous public statements from the authorities.[257]

## Ukrainian themes

[edit]

### The Ghost of Kyiv

[edit]

Main article: Ghost of Kyiv

Ghost of Kyiv, painting by Ukrainian illustrator Andrii Dankovych.

On the second day of the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, videos and picture went viral on social media, with claims that a Ukrainian pilot nicknamed the "Ghost of Kyiv" had shot down 6 Russian fighter jets in the first 30 hours of the war. There is no credible evidence that he existed.[2][258] A video of the alleged pilot was shared on Facebook and the official Twitter account of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, was later found to be from the video game Digital Combat Simulator World.[259][260] An altered photo was also shared by the former president of Ukraine, Petro Poroshenko.[261] On 30 April 2022, Ukrainian Air Force asked the "Ukrainian community not to neglect the basic rules of information hygiene" and to "check the sources of information, before spreading it",[262] stating that the Ghost of Kyiv "embodies the collective spirit of the highly qualified pilots of the Tactical Aviation Brigade who are successfully defending Kyiv and the region".[263]

The Ukrainian Air Force later admitted that the Ghost of Kyiv was a fabrication.[264][265][266][267] Despite this, The Times and several other outlets published stories without evidence[268] asserting that the pilot was real and had died.

### Snake Island campaign

[edit]

Main article: 2022 Snake Island campaign

On 24 February 2022, the Ukrainian newspaper Ukrainska Pravda published a viral audio recording in which the crew of a Russian warship offered Ukrainian border guards on Serpent Island to surrender to the Russian forces. One of the border guards responded by saying, "Russian warship, go fuck yourself".[2]

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced the death of the border guards. A few days later, Ukrainian officials reported that the border guards were alive and had been captured by Russian troops.[2][269] The New York Times stated that "The Ghost of Kyiv" story was likely to be false and that the claim that the Snake Island border guards had all been killed was false, and that both cases were either propaganda or campaigns to raise morale.[2]

### Ukrainian southern counteroffensive

[edit]

See also: Military deception

In the summer of 2022, a number of Ukrainian officials spread misleading information about the impending Ukrainian counteroffensive in the south of the country in the Kherson Oblast in order to regain control of Kherson.[270] Ukrainian special forces have said that the highly publicized Ukrainian counteroffensive in the Kherson Oblast was a military disinformation campaign aimed at distracting Russian forces from the real offensive that was being prepared in the Kharkiv Oblast. Taras Berezovets, a spokesman for the Ukrainian special forces brigade, said: "[It] was a big special disinformation operation. ... [Russia] thought it would be in the south and moved their equipment. Then, instead of the south, the offensive happened where they least expected, and this caused them to panic and flee".[271][272]

### Rumors about Russian mobilisation

[edit]

Alexander Titov from Queen's University Belfast notes that the rumours about new Russian mobilisation are "partly a misinformation campaign launched by Kyiv to sow dissent in Russia" and that the "spreading rumours of imminent mobilisation in Russian is clearly part of Ukraine's psychological warfare, but the more they do it without anything happening, the less credible it becomes".[273]

On 22 September 2022, the "conscript base" of the 2022 Russian mobilisation from the hacker group Anonymous began to spread in Ukrainian Telegram channels. As it was claimed, the distributed file allegedly contained the passport data of more than 305 thousand Russians subject to mobilisation "first of all". It was also noted that Anonymous hackers obtained the data by hacking the website of the Russian defence ministry, but the group itself didn't report this leak. The ministry didn't comment on the alleged leak, but reposted "War on Fakes", a Telegram channel. The report says that the published database "is compiled from several open databases and has nothing to do with the Ministry of Defense." Ruslan Leviev, the founder of Conflict Intelligence Team, and Andrei Zakharov, a correspondent of the BBC News Russian, are of the opinion that the "conscript base" is a fake.[274][275]

On 30 December 2022, Oleksii Reznikov announced a second wave of Russian mobilization, which was supposed to begin on 5 January 2023

In December 2022, Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov and head of military intelligence Kyrylo Budanov claimed that a new wave of mobilisation would begin on 5 January 2023, but this didn't happen. Then in January of the same year, Ukrainian officials continued to claim that 500,000 people would be mobilized that same month.[273]

On 9 January 2023, information spread on social networks that the Federal Security Service sent all border services an order to restrict the departure of Russian citizens subject to conscription for military service.[276] On 11 January, this statement was published, among other things, by the Main Directorate of Intelligence of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine. Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov called that as "information sabotage". The head of the human rights group Agora, Pavel Chikov, called the "orders" a fake, because "the orders were executed inappropriately, although they are similar to the original ones".[277] Factcheck.kg noted that, according to the Russian GOST for official documents, the date must be indicated in a "verbal-digital way" and that when writing an order it is also necessary to refer to the law. Paragraph 12 contains an extra character, which is also unacceptable. Also the document is not certified by the seal or signature of the relevant officials or organizations and, thus, is a fake.[276]

On 5 September 2023, a document allegedly signed by Sergei Shoigu on a new wave of Russian mobilization appeared in the Ukrainian media and Telegram channels (including UNIAN). Regional and federal representatives of the Russian authorities called the "order" a fake. Russian independent media SOTA concluded that it was a fake and provided a number of arguments to support this opinion; for example, in Russian legislation there are not "representatives of military commissariats", but military commissars.[278][279] A few days later, on 11 September, the General Staff of the Ukrainian Armed Forces published an unsubstantiated statement that Russia could soon launch a major mobilization campaign of 400,000 to 700,000 people.[280][273]

## Other disinformation

[edit]

The media focused much less on how other countries' propaganda during Russia's invasion of Ukraine worked to promote certain narratives.[1]

### Russosphere

[edit]

Russosphere is a French-language social network that promotes pro-Russian propaganda in Africa. It was created in 2021, but fully launched in February 2022, prior to the invasion of Ukraine.[281] It amassed over 65,000 followers on social media platforms such as Facebook, YouTube and Twitter, as well as Telegram and VK.[282] The network's posts typically accuse France of modern-day "colonialism", describe the Ukrainian Army as "Nazis" and "Satanists", and praise the Wagner Group, a Russian private military company.[281] In early 2023, the BBC and Logically reported that Russosphere was created by Luc Michel, a Belgian far-right activist.[281][283][282]

### Fakes involving celebrities

[edit]

In March 2022, Visegrád 24 posted an unsourced tweet falsely claiming that Leonardo DiCaprio had donated $10 million to Ukraine. The false story was picked up by news outlets around the world, such as India's Hindustan Times, the U.K.'s The Independent and the Daily Mail, and American conservative websites The Daily Caller and the Washington Examiner, before being retracted.[284]

In December 2023, Microsoft revealed that messages recorded by US actors on the website Cameo have been repurposed to spread misinformation about Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelenskyy being a drug addict on social media and Russian state media.[285] Wired reported that images of Western celebrities edited to contain pro-Russian and anti-Ukrainian quotes were spread on Facebook, with the operation being linked to Doppelganger, a Russian disinformation campaign.[286]

## Censorship

[edit]

### In Russia

[edit]

For broader coverage of this topic, see Media freedom in Russia.

On 4 March 2022, Putin signed into law a bill introducing prison sentences of up to 15 years for those who publish "knowingly false information" about the Russian military and its operations, with the Russian government deciding what is the truth, leading to some media outlets in Russia to stop reporting on Ukraine or shutting their media outlet.[287][288][289] Although the 1993 Russian Constitution has an article expressly prohibiting censorship,[290] the Russian censorship apparatus Roskomnadzor ordered the country's media to only use information from Russian state sources or face fines and blocks, and accused a number of independent media outlets of spreading "unreliable socially significant untrue information" about the shelling of Ukrainian cities by the Russian army and civilian deaths.[291][292]

Roskomnadzor launched an investigation against the Novaya Gazeta, Echo of Moscow, inoSMI, MediaZona, New Times, TV Rain, and other independent Russian media outlets for publishing "inaccurate information about the shelling of Ukrainian cities and civilian casualties in Ukraine as a result of the actions of the Russian Army".[293] On 1 March 2022, the Russian government blocked access to TV Rain, as well as Echo of Moscow, in response to their coverage of the invasion of Ukraine by Russian forces. The channel closed, with its general director announcing they would be "temporarily halting its operations", on 3 March 2022; its frequencies were later reassigned to the Russian state propaganda outlet Sputnik Radio.[294][295] Novaya Gazeta ceased publications on 28 March 2022 and its publishing license was revoked on 5 September, but it was quickly revived in Latvia as Novaya Gazeta Europe.[296][297][298] The websites of Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, The Moscow Times, Radio France Internationale, The New Times and BBC News Russian were blocked.[299][300]

As of December 2022, more than 4,000 people were prosecuted under "fake news" laws in connection with the war in Ukraine.[301] Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia director at Human Rights Watch, said that "These new laws are part of Russia's ruthless effort to suppress all dissent and make sure the [Russian] population does not have access to any information that contradicts the Kremlin's narrative about the invasion of Ukraine."[302]

Due to Russian fake news laws, Russian authorities blocked Facebook and Twitter, while TikTok in Russia banned new uploads. However a study by Tracking Exposed found out that TikTok had blocked all non-Russian content, but has continued to host old videos uploaded by Russia-based accounts and permitted Russian state media to continue posting, described as establishing a "splinternet" within a global social media platform.[303] TikTok's vague censorship has permitted pro-Kremlin news but blocked foreign accounts and critics of the war, as a result "Russians are left with a frozen TikTok, dominated by pro-war content".[304][305]

### In China

[edit]

Further information: China and the Russian invasion of Ukraine

The BBC reported that coverage of the war was heavily censored on social media in China. Many stories and accounts supporting one or the other side were removed. A Taiwanese research group accused Chinese media of "regularly quoting disinformation and conspiracy theories from Russian sources".[306]

In March 2022, China Global Television Network (CGTN) paid for digital ads on Facebook targeting users with newscasts featuring pro-Kremlin talking points after Meta Platforms banned Russian state media advertisements.[307][308] The same month, CGTN repeated unsubstantiated Russian claims of biological weapons labs in Ukraine.[309] A leaked internal directive from The Beijing News ordered its employees not to publish news reports that were "negative about Russia". An analysis found that nearly half of Weibo's social media posts used Russia sources which were pro-Putin or described Ukraine in negative terms, while another third of posts were anti-West and blamed NATO, while very few posts described the war in neutral terms. Several history professors have penned an open letter that strongly opposed China's support for "Russia's war against Ukraine" but their post was quickly deleted by censors, while a celebrity who criticized Russia over the invasion had her account suspended.[310][311][312]

## Effects of Russian disinformation

[edit]

See also: Denialism, Doublethink, and Selective exposure theory

Putin and Konstantin Ernst, chief of Russia's main state-controlled TV station Channel One[313]

Facebook uncovered a Russian campaign using fake accounts, and attempts to hack the accounts of high-profile Ukrainians.[314] There are reports of Russian government staff searching for "organic content" posted by genuine users in support of the Kremlin, while making sure that these do not run afoul of platform guidelines, then amplifying these posts. Researchers have found that Russia's Internet Research Agency has operated numerous troll farms who spam critics of the Kremlin with pro-Putin and pro-war comments.[315]

In February 2022, Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat judged that the quality of Russian misinformation videos had weakened, but remained especially effective for the older generation of Russians.[9]

Some observers noted what they described as a "generational struggle" among Russians over perception of the war, with younger Russians often opposed to the war and older Russians more likely to accept the narrative presented by state-controlled mass media in Russia.[316] Kataryna Wolczuk, an associate fellow of Chatham House's Russia and Eurasia programme, said that "[Older] Russians are inclined to think in line with the official 'narrative' that Russia is defending Russian speakers in Ukraine, so it's about offering protection rather than aggression."[316] About two-thirds of Russians use television as their primary source of daily news.[317] According to the cyber threat intelligence company Miburo, about 85% of Russians get most of their news from Russian state-controlled media.[318]

Many Ukrainians say that their relatives and friends in Russia trust what the state-controlled media tells them and refuse to believe that there is a war in Ukraine and that the Russian army is shelling Ukrainian cities.[319][320][321]

Some Western commentators have claimed that the main reason many Russians have supported Putin and the "special military operation" in Ukraine has to do with the propaganda and disinformation.[322][323][324] At the end of March, a poll conducted in Russia by the Levada Center concluded the following: When asked why they think the military operation is taking place, respondents said it was to protect and defend civilians, ethnic Russians or Russian speakers in Ukraine (43%), to prevent an attack on Russia (25%), to get rid of nationalists and "denazify" Ukraine (21%), and to incorporate Ukraine and/or the Donbas region into Russia (3%)."[325]

In China,[326][327] India,[328][329] Indonesia,[330] Malaysia,[331] Africa,[332] the Arab world,[333] and Latin America,[334] some social media users trended towards showing sympathy for Russian narratives. A study performed by Airlangga University revealed that 71% of Indonesian netizens supported the invasion.[335] This support was due to affection for Putin's strongman leadership, as well as anti-US and anti-Western political alignments.[336] Additionally, many Indonesians supported Russia due to positive reports of Ramzan Kadyrov and claims of the Azov Regiment covering their bullets with pork lard to be used against Muslim Chechen troops in the invasion.[337][338]

A series of four online polls by Alexei Navalny's Anti-Corruption Foundation found that between 25 February and 3 March, the share of respondents in Moscow who considered Russia an "aggressor" increased from 29% to 53%, while the share of those who considered Russia a "peacemaker" fell by half from 25% to 12%.[339] On 5 April 2022, Alexei Navalny said the "monstrosity of lies" in the Russian state media "is unimaginable. And, unfortunately, so is its persuasiveness for those who have no access to alternative information."[340] He tweeted that "warmongers" among Russian state media personalities "should be treated as war criminals. From the editors-in-chief to the talk show hosts to the news editors, [they] should be sanctioned now and tried someday."[341]

On 3 April 2024, Russia's Defense Ministry announced that "around 16,000 citizens" had signed military contracts in the last 10 days to fight as contract soldiers in the Russo-Ukrainian War, with most of them saying they were motivated to "avenge those killed" in the Crocus City Hall attack.[342]

## Countering Russian disinformation

[edit]

Logo of NAFO A NAFO mascot on a destroyed Russian tank displayed in front of the Russian embassy in Berlin

The United States Department of State and the European External Action Service of the European Union (EU) published guides aiming to respond to Russian disinformation.[13] Twitter paused all ad campaigns in Ukraine and Russia in an attempt to curb misinformation spread by ads.[343] European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen announced an EU-wide ban of Russian state-sponsored RT and Sputnik news channels on 27 February, after Poland and Estonia had done so days before.[344]

Reddit, an American social news aggregation, content rating, and discussion website, quarantined subreddits r/Russia, the national subreddit of Russia, and r/GenZedong, a self-described "Dengist" subreddit in March 2022, after both the subreddits were spreading Russian disinformation. In the case of r/Russia, the site's administrators removed one of its moderators for spreading disinformation. Sister sub of r/Russia, r/RussiaPolitics was also quarantined for similar reasons. When the subreddits are quarantined, they don't show up in searches, recommendations and user feeds, and anyone who tries to access the quarantined subreddits would be shown a warning regarding the content, which they must acknowledge in order to access it.[345][346]

In May 2022, a group calling themselves NAFO was created with the object of posting irreverent comments about the war and memes promoting Ukraine or mocking the Russian war effort and strategy using a "cartoon dog" based on the Shiba Inu. NAFO was seen by The Washington Post as having a significant impact on Russian troll farms.[347] On 28 August 2022, the official Twitter account of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine tweeted its appreciation of NAFO, with an image of missiles being fired and a "Fella" dressed in a combat uniform, hands on face, in a posture of appreciation.[348]

## See also

[edit]

* African Stream
* Cyberwarfare by Russia
* Crucified boy – 2014 Russian atrocity propaganda story in Ukraine
* Information warfare – Battlespace use and management of information and communication technology
* Nuclear threats during the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Panfilov's Twenty-Eight Guardsmen – WW2 example of Soviet disinformation
* Russian web brigades – Russian state-sponsored Internet commentators
* Social media in the Russo-Ukrainian War – The avenue by which much disinformation has spread
* Vulkan files leak – Leaks implicating the Russian company NTC Vulkan in acts of cybercrime
* Information war during the Russo-Georgian War

## References

[edit]

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348. ^ @DefenceU (28 August 2022). "We usually express gratitude to our international partners for the security assistance. But today we want to give a shout-out to a unique entity – North Atlantic Fellas Organization #NAFO. Thanks for your fierce fight against kremlin's propaganda &trolls. We salute you, fellas!" (Tweet) – via Twitter.

## External links

[edit]

* Tracking Social Media Takedowns and Content Moderation During the 2022 Russian Invasion of Ukraine

* v
* t
* e

Disinformation and misinformation

Core content

* Disinformation
* Misinformation
* Malinformation
* Propaganda
* Disinformation attack
* Disinformation research
* Publications about disinformation

Mechanisms

| Psychological|

* Cognitive bias
* List
* Denialism
* Manipulation
* Misinformation effect
* Political polarization
* Psychology of climate change denial

|

Computational|

* Algorithmic radicalization
* Content moderation
* Community notes
* Internet manipulation
* Social bot
* Social networking service
* List
* User-generated content

Economic|

* Fake news websites
* Surveillance capitalism
* Programmatic advertising

Media and Politics|

* Audience fragmentation
* Echo chamber (media)
* Fake news
* Media bias
* Media culture
* Media manipulation

Tactics

* Astroturfing
* Big Lie
* Circular reporting
* Clickbait
* Conspiracy theory
* List
* Culture war
* Deception
* Deepfake
* Disinformation playbook
* Dog whistle (politics)
* Doublespeak
* Doxxing
* Fake news
* Fake news website
* List of fake news websites
* List of satirical fake news websites
* False accusation
* False attribution
* False balance
* Fear, uncertainty, and doubt
* Firehose of falsehood
* Forgery as covert operation
* Gaslighting
* Greenwashing
* Historical negationism
* Information warfare
* Logic and reasoning
* Cherry picking
* False dilemma
* Gish gallop
* Half-truth
* Fallacy
* Formal fallacy
* Informal fallacy
* List of fallacies
* Quote mining
* Red herring
* Whataboutism
* Memetic warfare
* Pink-slime journalism
* Psychological warfare
* Propaganda
* Black propaganda
* Counterpropaganda
* State-sponsored Internet propaganda
* Perception management
* Rumors
* Spin (propaganda)
* Smear campaign
* Scientific fabrication
* Strategy of tension
* Yellow journalism

Related terms

* Alternative facts
* Factoid
* Hoax
* Infodemic
* Malinformation
* Post-truth politics
* Potemkin village
* Pseudoscience
* Tabloid journalism
* Truthiness

Targets and campaigns

| International Politics|

* Disinformation in the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Misinformation in the Gaza war
* New World Order conspiracy theory
* Russian disinformation
* Genocide denial

|

Politics by country|

* List of disinformation attacks by country
* List of political disinformation website campaigns

Antisemitism|

* Holocaust denial
* International Jewish conspiracy

Environmental science|

* Climate change denial
* Fossil fuel industry
* ExxonMobil climate change denial
* Fossil fuels lobby
* Leaded gasoline
* Ethyl Corporation
* Robert A. Kehoe
* Clair Cameron Patterson
* Pesticide industry
* Rachel Carson
* Silent Spring
* Red mercury

Medicine and Public health|

* 5G misinformation
* Anti-vaccine activism
* Lancet MMR autism fraud
* Vaccines and autism
* Vaccine misinformation
* COVID-19 misinformation
* COVID-19 misinformation by governments
* COVID-19 vaccine misinformation and hesitancy
* Birth control misinformation
* Ebola misinformation
* GMO conspiracy theories
* HIV/AIDS denialism
* Mental illness denial
* Misinformation related to abortion
* Tobacco industry playbook
* Transgender health care misinformation
* Opposition to water fluoridation

Journalism and journalists|

* Safety of journalists
* Maria Ressa
* Daily Maverick
* Rappler
* The Quint

Countering disinformation

* Academic research
* Critical thinking
* Digital literacy
* Health literacy
* Information literacy
* Media literacy
* Science communication
* Scientific consensus
* Scientific literacy
* List of climate change video games
* Scientific skepticism
* Skepticism
* Truth sandwich
* Verificado 2018
* Watchdog journalism

Fact-checking and research

| Fact-checking|

* Websites
* List of fact-checking websites

* Non-profits and charities
* Africa Check
* FactCheck.org
* Full Fact
* PolitiFact
* USAFacts

* Private companies
* Logically (company)
* NewsGuard
* StopFake

* Other
* Bellingcat
* International Fact-Checking Network
* Media Bias/Fact Check
* Snopes
* Quackwatch
* Projeto Comprova

|

Research|

* Canada
* Citizen Lab

* EU
* East StratCom Task Force

* Finland
* Faktabaari

* New Zealand
* The Disinformation Project

* UK
* Counter disinformation unit

* Ukraine
* Center for Countering Disinformation

* USA
* Active Measures Working Group
* Counter Misinformation Team
* Disinformation Governance Board
* Countering Foreign Propaganda and Disinformation Act
* United States Information Agency

WikiProjects

* WikiCred
* Climate change
* COVID-19
* Medicine
* Skepticism
* Vaccine safety

* v
* t
* e

Russian invasion of Ukraine

Part of the Russo-Ukrainian War

Overview

General|

* Outline
* Timeline
* Prelude
* Feb–Apr 2022
* Apr–Aug 2022
* Aug–Nov 2022
* Nov 2022 – Jun 2023
* Jun–Aug 2023
* Sep–Nov 2023
* Dec 2023 – Mar 2024
* Apr–Jul 2024
* Aug–Dec 2024
* Jan–May 2025
* Jun 2025 – present
* Aerial warfare
* Defense lines
* Foreign fighters
* Information war
* Naval warfare
* Legality
* Map
* Order of battle
* Peace negotiations
* Ukraine's Peace Formula
* China peace proposal
* June 2024 peace summit
* Proposed no-fly zone
* Red lines
* Reparations
* Territorial control
* Women

Prelude|

* Reactions
* Disinformation
* Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory
* Ukraine and weapons of mass destruction
* 2021 Russia–United States summit
* 2021 Black Sea incident
* Belarus–European Union border crisis
* "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians"
* Crimea Platform
* Zapad 2021
* December 2021 ultimatum
* 2022 Ukraine cyberattacks
* Zametil 2022
* Union Resolve 2022
* Stanytsia Luhanska kindergarten bombing
* British–Polish–Ukrainian trilateral pact
* Evacuation of the Donetsk PR and Luhansk PR
* Mobilization in Donetsk PR and Luhansk PR
* "Address concerning the events in Ukraine"
* "On conducting a special military operation"

Background|

* Dissolution of the Soviet Union
* 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
* Annexation of Crimea
* reactions
* War in Donbas
* 2022 timeline
* Minsk agreements
* humanitarian situation
* international recognition of the Donetsk PR and Luhansk PR
* Putinism
* Foundations of Geopolitics
* Novorossiya
* Ruscism
* Russian irredentism
* Russian imperialism

Foreign
relations|

* Russia–Ukraine
* Belarus–Ukraine
* Belarus–Russia
* Russia–United States
* Ukraine–United States
* Russia–NATO
* Ukraine–NATO
* enlargement of NATO
* eastward expansion controversy in Russia
* open door policy

Military engagements

Southern
Ukraine|

* Snake Island campaign
* Siege of Mariupol
* Battle of Kherson
* Capture of Melitopol
* Battle of Mykolaiv
* Battle of Enerhodar
* Battle of Voznesensk
* Kherson counteroffensive
* Liberation of Kherson
* Dnieper campaign
* Destruction of the Kakhovka Dam

Eastern
Ukraine|

* Battle of Volnovakha
* Battle of Kharkiv
* Battle of Izium
* Battle of Rubizhne
* Battle of Popasna
* Battle of Marinka
* Battle of Donbas
* Battle of the Siverskyi Donets
* Battle of Sievierodonetsk
* Battle of Lysychansk
* Battle of Pisky
* Battle of Bakhmut
* Battle of Soledar
* Battle of Vuhledar
* Kharkiv counteroffensive
* Battle of Lyman (September–October 2022)
* Luhansk Oblast campaign
* Kupiansk
* Northeast Donetsk
* Battle of Avdiivka
* Battle of Chasiv Yar
* Battle of Krasnohorivka
* Battle of Ocheretyne
* Battle of Toretsk
* Pokrovsk offensive
* Battle of Kurakhove

Northern
Ukraine|

* Capture of Chernobyl
* Russian Kyiv convoy
* Battle of Kyiv
* Battle of Antonov Airport
* Battle of Hostomel
* Battle of Bucha
* Battle of Irpin
* Battle of Makariv
* Battle of Moshchun
* Destruction of the Kozarovychi Dam
* Battle of Brovary
* Battle of Slavutych
* Battle of Sumy
* Siege of Chernihiv
* Northeastern border skirmishes
* 2025 Sumy Oblast incursion

Russia|

* Bryansk Oblast raid
* Kremlin drone attack
* Moscow drone strikes
* 2023 Belgorod Oblast incursions
* 30 December 2023 Belgorod shelling
* February 2024 Belgorod missile strike
* May 2024 Belgorod missile strike
* March 2024 western Russia incursion
* 2024 Kursk offensive
* occupation
* Battles for Olgovskiy Forest
* Toropets depot explosions
* 2025 Belgorod Oblast incursion

Airstrikes
by city|

* Chernihiv strikes
* Dnipro strikes
* Huliaipole strikes
* Ivano-Frankivsk strikes
* Kharkiv strikes
* Kherson strikes
* Khmelnytskyi strikes
* Kryvyi Rih strikes
* Kyiv strikes
* Lviv strikes
* Mykolaiv strikes
* Odesa strikes
* Rivne strikes
* Vinnytsia strikes
* Zaporizhzhia strikes
* Zhytomyr strikes

Airstrikes
on military
targets|

* Chuhuiv air base attack
* Millerovo air base attack
* Chornobaivka attacks
* 7 March 2022 Mykolaiv military barracks attack
* Yavoriv military base attack
* 18 March 2022 Mykolaiv military quarters attack
* Berdiansk port attack
* Sinking of the Moskva
* Desna barracks airstrike
* Attack on Nova Kakhovka
* Crimea attacks
* Saky air base attack
* Drone attack on the Sevastopol Naval Base
* Missile strike on the Black Sea Fleet headquarters
* Dyagilevo and Engels air bases attacks
* Makiivka military quarters shelling
* Machulishchy air base attack
* Zarichne barracks airstrike
* Operation Spider's Web

Resistance|

| Russian-occupied Ukraine|

* Popular Resistance of Ukraine
* Berdiansk Partisan Army
* Yellow Ribbon
* Atesh

|

Belarus and Russia|

* Assassination of Vladlen Tatarsky
* Civic Council
* Irpin Declaration
* Killing of Darya Dugina
* National Republican Army
* Military commissariats arsons
* Ust-Ilimsk military commissariat shooting
* Black Bridge
* Rail war in Russia
* Stop the Wagons
* Combat Organization of Anarcho-Communists
* Rail war in Belarus
* Busly liaciać
* BYPOL
* Community of Railway Workers
* Cyber Partisans

Russian
occupations|

* Flags used in Russian-occupied Ukraine

Ongoing|

* Annexation referendums
* Annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts
* Elections in Russian-occupied Ukraine
* Russian-occupied territories of Ukraine
* Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol
* Donetsk Oblast
* Kharkiv Oblast
* Kherson Oblast
* Luhansk Oblast
* Mykolaiv Oblast
* Zaporizhzhia Oblast
* Sumy Oblast (2025, reentry)

Previous|

* Chernihiv Oblast
* Kyiv Oblast
* Odesa Oblast
* Sumy Oblast (2022)
* Zhytomyr Oblast

Potentially
related|

* Black Sea drone incident
* Bridge collapses in Russia
* Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant drone strike
* Mystery fires in Russia
* Nord Stream pipeline sabotage
* Transnistria attacks
* Zagreb Tu-141 crash

Other|

* 2022 Crimean Bridge explosion
* 2023 Crimean Bridge explosion
* 2025 Crimean Bridge explosion
* Assassination attempts on Volodymyr Zelenskyy
* Coup d'état attempt in Ukraine
* Bridges in the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Dragon drone
* Violations of non-combatant airspaces
* Missile explosion in Poland
* Operation Synytsia
* Ukraine and electronic warfare
* Use of long-range weapons by Ukraine in Russia
* 2023 Ukrainian counteroffensive
* 2024 Ukrainian cyberattacks against Russia
* Wagner Group rebellion

War crimes

General|

* Accusations of genocide in Donbas
* Allegations of genocide of Ukrainians
* child abductions
* Attacks on hospitals
* Cluster munitions
* Incendiary weapons
* Landmines
* Russian filtration camps
* Russian mobile crematoriums
* Russian theft of Ukrainian grain
* Russian torture chambers
* Looting
* Sexual violence
* Mistreatment of prisoners of war

Attacks on
civilians|

* February 2022 Kharkiv cluster bombing
* Kharkiv government building airstrike
* 3 March Chernihiv bombing
* Irpin refugee column shelling
* Mariupol hospital airstrike
* Stara Krasnianka care house attack
* Mykolaiv cluster bombing
* March 2022 Donetsk attack
* 2022 Borodianka airstrikes
* Chernihiv breadline attack
* Mariupol theatre airstrike
* Kyiv shopping centre bombing
* Sumykhimprom ammonia leak
* March 2022 Kharkiv cluster bombing
* Mykolaiv government building missile strike
* Bucha massacre
* Kramatorsk railway station attack
* April 2022 Kharkiv cluster bombing
* Bilohorivka school bombing
* Shooting of Andrii Bohomaz
* Maisky Market attack
* Kremenchuk shopping mall attack
* Serhiivka missile strike
* Chasiv Yar missile strike
* Olenivka prison massacre
* Kharkiv dormitories missile strike
* Chaplyne railway station attack
* Izium mass graves
* September 2022 Donetsk attack
* Zaporizhzhia civilian convoy attack
* Kupiansk civilian convoy shelling
* Zaporizhzhia residential building airstrike
* Russian strikes against Ukrainian infrastructure
* 2023 Dnipro residential building airstrike
* Sloviansk airstrike
* Uman missile strike
* Kramatorsk restaurant missile strike
* Lyman cluster bombing
* 2023 Pokrovsk missile strike
* Chernihiv missile strike
* Kostiantynivka missile strike
* Hroza missile attack
* Volnovakha massacre
* December 2023 strikes
* 2024 Pokrovsk missile strike
* 2024 Donetsk attack
* Lysychansk missile strike
* 6 March 2024 Odesa strike
* March 2024 strikes
* Human safari (terror campaign)
* May 2024 Kharkiv strikes
* 8 July 2024 strikes
* 2024 Kostiantynivka supermarket missile attack
* 26 August 2024 strikes
* September 2024 Poltava strike
* November 2024 strikes
* February 2025 Poltava strike
* 2025 Sumy airstrike

Crimes
against
soldiers|

* Torture of Russian soldiers in Mala Rohan
* Torture and castration of a Ukrainian POW in Pryvillia
* Rape of Donetsk People's Republic soldiers by Kadyrovites
* Murder of Yevgeny Nuzhin
* Makiivka surrender incident
* Execution of Oleksandr Matsievskyi
* 2022 Ukrainian prisoner of war beheading

Legal cases|

* ICC investigation
* Arrest warrants
* ICJ court case
* Task Force on Accountability
* Universal jurisdiction
* Crime of aggression tribunal
* Criminal proceedings
* Vadim Shishimarin
* Alexander Bobikin and Alexander Ivanov
* Anton Cherednik

Reactions

States
and
official
entities|

| General|

* Sanctions
* people and organizations
* restrictions on transit to Kaliningrad Oblast
* Military aid
* European Union Military Assistance Mission in support of Ukraine
* People's Bayraktar
* Signmyrocket.com
* Humanitarian aid
* Sanctioned yachts
* Relations with Russia

|

Ukraine|

* Application to NATO
* Be Brave Like Ukraine
* Brave1
* Bring Kids Back UA
* Ban on Russia-associated religious groups
* Coordination Headquarters for the Treatment of Prisoners of War
* Decolonization and derussification law
* Delta
* Destroyed Russian military equipment exhibition
* For Courage and Bravery (Ukraine)
* Grain From Ukraine
* Headquarters of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief
* Hero City
* I Want to Live
* International Legion and other foreign units
* Belarusian Volunteer Corps
* Terror Battalion
* Black Maple Company
* Canadian-Ukrainian Brigade
* Freedom of Russia Legion
* German Volunteer Corps
* Karelian National Battalion
* Kastuś Kalinoŭski Regiment
* Norman Brigade
* Pahonia Regiment
* Polish Volunteer Corps
* Romanian Battlegroup Getica
* Russian Volunteer Corps
* Separate Special Purpose Battalion
* Sibir Battalion
* Turan Battalion
* International Sponsors of War
* Forced confiscation law of Russian property [ru; uk]
* Look for Your Own
* Lukoil sanctions
* Martial law
* Mobilization
* Media Center Ukraine
* National Council for the Recovery of Ukraine from the War [uk]
* National Multi-Subject Test [uk]
* North Korea–Ukraine relations
* Points of Invincibility
* Recognition of Ichkeria
* Rescuer City
* Save Ukrainian Culture [uk]
* Syria–Ukraine relations
* Ukrainian Freedom Orchestra
* United24
* United News

Russia|

* highways in the annexed territories
* A290
* A291 "Tavrida"
* R260
* R280 "Novorossiya"
* 2022 Moscow rally
* 2023 Moscow rally
* 2022 Moscow Victory Day Parade
* 2023 Moscow Victory Day Parade
* 2024 Moscow Victory Day Parade
* 2023 Presidential Address to the Federal Assembly
* Blockade of Ukraine [ru]
* Bohdan Khmelnytsky Battalion
* Censorship in Russia [ru]
* Chechnya
* Pro-Ukrainian Chechen fighters
* Conmemorative Medal "Participant of a Special Military Operation" [ru]
* Conversations about Important Things
* Krasovsky case
* Legalization of parallel imports [ru]
* Manifesto of the South Russian People's Council
* Martial law
* Masha Moskalyova case
* Metropolis of Crimea
* Mikhail Simonov case
* Mobilization
* Recruitment of irregular forces [ru]
* Operation Doppelgänger
* Opinion polling [ru]
* Orthodox Christmas truce proposal
* Wagner Group–Ministry of Defense conflict
* Russian Orthodox clergymen appeal against war
* Salvation Committee for Peace and Order
* Special Coordinating Council
* Ukraine bioweapons conspiracy theory
* Unfriendly countries list
* War censorship laws
* We Are Together. Sports
* "What Russia Should Do with Ukraine"

United States|

* 2022 Joe Biden speech in Warsaw
* 2022 State of the Union Address
* Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2022
* Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2023
* Disinformation Governance Board
* Executive Order 14071
* Pentagon document leaks
* Task Force KleptoCapture
* Ukraine Defense Contact Group
* Ukraine Democracy Defense Lend-Lease Act
* Ukraine Security Assistance Initiative

Other countries|

* Belarus
* Canada
* Canada–Ukraine authorization for emergency travel
* China
* Closer ties with Russia
* Chinese peace plan
* Hong Kong
* Croatia
* Denmark
* Danish European Union defence opt-out referendum
* France
* Mission Aigle
* Georgia
* Germany
* German Taurus controversy
* Taurus leak
* Zeitenwende speech
* Hungary
* India
* Operation Ganga
* Iran
* Closer ties with Russia
* Israel
* Operation Israel Guarantees
* Lithuania
* Moldova
* New Zealand
* Russia Sanctions Act
* North Korea
* Poland
* border crisis with Ukraine
* Syria [ru]
* Taiwan
* United Kingdom
* Economic Crime Act
* Homes for Ukraine
* Operation Interflex
* 2025 London Summit on Ukraine
* Coalition of the willing

United Nations|

* Emergency special session
* Resolution ES-11/1
* Resolution ES-11/2
* Resolution ES-11/3
* Resolution ES-11/4
* Resolution ES-11/5
* Resolution ES-11/6
* Resolution ES-11/7
* Security Council Resolution 2623
* Resolution A/RES/77/229
* Easter truce

International
organizations|

* Accession of Moldova to the EU
* Accession of Ukraine to the EU
* Brussels summit
* European Political Community
* 1st summit
* 2nd summit
* 3rd summit
* Madrid summit
* NATO virtual summit
* Operation Oscar
* Ramstein Air Base meeting
* EU–Ukraine Summit
* REPowerEU
* Steadfast Defender 2024
* SWIFT ban against Russian banks
* Ukraine Recovery Conference
* Versailles declaration
* 2023 Vilnius summit
* 15th BRICS summit
* 2024 Washington summit
* Weimar+

Other|

* Consecration of Russia
* F-16 training coalition
* Finland–NATO relations
* Finland–Russia border barrier
* Iron diplomacy
* Proposed Russian annexation of South Ossetia
* Recognition of Russia as a terrorist state
* Removal of monuments and memorials
* Streets renamed
* Ukraine Square, Oslo
* Serving heads of state and government that have visited Ukraine during the invasion
* Sweden–NATO relations
* Swedish anti-terrorism bill

Public|

| Protests|

* In Ukraine
* in Russian-occupied Ukraine
* demolition of monuments to Alexander Pushkin
* ArmWomenNow
* Ukrainian Artistic Front
* In Russia
* Angry patriots
* Club of Angry Patriots
* Anti-War Committee
* Suspicious deaths of Russian businesspeople
* Congress of People's Deputies
* Council of Mothers and Wives
* Feminist Anti-War Resistance
* Flower protests
* Marina Ovsyannikova
* Russian Action Committee
* North Caucasian protests
* 2022 Russian Far East protests
* State Duma initiative for charging Vladimir Putin of high treason
* White-blue-white flag
* In Belarus
* In China
* Great Translation Movement
* In Czech Republic
* Czech Republic First!

|

Companies|

* Address of the Russian Union of Rectors
* Boycott of Russia and Belarus
* "Do not buy Russian goods!"
* E.N.O.T. Corp.
* Igor Mangushev
* McDonald's in Russia
* Vkusno i tochka
* NashStore [ru]
* People's Satellite
* Starlink satellites
* Stop Bloody Energy
* Wagner Group
* Andrey Aleksandrovich Medvedev
* Death of Nemes Tarimo
* Yale CELI List of Companies

Technology|

* Anonymous and the invasion
* alerts.in.ua
* DDoS attacks on Romania
* DeepStateMap.Live
* Denys Davydov
* IT Army of Ukraine
* Killnet
* Liveuamap
* Open-source intelligence
* peacenotwar
* Russian Asset Tracker
* Squad303 [pl]
* Ukraine Siren Alerts
* Wikipedia
* threat to block in Russia
* detention of Mark Bernstein

Spies|

* Diplomatic expulsions during the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Russian spies in the Russo-Ukrainian War

Other|

* Association of Azovstal Defenders' Families
* Black Sea Grain Initiative
* Collaboration with Russia
* We Are Together with Russia
* Concert for Ukraine
* Free Buryatia Foundation
* Free Nations of Post-Russia Forum
* Game4Ukraine
* Get Lost
* Global Tour for Peace
* Go by the Forest
* Guide to the Free World
* Mozart Group
* Olena Zelenska Foundation
* Open letter from Nobel laureates
* Pavel Sudoplatov Battalion
* Rubikus.HelpUA
* Ruslan Shostak Charitable Foundation
* Russia's War Crimes House
* Save Ukraine
* Saving Ukrainian Cultural Heritage Online
* Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation
* Spain letter bomb attacks
* Yermak-McFaul Expert Group on Russian Sanctions
* Pavel Filatyev
* True Russia
* Volos Declaration
* Wimbledon ban

Impact

Effects|

* Aircraft losses
* Casualties
* journalists killed
* Russian generals killed
* Economic impact
* Inflation surge
* 2022 Moldovan energy crisis
* protests
* 2025 Moldovan energy crisis
* Russia–EU gas dispute
* 2022 Nord Stream pipeline sabotage
* Russian debt default
* 2022 Russian oil price cap
* 2022-2024 German economic crisis
* 2023 Russian oil products sanctions and price cap
* EU natural gas price cap
* Education
* End of the Whisky War
* Environmental impact
* European re-armament
* Eurovision Song Contest 2022
* Russia
* Ukraine
* Eurovision Song Contest 2023
* Food crises
* Impact on theatre [uk]
* List of notable deaths
* Lukoil oil transit dispute
* Nuclear power plants
* Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant crisis
* Nuclear risk
* Religion
* Russian emigration
* The Ark
* Ship losses
* Ukrainian cultural heritage
* art theft and looting
* damaged cultural sites
* Trauma
* Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline explosion
* Ukrainian energy crisis
* Violations of non-combatant airspaces
* Women

Human
rights|

* Humanitarian impact
* Ukrainian refugee crisis
* 2025 Amsterdam stabbing attack
* Sobieskiego 100
* UN Commission of Inquiry
* UN Human Rights Monitoring Mission

Terms and
phrases|

* "And now I will show you where the attack on Belarus was prepared from"
* "Anglo-Saxons"
* "Bavovna"
* "Grandpa in his bunker"
* "Good evening, we are from Ukraine"
* "Orc"
* "Putin khuylo!"
* "Khuy Voyne!"
* "Russia is here forever [uk]"
* "Russian warship, go fuck yourself"
* "Slava Ukraini!"
* "Special military operation"
* "To bomb Voronezh"
* "Strength is in truth"
* "Westsplaining"
* "Where have you been for eight years?"
* "Without you"

Popular
culture|

| Songs|

* "12"
* "Bakhmut Fortress"
* "Bayraktar"
* "Bilia topoli"
* "City of Mary"
* "Flowers of Minefields"
* "Generation Cancellation"
* "Generation Z"
* "I'm Russian"
* "Oyda"
* "Hey, Hey, Rise Up!"
* "Mama ŠČ!"
* "Oi u luzi chervona kalyna"
* "Slava Ukraini!"
* "Stefania"
* "Ukraine"
* "Crushed"

|

Films|

* 20 Days in Mariupol
* A Rising Fury
* Follow Me
* Intercepted
* Russians at War
* Turn in the Wound
* Ukraine on Fire 2 [uk]

Other|

* Babylon'13
* Back to the Cold War
* Borodianka cat [uk]
* Ghost of Kyiv
* Kherson watermelon
* Královec Region
* Madonna of Kyiv
* North Atlantic Fella Organization
* Newspeak in Russia
* Patron
* "Putler"
* "Putinversteher"
* Raccoon of Kherson
* Saint Javelin
* Saint Mariuburg [ru; uk]
* Vasylkiv maiolica rooster
* Vladimir Putin's meeting table
* Walk of the Brave
* "Z" military symbol

Key people

Ukrainians|

* Volodymyr Zelenskyy
* speeches during the invasion
* visit to the United States
* visit to the United Kingdom
* visits to Europe
* Anatolii Kryvonozhko
* Anatoliy Barhylevych
* Andrii Hnatov
* Andriy Biletsky
* Andriy Yermak
* Denys Shmyhal
* Denys Kireyev  X
* Denys Monastyrsky  †
* Denys Prokopenko
* Ihor Klymenko
* Iryna Venediktova
* Kyrylo Budanov
* Mykhailo Drapatyi
* Mykola Oleschuk
* Oleksandr Pavlyuk
* Oleksandr Syrskyi
* Oleksii Reznikov
* Oleksiy Danilov
* Oleksiy Neizhpapa
* Ruslan Khomchak
* Rustem Umerov
* Sergiy Kyslytsya
* Serhiy Shaptala
* Serhii Sternenko
* Valerii Zaluzhnyi
* Vasyl Malyuk
* Vitali Klitschko
* Yevhen Moisiuk

Russians|

* Vladimir Putin
* Aleksandr Dvornikov
* Aleksandr Lapin
* Aleksey Dyumin
* Aleksey Nagin  †
* Alexander Bortnikov
* Andrei Kolesnikov
* Andrei Sychevoi
* Andrey Belousov
* Andrey Vorobyov
* Dmitry Medvedev
* Gennady Zhidko  #
* Igor Kastyukevich
* Ivan Popov
* Mikhail Mishustin
* Maria Lvova-Belova
* Nikolai Patrushev
* Oleg Salyukov
* Oleg Tsokov  †
* Ramzan Kadyrov
* Roman Berdnikov
* Rustam Muradov
* Sergey Kobylash
* Sergey Lavrov
* Sergey Naryshkin
* Sergei Shoigu
* Sergey Surovikin
* Timur Ivanov
* Valery Gerasimov
* Viktor Sokolov
* Viktor Zolotov
* Vitaly Gerasimov
* Vyacheslav Gladkov
* Vyacheslav Volodin
* Yevgeny Prigozhin  X

Other|

* Alexander Lukashenko
* Denis Pushilin
* Leonid Pasechnik
* Sergey Aksyonov
* Vitaly Ganchev
* Vladimir Saldo
* Yevgeny Balitsky
* Yuriy Barbashov

Related

* 2023 North Korea–Russia summit
* 2023 visit by Joe Biden to Ukraine
* 2023 visit by Fumio Kishida to Ukraine
* 2023 visit by Xi Jinping to Russia
* 2023 visit by Yoon Suk Yeol to Ukraine
* 2025 Putin–Trump call
* Anti-drone mesh
* Anti-Russian sentiment
* Anti-Ukrainian sentiment
* Antonov An-225 Mriya
* Axis of Upheaval
* Azerbaijan Airlines Flight 8243
* Azovstal Iron and Steel Works
* Brovary helicopter crash
* Bryansk Oblast military aircraft crashes
* Claims of Vladimir Putin's incapacity and death
* Decolonization in Ukraine
* Decommunization in Ukraine
* Derussification in Ukraine
* Demolition of monuments to Alexander Pushkin in Ukraine
* Foreign leaders that have visited during the invasion
* Institute for the Study of War
* Irkutsk Su-30 crash
* Ivanovo Ilyushin Il-76 crash
* Korochansky Ilyushin Il-76 crash
* Kyivstar cyberattack
* Lady R incident
* Moldovan coup d'état attempt allegations
* Nord Stream 2
* Proposed Russian annexation of Transnistria
* Punisher
* Russian nuclear weapons
* Sarmat
* Rico Krieger
* Russian military presence in Transnistria
* Ryazan Il-76 crash
* Siberian wildfires
* Sinhury mid-air collision [uk; zh]
* Soloti military training ground shooting
* Soviet imagery
* Territorial Center of Recruitment and Social Support
* Turtle tank
* U-24 association
* Ukrainian-African Renaissance
* Ukrainian conscription crisis
* Western long-range weapons in Russia
* Ural Airlines Flight 1383
* "The Vladimir Putin Interview"
* Voronezh An-26 crash
* Wagner Group plane crash
* Yeysk Su-34 crash
* Yaroslav Hunka scandal
* Time of Heroes

* Category

* v
* t
* e

Russia–Ukraine relations

Diplomatic posts|

* Embassy of Russia, Kyiv
* Embassy of Ukraine, Moscow
* Ambassadors of Ukraine to Russia

Diplomacy|

* Belovezh Accords
* Massandra Accords
* Budapest Memorandum on Security Assurances
* Partition Treaty on the Status and Conditions of the Black Sea Fleet
* Russian–Ukrainian Friendship Treaty
* Treaty Between the Russian Federation and Ukraine on Cooperation in the Use of the Sea of Azov and the Kerch Strait
* 5+2 format
* Kharkiv Pact
* 17 December 2013 Russian–Ukrainian action plan

Russo-Ukrainian War|

* Outline
* Euromaidan
* Revolution of Dignity
* 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
* 2014 Russian sabotage activities in Ukraine
* Crimean speech of Vladimir Putin
* Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
* Political status of Crimea
* Occupied territories of Ukraine
* Russian-occupied territories
* War in Donbas
* Putin. War
* Trilateral Contact Group on Ukraine
* Normandy Format
* Minsk agreements
* Ukraine v. Russian Federation (2019)
* Zapad 2017 exercise
* Russian invasion of Ukraine
* prelude
* reactions
* annexation referendums
* peace negotiations
* disinformation
* Russian sanctions against Ukraine
* Russian book ban in Ukraine
* Russian embargo of Ukrainian goods
* Russian information war against Ukraine
* Russo-Ukrainian cyberwarfare
* Ukraine v. Russian Federation (2022)
* Black Sea Grain Initiative
* "What Russia Should Do with Ukraine"
* Decommunization in Ukraine
* Demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine
* Derussification in Ukraine
* Demolition of monuments to Alexander Pushkin in Ukraine

Incidents|

* Siberia Airlines Flight 1812
* 2003 Tuzla Island conflict
* Orange Revolution
* Russia–Ukraine gas disputes
* 2005–2006 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute
* Remember about the Gas – Do not buy Russian goods!
* 2009 Russia–Ukraine gas dispute

Related|

* Russia–Ukraine border
* Russia–Ukraine relations in the Eurovision Song Contest
* Ukraine–Commonwealth of Independent States relations
* Urengoy–Pomary–Uzhhorod pipeline
* Black Sea Fiber-Optic Cable System
* ITUR
* Orthodox Church of Ukraine
* Russian language in Ukraine
* On the Independence of Ukraine
* "On the Historical Unity of Russians and Ukrainians"
* Spartak Moscow–Dynamo Kyiv rivalry
* International recognition of the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic
* Donetsk People's Republic–Russia relations
* Luhansk People's Republic–Russia relations
* Wars between Russia and Ukraine

Category:Russia–Ukraine relations

* v
* t
* e

Russo-Ukrainian War

Background|

* Dissolution of the Soviet Union
* Black Sea Fleet dispute
* Budapest Memorandum
* 2003 Tuzla Island conflict
* Orange Revolution
* 2007 Munich speech of Vladimir Putin
* Russia–Ukraine gas disputes
* Euromaidan
* Revolution of Dignity
* Putinism
* Foundations of Geopolitics
* Ruscism
* Russian irredentism
* Russian imperialism

Main events|

* Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation
* timeline
* 2014 pro-Russian unrest in Ukraine
* timeline
* 2014 Odesa clashes
* War in Donbas
* timeline
* List of Russian units which invaded the territory of Ukraine
* Kerch Strait incident
* Wagnergate
* Prelude to the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* reactions
* Russian invasion of Ukraine
* timeline
* 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
* 2022 Russian annexation referendums
* 2023 Belgorod Oblast incursions
* destruction of the Kakhovka Dam

Impact and
reactions|

* International sanctions
* sanctioned people and organisations
* 2022–2023 Russia–European Union gas dispute
* Military aid to Ukraine
* OSCE Special Monitoring Mission to Ukraine
* Act of 2014
* China and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* North Korea and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Iran and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* United States and the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* ICJ case
* ORDLO
* ATO
* International reactions to the war in Donbas
* Casualties of the Russo-Ukrainian War
* journalists killed
* Foreign fighters in the Russo-Ukrainian War
* 2014 Crimean status referendum
* Political status of Crimea
* 2021 Black Sea incident
* 2021–2023 global supply chain crisis
* Economic impact of the Russian invasion of Ukraine
* Eurointegration of Ukraine
* Soviet imagery
* Lend-Lease (2022)
* Diplomatic expulsions
* Russian spies
* ICC arrest warrant for Vladimir Putin
* Wagner Group rebellion
* LGBT people
* Lukoil oil transit dispute
* Ukrainian energy crisis

Cyberwarfare|

* 2015 Ukraine power grid hack
* 2016 Kyiv cyberattack
* 2016 Surkov leaks
* 2017 Ukraine ransomware attacks
* 2022 Ukraine cyberattacks
* IT Army of Ukraine
* 2022 activities of Anonymous against Russia
* 2024 Ukrainian cyberattacks against Russia

Media|

* Little green men
* Social media
* Media portrayal
* Disinformation in the 2022 invasion
* Propaganda in Russia
* Films

Related|

* Russia–Ukraine relations
* Russian language in Ukraine
* Demolition of monuments to Vladimir Lenin in Ukraine
* 2014 anti-war protests in Russia
* Ruscism
* 2018 Moscow–Constantinople schism
* Control of cities
* Aircraft losses during the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Ship losses during the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Moldova and the Russo-Ukrainian War
* Ukraine and electronic warfare
* Ukrainian conscription crisis
* Forced transfer of Ukrainian children to Russia

* Category

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