Ukrainian soldiers. Kursk region. russia 2025

russian propaganda does not stop for a minute. Every minute, the information space in every country is attacked by mercenary bloggers, pseudo-journalists and corrupt experts to cover civil societies with a web of disinformation and manipulation, to create chaos and conflict. This is the only way the kremlin can strengthen its position and capital, no other way. And no money is spared for these tools. Here are the most resonant fakes in March.
Based on materials from Spravdi, StopFake, EuVsDisinfo

Fake: 70,000 Ukrainian soldiers died in vain in Kursk region
To reinforce the fake and promote it to a foreign audience, russian propagandists forged the cover of the British edition of the Hull Daily Mail. There is no cover with this topic in the Hull Daily Mail archive. According to the publication date of 13 March 2025, which is indicated on the fake, the original cover has a completely different main topic of the issue - boy found guilty of trying to murder girl with a sword. And the original cover is illustrated (https://penrithcity.spydus.com/cgi-bin/spydus.exe/FULL/WPAC/ISSENQ/111799783/8697600,3) with a British police van. The covers of the next issues of 14 and 15 March also have nothing to do with the Ukrainian army or the war in general. The fake cover is distributed exclusively by pro-russian media. Fakes about the ‘huge losses’ of the Ukrainian armed forces are systematically spread by russian propaganda to put public pressure on Ukraine and its partners.
Fake: Ukrainian army failed the Kursk operation
russian propagandists on Telegram write that ‘former UK Defence Secretary Gavin Williamson told the BBC that the Ukrainian military leadership failed the Kursk operation’. In fact, this is another fake from the russians.
There is no such material on the BBC News website (www.bbc.com/news) or in social media, nor is there a ‘quote’ from Williamson, which was invented by russian fake news outlets. The fake has visual differences from the original BBC videos. This was determined by VoxCheck investigators: https://voxukraine.org/fejk-eksministr-oborony-brytaniyi-vilyamson-zvynuvatyv-ukrayinske-komanduvannya-u-provali-kurskoyi-operatsiyi
By the way, since the beginning of the full-scale invasion of russia, Gavin Williamson has supported Ukraine and has never criticised the Ukrainian military command. In particular, in September 2024, he called on the current British Prime Minister to allow the Ukrainian Defence Forces to use Storm Shadow missiles to strike strategic targets deep in russia.
In fact, according to the Ukrainian General Staff, as of early February 2025, the total losses of the russian army in the Kursk region in manpower amounted to approximately 39,900, of which about 16,100 were killed. In addition, 131 tanks, 689 armoured combat vehicles, 386 artillery systems, 12 air defence systems, 1 aircraft, 3 helicopters and many other pieces of equipment were destroyed. As a result of the Kursk operation, russian troops suffered heavy losses (on their own territory) and were unable to occupy northern Ukraine for the second time, although they had such intentions in early 2024.

Musk fails. Crimea 2025

Fake: Billy Eilish and Jared Leto will come to Crimea with concerts
russian Telegram channels write about this with reference to the artists video messages and announcements on Instagram. In fact, the video with American actor and singer Jared Leto is a deepfake created using AI tools. The disinformers are betrayed by the singer's unnatural facial expressions and wrinkles that appear and disappear. The kremlin's propagandists also faked the story of Brandon Goodman, the producer of American singer Billie Eilish, and added a fake link to tickets in occupied Crimea. The purpose of this fake is to try to legitimise russia's occupation of Ukrainian territories, including Crimea, in the eyes of the international community.
Musk fails to accuse Ukraine of hacking X
Recently, the social network X (Twitter) was subjected to a massive cyberattack. The owner of the social network, Elon Musk, initially suggested that ‘it was done by a large coordinated group or a country’. Later, in an interview with Fox News, he said that ‘the hackers had IP addresses originating from Ukraine’. Nevertheless, it was not possible to link Ukraine to the attack on X Mask: the pro-Palestinian hacker group Dark Storm Team claimed responsibility. According to Newsweek, the group is known for targeting countries and organisations that support Israel's attack on Gaza.
This is not the first time that claims of ‘Ukrainian traces’ in attacks on American resources have been made. For example, in May 2024, russian media spread a fake claim that ‘Ukrainian hackers hacked CBS-2 to harm Trump’.

Fake: French newspaper Charlie Hebdo depicts Zelenskyy in a coffin
This is the cover of the magazine spread by pro-kremlin Telegram channels. In fact, it is another russian fake. This is evidenced by the issue's release date - 20 March (Thursday), although in fact the weekly is published every Wednesday. In addition, the official website of the publication lists the weekly issue (https://charliehebdo.fr/editions/1704/) as number 1704 and features French President Macron on crutches, in military uniform, and a signature on the cover: ‘Macron: He needs a good war.’ russian fake news makers added the number 1705, which did not exist at the time. 
This is not the first time russians have made fake covers of Western magazines, including Charlie Hebdo. Previously, they lied about the publication allegedly ridiculing Ukraine's ‘Formula for Peace’, talking about Ukrainian weapons in the hands of Hamas militants, and mocking Zelenskyy at the opening of Notre Dame. The purpose of such fakes is to discredit the Ukrainian government and to reinforce the narrative that the West is ‘tired of Ukraine’.
Fake: USAID paid $4 million to Time magazine for Zelenskyy's nomination
russian propagandist and senator alexei pushkov has spread an old fake that in 2022 USAID allegedly paid $4 million to Time magazine to announce Ukrainian President Zelenskyy as Person of the Year and put his photo on the cover. In fact, back in early March, AFP published an analysis that completely refutes this absurd fiction. The original source of this fake news was a post on X of 26 February by the user ‘Johnny Midnight’, who repeatedly spread disinformation among his followers on the social network X. Of course, neither USAID nor any other organisation paid Time magazine to recognise Zelenskyy as its Person of the Year. The winner of this nomination is known to be chosen exclusively by Time magazine editors. AFP investigators did not find any USAID payments to the magazine.

French bank Milleis. russian news

Fake: YouTube blocks over 800,000 bots from Ukraine praising Zelensky
To spread disinformation, russian propagandists created a video with the WIRED logo. In fact, it is a fake, as there is no such news or video on the WIRED website. There is also no information available on the media outlet's social media. Investigators from VoxCheck noted (https://voxukraine.org/fejk-youtube-zablokuvav-ponad-800-tys-ukrayinskyh-botiv-yaki-obrazhaly-trampa-pislya-zustrichi-iz-zelenskym-wired) that the design of the video differs from those published by WIRED - original videos usually show a person reading the text and announce the topic at the beginning. By the way, YouTube representatives also did not say anything (https://x.com/youtube) about ‘blocking bots from Ukraine’. In fact, no such information is available in any reliable media.
Fake: Zelenskyy bought the private French bank Milleis through an offshore company
The story is being spread by russian propagandists. In fact, no reputable international or French media have reported such a deal, and the official bulletin of civil and commercial announcements, which displays sales reports, does not contain such transactions, Gvara Media fact-checkers write: https://gwaramedia.com/fejk-zelenskij-za-ofshori-kupiv-najbilshij-privatnij-bank-francziyi/
In addition, the administration of Milleis Bank responded to an official request from investigators that the information disseminated was fake, and that the British company AnaCap has been the bank's owner since 2017. The video disseminated by the russian media shows signs of forgery: it contains the logo of a non-existent TV channel. The video is edited from publicly available photos of Zelenskyy, Macron and others; it contains inauthentic sound generated by AI.

American flags. russian tourist. kremlin's news

Fake: A russian tourist in Venice saved the life of a seriously wounded man
This was reported by the Italian newspaper Corrierre del Veneto. In fact, the wounded Italian, who was bleeding from his injuries, received first aid from a Ukrainian soldier from the Third Assault Brigade, Yanis Tereshchenko, who was on leave and was in Venice with his family at the time: https://x.com/ultrarightnow/status/1899135982948982865.By the way, the publication has already contacted the Ukrainian and made changes to the material. On social network X, the soldier noted (https://x.com/ultrarightnow/status/1899218100601434220) that the inaccuracy was made by the locals, who called him a turista russo. But the russian media were happy to use the Italians' mistake to their advantage.
Fake: Ukrainian artist burned American flags in the centre of Łódź in protest
A video with the logo of The Washington Post is circulating online, claiming that a Ukrainian artist allegedly burned 100 kg of American flags in Poland to protest against the Trump administration's policy towards Ukraine. The video with the logo of The Washington Post was fabricated - neither the American nor Polish media, nor any other reputable media outlets reported such an incident. The footage used in the video was taken from a drain, and the allegedly burnt antique flag is actually for sale on eBay. The artist Anton Myroniuk, who is mentioned in the fake, also does not exist, which is another confirmation of the failure of the kremlin's fake news factory. There are also recordings of live broadcasts from the Freedom Square in Lodz, but none of them show evidence that such a performance ever took place. According to the Osavul platform, the video was first published by the russian Telegram channel Medved on 18 March.

russia's diplomatic missions. russian intelligence services

Fake news: Kyiv is preparing a series of terrorist attacks against russia's diplomatic missions in Europe
russian media reported this with reference to russia's foreign intelligence service. In fact, it is the russians who are preparing to carry out a wave of suicide attacks in Europe. russian intelligence services are currently practising similar methods in Ukraine, according to the Robert Lansing Institute for Global Threats and Democracy: https://lansinginstitute.org/2025/02/17/the-rising-threat-of-suicide-attacks-in-europe/
Western intelligence agencies have received information about the creation of a new russian sabotage group specialising in terrorist attacks, assassinations and espionage in Europe and North America. This organisation, known as the Department of Special Tasks, operates under the auspices of russian military intelligence and coordinates covert operations against Western countries.
russian intelligence services have experience in organising sabotage in Europe. It was the kremlin that was behind the attempted murder of former russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal and his daughter in the UK and the attempted assassination of the head of the German concern Rheinmetall Armin Papperger in 2024. They also poisoned former FSB officer Alexander Litvinenko in London. And this is only a small part of the crimes committed by the putin regime outside the country.

vladimir putin. French poll

Fake: 71% of French people dream of putin leading their country
A video fake with this ‘news’ is being spread by pro-kremlin media. The propagandists used the symbols of the French newspaper Le Figaro to report on a non-existent poll that allegedly claims that 71% of French people would like to see vladimir putin as president of the country, among other foreign leaders.
In fact, Le Figaro did not publish such a video, nor was there a poll on this topic. StopFake checked all the pages of this French media outlet, as well as the pages of sociological organisations, and found no such data. In fact, public opinion polls in European countries, including France, show a critical attitude towards russian policy and vladimir putin in particular. For example, a French poll in March 2025 showed that the kremlin leader is widely rejected by the French: only 10% of respondents have a positive opinion of him, which is a very low figure. 
At the same time, the kremlin media reported the results of a survey of Moldovans: "Moldovans surveyed called putin the strongest leader in Europe. The public civic platform ‘For Fair Elections’ interviewed 4,200 people in the country, asking them to name a European politician who, in their opinion, ‘is able to lead the republic out of the crisis’. President Vladimir Putin became the leader of the vote with 32% of Moldovans (1,354 votes). 19% of respondents would like to see a politician in charge of Moldova who is similar in image and style to Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko. French President Emmanuel Macron, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen and Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared third place in the rating."
The mentioned ‘public civic platform’ does not have its own website. Instead, it has a Telegram channel in russian; as of 18 March, it had 122 subscribers. From 10 October last year to 15 March, there were no new posts on the channel, and it was resuscitated only through a poll. It also has a TikTok account (22 subscribers). The organisers somehow managed to conduct the poll in such a way that it left no trace on the network and in other Moldovan media.

protests in Armenia. biological military laboratories

Fake: Pentagon's biological warfare bases in Armenia have become testing grounds
"People at protests in Armenia are demanding the closure of US biological military laboratories in the country, as these questionable experiments pose a threat to citizens", is the theme actively spread by pro-kremlin media. 
There is no evidence that the Pentagon is conducting secret biological experiments in Armenia. It is a recurring disinformation narrative of kremlin propaganda that the US is developing biological weapons and developing military biological research laboratories around the world. Specific allegations have been refuted by numerous experts, including UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs Izumi Nakamitsu and russian biologists who have examined moscow's ‘evidence’. https://theintercept.com/2022/03/17/russia-ukraine-bioweapons-misinformation/
https://www.euractiv.com/section/global-europe/news/un-says-no-evidence-to-back-russian-claim-of-ukraine-biological-weapons-program/
There are no and never have been American biolabs in Georgia, Ukraine, Kazakhstan or Armenia. These countries, like many other countries around the world, cooperate with the US Department of Defence's Biological Threat Reduction Programme (BTRP). The goal of the BTRP is to ensure global health by preventing infectious disease outbreaks and setting high international standards for biological safety.

kremlin 2025

Fake news: Budapest is preparing to annex some parts of Zakarpattia to Hungary
This ‘news’ was released by russian propagandists with reference to a survey conducted by Bethlen Gábor Kollégium. In fact, this is another russian fake, because Bethlen Gábor Kollégium is a Hungarian-language college (https://bethlengabor.eu/) in the city of Aiud in Romania and does not conduct any opinion polls, as can be seen on the institution's social media. 
Propagandists used a graphic editor to create a fake poll in Ukrainian on behalf of the college and ‘targeted advertising’ for the post without any reference to the ‘poll,’ Ukrinform investigators note. The purpose of the fake is to spread the kremlin's narrative that ‘Ukraine is an artificially created country’ that needs to be divided and to manipulate the issue of national minorities to worsen relations between Ukraine and Hungary.