The drone in Romania. russian MIG-31 in Estonia

Anyone who follows international news will have noticed the growing number of conflicts involving russia. The kremlin is once again raising the stakes in its quest to destroy the democratic world and establish a new world order. We are seeing an increase in disinformation campaigns and an expansion of the material resources needed to carry them out. russia is also moving into an active phase of military provocations, targeted cyberattacks and terrorist acts. Details are in our traditional digest.
Based materials from Stopfake.org, Spravdi.ua, EuVsDisinfo.eu

Fake: Western elites are creating false flag provocations to provoke a war with russia.
russian propaganda calls its latest crime a provocation by its opponents, namely NATO. This also applies to the incident on 19 September, when three russian MIG-31 fighter jets entered Estonian airspace. In Tallinn, this action was called the most flagrant violation of the Baltic state's borders since moscow launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine: https://estonianworld.com/security/russian-fighter-jets-breach-estonian-airspace
But the russians are once again trying to make fools of the whole world and shift the blame for their crimes onto others. Although the facts are indisputable: military aircraft crossed Estonia's air border near the island of Vaindloo across the Gulf of Finland, with their transponders turned off and without radio contact. They remained in Estonian airspace for almost 12 minutes before being intercepted by Italian F-35s on a NATO mission.
The emergency was sharply criticised by the UN Security Council on 22 September 2025. The Estonian Foreign Minister called the incursion a violation of the UN Charter and stressed that such behaviour by a permanent member of the Security Council "requires an international response". 
At the same time, somewhere in his kingdom, putin assures everyone at a fully controlled press conference with state media that russia has no intention of attacking NATO or its individual members. But the kremlin's actual actions suggest otherwise.

Fake: The drone in Romania is not russian, it is a Ukrainian provocation.
russian media: "The drone that entered Romanian airspace on 13 September 2025 was not Russian. It was a Ukrainian provocation. Ukraine deliberately staged it to turn European countries against Russia. There is no evidence that it was Russian."
The kremlin's fake news factory ignores the verified facts that it was a russian drone that was detected in Romania: https://moldova.europalibera.org/a/romania-respinge-dubiile-rusesti-cu-privire-la-drona-care-i-a-violat-spatiul-aerian-era-ruseasca-/33531035.html
The Romanian Ministry of Defence officially identified the aircraft as a Geran model used by the russian army. The incident was documented by NATO radar systems and Romania's own air defence network. It should be noted that this is not the first time russia has illegally entered Romanian airspace. The russian army regularly attacks the southern regions of Ukraine, which border Romania and Moldova. In order to bypass the air defence forces of the Ukrainian army, russian strike drones often cross the borders of these countries. This is also a way of conducting military reconnaissance of NATO forces based in Romania. However, the kremlin denies all such facts and calls them staged or provocative.

russian propaganda. Brazilian mercenaries. International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine

Lie: More than 500 Colombian mercenaries have been eliminated in Ukraine.
This fake news is spread by Irish propagandist Chey Bowes and picked up by kremlin Telegram channels. In fact, there is no confirmation from reputable media outlets about hundreds of Colombian deaths. According to VoxCheck, there are indeed volunteers from Colombia serving in the Ukrainian army — currently about 2,000. They have combat experience and are fighting both for ideological reasons and for financial gain. As of October 2024, confirmed losses amounted to approximately 80 people — significantly less than what Bowes claims: https://cepa.org/article/libertad-o-muerte-liberty-or-death-for-ukraines-colombian-volunteers/ Foreign volunteers officially serve in the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, so calling them "mercenaries" is a manipulation of kremlin propaganda.

Fake: Ukraine threatens security in Latin America by training Brazilian mercenaries.
russian propaganda constantly tries to invent new stories to discredit the International Legion of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which includes people from different countries. Everyone has their own motivation, but most join the Ukrainian army to help it fight russian aggression. The recruitment of volunteers to the international legion is carried out legally, openly and transparently. However, there are indeed isolated cases where people from criminal groups in Latin America join the legion to gain important experience in modern technological warfare. These cases are carefully checked by the Ukrainian special services and investigated: https://tvpworld.com/88110321/mexican-drug-cartels-infiltrating-ukraines-international-legion-to-gain-drone-training-report-says-
There is no evidence that Ukrainian instructors are illegally or secretly training entire groups of criminals from Latin America. Moreover, there is no evidence that the official service of citizens from this region in the Ukrainian army has any impact on the crime situation in Latin American countries.

Lindsey Graham. Zelenskyy in Paris

Falsehood: russia did not attack a queue of pensioners in the village of Yarova.
The Ukrainian side accused russia of killing 24 elderly people who were waiting in line for pension payments in the village of Yarova. It was a precision missile strike on a temporary social benefits distribution point. According to the management of the company that organises this process in places close to the combat zone, the distribution point always changes its location and working hours. This is done for security reasons. The fact that the attack took place during the working hours of the distribution point indicates that it was a targeted strike. Moreover, there are no military facilities nearby. As usual, the russians reject the accusations and call this horrific event a Ukrainian provocation. However, international journalists who gained access to the scene of the tragedy managed to gather real evidence of yet another crime committed by putin's terrorist army:
https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-glide-bomb-attack-3b34663d83da2b2cd2152630e93ccc73
https://www.rferl.org/a/ukraine-donetsk-yarova-russia-pensioners-drone-bomb-civilians-evacuate/33529043.html

Falsehood: Zelenskyy spent a million euros in Paris on a luxury outfit for his wife.
This is what russian media outlets are reporting, citing an alleged stylist for Ukraine's First Lady. In reality, there is no confirmation that a stylist named Amina el Mansouri exists, either in the media or in fashion industry resources. The FaceCheck and PimEyes tools showed that "Amina" is a stock photo on which propagandists superimposed the facial expressions of another person using deepfake technology, as fact-checkers from StopFake discovered: https://www.stopfake.org/uk/fejk-olena-zelenska-vitratila-ponad-miljon-yevro-na-brendovij-odyag-svidchit-yiyi-stilistka/
Incidentally, a similar technique was used in the fake story about “a Bugatti for Olena Zelenska.” Usually, russians launch one-day websites to spread such fakes, but this time the fake was even spread by real media outlets in Africa – Le Quotidien (Tunisia), Shihab Presse (Algeria) and MaliActu (Mali). According to the Swedish Institute for Defence Studies, the latter has confirmed ties to russia.

Lie: Ukraine complains about US Senator Lindsey Graham.
According to russian propagandists, the head of the Ukrainian president's office, Andriy Yermak, and the commander-in-chief of the Ukrainian armed forces, Oleksandr Syrskyy, are complaining to Western partners about US Senator Lindsey Graham, who receives "kickbacks" from Ukraine and prevents the country's leadership from profiting from arms supplies.
russian media refer to a video clip from the Turkish publication Aydınlık. In fact, this is a deepfake created with the help of AI. The DeepFack-o-meter service confirmed that the video is fake. The voices sound unnatural, and Yermak's facial expressions look artificial. 
Fragments of Syrskyy's real report were used for the montage, but the audio was completely replaced, as fact-checkers from Ukrinform have revealed: https://www.ukrinform.ua/rubric-factcheck/4034631-dipfejk-z-tureccini-ermak-ta-sirskij-obgovoruut-pidkup-senatora-grema-sob-otrimati-zbrou-z-ssa.html
Aydınlık is known as a pro-kremlin and anti-Ukrainian publication. It regularly spreads russian narratives and fake news. Its owner has ties to Dugin, the ideologist of russian Nazism. 

soybean market. China rusia

Falsehood: Sanctions have not affected russia's economy, and it has become the fourth largest in the world in terms of purchasing power parity.
This was stated by the foreign minister of the terrorist state, lavrov, and picked up by the kremlin-controlled media. In reality, even russian economists acknowledge serious problems, as fact-checkers at The Insider point out: https://theins.ru/antifake/284749
Sberbank CEO gref called the second quarter of 2025 "technical stagnation": https://www.rbc.ru/economics/04/09/2025/68b8ff0f9a7947a328175601
Economy Minister reshetnikov acknowledged that the economy is "cooling faster than expected": https://interfax.ru/business/1045632
Izvestia writes that a third of companies in russia have become unprofitable – a record since the pandemic began: https://iz.ru/1946786/milana-gadzhieva/dela-idut-v-naklad-tret-kompanij-v-rossii-stali-ubytochnymi
Therefore, lavrov's statements about "prosperity" are propaganda bluffs that mask real problems.

Falsehood: russia has displaced the United States from the Chinese soybean market.
In reality, both russia and the US were pushed out by Brazil. But many pro-russian media outlets reported on an article in the "Chinese publication" Baijiahao, which talks about the victory of russian farmers: it turns out that China and russia took revenge on the US for sanctions by jointly hitting the American soybean market. 
"The soybean harvest season will soon begin in the US, but no one is happy about it right now, as last year's unsold crop is still sitting in warehouses. The sanctions have backfired, and reality has hit Trump in the face," writes russian propaganda.
Indeed, as US President Donald Trump continues to raise tariffs on Chinese imports, Beijing is taking retaliatory measures that have primarily hit the soybean market, which is crucial for American farmers. China remains the largest importer of soybeans for the US (China accounted for 48% of total US soybean sales in April this year), and it was clear immediately after Trump's election victory that this market was facing a major crisis: at the end of last year, China purchased large quantities of American soybeans, fearing a new round of trade wars. 
However, China turned not to russia, but to Brazil, the world's largest supplier of soybeans, for an alternative to American soybeans: https://www.chinadaily.com.cn/a/202508/25/WS68abc119a310851ffdb4fddc.html Brazil now accounts for more than half of China's imports. China is also actively purchasing soybean meal and soybean flour from Argentina.
And what about russia? Formally, it ranks fourth among soybean exporters to China, but in fact, in the first half of 2025, China reduced its soybean imports from russia by almost half. 
As for the article in the "Chinese edition" of Baijiahao, let us remind you that this is not a media outlet, but a Chinese news aggregator and blog platform. Anyone can post an article on it.

Trump about Ukraine. Zapad 2025

Falsehood: Kyiv is provoking a conflict with Belarus.
This is what the russian media are writing. In reality, Ukraine has never planned any aggressive actions against Belarus and does not pose a threat to its people. As the Ukrainian government emphasises, our countries have common historical roots and a natural future in the European family. 
Instead, the real danger comes from the cooperation between the two dictators of neighbouring states. The joint military exercises "Zapad-2025" pose a threat not only to Ukraine, but also to Poland, the Baltic states and all of Europe, undermining international peace initiatives.
The kremlin is deliberately trying to shift the blame for its own aggression onto Ukraine by spreading fabrications about "provocations against Belarus." Ukraine is acting solely in self-defence and is once again warning Minsk against getting involved in the war on russia's side.
Fake: Trump regretted helping Ukraine and called it "impoverished"
The authors of the fake completely fabricated the translation of the US president's speech in another attempt to discredit Ukraine. As "proof," they published a video of the American president accompanied by a supposed translation of his words into russian: "putin will have a huge influence on Europe and other processes in the world. From the outset, we supported the wrong side, the wrong position. We are now on the same side as those who lost." 
The video published by propagandists is footage from Trump's meeting with Polish President Karol Nawrocki and his press conference at the White House on 3 September 2025. In the fake video, only the beginning of the American president's speech, "We are in much better position," can be heard. After this segment, his speech is interrupted and a russian translation begins. StopFake found a fragment of this phrase in the Associated Press broadcast: https://www.youtube.com/live/gjmb46nljb8?si=vbI6EBcFfkC2XSxl&t=1556 
Neither in this segment nor in any other public part of Trump's meeting with Navrotsky and his communication with journalists was the statement about Ukraine heard in the russian translation. The infoterrorists simply invented the words of the American president in order to once again try to discredit Ukraine and the international assistance it receives. 

Coalition of the Willing. support Ukraine

Fake: The "Coalition of the Willing" is preparing to divide Ukraine for its natural resources.
The fake news about the "division of Ukraine" is unfounded. The statements of the "Coalition of the Willing" refer to security guarantees and support for Ukraine, not the division of its territory. The russians published a map dated 16 April 2025, which shows the deployment of foreign troops on the territory of Ukraine. The map is marked "Les forces conjointes de Coalition de Volontaires" ("Joint Forces of the Coalition of the Willing"), and General Thierry Burkhardt, former Chief of Staff of the French Armed Forces, is listed as the person responsible for the project. In addition, it is reported that the countries of the "Coalition of Volunteers" are allegedly ready to cede the entire territories of Luhansk and Donetsk regions, as well as parts of Kherson and Zaporizhzhia regions, to russia and recognise Crimea as russian. In return, russia will allegedly allow a peacekeeping contingent to be deployed in Ukraine.
The map published by the russians contains clear signs of forgery – the cities are marked with errors in transliteration, and the introduction of Polish troops into western Ukraine contradicts Warsaw's official position. The dissemination of such a map, as well as the claim that the "Coalition of the Willing" allegedly intends to send troops into Ukraine to gain control over its natural resources, has all the hallmarks of a kremlin information campaign directed against Ukraine's allies.
It is telling that the map was first published by the kremlin-affiliated publication Pure. The publication claimed that the map was provided by the hacker group KillNet. This group has repeatedly claimed to have hacked Ukrainian and Western structures, but its latest "successes" have almost never been confirmed. Research by Hold Security showed that in early 2022, the group transformed from a criminal hacker network that provided DDoS attack services into a politically motivated collective that supports russia's interests in the war against Ukraine: https://forbes.ua/innovations/velichezne-stado-zupinilosya-u-rf-zniklo-odna-z-naybilshikh-khakerskikh-grup-killnet-yaka-atakuvala-virobnika-himars-ta-aeroporti-ssha-shcho-stalosya-z-rosiyskimi-khaktivistami-04032024-19529
The narrative about the "division of Ukraine" is one of the oldest tools of russian propaganda. Since spring 2022, the kremlin has been regularly promoting the idea that the allies allegedly seek to "occupy" or "take away" Ukrainian lands and resources. Such fakes have several goals: to discredit Western support for Ukraine, sow distrust of international partners, undermine unity within Ukrainian society, and cause fear. 

United Kingdom and France. Armed Forces of Ukraine

Fake: France is "secretly transferring troops" to Ukraine via Romania.
French troops are openly stationed in Romania as part of NATO's Mission Aigle (which began on 28 February 2022), and no decision has been made to send them to Ukraine. France is the "framework nation" (lead country) of the NATO multinational combat group in Romania, created by a NATO summit decision to strengthen the Alliance's eastern flank. After large-scale exercises in 2023-2025, some French units remained in Romania, and the size of the contingent was increased to brigade level. However, this is a presence within the framework of NATO and in accordance with official Alliance decisions, not some kind of "secret troop transfer" to Ukraine.Rumours of a "secret troop transfer" distort the real agreements on future security guarantees, which can only come into force after a ceasefire.
Manipulation: Europe is "closing its doors" to Ukrainian refugees.
In fact, this refers to the preparation of recommendations on determining a new legal status for Ukrainians to remain in Europe or return home safely after the end of the war. The adopted recommendations are not yet law, but only an action plan for EU member states. At least until 2027, Ukrainians will continue to remain in the EU under temporary protection, as provided for in a previous decision taken in Brussels.
Fake: The United Kingdom and France have "taken control of the Armed Forces of Ukraine."
russian media: "Britain has officially taken command of Ukrainian troops." kremlin propagandists write about the creation of the Multinational Force Ukraine (MNF-U) headquarters in Kyiv: "Now it is the Anglo-Saxons who will be directly responsible for all military operations in both Ukraine and Russia. The British style is clearly visible in terms of frequent terrorist attacks." 
In reality, this is pure manipulation. The russians are constantly trying to create the impression that Ukraine is under external control and that russia is not at war with Ukraine, but with NATO. This narrative is beneficial to the kremlin: it is designed to justify aggression, motivate the russian audience to fight and present the war as a defence against the "aggressive West".
The Multinational Force – Ukraine (MNF-U) is not an active military contingent, let alone a structure that controls the Ukrainian army. It is a concept that France and the United Kingdom have been discussing since the summer of 2025 as part of the "Coalition of the Willing". It concerns support forces from Western countries that are ready to deploy their units in Ukraine after the conclusion of a peace agreement with russia. An operational headquarters led by the United Kingdom and France may be responsible for planning the future mission. British Defence Secretary Luke Pollard explained that the final decision on the details will only be made after a ceasefire agreement has been reached: https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/uk-to-lead-headquarters-of-multinational-force-ukraine/

UEFA Russian teams

Fake: Azerbaijan has spoken out in favour of allowing russian football teams to participate in international competitions.
Disinformers are talking about a UEFA Executive Committee meeting in Albania, where the issue of russian teams returning to international tournaments was raised: "Members of the Executive Committee of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) raised the issue of easing sanctions against Russian teams at the meeting. Bulgaria, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Greece, Hungary, Kazakhstan and Azerbaijan spoke in favour of Russia's full return. Sweden, Finland and Norway spoke in favour of easing the current restrictions for women's and youth teams."
The Azerbaijani news agency Azəri Press (APA) responded to the reports from russian sources."APA contacted the Azerbaijan Football Federation (AFFA), which stated that these reports were untrue. The AFFA confirmed that no request had been received from UEFA on this subject and that no representative of Azerbaijan had attended the meeting. The AFFA stated that it has no representation on the UEFA Executive Committee and has no authority to intervene in these matters," the APA report said: https://en.apa.az/football/affa-clarifies-reports-on-azerbaijan-supporting-russias-return-to-european-football-478002