attempt on Trump. russia today. ukrainian government

We are diligently recording all cases of russian disinformation and propaganda in the international media space. moscow is not going to stop its information aggression, cyberattacks and sabotage against its opponents. Moreover, putin's criminal regime is only increasing spending in these areas, bleeding its own people. Be careful what is written in the media and shared on social media. Evil must lose, no matter how it disguises itself.

Fake: Zelenskyy's government may be behind the assassination attempt on Trump.
This statement by American blogger Tucker Carlson is being spread by the kremlin media. In fact, Carlson does not support his statement about Zelenskyy's ‘involvement in the assassination attempt on the US president’ Carlson does not support his statement with any evidence. Donald Trump Jr, who also systematically spreads russian narratives, wrote the same thing on his X page.
This is not the first time that Tucker Carlson has tried to discredit the Ukrainian government and Volodymyr Zelenskyy in particular. Previously, he lied about Zelenskyy being a dictator who rules the country by force, bans the Christian denomination, and kills his opponents. Carlson also spread fictions that Ukraine sells weapons from its Western partners to Mexican drug cartels and that Ukrainians spend a million dollars a day on holiday in the Alps. In all of these cases, the journalist did not provide concrete evidence.
In fact, Carlson, like Donald Trump Jr, is working for russian propaganda by inventing this fake. Why is that? Most likely, they have a personal stake in this. The propagandists were inspired by the story of Ryan Root, who is accused of attempting to assassinate Donald Trump. The offender allegedly tried to buy weapons in Ukraine. In fact, this information is a lie. No credible source of information mentions that Ukraine is allegedly linked to the attempted assassination attempt on Donald Trump by US citizen Ryan Routh in September 2024. According to a report in The Guardian (https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/apr/08/trump-assassination-suspect-court-filing), Ryan Ruth's only connection to Ukraine was that he tried to buy a rocket launcher and an anti-aircraft missile from a person ‘he believed to be a Ukrainian arms dealer’. However, judging by the wording, it is unclear whether the trader was actually a Ukrainian citizen. In any case, Ukraine as a state has nothing to do with the actions of the accused in the attempted assassination of Donald Trump.
It is worth noting that the network also includes thousands of illegal arms dealers who have no relation to the official governments of their countries and operate illegally. Thus, russian publics are once again trying to portray Ukraine as guilty of illegal actions against the US president, in an attempt to discredit Kyiv in the international arena and completely deprive Ukraine of American support.

Orthodox Church of Ukraine. Pope Francis

Fake: Head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine says the Pope died because of his support for russia.
A number of russian media outlets have spread the news that the head of the Orthodox Church of Ukraine, Metropolitan Epifaniy, allegedly said that the death of Pope Francis was due to the pontiff's support for russia's war against Ukraine. This is another story invented by russian propagandists. With such fakes, the kremlin distorts the image of the OCU and its representatives, promoting a narrative about the allegedly low morality of its priests.
In fact, Metropolitan Epifaniy did not make such statements. On the contrary, on his Facebook page, the head of the OCU stated that he was heartbroken to hear the news of Pope Francis' death and that he had expressed sincere concern about the fate of Ukrainians suffering from russian aggression during the meeting: https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=1239311984229987&set=a.344801820347679 
Also, on 21 April 2025, a funeral service for the newly deceased Pope Francis was held at St Michael's Golden-Domed Cathedral in Kyiv, conducted by Metropolitan Epifaniy.
Around the same time, pro-russian resources spread another fake claiming that shortly before his death, Pope Francis had allegedly spoken on the phone with Volodymyr Zelenskyy and expressed support for Ukraine's territorial integrity. Publications on propaganda resources were accompanied by a screenshot from Politico, where this statement was allegedly refuted.
In fact, Stopfake journalists have not been able to find any evidence of the so-called call between Zelenskyy and Pope Francis. Secondly, the refutation allegedly published on Politico's website is also fabricated - a simple search on the media outlet's website using keywords proves this. And finally, none of the official communication channels of the Holy See have any posts on this topic.
Fake: Charlie Hebdo has made a cartoon about Zelenskyy and Pope Francis.
russian media have spread a fake that the French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo has depicted Zelenskyy with the body of the Pope in the Vatican Bank: "The satirical drawing is accompanied by a caption: ‘It's me, Pope Francis, please send all my money to Ukraine."
In fact, this cover of Charlie Hebdo magazine does not exist. The rail image shows the date 23 April and the serial number 1710. The issue of the magazine dated 23 April 2025 with serial number 1709 does refer to the death of the pope, but Zelenskyy is not depicted on it. There are more than ten similar fakes related to Charlie Hebdo magazine. But the russians are really counting on an uneducated audience that is not used to checking information. 

damage Tesla. Ukrainian refugees

Fake: A line to complain about ‘noisy Ukrainian refugees’ has appeared in Lisbon.
Pro-russian sources have circulated photos of advertisements allegedly posted by the Portuguese migration service in the capital. They read: ‘If you are worried about noisy refugees from Ukraine, call the Portuguese Migration Service’. 
However, this is another russian fake. Firstly, when you enlarge the image, you can see that this ‘sign’ is an ordinary A4 sheet with printed text that anyone could have put on it. Secondly, we managed to identify the location of the photo: it is St Paul's Church, built in 1768. It's hard to believe that the migration service would ‘litter’ the facade of an ancient building with trivial warnings. There are always a lot of people in this city, and noise is a common occurrence. Its main cause is not Ukrainian refugees, but tourists from all over the world. Thirdly, the website of the Portuguese Migration Service did not contain any information about this ‘initiative’ or the relevant hotline. This is not surprising, since it is customary to call the police, not the migration service, to complain about noisy neighbours. Using the Osavul platform, it was possible to establish that the fake news was first published by the Telegram channel of russian blogger ruslan reutov.

Viktoria Roshchyna. war crimes of russia. russian journalists. Ukrainian soldier

Fake: Ukraine is targeting russian journalists.
Foreign Ministry spokeswoman maria zakharova accused Ukraine of killing Channel One correspondent Anna Prokofyeva in the Belgorod region: "Journalists could have died in such a massive way in a natural disaster. Today, this natural disaster is called the terrorist Kyiv regime, which is targeting both journalists and the international legal principles that are supposed to protect them."
zakharova's statement was first published by tass.ru. Twenty-six minutes before it was published, the same news agency reported on Prokofyeva's death, citing a statement from Channel One's press service: "Anna Prokofyeva, a military correspondent for Channel One, was killed in the line of duty. It happened in the Belgorod region on the border with Ukraine, where the Channel One film crew hit an enemy mine."
Thus, at the time of zakharova's statement, the cause of the Channel One employee's death was already known: a mine explosion, apparently an anti-tank mine. But this did not prevent the government representative from claiming that the journalists were being ‘targeted’. It is very difficult to imagine how someone can be killed with an anti-tank mine.
Another interesting fact. Prokofyeva was killed near the village of Demidovka, Krasnoyaruzsk district, which at the time, according to russian military correspondents, was being attacked by the Ukrainian army. It is likely that russian troops had mined the area around the village to stop the enemy's advance.
Every time russian correspondents are killed in the war zone, the kremlin claims that the journalists were ‘targeted by Ukrainian troops’. At the same time, putin's gang is silent about the crazy assignments for journalists from the government (all media in russia are controlled and funded by the state) to work literally in the zone of active hostilities, under fire. And, of course, the russians are silent about how many journalists they have killed on their own and Ukrainian territories, and how many they have imprisoned ‘for activities against the russian government’. The most recent and most horrific case is the murder of captured Ukrainian journalist Viktoria Roshchyna by russians (on photo): https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Roshchyna

Volodymyr Zelenskyy in South Africa

Fake: Zelenskyy acquired a controlling stake in Northam Platinum Ltd, the largest platinum mining company in South Africa.
Another story is circulating on social media that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has allegedly made a purchase that does not correspond to his income. This time, Zelenskyy is credited with buying a controlling stake in Northam Platinum Ltd, the largest platinum mining company in South Africa. The deal is allegedly valued at $1.6 billion.
Information about the possible deal began circulating in various sources in early April 2025. The reports also mentioned that on 10 April 2025, Zelenskyy was planning to visit South Africa to meet with President Cyril Ramaphosa and the mine's unions to ‘approve’ the deal. 
Although such a visit did take place, the news of the share purchase is fake, as are other similar news about large ‘acquisitions’ by Zelenskyy and his wife during the war. A representative of Northam Platinum Holdings Limited confirmed to PolitiFact that the information about Zelenskyy's acquisition of a stake in the company was not true: https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2025/apr/04/viral-image/ukraine-president-zelenskyy-didnt-buy-a-controllin/ Another representative of Northam told Lead Stories that Zelenskyy did not buy any shares in the company: https://leadstories.com/hoax-alert/2025/04/fact-check-zelensky-northam-platinum-mine.html Instead, the video used by propagandists in the ‘news’ shows signs of manipulation with the help of artificial intelligence. 

Ukrainians in Sweden. Swedish citizens with HIV

Fake: Ukrainians in Sweden are forced to resort to sex work and infect locals with HIV.
Pro-russian sources are spreading information that Ukrainian immigrants are massively infecting Swedish citizens with HIV through sex work. Citing an article by the local newspaper Dagens Nyheter, propagandists write that due to the low level of social support and limited rights, many Ukrainians in Sweden - both men and women - are on the verge of survival, which is why they are forced to turn to prostitution. The publications state that Ukrainians are the most likely to be infected with HIV in Sweden, followed by Thai and Ugandan nationals, respectively. 
However, such publications blatantly distort the information provided by the Swedish Public Health Agency, and some aspects of the news are completely fictitious. Firstly, the Dagens Nyheter article does indeed talk about the problems faced by Ukrainian refugees in Sweden. However, the article makes no mention of the fact that these difficulties drive Ukrainians to the brink of poverty and force them into prostitution: https://www.dn.se/debatt/ukrainska-flyktingar-i-norden-har-det-samst-i-sverige/ It is important to note that in Sweden, ordering such services and pimping is considered a criminal offence. 
Secondly, the report that Ukrainians are the highest rate of HIV infection among local citizens is also false. In fact, the cases recorded in Sweden are due to previously infected refugees arriving in the country and thus becoming part of the local statistics on morbidity. This is also confirmed by the fact that in 2022, when the first wave of refugees arrived in Sweden, the number of cases from Ukraine was twice as high. The statistics show only 51 cases of HIV infection among Ukrainian citizens in Sweden - while there are more than 35,000 migrants from Ukraine in the country.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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’.