Fake#1 Ukrainian border guards damaged the passport of a Russian

Fake date 16.08.2023

The channel of the social messaging app Telegram, 'ZhS Premium', reported, that a Russian citizen had tried to leave Ukraine, but Ukrainian border guards had spoiled his passport, writing in it ‘Glory to Ukraine’, a national salute. That post was paired with the following picture of the document as evidence.

“Ukrainian border guards happily spoiled the passport of the Russian citizen and, cackling, posted a report about this on their social networks. They've done this several times before. Means, they damaged the passports of Russians and Belarusians but were embarrassed to share photos until today”, propagandists said in their post on August 16.

The Ukrainian border guards’ Telegram channel actually posted such a photo on the morning of August 16. However, the story told about the origin of this inscription in the Russian passport was different. 

The border guards reportedly detained a Russian citizen who had entered Ukraine before the war, and at the time of crossing the border, his legal stay in the country had expired.

The detainee didn't want to return to his homeland and to avoid deportation, he spoiled the documents himself, writing in his both internal and foreign passports the phrase ‘Glory to Ukraine’.

The image shows that the handwriting on both documents is the same, and the slogan was first made with a pen and then carefully outlined with a felt-tip pen.

One cannot be completely sure that everything was as reported by the Ukrainian border service. However, the statement that Ukrainian border guards damaged the documents and then boasted about it on social networks is a deliberate lie.

Fake#2 American woman outraged by veterinarian's refusal to treat her son, who considers himself a cat

Fake date 10.08.2023

Western society has been accused of being abnormal by Grigory Azarenok, host of STV, the Belarussian propaganda TV channel. 

As proof, he posted on his channel of the social messaging app Telegram a video with a monologue of an American woman, whose son allegedly identified himself as a cat. 

“Modern western mom worries: her son identifies himself as a cat. Following him, she took the boy to the veterinarian as he felt sick. The vet said it's not a cat, but some kind of bullshit. I have seen cats. Take your boy to another doctor, otherwise, they will take away my license, if I do it instead of veterinary medicine.

The mother's worries are regarding the fact that the son was not provided with medical assistance. And about the idea that the government should generally deal with this situation.

Sick bastards,” Azarenok posted on August 10.

A day earlier, the pro-government Telegram channel, 'BEREZINA', also published a post with similar content. 

The BIC team discovered the original source of the video. This is TikTok of American Kass Theaz. In the profile header, it says “satirical account” in capital letters.

Fake#3 Petro Poroshenko posted the video about himself in trenches near Bakhmut

Fake date 17.08.2023

The video with Petro Poroshenko, the ex-president of Ukraine, located in a trench,  with a machine gun in his hands, was published by the Telegram channel of the Belarussian propaganda media 'SB. Belarus Today' on August 17.

It looks like a montage, but the authors of the propaganda media claim that the video was published on the social networks of Poroshenko.

The BIC team discovered the video that Poroshenko actually posted on his YouTube channel. It was published on July 11, 2022. 

In the original content, there is the ex-president of Ukraine in the same clothes and helmet saying the same words as in the video of 'SB Belarus today', but he doesn't have a machine gun in his hands and the view behind him is different.

Thus, 'SB. Belarus Today' has posted a deepfake, generated by artificial intelligence, previously published and apparently created by the pro-Russian media source, 'TeleDNO'.

Fake#4 In Canada, newborns undergo gender reassignment surgery

Fake date 22.08.2023

In Toronto, even newborns undergo gender reassignment surgery, Alina Lipp, Russian born in Germany, claims in the post published in the German-language Telegram channel, 'News from Russia'.

Here is what she exactly said on August 22:  

« ”Thrive Kids Clinic is a progressive, patient-centered pediatric clinic.

Our top priority is the health and well-being of your children.” WHAT A BAD LIE!!!

“Accepting new patients (with a referral only) or newborns (up to 2 months, no referral required).”

Thanks to our government for protecting us from this shit.”

The author added a video and screenshots, allegedly from the clinic's website.

The website of the propaganda TV channel ‘Tsargrad’ also published a similar message. 

The Weekly Top Fake team has verified this information. There really is such a clinic

 in Toronto. However, they deny doing sex reassignment surgery for newborns. 

“That is not true. Because children do not have a gender identity, it appears much later on in their life. And we provide such assistance only to those who have a medical referral and who are already 14 years old,”  the clinic commented on the case to the BIC journalist.

Fake#5 More than ten thousand Polish volunteers died in Ukraine

Fake date 20.08.2023

More than 10,000 Poles have died in Ukraine since the beginning of the war, Russian and Belarusian propaganda media and Telegram channels claim. According to them, it was allegedly reported by the newspaper 'Mysl Polska'.

“The Polish media outlet 'Mysl Polska' announced the loss of Polish “volunteers” and, frankly, they are frightening. The country has already missed more than 10 thousand “drivers”, “orderlies” and “cooks”. Every complaint about a dead Pole must mention that he was a volunteer. In reality, they are hunters who came to kill Russians,” the Telegram channel 'ZhS Premium' said in its post on August 20.

The propaganda media outlet 'Rossiyskaya Gazeta' announced the same figures, linking to the home page of the Polish website 'Mysl Polska', but not to an article, allegedly confirming this information.  

The pro-Russian media outlet, 'Mysl Polska', previously published fakes. However, it hasn’t published information about ten thousand dead Polish volunteers. Mateusz Piskorski, the editor of 'Mysl Polska', stated this via his Telegram channel.

“As a member of the editorial board of the 'Myśl Polska' weekly, I explain to my Russian colleagues that the material allegedly quoted does not exist. We do not have information on the number of dead Polish mercenaries,” Piskorski said in his post the day after the fake appeared.

The Ministry of Defense of Poland, in response to a request from the BIC, replied that they didn't have such information.

In addition, they noted that just 18 Polish citizens have officially received permission to serve in the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces.

The sole responsibility for any content supported by the European Media and Information Fund lies with the author(s) and it may not necessarily reflect the positions of the EMIF and the Fund Partners, the Calouste Gulbenkian Foundation and the European University Institute.