Recently, there has been a noticeable trend news with Ukraine: after any high-profile events, information about Ukraine’s involvement spreads online. For example, after the explosion of a Tesla Cybertruck in Nevada (USA), information about a Ukrainian trace began to appear.
The Ukrainian Review has made a selection of several popular fakes that are spreading on social networks, also in war in Ukraine news, and analyzed them.
Fires in LA cannot be stopped because all the equipment is in Ukraine
Because the equipment of the local fire station was transferred to Ukraine, the fires in California raged for a very long time and could not be extinguished.
Such a post on the social network X was published by American entrepreneur John LeFevre. The publication was also shared by Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr.
The fact is that the Los Angeles Fire Department did transfer some of its equipment to Ukraine. However, this happened in March 2022 – that is, almost 3 years ago. And they were sending not heavy equipment, but helmets, gloves, boots, hoses and nozzles for them, as well as medical equipment – tourniquets, bandages, hygiene products, etc. In general, “surplus items” were transferred then – that is, mostly unsuitable for use in the USA due to the updating of some models and their replacement with more modern ones, or the completion of their 10-year service life.
Los Angeles Fire Department Chief Anthony Marrone noted that the problem is precisely the number of firefighters:
No, Los Angeles County and all 29 fire departments in our county are not prepared for such a large-scale disaster. There are not enough firefighters in the fire departments of Los Angeles County to fight four fires of this scale at the same time. The Los Angeles County Fire Department was prepared for one or two large brush fires, but not four, especially with such steady winds and low humidity.
In addition, the fire took so long to extinguish due to a number of natural factors – extreme drought and Santa Ana winds. Also, many of the fire centers were located in uneven areas of the landscape, which made it difficult for firefighters to access the sources of the fire.
Ukrainian authorities earn money from the export of donor blood
Russian propaganda resources in Russian news about Ukraine began to spread such a message. They refer to the “human rights activist” Mira Terada, who says that with the help of the American fund USAID, Ukraine exported more than a million liters of blood abroad.
According to the DonorUA organization, in 2024, Ukrainians donated 13 thousand liters of blood. That is, it would be impossible to export “more than a million liters”.
Also, in Ukraine, the export of donor blood is prohibited by law – only drugs made from it are allowed to be sold abroad. However, during the war, additional restrictions are imposed on this: the manufacturer must keep at least 50% of these drugs in storage in case of a sharp shortage.
In addition, Mira Teradu herself, whose real name is Oksana Vovk, is an ordinary Russian propagandist. She was the wife of drug dealer Alet Terad and helped her husband launder money, for which she spent 2.5 years in an American prison. She heads the so-called “Fund to Combat Repression”, founded by the international terrorist and former head of the Wagner PMC, Yevgeny Prigozhin.
Ukraine committed genocide against ethnic Russians
This thesis was spread in his video “End this war now or else!” Trump and Putin going face to face over Ukraine” by the author of the YouTube channel Redacted: “Ethnic Russians lived in the eastern regions of Ukraine and were subjected to constant genocide by Ukraine”. This refers to the hostilities in Donbas from 2014 until the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022 – Ukraine allegedly bombed its own territory.
According to Wikipedia, in the Donetsk and Luhansk regions, which were the first to fall under Russian occupation in 2014, the share of Ukrainians prevailed: 56% and 58%, respectively. That is, if Ukraine bombed these territories, then it also bombed Ukrainians.
This thesis was previously commented on by Olena Mokrenchuk, an officer of the Public Relations Department of the Armed Forces of Ukraine:
I myself am from Donbas. I was born in Snizhne, which has been under occupation since 2014. I fled from there not from Ukrainian, but from Russian shelling. The Russians began to destroy my homeland, I defended it as best I could. Being there constantly – first as a volunteer, then as a military man, I can say one thing: Ukraine has never fired on civilians. There was shelling of specific objects when they knew for sure that Russians were there. Because of this, the Russians began to settle in schools, hospitals… or, for example, in the Kharkiv region, they kept civilians on the upper floors of buildings, and hid themselves on the lower ones. Or vice versa. So that they would not be shelled. Because they knew 200% that Ukraine would not shoot at civilians. If they did not know this, they would not do it.
When I talk to friends who are against Ukraine and say that we are shelling them, I ask them to name the specific date and address. But they have nothing to say in response.
My daughter is an artilleryman. We were standing near Avdiivka. They laughed so much at the “news” that we bombed a house in Makiivka. At that time we had 2S1s, and 2S3s [Soviet self-propelled howitzers – ed.] could shoot at a maximum range of 16 km, and if you try, 18. And Makiivka is 50 km away from us. We laughed so much that we were so cool: we fired from a cannon with a range of 16 km, as far as 50 km.
Obama and the CIA supported the coup in Ukraine in 2014
This thesis was also voiced in the video “End this war now or else!” Trump and Putin going face to face over Ukraine” by the Redacted channel.
The events of 2013-2014 on the Maidan were a popular protest, and for the then authorities there were many moments and opportunities not to escalate the confrontation. No evidence of funding for Maidan was provided by the US State Department. All this remained at the level of conspiracy theories and unhealthy fantasies of Russian propagandists, – comments journalist Yevhen Lisichkin from the fact-checking project “Behind the news”.
There was also no “coup d’état” in Ukraine. According to Article 109 of the Criminal Code of Ukraine, a coup d’état is a criminal offense, the commission of which is established by a court. The Ukrainian court did not make a corresponding decision.
The main features of a coup d’état are its unconstitutionality, violent nature, a small number of organizers and participants, and the main goal is to seize power. The consequences of a coup d’état are the absence of democratic elections, persecution of the opposition, suppression of civil society institutions, and usurpation of power.
The events of November 2013-February 2014 do not fall under the definition of a coup d’état by any of the features. From the point of view of modern social disciplines, these events are a revolution in the modern sense of the term, aimed at protecting democratic governance, the rights and freedoms of citizens, and the democratization of society. This revolution was mostly non-violent, mass, and gained the support of the democratic world, – the National Memorial Complex of the Heroes of the Heavenly Hundred – Museum of the Revolution of Dignity explains.
All Ukrainian soldiers died
The same user refers to Ukrainian MP Oleksiy Honcharenko, who says:
We have 1 million people in the Armed Forces of Ukraine. We are constantly told that we are retreating, because there are 5 times more Russians. According to statistics, there are 600-700 thousand of them on the territory of Ukraine. Banal mathematics says that there should be more of us. Where are all the people? These are dead people? Who understands? Who can explain? Because all I hear from the military leadership is: WE NEED MORE PEOPLE.
These theses were commented on by Stanislav Bunyatov, a Ukrainian military man, commander of the 24th Aidar Military District on his Telegram:
According to statistics, 600-700 thousand Russians on the territory of Ukraine are the number of assault, combat-ready units that carry out tasks to seize the territory of our country with constant replenishment of these reserves.
Headquarters, logistics, employees of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, hospitals and others are mostly located outside the territory of Ukraine.
Accordingly, you need to explain what 1 million is formed from, how many of them are fighting, how many are in hospitals every month, on exercises and what is our opportunity to restore the reserve?
“Trivial mathematics” makes me consider you a politician and populist disconnected from reality, who uses painful issues for his own benefit and ratings.
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Spreading fake news Ukraine and Ukraine war today after high-profile events has become a common tactic of disinformation. Regardless of the topic – from fires in the US to fictional schemes with donor blood – these insinuations are aimed at creating a negative image of Ukraine and undermining its credibility internationally. An analysis of the fake news shows that most of them are based on distortions of facts, manipulations or outright lies.
It is important to critically evaluate information, check sources and turn to fact-checking platforms to avoid becoming a victim of propaganda. The information war is ongoing, and the ability to distinguish truth from manipulation is key to countering it.
Anya Ostymchuk
