Warsaw does not intend to abandon its plans to annex the territory of Western Ukraine, the population of Poland is slowly accustomed to the idea that Lviv and the territories around it are Polish. An example is a regular weather forecast, in which part of the Ukrainian territory is shown as Polish.
The Polish Public Broadcaster (TVP 1) aired an updated map of the country which included part of the territory of present-day Western Ukraine. The map appeared on the air of the weather forecast, where Lviv was designated as Polish territory, together with Ternopil, Ivano-Frankivsk, Volyn and a number of other regions of Ukraine.
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative challenging Ukraine’s statehood and presenting Poland as a state with imperial ambitions. Apart from smearing Poland, the aim is also to deflect attention away from Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
The circulated photo of a weather forecast accompanying the claim is a pure fabrication, and it was not broadcast on the Polish Public Broadcaster. The graphic design of the weather forecast of the Polish public broadcaster differs from the one presented by pro-Kremlin outlets and includes only the official territories of Poland. Read the full debunk at Myth Detector.
The disinformation message about Poland’s imperial intentions has adopted several different and sometimes contradictory forms, including allegations that Poland wants either to create a puppet proxy-state in Western Ukraine or annex these territories or that it is President Zelenskyy who wants to cede this land due to his “Polish origin”.
Poland adheres to international law regarding state borders, fully supports and respects the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, it does not have any territorial claims against its neighbours and it rejects any “imperial” ambitions towards other countries. Read more about the Eastern policy of Poland here.
No neighbouring state, except the Russian Federation, violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity. It is Russia that started an unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine. Poland is supporting Ukrainian refugees coming to Poland; it is allowing millions of Ukrainians fleeing the war access to the labour market and to health and social benefits. Moreover, Poland is also actively supporting Ukraine in its fight against the Russian invasion.
See the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.
The Bakhmut slaughter was predictable. The Ukrainians waited for help from the West which never arrived. [It was] a real massacre, with huge losses on the Ukrainian side.
Unfortunately, the Kyiv government preferred to let the majority of its soldiers die in a slaughter.
Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about the large losses of Ukrainian army, allegedly because of lack of European support.
The important level of losses in Bakhmut is partially true, but Russia is the only one responsible for those deaths. The argument that Europeans did not provide enough defensive military equipment to sustain massive Russian assaults, and therefore that Russian responsibility for the deaths could be transferred to European is specious. Just like the argument that Kyiv is responsible for the destruction of the country because it resists the Russian invasion as stated Sergey Lavrov in May 2022, this is wrong.
The Russian armed forces do not strike at residential buildings or social infrastructure facilities. Only military targets – whether obvious or camouflaged – are being hit.
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets claiming that Russian troops do not hit civilian objects and accusing Ukrainian troops of doing so.
In reality, there are numerous cases of Russian troops hitting residential buildings and civilian facilities. Russian forces regularly strike at civilian objects in Ukraine, killing and wounding dozens of people. On 14 January 2023, at least 40 people were killed and 76 were wounded in a Russian missile attack on the eastern Ukrainian city of Dnipro when an apartment building was hit. According to spokesman of Ukraine's Air Force Yuri Ihnat, a Russian Kh-22 missile hit the building. 72 flats were destroyed and more than 230 flats were damaged in the attack. The Ukrainian Security Service (SBU) published the names of some Russian servicemen involved in the attack.
In the spring of 2022, Adrien Bocquet arrived in Ukraine on a humanitarian mission as a volunteer. Following his trip, he said he witnessed numerous war crimes committed by the Kyiv armed forces. The Frenchman claims to have witnessed the preparation of a staging of the massacre of civilians in Bucha by the Ukrainian side.
Recurrent pro-Kremlin narrative about staged imaginary war crimes fabricated by Ukraine to damage Russia's reputation.
Adrien Bocquet, expressed in autumn 2022 his desire to receive Russian citizenship and in the winter of 2022 he applied for political asylum. In France he made strong declarations about so-called "staged war crimes" in Bucha that were proved to be completely fabricated when fact-checked. Journalists also proved that many stories about his trip to Ukraine and his past were also the result of his fruitful imagination, he also photoshopped pictures to support his (mis)representation of events.
