«Мігранти як зброя Кремля в Сеуті, британські “в’язні” в українській армії та ракета в Польщі: огляд російської дезінформації за 29 липня — 4 серпня 2026 року :: Detector Media»

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Since February 24, 2022, Detector Media has been monitoring the Ukrainian segment of social media and Kremlin media outlets, documenting the chronology of Russian disinformation about Russia’s war against Ukraine.

From July 29 to August 4, 2026, Detector Media analysts documented 15 cases of disinformation. These included Russian propagandists shifting the blame onto Ukraine for the deaths of children in the occupied territories, spreading a fabricated claim that British prisoners would be sent to the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces, circulating an AI-generated video featuring a fake “soldier” who denied the official account of the strike on a gas station in Kremenchuk, distorting a statement by the Palermo prosecutor about the mafia’s interest in drones, launching a large-scale disinformation campaign around the migration crisis in Ceuta, and portraying the fall of a Russian missile in Poland’s Lublin Voivodeship as a “Ukrainian provocation”. These fake narratives are aimed at discrediting Ukraine in the eyes of its international partners, fueling anti-migrant and anti-Ukrainian sentiment in Europe, and undermining trust in Western institutions and media.

Ahead of the so-called Day of Remembrance for Children Victims of War in Donbas, Russian propaganda stepped up a campaign claiming that Ukraine was allegedly responsible for the deaths of children. To this end, pro-Kremlin outlets use old, unverified stories and report on alleged mass international events in support of the commemorative date. In reality, such claims are manipulations aimed at shifting responsibility for the consequences of the war from the aggressor state to Ukraine, the Center for Countering Disinformation reports.

The CCD explains that one of the key elements of the campaign is the story of the death of a one-year-old girl, which Russian propaganda has been presenting for more than a decade as evidence of “barbaric strikes by the Ukrainian Armed Forces” against civilians in the eastern regions. At the same time, these claims have never been confirmed by independent international investigations or expert examinations. According to earlier research by Detector Media, exploiting the deaths of children is one of the most cynical tools of Russia’s information warfare. Such campaigns are designed not only to discredit Ukraine but also to divert attention from war crimes that international organizations and judicial institutions have linked to Russia’s actions.

Screenshot of a propaganda website

The international community continues to document these crimes and take measures to hold those responsible to account. In particular, in March 2023, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants for Vladimir Putin and Russia’s Commissioner for Children’s Rights Maria Lvova-Belova in a case concerning the unlawful deportation of Ukrainian children.

Pro-Kremlin outlets are spreading a fake claim that the United Kingdom allegedly plans to release prisoners early and send them to Ukraine to replenish the ranks of the Ukrainian Armed Forces. In reality, the British government has not announced any such plans. The manipulation originated from a satirical post by former British diplomat Ian Proud. StopFake reports this.

Russian media and Telegram channels presented this satirical post as a genuine initiative of the British authorities. However, Proud is not a government official and has no authority to make or announce government decisions.

An example of a manipulative report in the Russian media

In July 2026, Prime Minister Andy Burnham paused the changes that were due to take effect in September and would have allowed approximately 6,000 convicted prisoners to be released early. The decision was made due to security concerns and the need for additional review of the new rules. It has nothing to do with sending former prisoners to Ukraine.

Ian Proud worked in the United Kingdom’s diplomatic service for 24 years. In particular, from 2014 to 2019, he served at the British Embassy in Moscow. He left the diplomatic service in 2023. Since ending his diplomatic career, Proud has regularly criticized the West’s policy toward Ukraine and promoted narratives aligned with those of the Kremlin.

Russian propaganda is spreading a new fake created with the help of artificial intelligence to exaggerate the consequences of attacks on Ukraine’s fuel infrastructure and sow panic among the population. Hostile outlets are circulating a video allegedly filmed at a destroyed gas station in Kremenchuk, where a “Ukrainian soldier” claims that the facility was attacked not by “Shaheds” but by small drones, accuses the authorities of inaction, and predicts similar strikes on Kyiv. In reality, the video was entirely generated by artificial intelligence. The state-run Center for Countering Disinformation drew attention to the spread of the fake.

Screenshots of disinformation reports. Source: Center for Countering Disinformation

The video first appeared on an anonymous TikTok account, after which Russian Telegram channels began actively reproducing it. Signs of the use of artificial intelligence indicate that the recording is not authentic and cannot be considered evidence of the events described in it.

The Center for Countering Disinformation explains that the video is a continuation of Russia’s information campaign aimed at exaggerating the media coverage of the consequences of attacks on Ukraine’s fuel infrastructure. Through fabricated videos, propagandists are trying to create the impression of a large-scale crisis, instill fear among Ukrainians, and demoralize society.

Russian propaganda media spread false reports claiming that the Italian mafia is buying drones and other weapons that allegedly entered the black market after being supplied to Ukraine. In reality, these claims are based on a distortion of a statement by Palermo Prosecutor Maurizio de Lucia, who spoke only about criminal groups’ interest in modern types of weapons similar to those used in the war in Ukraine. StopFake reported this.

Screenshot of a Russian state media outlet

The manipulation was based on an ANSA report about the prosecutor’s appearance before the parliamentary Anti-Mafia Commission. De Lucia said that law enforcement authorities had only received indications of the mafia’s interest in modern weapons and ammunition used by drones. He did not say that the weapons in question had been supplied to Ukraine by international partners or that weapons had been illegally taken out of Ukrainian territory. There is no evidence that these weapons ended up in the possession of the Italian mafia or other criminal groups in Europe.

International studies do not confirm the existence of an organized weapons smuggling route from Ukraine to EU countries. In particular, a report by the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime states that no confirmed cases of large-scale illegal weapons trafficking from Ukraine to Europe have been recorded since 2022.

Following the publication of the ANSA report, the Russian disinformation network Pravda began spreading increasingly sensational versions of the story, gradually transforming a report about the mafia’s interest in modern types of weapons into the false claim that Western military aid to Ukraine had allegedly ended up in the hands of Italian organized crime. In this way, propagandists used the actual words of an official to promote the longstanding disinformation narrative about an alleged uncontrolled “leak” of Ukrainian weapons into Europe.

At the end of July 2026, the Spanish enclave of Ceuta in North Africa experienced a large-scale influx of irregular migrants: within a single day, according to various estimates, between 40,000 and 60,000 people crossed the border from Morocco. Spanish authorities deployed the military to support the Civil Guard, while several EU countries (Italy and France) called for strengthened border controls with Spain.

The real crisis was immediately picked up by the pro-Russian propaganda network, which turned it into an instrument for destabilizing the European Union.

Map showing the location of the Spanish territories of Ceuta and Melilla in Africa in relation to Gibraltar and mainland Spain. Source: BBC

Scale of the campaign

Ukraine’s Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha reported that analysts had recorded more than 1,500 publications about Ceuta in outlets belonging to the network of pro-Russian resources, primarily the “Pravda” websites and RT. The Spanish-language version of “Pravda” published around 300 articles on the topic on its own, while each RT editorial operation published more than 25 news reports within just a few days.

Minister Sybiha’s post on X

Propagandists are exploiting the events in Ceuta to promote narratives beneficial to the Kremlin: claims about the “collapse of EU migration policy,” the “chaos and powerlessness” of the Spanish authorities, the need to abolish the Schengen Area, and so on.

Associated Press fact-checkers debunked several unfounded claims about the situation in Ceuta that were circulating online, including:

● the conspiracy theory that Morocco deliberately “opened” the border at the direction of third parties;

● the conspiracy theory that the influx of migrants was “revenge” against Spain for its position on Iran and Gaza by Trump and Israel;

● alarmist predictions that migrants were entering mainland Europe en masse — European Commissioner for Migration Magnus Brunner emphasized that no one had crossed into mainland EU territory because Ceuta operates under a special border regime.

According to Sybiha, Moscow has for years exploited migration and other sensitive social issues to “sow fear and destabilize the situation in European countries.” This involves using any available pretext to deepen divisions within the EU and between member states, undermine trust in governments, and weaken European unity in support of Ukraine.

In the Polish segment of Facebook, manipulative claims are circulating that the fall of an unidentified object in the village of Tarnawa-Kolonia in Lublin Voivodeship, Poland, was a “Ukrainian provocation” rather than the result of a Russian strike. Polish fact-checkers at Demagog write that the facts established by the investigation are being distorted, while official statements by the Polish authorities and the fact that the investigation is ongoing are being ignored.

The Lublin District Prosecutor’s Office established that the object that fell in Tarnawa-Kolonia was indeed a Russian Kh-101 cruise missile manufactured in Russia in the first quarter of 2026. Prosecutor Marcin Kozak reported that numerous fragments were found at and near the crash site, with engine and electronic components proving decisive in the identification. This type of missile is operated by the Russian armed forces, not the Ukrainian military.

Investigators are still reconstructing the missile’s exact flight path, cooperating with the border guard and military command, and are urging citizens to rely exclusively on official sources.

This is another example of how, following incidents involving Russian missiles violating the airspace of a NATO member state, propaganda attempts to shift responsibility onto Ukraine, cast doubt on the credibility of official investigations, and downplay the scale of the Russian aerial threat to Europe.