There is no police investigation claiming that the family of Shani Louk, who was killed by Hamas, received ransom calls from Ukraine. Neither the German media WDR, cited by the propagandists, nor any other credible sources published such news. Propaganda used the signature style of the German media to justify Hamas and denigrate Ukraine.
A German burger restaurant Burgermeister representative said in a comment to StopFake that they have no relation to the video circulating online. Due to the misuse of their name and logo, the company intends to contact law enforcement authorities to investigate this incident.
The circulating brochures are fake. The organization Handbook Germany, on behalf of which this brochure was allegedly published, denied its existence. They also noted that such a fake was intended to offend Ukrainian citizens living in Germany, as well as to cause damage to the reputation of the organization.
The German state radio station and TV channel Deutsche Welle did not shoot a video about the "anti-Ukrainian flash mob in Poland". No such video is available on the website and social networks of the Polish and English-language versions. Russian propaganda used Deutsche Welle's signature style to create a fake story about a non-existent anti-Ukrainian flash mob.
The cross at issue in the viral video is neither a modern-era German Iron Cross nor the simple cross used as an indicator by the Ukrainian army. It is true that variants similar to the cross in the viral video had been used by the Nazis in World War II.
This type of cross has a specific history in Ukraine, however, that predated its use in Nazi Germany. A guerrilla warfare campaign carried out by the Ukrainian National Army against the Red Army and other forces from 1919 to 1920 is known as the First Winter Campaign. [...] A "steel cross," as it is sometimes described in Ukraine, was the symbol of that Winter Campaign - the military award given for participation in these campaigns contained that equidistant cross.
In 2019, a Ukrainian military unit that has been fighting in the Donbas region of Ukraine since 2014 - the 28th Mechanized Infantry Brigade - was renamed "Knights of the First Winter Campaign." That Brigade's insignia, approved by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense, presently contains this same cross. [...]
While one could debate the merits of using a symbol that has since become complicated by its use in other contexts, there is no reason to interpret such cross's use in Ukraine as a reference to Nazism.
A photo shared on Facebook alleges German satirical magazine The Titanic depicted Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy with his pants down.
Verdict: False
The alleged cover cannot be found in an archive of Titanic Magazine's recent covers and cannot be found on any of its verified social media accounts.
Dutch researchers have revealed that coordinated networks of accounts spreading disinformation flooded social media in France, Germany and Italy before the elections to the European Parliament.
True.
Based on a Russian transcript of Vladimir Putin's interview with Tucker Carlson, Newsweek verified Putin said Adolf Hitler was "forced" to invade Poland, an inaccurate interpretation of the circumstances leading to World War II.
While translations do not use the word "forced" or "compelled", they broadly match its meaning.
German satirical magazine Titanic did not publish a Christmas-themed cover depicting the severed legs of four Ukrainian soldiers hanging over a fireplace, and an image of this circulating online is fake, the editor-in-chief of the publication said to Reuters. [...]
VERDICT: False. No such cover was published by German satirical magazine Titanic.
German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius did not say that Ukraine is not an ally of Germany. In an interview with the German TV channel ZDF, he only emphasized that Ukraine is not a NATO partner of Germany and therefore the format of providing it with military aid is different than if the "united West" were directly at war with Russia.
