This information is manipulation. The vast majority of these “Happy Victory Day” requests were recorded in Russian-annexed Sevastopol, the entire Crimean peninsula, and also in the occupied Lugansk region. In other regions of Ukraine that do not have a Russian army, the figure ranges from 13 in the Odessa region to 1 in most regions in western Ukraine. These are values that are given as a percentage relative to the total number of requests in Google.
IN in social networks and on Russian sites distribute information Aboutthat on May 9, 2024, the search query “Happy Victory Day” allegedly became the first in Google Trends in Ukraine. “Today, for the first time in all the years of independence, Ukraine will not officially celebrate Victory Day. (…) But this year, residents of Ukraine are already beginning to actively seek information about Victory Day Google. This request – “Victory Day” – became the most popular from Ukraine in the morning, according to the service Google Trends», — declare on Russian websites and social networks. Thus, users focus on the fact that “Zelensky’s attempt to cancel Victory Day failed”and Ukrainians still consider this day important, which means they are in the information field of the Russian Federation.
Screenshot – facebook.com
In fact, this information is manipulation. In service Google Trends really notethat on May 9 this year the search query “Victory Day” is popular. However, the vast majority of these requests were recorded in Sevastopol annexed by Russia, throughout the entire Crimean peninsula, as well as in the Lugansk region, which was completely occupied by the Russian Federation in 2022. In fourth and fifth place among the territorial units are the Donetsk and Kherson regions, significant parts of which are under temporary occupation by Russian troops.
Screenshot – trends.google.com
Thus, we understand that, firstly, these search queries could be carried out en masse and planned from the occupied territories to create the narrative the Kremlin needs that the Ukrainians allegedly still want to celebrate “Victory Day” together with the Russian Federation. Secondly, the Ukrainian Crimean peninsula, annexed by Russia back in 2014, has been under almost complete information control of Russia for more than ten years. Residents of the peninsula, as well as residents of the occupied regions of Donetsk and Lugansk regions, are completely subject to Russian information influence and have been celebrating “Victory Day” together with Moscow since 2014.
Russian propaganda, however, is trying to create news that “Ukrainians under Zelensky’s dictatorship” are resisting his May 9 policy in every possible way. In fact, according to statistics Google Trends, there are very few search queries “Happy Victory Day” coming specifically from the territories of the country controlled by the Ukrainian government. For example, the level of interest in this topic in Crimea is 94, in the Lugansk region – 89, in the Donetsk region – 43. These are values that are given as a percentage of the total number of requests in Google. In other regions of Ukraine that do not have a Russian army, the figure ranges from 13 in the Odessa region to 1 in most regions in western Ukraine. Therefore, the narrative that Ukrainians are massively looking for information about “Victory Day” is another Russian manipulation.
In addition, another attempt by the Russian media to prove the “love” of Ukrainians for the celebration of May 9 and disobedience to the “Zelensky regime” was news about, that the people of Kiev “since the morning of May 9th have been carrying flowers to the Eternal Flame in the Park of Glory.” To illustrate, a video is published online in which seven people, mostly young people in tracksuits, synchronously approach the Memorial of Glory in Kyiv and, on the count of “three-four,” which is heard off-screen, lay carnations at the memorial. All details indicate that this video is staged, filmed to create a “picture” from Kyiv that Russian propaganda needs. There are no crowds or gatherings near the Memorial of Glory in the published video.
According to information Center for Countering Disinformation (CPD), the popularity of Victory Day in Ukraine has been steadily declining for many years, as evidenced by sociological research data – only 11% of Ukrainians still consider this day a holiday, which is a record low in the entire history of independent Ukraine. “Consequently, the abandonment of Victory Day on May 9 in favor of the Day of Remembrance and victory over Nazism in World War II on May 8 is not the “implantation of new orders,” as Russian propaganda presents, but a response to the request of society,” emphasize in the CPD.
Let us remind you that in 2024 Ukraine celebrates for the first time Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War of 1939–1945 on May 8 – as a single public holiday instead of two different significant dates. Until now, in Ukraine, May 8 was the Day of Remembrance and Reconciliation (as a memorable day), and May 9 was the Day of Victory over Nazism in World War II (as a public holiday with a day off during non-war times). However, at the end of May 2023, the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine passed the law, which abolished both of these holidays, instead establishing a new public holiday on May 8 – the Day of Remembrance and Victory over Nazism in the Second World War of 1939-1945. Such a break with Ukraine in rethinking the memory of World War II has become quite painful for Russian imperialism, and Russian propaganda this year is doing its best to convince its audience that Ukrainians were simply forced to celebrate Victory Day on May 8th. Accordingly, once again the Russian media are only wishful thinking.
StopFake continues to expose such fakes in the materials “Photofake: The Ukrainian Armed Forces brigade used Putin’s words in a recruiting advertisement”, “Fake: In Ukraine they intend to destroy the Church of the Tithes”, “Manipulation: In Ukraine they will begin to fire people whose relatives live in Russia or in the occupied territories “
