Russian propagandists publish fake maps showing Mykolaiv region «included» in Russia

On Tuesday, 4 March, Russian propagandists spread fake «updated» maps of the Russian Federation, which include seven Ukrainian regions, including Mykolaiv. The posts also spread information that allegedly «Kharkiv, Odesa and Mykolaiv have already been incorporated into Russia».

According to Natalia Vygovska, a representative of the Institute of Mass Information, manipulative materials appeared in local propaganda media in the temporarily occupied territories of Donetsk, Zaporizhzhia, Kharkiv regions, as well as in Transnistria.

Thus, the list includes Donetsk, Luhansk, Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, Odesa, Kherson, and Mykolaiv regions within their administrative boundaries.

It is noted that the published map shows manual interference with the marking of the aggressor country's borders. It shows a violation of the standard division of Russian federal districts. Thus, Ukrainian territories are drawn into the blurred borders of the central and southern federal districts of the Russian Federation in violation of the defined boundaries that are visible on the rest of the map.

According to her information, the spoof post first appeared on the closed propaganda Telegram channel «Pozdniakov 3.0» with more than 709,000 followers on the day in question. In particular, it said that «new maps of Russia had begun to arrive in new offices» and that «Kharkiv, Odesa and Mykolaiv had already been included in Russia».

«Everything has been decided at the top for a long time», the message said.

This post was accompanied by a map showing Ukrainian regions within the borders of Russia.

According to the Russian catalogue of telegram channels and chats tgstat.ru, the post received 382,000 views and 20,000 shares in 12 hours after its publication.

The same post, with minor changes and without citing sources, was also immediately published on its own Telegram page by the propaganda media outlet «Zaporizhzhia Telegraph». A few minutes later, the same post appeared on the Vkontakte page of the propaganda outlet «Donetsk News Group.DNR».

A few hours later, almost the same post, but with the clarification «there is no official confirmation» was published in the occupiers' online publication «ZOV Kharkiv». In the same period, it was posted in «ZOV Transnistria» with a link to the telegram channel «Prydnestrovets».

In addition, a five-second video with the same map was posted on the YouTube channel «Realist 2.0», which was registered on 15 February 2025 and currently has 55 subscribers. The post was also posted on social network X by a user with the nickname Pan Pachkovskyi and by the end of the day had more than 30,000 views. The photo of the map posted in the post was taken from the Telegram channel «Rostov Main» with almost 211 thousand followers.

It is noted that similar images can be created using map templates on numerous websites.

Earlier it was reported that Russian telegram channels are spreading information about «a new deadly metapneumovirus», which allegedly threatens Ukrainians, especially the military, due to «their weak immunity and dampness in the trenches».