Posted on Jun 17, 2022
Russians Breached This City, Not With Troops, but Propaganda
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Gesturing to the artillery shell lodged in the ground and a rocket protruding from the wall, Maksym Katerynyn was in a rage. These were Ukrainian munitions, he shouted. And it was Ukrainian artillery that struck his home the day before and killed his mother and stepfather.
“The Russians are not hitting us!” Mr. Katerynyn barked. “Ukraine is shelling us!”
But that was next to impossible: There were no Russian soldiers for the Ukrainians to shell in the eastern city of Lysychansk, and it was clear that the projectiles had come from the direction of Sievierodonetsk, a neighboring city, much of which has been seized by Russian forces.
The fact that Mr. Katerynyn believed this, and that his neighbors nodded in agreement as he careened through his neighborhood condemning their country, was a telling sign: The Russians clearly already had a foothold here — a psychological one.
“The Russians are not hitting us!” Mr. Katerynyn barked. “Ukraine is shelling us!”
But that was next to impossible: There were no Russian soldiers for the Ukrainians to shell in the eastern city of Lysychansk, and it was clear that the projectiles had come from the direction of Sievierodonetsk, a neighboring city, much of which has been seized by Russian forces.
The fact that Mr. Katerynyn believed this, and that his neighbors nodded in agreement as he careened through his neighborhood condemning their country, was a telling sign: The Russians clearly already had a foothold here — a psychological one.
Russians Breached This City, Not With Troops, but Propaganda
Posted from nytimes.com
Propaganda
Ukraine
Russia
Psychology
Posted 2 y ago
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PO1 William "Chip" Nagel
..."Better Understand the Russia-Ukraine War
Propaganda has been a weapon of war in Ukraine since 2014 when Russia-backed separatists formed two breakaway republics in the Donbas region.
Hijacked television and radio towers there constantly broadcast anti-Ukranian propaganda and Russian disinformation. Those in their broadcast range were inundated with an alternate reality that slowly took hold, despite Ukrainian efforts to counter.
“First they cut off any Ukrainian content, and then they fill this void with Russian misinformation,” said Yevhen Fedchenko, the editor in chief of StopFake, a nonprofit organization that debunks Russian disinformation and the director of the Mohyla School of Journalism in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. “That’s been their approach for years, and they haven’t changed the textbook.”
But now, with the war’s front lines shifting as Russia advances into the Donbas, propaganda in cities and towns like Lysychansk has taken on a new intensity and relevance. Very few residents have access to satellite internet, so many people are glued to battery-powered radio handsets or the radio in their car if they can get the fuel to run it.
“You only need to turn on the radio or your phone to hear the Russian radio broadcast here,” said Sergiy Kozachenko, a police officer from Sievierodonetsk who has relocated to Lysychansk because of the fighting. “They will listen to it; what else could they do?” FM radio in the area is available without a data connection or a cell network."...
..."Better Understand the Russia-Ukraine War
Propaganda has been a weapon of war in Ukraine since 2014 when Russia-backed separatists formed two breakaway republics in the Donbas region.
Hijacked television and radio towers there constantly broadcast anti-Ukranian propaganda and Russian disinformation. Those in their broadcast range were inundated with an alternate reality that slowly took hold, despite Ukrainian efforts to counter.
“First they cut off any Ukrainian content, and then they fill this void with Russian misinformation,” said Yevhen Fedchenko, the editor in chief of StopFake, a nonprofit organization that debunks Russian disinformation and the director of the Mohyla School of Journalism in Kyiv, Ukraine’s capital. “That’s been their approach for years, and they haven’t changed the textbook.”
But now, with the war’s front lines shifting as Russia advances into the Donbas, propaganda in cities and towns like Lysychansk has taken on a new intensity and relevance. Very few residents have access to satellite internet, so many people are glued to battery-powered radio handsets or the radio in their car if they can get the fuel to run it.
“You only need to turn on the radio or your phone to hear the Russian radio broadcast here,” said Sergiy Kozachenko, a police officer from Sievierodonetsk who has relocated to Lysychansk because of the fighting. “They will listen to it; what else could they do?” FM radio in the area is available without a data connection or a cell network."...
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