On 9 May, at 7 am, I woke up to a loud explosion that shook the whole house. The night before Orthodox Easter, I couldn't sleep — I was tossing and turning from the sounds outside. A "Shahed" was flying by, and ukrainian soldiers tried to shoot it down. And every day, I would shudder from the explosions of artillery shells. This is how I remember my six days in Nikopol.Читати українськоюOn 1 July 2022, the first shell hit the city, and since then, russian army continue to terrorise the city almost every day.

Last week, Russian media intensified information campaigns aimed at the Ukrainian audience. Thus, the political leadership is accused of indifference to its military, who are in Russian captivity. The military leadership is accused of failing to train the mobilised and sending them straight from military registration and enlistment offices to the front. Ukrainians are being urged to flee abroad, surrender, and disobey orders from their superiors. Disinformers promise that there will be no consequences for this. And even if there is, it is better to wait out the war in prison. Zelenskyy is accused of usurping power. The French president also received his share of hatred. Emmanuel Macron is being called a war criminal because of Paris' actions in New Caledonia.Читати українськоюRead about this and more in the new issue of our monitoring of Russian state media and manipulative websites that target Russian disinformation.

Last week, Russian propagandists devoted all their talents to covering Putin's visit to China. The Russian leader held a kind of international inauguration in Beijing, as China recognises Putin as the rightful leader of the state. Now, Russians are being told that the countries of the Global South will soon accept Putin. They are also trying to convince them that Russia is on par with China. The Kremlin's entire information service discusses a new monolithic alliance that will take over from the collective West. The Russian media also reported on the troubles with Russia's friends. The Prime Minister of Slovakia was assassinated, and the President of Iran died in a plane crash. Russian propaganda has its interpretation of these events: the culprits are the intelligence services of Western countries, which eliminate anyone who wants to establish friendly relations with Russia. Читати українськоюRead about this and more in the new issue of our monitoring of Russian state media and manipulative websites that target Russian disinformation.

Last week, the Russian media focused on two events that could be said to be mystical and existential in Russian life: Vladimir Putin's inauguration on 7 May and the celebration of Victory Day. The events were presented as significant and fateful.The speeches of the five-time president were dismantled into quotes and actively promoted by the propaganda. At the parade during the celebration, Putin spoke about the USSR's independent struggle against Hitler, for whom the entire European power was working. He mentioned that the Union had been retreating for some time, and then there was a victory. These theses prompted the Russian media to draw analogies and conclude that "we defeated Nazi Germany, we will defeat the Nazis in Kyiv".Propaganda also wrote about the Eurovision Song Contest. There are no changes here. It is a satanic, Russophobic coven. The Russian media also tried to prove that ordinary Europeans understand Russia and are against confrontation, but national governments are spoiling everything.Читати українськоюRead about this and more in the new issue of our monitoring of Russian state media and manipulative websites that target Russian disinformation.

Russia's new political exiles have adapted well to life outside of Russia. This conclusion can be drawn after attending the presentation of a new book by Russia's best-selling writer Boris Akunin (pseudonym of Grigory Chkhartishvili) on 9 May in London.Читати українською

With the development of artificial intelligence capabilities, social networks are increasingly looking like an "AI dump" - a place where lazy content creators test the power of algorithms and try to go viral with other people's and synthetically processed content. We uncovered one such TikTok farm of 300 channels that, after automated processing, presented YouTube content as their own. At the same time, they were "accidentally" spreading Russian propaganda.Читати українською

Last week, Russian media commemorated the anniversary of the 2 May tragedy in Odesa. This has been standard rhetoric since 2014, when Russia tried to capture Odesa with hybrid methods, just as it did Donetsk before that. The propagandists compare this tragedy to the terrorist attack in the Crocus City Hall. In both cases, Ukraine and the United States are to blame. Disinformers are also afraid that the Global Peace Summit will be held in Switzerland at the initiative of Ukraine. The Kremlin is implementing a strategy to discredit the summit. The main arguments are: no agreement can be reached without Russia, the West is trying to impose its will on the Russian people, Moscow wants peace, while Kyiv and its allies want the opposite, China will not betray Russia, so the summit is futile. Читати українськоюRead about this and more in the new issue of our monitoring of Russian state media and manipulative websites that target Russian disinformation.

"Russians take children out of town, dress them in military uniforms, give them certain roles, such as a drone operator, sapper or paratrooper, and then organize 'military-patriotic games'. But everyone realizes that this is actually a way to prepare children in the occupied territories to be drafted in the war," says Stanislav Zakharevych, head of the occupied community in Zaporizhzhia Oblast.Читати українською

Last week, the Russian media wrote a lot about the Russian army's victories on the battlefield. Propagandists see these local successes as a breakthrough for the Ukrainian front and promise that the goals of the "SMO" (Special military operation - Ed.) will be achieved soon. They also widely covered the visit of Moldovan oppositionists to Moscow: pro-Russian politicians talked about the negative impact of European integration on Moldova, the threat to traditional values, and promised friendship with Russia after coming to power. Moscow's media also got the United States on its heels, with plans to ban TikTok unless Chinese owners sell a company operating in the US market. In Russia, this was predictably called an infringement on freedom of speech.Читати українськоюRead about this and other issues in the new issue of our monitoring of Russian state media and manipulative websites that target Russian disinformation.

Today, Telegram is one of the most popular apps on both sides of the Ukrainian-Russian front, as evidenced by Similarweb's data for Ukraine and Russia. As of the end of 2023, it served 25 million Russians and 7 million Ukrainians. Most of Ukrainian ministries, state administrations, news agencies, and thoughtleaders are active users of Telegram. The same is true for Russia.Читати українською