
Kyiv is no longer capable of persuading the Ukrainian people this war must continue, the Moscow-based media writes, misquoting political theorists in three different interviews.
NEWS: Kyiv propaganda is coming short of expectations, and Ukrainian servicemen are finding it hard to answer the question why this war must continue, Ukrainian political theorist Andriy Yermolayev believes. This propaganda is based on constructing a black-and-white reality, discrediting anyone who opposes it. […] He also said this war is not fought for more territory, but rather for social capital and identity. For this reason, Russia’s victory in this war will be claimed with the help of the people.
Ukrainian political theorist Kosti Bondarenko believes Kyiv’s propaganda efforts are not enough. Due to the failure of the military counteroffensive, society is somewhat disappointed. “They created a virtual reality and some of the people have started thinking we will soon reach the borders of 1991”, Bondarenko said. “Nine months have thus passed and nothing has changed: Russia continues to bomb Ukraine, Kyiv is struggling and is not reporting any victories in the battlefield”, the Ukrainian expert argues.
[…] Former adviser to the president of Ukraine, Leonid Kuchma, political and economic expert Oleg Soskin, has called for “an end to the murder”, since Kyiv has no resources left to continue this war.
NARRATIVE: Ukrainians don’t know what they’re fighting for and can no longer be manipulated by Kyiv propaganda.
BACKGROUND: After a series of defensive military operations launched in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine succeeded in liberating a number of settlements, oblasts and districts over the course of the year. In the early phase of the war, Russian forces had to pull out of the Kyiv region. Later, Ukraine mounted counteroffensives in the east and the south, liberating certain districts in the Kherson and Kharkiv oblasts. In light of the two successful counteroffensives, Ukrainians hoped to swiftly liberate more territories occupied by the Russian army. Due to delays in deliveries of weapons from the West and the building of defense lines by the Russian military, the Ukrainian counteroffensive launched in the summer of 2022 advances very slowly, to some extent generating disappointment in the West, but in Ukraine as well. At the same time, the Ukrainian leadership claims Ukraine will continue to fight to liberate all territories, adding that military operations will be using small numbers of servicemen in order to safeguard the life of Ukrainian fighters. Western leaders, states and international organizations have promised to continue to support Ukraine in this war for as long as it’s necessary.
PURPOSE: To discourage Ukrainian resistance and boost the support of Russian citizens for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: The Russian propaganda misquoted the statements of three Ukrainian political theorists, of whom one served as adviser to the former Ukrainian president, Leonid Kuchma. The author uses three separate interviews to build a false narrative that tries to persuade public opinion that Ukrainians don’t know what they’re fighting for and cannot be manipulated by Kyiv propaganda.
In the one-and-a-half-hour interview given by Ukrainian political theorist Kosti Bondarenko on October 2, 2023 to the YouTube channel of journalist Oleksandr Shelest, Bondarenko criticizes the Kremlin for its war crimes in Ukraine, something which the article fails to mention. The Ukrainian political theorist does refer to war fatigue in Ukraine and makes a number of recommendations to Ukrainian decision-makers, who ought to do a better job at encouraging public resistance to the Russian military aggression. The analyst does not use the term “Kyiv propaganda” and doesn’t believe Ukraine must surrender to Russia. On the contrary, Bondarenko believes the authorities should find new approaches to consolidate Ukrainian society. Otherwise, Ukraine risks being divided from within by Russian propaganda, which “bombs the minds of the Ukrainian people on a daily basis”.
The Russian media also quotes Ukrainian political theorist Andriy Yermolayev, who on October 25, during a one-hour interview for a YouTube podcast, said that war fatigue is setting in in Ukraine, which is why Kyiv must look to new ways of encouraging resistance. Yermolayev suggests the authorities should analyze the resources at Ukraine’s disposal in order to understand how to continue to fight the aggression of the Russian Federation. In the interview, Yermolayev doesn’t say Russia will win this war, as the Russian media claims. The Ukrainian expert recalls that his friends are fighting the Russian army on the frontline, and that there is a certain discrepancy between political statements made in Kyiv and the way the army is organized and operates. In this context, a reform of the armed forces fighting against Russia is absolutely necessary. Just like in the case of Kosti Bondarenko, the Russian propaganda took Andriy Yermolayev’s statement out of context, claiming the Ukrainians no longer want this war and want to talk peace terms with the Russian Federation.
It’s also worth noting that the article published in the Russian media contains no links to the two interviews quoted. The reader thus cannot verify if the statements made by the political theorists were altered. Moreover, the two interviews were published 23 days apart. In the meantime, the developments in the battlefield and the international context changed after the attacks of the Hamas terrorist organization in Israel. The Russian media selected only those statements it believed can manipulate public opinion.
Another political analyst quoted by the Russian media is Oleg Soskin, an elderly person who doesn’t hide his support for Russia, nor his Soviet nostalgia. A former adviser to Ukrainian president Leonid Kuchma at a time when the security systems of Ukraine and Russia were virtually intertwined, Soskin asks that Ukrainians stop fighting. Soskin’s statements carry no credibility in the Ukrainian public sphere, yet they illustrate Russian propaganda narratives carried over the course of several years. Similar statements have been made by the former Prime Minister of Ukraine, Mykola Azarov, who fled to Russia in 2014.
Sociological studies have noticed war fatigue is on the rise in Ukraine, but so is the Ukrainian people’s willingness to emerge victorious from this war. According to a study conducted by Gallup, 60% of Ukrainians have argued in favor of continuing operations to liberate Ukrainian territories until Ukraine wins the war against Russia. Meanwhile, 31% of respondents support a negotiation format that should end the hostilities.
According to another study carried out by the International Sociology Institute in Kyiv, 73% of Ukrainians argue against territorial concessions, recognizing at the same time that Russia has more resources at its disposal for this war. Most respondents regard Russia as the enemy, and the war is seen as necessary to preserve Ukrainian statehood and prevent the Ukrainian nation from being annihilated.
Surveys conducted in Ukraine and citizen resilience to this war have proved that the narrative about Ukrainians who want to stop fighting in this war and to surrender to Russia is a fabrication of Moscow’s war propaganda. Moreover, this false narrative overlooks another important element: peace in Ukraine is not linked to Kyiv’s surrender, but to Russia’s willingness to give up its plan to occupy Ukraine. The international community has repeatedly condemned Russia’s military aggression, calling on Moscow to withdraw all troops from Ukraine’s territory. Built by compiling different fragments from interviews given by Ukrainian political analysts, the false narrative creates the impression of a rupture between political decision-makers in Kyiv and the citizens, as if Russia were blameless and did not attack Ukraine. Most fake news launched since the war broke out fail to mention Russia’s actions and the war crimes it committed on the territory of a sovereign state.
Veridica has disproved a series of false narratives about the nature of the war in Ukraine. According to Russian media, Ukrainians await rescue from Russia and are disappointed with their lawmakers. Pro-Kremlin propaganda also claims Ukrainians wished they had a president like Vladimir Putin. The Russian media also writes that, due to Kyiv’s neo-Nazi propaganda, Ukrainians don’t understand that Russia is here to liberate them, while Moscow is saving Ukrainians from self-destruction.
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