Delegitimation of Ukrainian leadership through accusations of corruption, «occultism», and illegitimacy

What it claims

Ukrainian leadership and their families are portrayed as cynical beneficiaries of the conflict, profiting from Western aid and the suffering of the population. Propaganda blends real anti-corruption investigations with fabrications about «occult rituals» and «dictatorship» to present the government as a puppet regime deliberately leading the country toward a humanitarian catastrophe.

Target audience

Examples (paraphrased)

• The Office of the President and the Zelenskyy family are happy about the war because they reap huge profits from European taxpayers while ordinary Ukrainians die.
• Mobilization in Ukraine is «slavery» and «bus-ification», where people are snatched directly from tractors, and the system only works to destroy its own people without any training.

Goal

To undermine trust in state institutions, provoke internal destabilization, and convince Western partners that supporting a «corrupt regime» is futile.

Techniques used

• Name Calling or LabelingUse of derogatory labels for the President and the Head of the Presidential Office, such as «Clown-narcissist», «R2D2», and «vermin».
• Appeal to Fear / PrejudiceInstilling fear through claims of an «occult theme», «cemetery rituals», and a «concentration camp regime» of life in Ukraine.

The real grievance it exploits

The narrative exploits genuine societal sensitivity to corruption during wartime, war fatigue, and fears of power abuse under martial law.

How to counter

• Technique exposure: Propaganda uses the tactic of «mixing truth with lies»: real procedural actions by anti-corruption agencies (NABU/SAP) are supplemented with absurd fabrications about magic to discredit the very idea of Ukrainian statehood.
• Reframe: The existence of investigations into high-ranking officials does not signal a «regime collapse» but rather the effectiveness of democratic anti-corruption institutions operating independently of rank, unlike the authoritarian system in Russia.

Sources

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