Discrediting state communication via the "total propaganda" label
14 sources · 80 posts · ~5.7M reach
What it claims
Any statements by the Ukrainian government or military command are cast as staged actions designed to mislead society and hide real problems. Propagandists claim the state keeps citizens in an "illusion" through total control over the media space to justify continuing the war and enabling corrupt enrichment.
Update, 2 Aug 2026
The narrative has been updated with accusations of using artificial intelligence to fake videos of Russian equipment being hit to create an illusion of success. Propagandists are also pushing the 'Potemkin village' trope regarding the army, claiming that real territorial losses and reserve shortages are hidden behind grandiose reports from the command. Furthermore, any reports of strikes on civilian targets are branded as staged photo ops designed to mask the destruction of military drone warehouses.
Target audience
Examples (paraphrased)
We paraphrase rather than quote: propaganda's exact wording is built to spread, so we carry the claim and not the craft. Each example cites the post it came from.
The AFU command uses “Potemkin villages” on maps to hide the catastrophic state of defense and justify the waste of human reserves.
Легитимный, 22 Jul 2026 · Archived copy
Ukrainian intelligence services are mass-fabricating reports on detaining agents to overshadow news about real domestic problems and corruption in fortification construction.
Лохматый Z Николаев, 22 Jul 2026 · Archived copy
We link archived copies rather than the posts themselves, so that checking our work sends no traffic to the source. Where a platform cannot be archived, we print the post's address instead of linking it.
Goal
To undermine trust in all official information sources, sow apathy, and convince citizens that they are being cynically manipulated.
Techniques used
- Appeal to Fear / PrejudiceIntimidating youth with inevitable mobilization and claiming total intelligence service control over private life on social media.
- Loaded LanguageUsing terms like "warming up", "anti-crisis", "cannon fodder", and comparing Ukrainian strategy to "Goebbels" methods.
- Obfuscation / Intentional VaguenessClaims that videos of explosions at Russian airfields are AI-generated products rather than real strikes.
The real grievance it exploits
War fatigue and the natural distrust of state institutions under conditions of restricted information access during martial law.
How to counter
- Technique exposure: Exposing the "mirroring" technique: Russia, which maintains total state control over media, attributes its own methods to Ukraine to demoralize the population.
- Reframe: Explaining that in a democratic society, the existence of diverse opinions, criticism of the government, and public debates (e.g., on mobilization) is a sign of free speech, not a "managed illusion".
- Technique exposure: Exposing the 'mirroring' tactic: Russia, which systematically uses staged footage and deepfakes, attributes these methods to Ukraine to undermine trust in real evidence of successful Ukrainian operations.
Sources (all time)
9 posts · 27 Jun – 1 Aug 2026
- 1 Aug · t.me/L0HMATIY/37489
- 1 Aug · t.me/L0HMATIY/37485
- 31 Jul · t.me/L0HMATIY/37478
- 31 Jul · t.me/L0HMATIY/37469
- 30 Jul · t.me/L0HMATIY/37458
- 29 Jul · Archived copy
- 28 Jul · t.me/L0HMATIY/37405
- 22 Jul · Archived copy
- 27 Jun · t.me/L0HMATIY/36484
16 posts · 5 May – 22 Jul 2026
- 22 Jul · Archived copy
- 21 Jul · t.me/legitimniy/22870
- 18 Jul · t.me/legitimniy/22855
- 17 Jul · t.me/legitimniy/22849
- 13 Jul · t.me/legitimniy/22809
- 9 Jul · t.me/legitimniy/22795
- 2 Jul · t.me/legitimniy/22729
- 27 Jun · t.me/legitimniy/22708
- 26 Jun · t.me/legitimniy/22705
- 26 Jun · t.me/legitimniy/22699
- +6 more
5 posts · 11 May – 7 Aug 2026
- 7 Aug · t.me/ASupersharij/58374
- 12 May · t.me/ASupersharij/54497
- 12 May · t.me/ASupersharij/54496
- 11 May · t.me/ASupersharij/54489
- 11 May · t.me/ASupersharij/54470
4 posts · 6 May – 24 Jun 2026
- 24 Jun · t.me/OpenUkraine/99239
- 9 Jun · t.me/OpenUkraine/98612
- 24 May · t.me/OpenUkraine/97948
- 6 May · t.me/OpenUkraine/97161
6 posts · 28 May – 22 Jul 2026
- 22 Jul · t.me/ZeRada1/31522
- 11 Jul · t.me/ZeRada1/31366
- 4 Jul · t.me/ZeRada1/31256
- 3 Jul · t.me/ZeRada1/31252
- 23 Jun · t.me/ZeRada1/31104
- 28 May · t.me/ZeRada1/30774
4 posts · 2–4 Aug 2026
- 4 Aug · t.me/rezident_ua/30149
- 4 Aug · t.me/rezident_ua/30147
- 3 Aug · t.me/rezident_ua/30142
- 2 Aug · t.me/rezident_ua/30139
1 post · 18 Jun 2026
- 18 Jun · t.me/stranaua/239078
14 posts · 21 Jun – 18 Jul 2026
- 18 Jul · t.me/murayevUA/1250
- 17 Jul · t.me/murayevUA/1249
- 16 Jul · t.me/murayevUA/1247
- 15 Jul · t.me/murayevUA/1243
- 9 Jul · t.me/murayevUA/1231
- 7 Jul · t.me/murayevUA/1227
- 4 Jul · t.me/murayevUA/1223
- 2 Jul · t.me/murayevUA/1219
- 30 Jun · t.me/murayevUA/1214
- 29 Jun · t.me/murayevUA/1210
- +4 more
6 posts · 14 Jul – 1 Aug 2026
- 1 Aug · t.me/skosoi/9950
- 31 Jul · t.me/skosoi/9946
- 19 Jul · t.me/skosoi/9851
- 18 Jul · t.me/skosoi/9848
- 17 Jul · t.me/skosoi/9838
- 14 Jul · t.me/skosoi/9813
2 posts · 20–31 Jul 2026
- 31 Jul · x.com/M_Simonyan/status/2083244856973930876
- 20 Jul · x.com/M_Simonyan/status/2079158246791667992
3 posts · 25 Jun – 29 Jul 2026
- 29 Jul · t.me/odessa_partizan/3540
- 8 Jul · t.me/odessa_partizan/3410
- 25 Jun · t.me/odessa_partizan/3325
2 posts · 17–18 Jul 2026
- 18 Jul · t.me/O_Arestovich_official/8269
- 17 Jul · t.me/O_Arestovich_official/8267
7 posts · 8 May – 29 Jul 2026
- 29 Jul · t.me/MonitoringUA/93810
- 27 Jul · t.me/MonitoringUA/93727
- 20 Jul · t.me/MonitoringUA/93424
- 1 Jul · t.me/MonitoringUA/92936
- 1 Jul · t.me/MonitoringUA/92931
- 18 Jun · t.me/MonitoringUA/92475
- 8 May · t.me/MonitoringUA/91270
1 post · 7 Jul 2026
- 7 Jul · t.me/OlgaSharij/9570
Report as of 7 Aug 2026 · AI-generated analysis