In early April, residents of Kharkiv received alarming text messages from government officials urging them to evacuate the city before Russian forces could surround it. One message, bearing the logo of the State Emergencies Service of Ukraine, included a map with safe escape routes. However, this was a hoax. Volodymyr Tymoshko, the police chief of Kharkiv region, quickly identified it as such. He explained that such messages are part of a psychological operation designed to incite panic among the population.
Disinformation and propaganda, traditional tools of war, have been amplified digitally in the conflict in Ukraine. Tymoshko reported receiving numerous similar messages via SMS and Telegram in April and early May, coinciding with Russia's offensive in northeastern Ukraine. A Ukrainian security official, who chose to remain anonymous, revealed that the Russians often used Leer-3 systems attached to Orlan-10 drones to send mass text messages, mimicking cellular base stations.
The disinformation campaign was accompanied by a surge in social media posts spreading false information about the war. Andriy Kovalenko, head of Ukraine's Centre for Countering Disinformation (CCD), noted that the number of disinformation posts spiked to over 2,500 per day during the Kharkiv offensive in May, up from 200 per day in March. The CCD attributed these campaigns primarily to Russia's FSB and GRU.
Moscow has denied these allegations, accusing Ukraine and the West of waging an information war against Russia. The Ukrainian security official acknowledged using online campaigns to spread accurate information about the conflict and to foster anti-war sentiment in Russia. Intelligence agencies have reportedly shut down 86 Russian bot farms in Ukraine, which controlled millions of social media accounts.
Kovalenko highlighted TikTok and Telegram as significant sources of Russian disinformation. TikTok has taken action against accounts spreading false information, while Telegram is developing tools to provide verified information. Kharkiv Mayor Ihor Terekhov criticized the Russian attempts to sow panic and distrust among the population.
Despite the ongoing disinformation campaigns and the constant threat of missile attacks, the majority of Kharkiv's population remains in the city. The resilience of the residents reflects their growing accustomedness to living under attack. Psychologists explain this as a psychological mechanism of adaptation to danger.
