Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky recently stated, in his commentary on the restriction of Russian social networks, that this may be connected with the aim of «organizing, with lower costs and efforts, a parallel small offensive where smaller combat forces are sufficient. Why? Because one or another country, for example some Baltic state, is not prepared for strong resistance.» This is yet another example of an influence campaign coming from the Ukrainian side that tries to frighten its allies.
The thinking behind this is primitive – to frighten others so that they would provide more assistance to Ukraine, in the hope of getting more weapons, money or other resources. This is a childish way of thinking, but a country at war may indeed think in extreme categories. In the end, it harms only Ukraine itself.
I have been following Ukraine’s strategic communication closely since the beginning of the war of aggression. Over time, clear narratives have emerged that Ukraine has been using in a centralized way. At the very start of the war, Russia’s communication strategy was adopted – to lie brazenly – to inflate one’s own successes and play down one’s losses. This was, of course, shortsighted, because the only result was that the credibility of Kyiv’s communication declined, or disappeared altogether, since these reports simply could no longer be believed.
