In a stark warning that underscores the invisible war being waged alongside the physical one, Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU) has revealed that Russia is meticulously preparing a new wave of information operations centered on the occupied city of Oleshky in the Kherson region. This is not a spontaneous act of propaganda but a calculated, multi-week campaign, reportedly scheduled to unfold between October and early November. The SBU’s announcement, made on October 7, is not merely about anticipating a few misleading videos; it is a preemptive exposure of a cynical ploy that weaponizes human suffering for political gain. The intelligence, gathered through painstaking counterintelligence work, indicates that personnel from a specific Russian military unit have been directly ordered to stage and produce interviews with residents of the city. The entire operation is designed to twist the horrifying reality of life under occupation into a false narrative that serves the Kremlin’s interests, shifting blame onto Ukraine while attempting to legitimize an illegitimate and brutal occupation.
To understand the depth of this deception, one must first grasp the sheer desperation of the people trapped in Oleshky. The city, which has been under Russian occupation since the early days of the full-scale invasion, has deteriorated into a catastrophic humanitarian crisis. Civilians are effectively prisoners in their own homes, cut off from the most basic necessities of life: regular food, medicine, electricity, and any form of functioning transport. According to on-the-ground reports, including those from UNITED24 Media, regular food deliveries have all but ceased entirely. The Russian army has systematically encircled the city with minefields, turning every potential exit or supply route into a deadly gamble. The constant threat of drone attacks hangs over the population, striking fear into anyone who dares to move about. These are not abstract statistics; they are the daily, grinding realities for families, the elderly, and children who have been left to face starvation. It is a man-made famine, deliberately imposed. The Russian military has also imposed severe restrictions on humanitarian access, blocking aid convoys and preventing international organizations from reaching the needy. The result is a slow, agonizing siege of a civilian population, one that has been described by Ukraine’s Foreign Minister as a “man-made humanitarian disaster.”
It is precisely within this landscape of unimaginable misery that Russia intends to film its propaganda. The SBU’s warning reveals that the upcoming videos are carefully choreographed to achieve three specific, insidious goals. First, they will attempt to portray Ukrainian forces as the aggressors, falsely blaming Kyiv for shelling and isolating Oleshky. This inversion of reality is a cynical tactic designed to sow confusion and moral equivalence, making it harder for the international community to assign clear responsibility for the suffering. Second, the operations will be used to openly criticize decisions made by Ukraine’s military and political leadership, attempting to undermine domestic and international confidence in Kyiv’s war effort and strategy. Third, and perhaps most grotesquely, the videos will feature residents coerced or manipulated into expressing support for Russian troops. The SBU emphasizes that these interviews are not genuine testimonies but staged performances, extracted from a starving and vulnerable population. By using the hostages of their own occupation as props, the Russian military is engaging in a dual violation—first starving these people, and then forcing them to lie about the source of their misery. It is a calculated attempt to manufacture legitimacy for their occupation from the very mouths of its victims.
This planned operation is a classic example of information and psychological warfare, aimed not just at the global audience but also at the morale of Ukrainian society. By injecting these “sensational” and emotionally charged videos into the information ecosystem, Russia hopes to exploit the natural human tendency to empathize and be outraged. The videos are designed to be shared, to generate headlines, and to seed doubt within Ukrainian ranks about the government’s dedication to its own people. The SBU is acutely aware of this danger and has issued a clear directive to Ukrainian media and the general public: treat such content with extreme skepticism. The agency warns against relying on Russian or pro-Russian Telegram channels, which serve as primary distribution networks for these false narratives. It urges citizens to refrain from sharing unverified information, no matter how alarming or heartbreaking it may appear, until it can be fact-checked and confirmed by official sources. The instruction is a call for digital discipline and resilience, reminding everyone that in the modern era, sharing a video is an action with consequences, and that the enemy is actively seeking to exploit those clicks and shares to advance its narrative.
The SBU’s decision to publicly pre-empt and debunk this operation is a testament to the ongoing battle for truth and perception. The agency reiterated that it is constantly working to counter these information and psychological operations, which are conducted with equal intensity by Russian intelligence services and regular military units. This is not a one-off event but a sustained offensive that runs parallel to the war on the frontlines. By exposing the details—the timing, the military unit involved, the intended messages—Ukraine is attempting to inoculate its population and the international community against the disinformation before it even drops. This proactive transparency is a vital defense mechanism, turning a potential vulnerability into an example of effective counter-intelligence communication. The goal is to strip the operation of its power by revealing its cynical mechanics, forcing observers to question the authenticity of any future footage from Oleshky rather than accepting it at face value.
Beyond the informational front, Ukraine is also escalating its diplomatic efforts to address the physical horror that Russia is trying to exploit. Ukraine has explicitly appealed to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) regarding the humanitarian crisis in Oleshky, formally describing the conditions as a “man-made humanitarian disaster.” Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha has called not only for immediate and unimpeded humanitarian access to the trapped civilians but also for significantly stronger international pressure on Russia to end its siege tactics. These pleas, however, must compete with the very information operations the SBU has just exposed. The cynical irony is stark: while Russia starves and mines the city, its military is simultaneously trying to blame the victim. The human tragedy of Oleshky is a microcosm of the larger war—a conflict where food, water, and electricity are wielded as weapons, and where the truth is the first casualty in a propaganda war as relentless as the missiles and drones. The residents of Oleshky await a rescue that may not come in time, their voices silenced or co-opted, their suffering a tool in a broader geopolitical game that they never asked to play. The world must watch, listen, and, above all, remember who is truly responsible for their plight.