Every day of the informational battle is the answer to the question: "What else?"
Viktor Berezenko is a sociologist, psychologist (PhD), the founder of the Institute of Cognitive Modelling. Ukrainian research company that works with social technologies and social communications.
ICM is headquartered in Kyiv, with international offices in Brussels and Warsaw.
Advertisement:In 2020, the ICM team, in cooperation with the Ministry of Health of Ukraine and the Ministry of Digital Transformation, created multi-million verified communities to counteract coronavirus in Ukraine, "Coronavirus_info" in Viber and Telegram.
With the outbreak of the 2022 war in Ukraine, these communities were transformed into Ukraine Now (1.2 million Telegram subscribers) and Kraina_info (2.5 million Viber subscribers), and being maintained jointly with the Ministry of Digital Transformation and the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine.
Europe is facing the bloodiest war and the biggest challenge of the 21st century.
For the month, Ukraine is on the front pages of the newspapers and covers of world media. Rallies of support are carried in all countries of the world. Heroic behaviour of Ukrainians, mutual assistance and full dedication. Ukrainians today protect not only their land. They defend freedom, democratic values and humanity. At the cost of their own life. Events, deeds, words have already went down in the world history.
Now, Ukraine is heroically confronting not only one of the largest armies in the world, but also the most powerful propaganda machine in the world. Ukrainians not only hold the blow firmly, but also win the informational war every day.
It seems like this has already happened. 2 years ago. A daily summary of the number of deaths, rumours "I've read it on the Internet" or "a neighbour told me." Panic, fear of the unknown and chaos.
When our team launched the first verified sources of news about COVID-19 in Viber and Telegram, literally working 24/7 without days off, this seemed to us as the biggest challenge. It was about efficient and complete, informing the residents of all Ukraine about the situation with COVID-19. About the systematization of signals from the Ministry of Health and the official authorities, the fight against fakes and panic. And about the creation of an effective communication mechanism.
Now we understand that it was a training session. To get ready for any development of the events. After all, although on February 16-17, only 19% of Ukrainians highly scored the Russian invasion possibility, the destabilization of the situation in Ukraine has already begun.
Multiple cyberattacks against government websites, threatening statements by the Russian authorities, photos and videos of moving Russian equipment, informational stuffing – all this created a negative informational background, spreading uncertainty, fear and confusion.
One thing is watchfulness and planned preparation for crisis scenarios, another thing is panic. Today, we can say with confidence, that the enemy was conducting an informational and psychological campaign to try to break the morale and misinform the Ukrainians. In the first hours of the war, collateral with the missile strikes and the attacks, Russian propaganda (including concealed) made attempts to spread panic.
Today, Ukraine is successfully leading and winning a large-scale battle on the informational front, which involves state structures, public organizations, private businesses, volunteers and active Ukrainians. Every day of the informational battle is the answer to the question: "What else?". What else can we do to win? How else can we tell people the truth about the war in Ukraine? What other tools and tactics can we use to win the war against Russian disinformation?
Three goals of state communication during the war
Chaos generates chaos. Panic is contagious. The human brain tends to simplify and systematize information. Stress triggers the fight-or-flight reaction. The lack of information to predict events, causes anxiety and complicates decision-making. Simple rules of human psychology. In conditions of war, they play the first place in the construction of the "state-society" communication strategy and set the key goals for the interaction of the state with society.
- The first thing on the agenda is the speed and availability of information. The state must mobilize all its efforts and direct them to create a system of prompt informing citizens. Create a source of verified content that is understandable at the entry point and throughout the "communication path". Which will become the FAQ, but ahead of schedule. In our case, we have become part of the information troops that use Viber and Telegram, the most popular media platforms among Ukrainians, to systematize the signals of state authorities. To provide information every day that will help save lives, maintain morale, and not to lose hope. Starting from operational information and news, ending with practical advice and alerts about the threat of a missile attack.
For every Ukrainian, the daily addresses of President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, which he continues to give from the very heart of Kyiv, become a symbol of victory. Briefings by team members of the Office of the President. Appeal of the heads of regional military administrations. Information about the humanitarian corridors, about the military economy. Real messages about the heroism of the Ukrainian military and the victories of the army. Video and photo collages, collections with memes, powerful creative - all this is part of the implementation of this task. They relieve the fear of being left out of the information field and the fear of the unknown. They inform about the real situation, discredit Russian fakes and sustain faith in the victory of Ukraine. The system works like clockwork, it is a real synchronized "one voice" that smashes the enemy to pieces.
- With poor communication, one fake or deepfake is enough to demoralize society and create chaos. There were many attempts to spread the panic:
- Disinformation from Russian-controlled Telegram channels. Informational abettors of the aggressor reported that the occupying troops allegedly "meet no resistance" and "are rapidly moving deep into Ukraine", fragmentary reports that this or that city was "surrounded" or "captured".
- The lie that the President of Ukraine and the leadership of the country is "running away" or "already has fled" from Kyiv and Ukraine.
- Hacking the air of one of the national TV channels, stuffing about surrender and acceptance of the conditions of Russia.
- A message from the Center of Information Security about Russia preparing a deepfake (it is possible that the Kremlin abandoned these plans due to the department’s preventive work). "Imagine watching Volodymyr Zelenskiy on TV, making a surrender statement. You see it, you hear it, which means it's true. But it's not. This is a deepfake technology," the CIS said at the time.
- Rumours that phone calls and messages will be recorded.
Ukrainians are fighting not just disinformation and fakes. Ukrainians are fighting a Russian propaganda machine that is deeply rooted in the system from the USSR evil empire times. And this is a matter of ideology. Rethinking the past and the vector of the future, suppressing the dissemination of the "Russian peace and spiritual bonds" ideas. And in this fight, we have no right to lose. The Ukrainians have made their European choice. Now we must defend it. Promotion of own ideology and narratives. Broadcasting them to internal and external audiences. Our voice is more convincing and louder, which is why Ukraine is winning this war.
In Ukraine, Russians underestimated not only the public mood, the fearlessness of the Ukrainian people, the love of freedom, the level of training of the armed forces, but also the ability of Ukrainians to fight in the informational field.
- The third task is to maintain morale. On February 24, the life of every Ukrainian changed forever. We have lost our homes, loved ones, jobs. In front of our eyes, they destroyed the cities in which we lived. People are tired. People are scared. People need faith, the army needs support. Fighters, volunteers, doctors, rescuers and caring Ukrainians are our heroes. We even have a division among the stars of show business, which is called: "Starship Troopers", they also work systematically and in sync with the general agenda of Ukrainians, dedicate songs to the military, make regular appeals. Flash mobs are starting. Everything is like clockwork. Giving people a sense of security and hope is a key task.
Triple Reach: Key Interaction Audiences
Today, Ukraine and the world are facing the biggest and worst propaganda machine in the world - Russia's "Ministry of Lies".
The informational front is just as advanced. During the war in Ukraine, when building communications, it was important to reach out to three audiences at once: internal - Ukrainians who live in the horror of war. Cover basic information needs, give a complete truthful picture and provide confidence. External audiences - promptly provide truthful information to the whole world.
This is not only a question of reputation - how our nation is seen in the world, what brand Ukraine creates. This is a matter of diplomatic relations, international support, which directly affects the effectiveness of the battle. Sanctions and economic pressure on Russia, the attitude towards Ukrainian refugees, the supply of weapons - as a result of each of these areas, international communication takes a large part. Which is effectively conducted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine under the leadership of Dmitry Kuleba.
And to strengthen this communication, our task is to speak about it as loudly as possible until zero tolerance for Russian war crimes in Ukraine is formed in the world. The war in Ukraine is an attack on the values of the entire civilized world. And tomorrow it may come to those who are silently watching what is happening in Ukraine today.
After all, for the triumph of evil, it is enough for good people to do nothing. Today it is broadcast in the addresses of the President of Ukraine to the government and citizens of Britain, Poland, Germany, the USA and other countries.
Building a single signal for the world community: the war in Ukraine is not a private problem of Ukrainians. This is a battle for the civilizational values not only of Europe, but of the entire free world. A fantastic job is being done by the Minister of Digital Transformation, Mikhail Fedorov, in organizing volunteers, businesses and the entire IT sector, which, without understatement, is leading and winning the first world cyberwar.
As a result, Ukrainians now have the best reputation in the world for all the years of their independence. The French Institute of Public Opinion conducted a large-scale survey on the war in Ukraine among citizens of France, Germany, Italy and Poland.
71% of respondents favoured Ukraine's accession to the EU. This is unprecedented support, confirming that Ukrainians are members of a large European family.
There is a third audience of communication - the citizens of Russia and Belarus. It would seem that there is no point in wasting efforts to extract them from the informational vacuum. But for us, this is one of the ways to stop the war in our country. We believe that regardless of the work of the propaganda machine, we can find tools to convey the truth to Russians and Belarusians.
At least they should have a chance to learn the truth about the war in Ukraine. Thousands of Russian mothers believe their sons are in training, unaware that they are cannon fodder in Putin's political game and invaders in the terrible war in Ukraine.
In Russia, there is no civil society and instruments for the civil rights and freedom manifestations, so Russians are unlikely to risk themselves for the freedom of another country. But they can at least start fighting for the lives of their children, who did not choose this war. That is why there is a powerful targeting of informational messages to Russians.
Crisis Communication as a Basis for Operations
All communication in Ukraine is at permanent crisis. According to the laws of war. No weekends or breaks. After all, when the largest nuclear power plant in Europe is shelled, time is counted by seconds. Only mobilizing all the efforts and building a "one voice" system. Only by uniting and cooperating. Only by scaling projects to help society and meet the basic needs of people. Only through systematic work, we can win on the informational front.
Our war is a war on all fronts. Thousands of people around the world, together with Ukrainians, fight for peace in the informational space every day. We know this for sure because numerous volunteers have freely joined the informational war.
People cannot stand aside when they see impudent lies, blatant injustice, unjustified cruelty, murders of women, children and the aged people. The informational troops, the IT army of Ukraine, every volunteer, activist and caring Ukrainian work from basements and bomb shelters, write messages while sitting in the bathroom because during the shelling, this is the safest point in the flat.
Sometimes editors can suddenly disappear – being in the blockade of the invaders. Someone continues to work even during the evacuation from Gostomel, one of the hottest spots in the country. They post messages directly from the evacuation bus, under fire. Each one of these people is a hero. But this is the peak of our efficiency, the moment of birth of our best ideas and solutions. During the war, there is no time to think. We need to win the war as soon as possible. So, you need to work in turbo mode.
To fulfil our task as communicators and, together with state institutions, to fight on the informational front, we work 24/7. We have launched free 24/7 psychological support on the "Tell Me" platform, to help Ukrainians deal with panic and anxiety. We have developed a temporary curriculum for online classes for schoolchildren on the Shkola_info channel so that children continue to learn. Every day we interact with international journalists and partners, sending out English-language digests, initiating international online panels so that the truth is heard, and the world is not indifferent. We bring together opinion leaders, teachers, psychologists, creatives, writers, designers.
And every day, every Ukrainian continues to ask himself the question: "What else can I do to bring victory closer?".
Viktor Berezenko
