outube has long earned the reputation of a convenient and reliable service. Two out of three Ukrainians come here for entertainment and educational content, but they also use it to watch the news and follow the twists and turns of Ukraine's political life. The recommendation algorithm is the “heart” of YouTube. In a nutshell, the better recommendations the platform offers, the more time its users spend watching videos and the more money they bring to the advertisers by watching their adverts.

Last week's publications on Russian media hardly mentioned the war in Ukraine. Instead, the propagandists sang praises to Putin for brokering the release of a Russian hostage held by HAMAS.Read this article in Ukrainian

Last week, Russian media reported that Russian army had been able to break the Ukrainian defenses and enter Adviivka. According to the propagandists, the Kyiv regime is sending 16-years-olds and women with serious illnesses and health conditions into the trenches. They tried to turn Ukrainians against each other by claiming that it was only the frontline cities that were taking the toll of war while the life in Kyiv and other regions was full of excess and extravagance.

Last week, Russian media insisted on a bitter feud between the military and political leadership of Ukraine. The disinformers speculated that Zelensky would soon be killed or replaced by Valery Zaluzhny as Washington’s new protege. We found more than 1,000 such stories which propelled the topic to the week's Top 15 on Russian news.Read this article in Ukrainian

Why is the death of 300,000 Russians in a war of aggression not a reason for the people to demand from their government to stop the "special operation"? What does need to happen for this to change? What is in their minds? The author, who is looking for answers to these questions, knows the Russian hinterland from his own experience, and is currently monitoring interviews with Russian prisoners and their communication with relatives.Читати українською

Period: 30 October-5 November 2023. Last week, Russian media showed considerably less interest in the military operations in Ukraine than usual which may be due to the lack of Russian victories in Ukraine or the kick-off of Putin's election campaign.

Last week’s Ukrainian ATACMS strike on airfields in the occupied territories caught Russian propagandists by surprise. Russian media tried to avoid any mention of damaged military equipment and focused their reports on Ukrainian air force losses instead. The disinformation media also stood up for the Ukrainian Orthodox Church (Moscow Patriarchate) which is in fact part of Russian Orthodox Church and accused the evil Kyiv regime of dismantling orthodoxy in Ukraine. They also claimed that Armenia was turning into another Ukraine and touted Viktor Orbán as Russia's friend.

Last week's publications on Russian media were focused on the Middle East: Russian media claimed that Israel had no regard for conventions of war. The propagandists praised pro-Russian Romanian politician Diana Șoșoacă who had managed to have Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s address to the members of the Parliament of Romania canceled.Russian media also provided their own explanation of Germany is reluctantance to provide cruise missiles to Ukraine: according to the propagandists, the Germans are extremely concerned about the missiles falling into Russian hands.

Last week, Russian media brimmed with excitement over the successful launch of a Burevestnik (Thunderbird) missile. The propagandists described it with such words as “game-changer” and “unparalleled capabilities” and claimed it to be able to destroy cities anywhere in the world.

As the war is well into its second year, some Ukrainian websites have resumed spreading news which align with the key narratives of Russian propaganda and disinformation. This is a monthly digest of the news items published by the online media in the occupied territories and the Ukrainian websites which tend to manipulate public opinion.Our analysis is limited to the news items from online media which operate in the occupied territories (further referred to as “occupation news websites”) as well as from news websites operated from Ukraine.