At the beginning of March, right after the full-scale invasion, Russian information troops targeted regional centers of Ukraine by creating dedicated Telegram channels for each township or community. Although each one posed as a source of local news, those channels were in fact used to disseminate Russian narratives and bolster support for the occupiers. The administrators also used them to imitate such support from the locals.Читати українською

Since last February, a part of the Western companies whose electronics are used in production in Russian weaponry promised to stop their activities in the Russian market. However, even a formal withdrawal from the market does not always mean that their accessories disappear in the Russian territory immediately. Trap Aggressor analysts drew attention to the Russian distributors of electronics, websites and social networks of which still keep on announcing new supplies of imported goods.

Over the last few days, Ukraine’s armed forces have simultaneously intensified its offensive in two directions: Luhansk and Kherson. With Russia’s attempts to stabilise the front line not yielding any results, Russian troops are retreating from many settlements in the north and south of Ukraine.

Why are our guys not sent on rotation? Why are boys without combat experience sent to the front lines? And where are the Western weapons that can save them? People who are distant from the war keep asking these questions, inciting panic and the lamentations about the "naked, barefoot, and hungry in the trenches", which have been going on since 2014.Translated by Dmitry Lytov & Mike Lytov Read in Ukrainian here

Last week, Russian media continued to trample Anti-Russian sanctions. Russia was claimed to be so successful in countering the sanctions that even China was taking notice. The propagandists also published triumphant statements of the Ministry of Defense on the Russian victories in Kharkiv oblast, scared the readers with American biolabs and scorned at Josep Borrel. This monitoring report covers these and other topics of the disinformation spread by Russian state media and online parajournalists to manipulate public opinion.

Russian disinformers devoted every third piece of news to the war and its consequences for Russia. The central topic of the news is the confrontation with the West, while Russians prefer to write less and less about the economy, sanctions, and hostilities. However, the successes of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in the south do not allow the propagandists to relax and force them to invent new absurd explanations for the delays of the “special operation”. For example, last week the Russian media stated that the failures in the Kherson region take place due to the fact that the Russian Armed Forces are directly fighting the Americans. We analyzed almost 22,000 news items from Russian state media and manipulative websites that purposefully spread Russian disinformation, and we continue to review what the enemy is telling its own population about the attack on Ukraine.

Since the middle of April, the second most populous regional center in southern Ukraine has been living without a centralized supply of drinking water, while the tap water is only suitable for toilets. The reason for this is a water pipeline that was cut off by the Russians, which stretches for more than 70 km from the Dnipro, and which had been supplying Mykolaiv with drinking water for more than 40 years. As long as the majority of the water line is in the occupied territory, it is impossible to repair it. TEXTY researched whether it was possible to establish an alternative water supply in three months and how the situation may be solved in the long-term perspective. Translated by Dmitry Lytov, Mike Lytov

Russia periodically launches missile strikes on objects in Ukraine from the territory of the Caspian Sea. The sources of these strikes are both ships from the Caspian Fleet, which carry Kalibr cruise missiles, and Tu-95 and Tu-160 heavy bombers, which launch Kh-101 and Kh-555 cruise missiles on Ukraine’s territory while "barraging" over the Caspian waters.