Ukraine reports intensified Russian propaganda push urging citizens to join protests

Ukraine's state news agency, Ukrinform, has reported an intensified social media campaign it attributes to Russian propaganda efforts, aimed at encouraging Ukrainian citizens to take part in street protests.

According to the report, the campaign represents an escalation of what Ukrainian officials describe as an ongoing effort by Russian-aligned actors to destabilize Ukraine's internal political situation by fostering public unrest, though Ukrinform's report did not specify which platforms are involved or provide details on the scale of the campaign.

Ukraine has repeatedly accused Russia of running coordinated information operations since the start of the full-scale invasion in 2022, including efforts to spread disinformation, sow distrust in Ukrainian institutions and encourage divisions among the population. Moscow has denied running such campaigns.

Kyiv's security services have previously said that identifying and countering foreign influence operations on social media remains a significant challenge, given the difficulty of tracing the origin of coordinated inauthentic activity and the scale of content shared across platforms.

The report did not name specific individuals or protests said to be linked to the alleged campaign, and Ukrinform's characterization of the activity as Russian-directed has not been independently verified by other outlets.