As NATO convenes under Article 4 following drone strikes in Poland, Ukrainian officials are warning Russia is intensifying propaganda campaigns designed to fracture Western societies and sow chaos, if not a U.S. civil war.
Ukrainian intelligence reports contend the Kremlin's ultimate aim is to push the United States toward internal conflict while destabilizing Poland and its neighbors, raising fears of escalation toward a broader war.
According to an excerpt from a public Telegram board, Ukrainian Center for Countering Disinformation chief Andriy Kovalenko said "The Russians significantly intensified information operations in the United States and Poland against the backdrop of two events: the murder of Charlie Kirk and the drone strikes in Poland."
In the U.S., Russian-linked networks are said to be stoking division by promoting narratives of "'the Magus' confrontation with everyone else — this is a game of division."
The board warns Moscow's goal is to "prevent unity around the topic of Ukrainians and Ukraine after the murder of the Ukrainian woman [Iryna] Zarutska."
"The Russian Federation has long built an infrastructure of propaganda on social networks," the excerpt noted. "With their bot farms, they dispelled Ukraine's accusations about drones and threats to Poland."
The campaigns reportedly exploit political polarization, inflaming debates over "Ukraine, Germany, the actions of the Polish authorities, 'expensive missiles used to shoot down drones,' and ... housing for young people" and wages compared to Germany.
The Telegram post underscores that Russia's strategy is not confined to Ukraine.
"The goal of the Russian Federation today is to destabilize Polish society, to increase the lines of division to create internal tension," the post continued. "And here it is not only a question of war against Ukraine. This is also about the Baltics."
As NATO allies weigh their response, Ukraine stresses that Moscow's hybrid war — mixing military threats with digital disinformation — has been ongoing for years but is "only getting worse."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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