Smoke and Mirrors: Russian Propaganda Masks Kyiv and Donetsk Attacks

The main principle of Russia’s propaganda machine is to reflect actual events through the Kremlin’s distorted prism.

If the Russian army is shelling peaceful Ukrainian cities, then Russian propaganda will present this back as the Ukrainian military massacring citizens. The fact that the missile originated in Russia would appear to be irrelevant.

Immediately following the June 5 missile strike on the Darnytskyi Railway Wagon Repair Plant (DVRZ) on the left bank of Kyiv, the Russian Ministry of Defense insisted it had successfully destroyed western supplied tanks and other armored vehicles.

But according to the head of the state railway company Ukrzaliznytsia, no military equipment is held on the territory of the DVRZ. “I officially declare that there is no military equipment on the territory of the DVRZ. This plant repaired wagons and grain trucks used to export goods,” he said.

The factory’s territory was opened up for Ukrainian and international journalists to investigate. Indeed, no military equipment was found in the destroyed plant. So the Russian propaganda machine was at it again.

Perhaps Russia’s most cynical manipulations have involved the shelling of cities under Russian-occupied territories, claiming that the Ukrainian army was behind the attacks.

On June 4, the occupiers fired artillery towards the central part of temporarily occupied Donetsk. This was a deliberate ruse to create a particular “picture” for the Russian media.

Directly after the shelling, the Russian propaganda reported that a series of explosions took place in Donetsk; notably that “the Armed Forces of Ukraine fired 40 shells from the ‘Grad’ [multiple rocket launcher designed in the Soviet Union]”, accompanied by videos of explosions.

Eyewitnesses from occupied Donetsk city noted that the Russians carried out the shelling from Makiivka, some 15 kilometers away. The people in Donetsk are therefore gradually beginning to understand the truth about what is happening.

The State Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) has gained access to the propaganda guidelines of the Russian special services on the “correct coverage of the special operation” in Ukraine.

According to these documents, the 5th Division of the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation (FSB) admits that people in Russia still do not understand why the war was the only possible way to “solve Russia’s goals,” so Russian propaganda is trying to find new arguments to explain this and justify the crimes of its military.