The report by the European External Action Service (EEAS) and Ukraine’s government Center for Countering Disinformation says Moscow is using official state media, social media accounts, anonymous networks and manipulated content to sow dissent inside the EU and undermine Ukraine’s place in Europe.
The campaign is part of Russia’s wider aggression against Ukraine. Moscow launched its full-scale invasion on February 24, 2022, after years of trying to keep Kyiv inside its sphere of influence.
Ukraine applied to join the EU four days later. It received official candidate status in June 2022; accession talks opened in 2024, and the first substantive negotiation cluster was opened earlier this month.
The report says Russia’s messaging deliberately exploits sensitive issues in European societies, including corruption, security, national identity, migration and the economic cost of supporting Ukraine.
Poland is described as especially exposed to messages targeting Ukrainian refugees, who are frequently portrayed in Russian propaganda as criminal or dangerous.
'Kremlin fears Ukraine’s success'
EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas said Russia’s actions were "neither isolated nor accidental."
"They are deliberate, coordinated, and persistent," Kallas said. "They seek to exploit fears related to corruption, security, identity, and economic costs. They target audiences both in Ukraine and across EU member states, aiming to undermine Ukraine’s accession to the EU."
Kallas added that Russia’s campaign points to “an important truth: the Kremlin fears Ukraine’s success.”
Analysts examined 244,000 social media posts published between January 2025 and May 2026 on platforms including Telegram, X, Facebook, YouTube and TikTok.
The content reached more than 1.39 billion views. The report identified 2,680 sources showing signs of inauthentic behavior, meaning coordinated activity that did not appear to come from ordinary, independent users.
Russian state outlets, including TASS and RIA Novosti, were named among the channels spreading anti-European and anti-Ukrainian propaganda.
The report also cites social media accounts belonging to Russian officials, including former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev. Other messages appeared on platforms that concealed their links to Moscow.
One recurring Russian claim is that EU countries secretly want to divide Ukraine.
In one example cited in the report, a Telegram post used a map of Europe and falsely claimed that a Polish teachers’ union official in what was once Poland's eastern Volhynia region was distributing materials showing the Ukrainian region as part of Poland.
The report says Russia also manipulates real statements by politicians, officials and experts. Individual quotes are removed from context to suggest that Ukraine has no chance of joining the EU, that the West is tired of supporting Kyiv, or that hidden conflicts exist between Ukraine and its European partners.
Kyrylo Budanov, chief of staff to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, said Moscow uses digital platforms, anonymous networks, and emotional manipulation to discredit democratic institutions, weaken trust in reforms and challenge Ukraine’s European identity.
The authors said Russia’s disinformation operations should be met with further sanctions against entities linked to Moscow and against the online infrastructure used to spread hostile content.
They also called for closer cooperation between digital platforms and fact-checking organizations.
The report says disinformation campaigns often overlap with cybercrime. It recommends stronger EU and national legal tools, including court rulings and enforcement measures, to make it harder for Russia to use the internet as a weapon against Ukraine and Europe.
(rt/gs)
Source: PAP