Ukraine crisis: Russian propaganda plentiful on the ground in Donbas

Ukraine’s military is trying to make sure its message gets through to foreign media, but according to France 24’s Gulliver Cragg, the Ukrainian military has not succeeded in drowning out Russian and separatist propaganda in the Donbass region of eastern Ukraine.

After Thursday’s escalation of violence in Donbass, the Ukrainian military had one key message, expressed by Oleksandr Pavlok, commander of the Ukrainian Army’s Combined Forces Operation in Donbass: “We only responded with fire when there was a threat to the lives of our soldiers, after we were exhausted by everyone. Attempts to stop Shooting via the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the Coordination Group between us and Russia.

The Ukrainian army had flown a group of journalists to see the kindergarten that was bombed on Thursday morning. Ukrainian soldiers argued that the trajectory of the projectile meant that it came from enemy territory.

But kindergarten workers had to live with their separatist neighborhoods and remain mysterious.

“Driving on the roads here you can often catch the broadcasts of Russian radio – and the propaganda channels that are there in the occupied territories,” said Oleksandr Kachura, author of the book “Remains of War.”

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