Ukraine claims its southern offensive was a 'disinformation campaign' to trick Russia

A day after Russia’s Defence Ministry announced that it was pulling back troops from two areas in Ukraine’s eastern Kharkiv region amid a strong counteroffensive by Ukrainian forces, a senior Kyiv official said they publicised a disinformation campaign to distract Russian forces. While speaking to The Guardian, former national security advisor turned press officer for the Bohun brigade of Ukraine’s special forces, Taras Berezovets, said the operation of a special disinformation process helped Ukrainian forces to distract Russia from the real one. According to the senior official, this helped Ukrainian forces to prepare in the Kharkiv region.

“Russia thought it would be in the south and moved their equipment. Then, instead of the south, the offensive happened where they least expected, and this caused them to panic and flee," he said. Further, he claimed that Zelenskyy forces have taken several villages in the southern region of Kharkiv and added none of the soldiers suffered any major injury during the counter-operation. The official expressed gratitude for the arms and ammunition being supplied to the Ukrainian army since the escalation of the brutal war. He said the Western weapons helped the Ukrainian army to recapture the strategic locations from the Russian forces without suffering a major loss. 

Disinformation operations also include rooting out informants

Meanwhile, the spokesperson for Ukraine’s southern command, Natalia Humeniuk, said that Kyiv had implemented a "method of silence" wherein the reporters were largely barred from visiting the frontlines in Kherson. But Berezovets voiced the media stir around the southern offensive was a coordinated disinformation campaign by Kyiv, targeted at Moscow forces, that had been building for several months. "It was successful in provoking Russia to move equipment and personnel to the southern front, including parts from the Kharkiv region. Meanwhile, our soldiers in Kharkiv were given the best of western weapons, mostly American," he stressed.

Besides, the spokesperson said they had also worked on rooting out informants in Ukrainian-controlled parts of Kharkiv. According to him, these informers, who were largely Ukrainians, were involved in passing crucial information to the Russian. 
"The informants were almost completely cleaned up. They mostly comprised normal Ukrainian civilians but there were some Russian agents undercover as Ukrainian civilians. The Russians had no idea what was going on," a military source told The Guardian. 

Image: AP