We present to your attention an analysis of russian propaganda for October 2022, primarily aimed at residents of the Kherson region.
The report analyzes more than 3,000 publications of thematic russian Telegram channels, with the total audience of 233,830 subscribers. The average reach of publications on all channels is 190,100.
The detailed report is available for download; a brief analysis overview is below.
During the first week of October, there was tension in the russian news, but propagandists tried to reduce the degree of tension by all possible means, highlighting the inexplicable successes of the russian army at the front, discrediting the Ukrainian military and the Ukrainian government. But there was news about the complexity of the situation at the front and that it is difficult to hold the defense line, "although russian soldiers will fight to the last." At the same time, the occupiers continue to dream of attacking Odesa and Mykolaiv.
Along with the occupiers' anxious mood, there is a lot of news about a calm and peaceful life, the pro-russian authorities deny retreat and believe that the russian army will stand.
The beginning of the second week of October was one of the most challenging for Ukraine. russia carried out massive missile strikes on peaceful Ukrainian cities and critical infrastructure. All these strikes are presented in the russian media as successes in the war.
This week, information began to appear in the russian mass media about families from the Kherson region who went on vacation to the best resorts, and this is not an evacuation as the pro-russian leadership claims.
Evacuation at the beginning of the week is an "opportunity to go on vacation", but at the end of the week, saldo v. turns to the russian authorities with a request to evacuate the civilian population of the Kherson region (the right-bank part of the Kherson region) to the territory of Crimea or the territory of the russian federation. The mass evacuation-deportation of the Ukrainian population begins from this moment.
In the third week of October, the evacuation is one of the main topics in russian news. The occupiers resort to various methods of psychological pressure and intimidation, and try to take as many people as possible to the territory of the russian federation. Mass phone calls are made, and SMS messages are sent to the civilian population, including at night, about the need for evacuation.
The amount of news in the russian public in the category of "Recognition of its failures" is quite high in order to speed up the evacuation or to prepare the population morally for the potential retreat of the Russian army.
The picture shows the words most often used by Russian Telegram channels to call Ukrainians. The frequency of use of a certain word is indicated by its size
During the fourth week of October, the evacuation of the civilian population ended. It is known that everything is taken out of Kherson: monuments, city archives, exhibits and paintings from Kherson museums and galleries, medical equipment, agricultural machinery, and public transport. A large number of shops and pharmacies are closed. However, the occupation authorities claim that the city continues to live a normal life.
In the last days of October, saldo v. extended the evacuation to the left bank of the Dnipro River in the Kherson region. Now the evacuation is already coercive. And russian soldiers move into empty houses.
More detailed information with corresponding diagrams is in the report (pdf, ~ 2 MB)