Russian psychological operation targeting Ukrainian morale and Western support for continued military assistance

The conventional war in Ukraine is accompanied by an intense and multifaceted disinformation campaign conducted in recent months by the Russian Federation against this country and its allies. The main objective of this campaign is to break Ukrainian morale, discourage Western states from continuing military assistance, and create a perception within the international public opinion that further support for Ukraine merely prolongs the conflict and increases the casualty toll. To understand how ambiguous and simultaneously dangerous such actions are, it is first worth examining the nature of so-called psychological operations (psychological warfare) and then analysing how Russia implements this concept in the context of its ongoing aggression against Ukraine.

What is a psychological operation?

As Marcin Olechowski observes in his article "Psychological Warfare – An Attempt to Define the Concept", psychological operations (PSYOPS) represent one of the fundamental forms of conducting broadly understood information warfare. Generally speaking, they can be defined as a set of actions aimed at shaping specific attitudes, opinions, and behaviours of selected social groups, including soldiers and civilians, in line with the interests of the entity conducting the operation.

The conductors of psychological operations employ a wide range of tools: media communication, political persuasion, public diplomacy, manipulation of facts, disinformation, and occasionally even threats or political-economic blackmail.

The tradition of psychological operations dates back to ancient times; the thoughts of the ancient strategist Sun Tzu are often cited, as he argued that the objective of war should be to gain control over the will and minds of the enemy. However, it was only with the development of mass media in the 19th and 20th centuries that it became possible to extensively and systematically use informational messaging to influence the attitudes of large populations.

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