Since Russia launched its "special military operation" into neighbouring Ukraine, media, political organisations and researchers in Ukrainian allied countries have accused Moscowof launching a propaganda blitzkriegmeant to justify the invasion.

Most notably the Kremlin has claimed Ukraine was committing "genocide"against its Russian-speaking population in the country's east.

It has also accused Kyiv of beingalignedwith Nazism, citing the"denazification" of Ukraine as a key reason fortheinvasion, and of operating biological weapons laboratories with USsupport.

However, experts say the Ukrainianshave also been running a propaganda campaign of theirown.

And while Ukraine hasproved surprisingly effective againstbetterequipped Russian forces on the battleground while still suffering some heavy losses, the story is much the same inthe information war as well.

War propaganda is the use of either real or fake information to manipulate opinion and evoke strong emotional reactions, such as fear, anger, guilt, admiration or outrage, explained Paul Baines, Professor of Political Marketing at the University of Leicester.

It has been used throughout history as a key tool of war and hasbecome a "necessity" of conflict that can take many forms, Mr Baines told the ABC.

While Russian claims of great victories against Ukrainian "Nazis" may be regarded aslaughable in the West where in some cases evidence to the contrary has been publicised before the claim itself researchers say these tactics have proved highly effective within Russia and among Russian allies.

Russia has spent decades perfecting a propaganda machine, through media control, censorship and harsh laws that forbid the dissemination of "false information" about the Russian army.

But early in the conflict, myths began to emerge from Ukraine as well.

Photos from other conflicts, movies and even video gameswere posted on social media claiming to be Russian attacks.

While researchers say these did not appear to originate from state-sanctionedinternet "trolls", as was the case in Russia, there were other narratives that were spread by government sources.

One story that was debunked by experts was that ofthe so-called Ghost of Kyiv, a mystery fighter pilot who was credited by the Ukrainian government with having shot down 10 Russian fighter jets.

The imagebelow turned out to befootagefrom a video game.

It's not just states or citizens involved in the conflict who have been spreading disinformation.

People "who have no apparent stake in the war have also been spinning conspiracy theories", said Esther Chan,APAC bureau editor at the Information Futures Lab.

Ms Chan said they were often just looking to boost their own social media following.

However, Ukraine needsthe backing of NATO and Western allies, whereexuberant claims canbackfire in the face of independent media and non-government watchdogs and think tanks.

While Ukraine supporters do still periodically post fake videos and false claims, the Ukrainiangovernmenthas in more recent times taken a different approach.

While the Kremlinfocusedon deception anddefamation along withcensorship, Ukrainefocused on diplomacy with the West, highlighting Russian atrocities and Ukrainian combat wins,Mr Baines said.

As Russia used fear and anger in attempts to justify it's invasion, Ukraine, who had been plunged into the war and by many counts held the moral high ground, used guilt and outrage to gain support from the West, he explained.

"Talking about their dire situation is not untrue, but the Ukrainians can play on that feeling of guilt," Mr Baines said.

Headdedthat President Volodymyr Zelenskyy a former comedian and actor hadeffectively weaponised the suffering of Ukrainians to exacerbate feelings of guilt and responsibility in the West.

"Zelenskyy's efforts at guilt tripping the West have resulted in probably one of the biggest shifts in military material to another country in history."

Kyiv and Mr Zelenskyyhimself havefurther built up an image of the "brave Ukrainian", helping with recruitment efforts as well as morale, Mr Baines said.

In recent weeks, Western media has been flooded with accounts of Russians fleeing conscription, with both real and fake images of convoys of fleeing Russians spreading on social media.

Meanwhile, Mr Baines said the"overarching narrative" in Ukraine has focusedonthe thousands of Ukrainians whovolunteeredto fight.

But conscription has also long existed in Ukraine and at the beginning of the conflict, the Ukraine governmentbanned all men aged 18-60 from leaving the country, instead instructing them toreport for duty at a military recruitment office.

While Ukraine may be winning hearts and minds in the West, elsewhere, Russia's more blatant tactics are succeeding, according to Darren Linvill, an associate professor at Clemson who co-leads the Media Forensics Hub.

"Whilewe like to think Ukraine is winning the information war, outside of the West, they are just not," Mr Linvill said.

"It's an uncomfortable reality ... but alot of the world is on Putin's side."

MrLinvill has been researching Russian propaganda and social media troll farms since their involvement inthe2016 US presidential election, identifying many millions of accounts with hundreds of thousands of followers on multipleplatforms.

But the Kremlin's disinformation campaigns against Ukraine are not primarily aimed at English language news outlets.

"The main target audience of most disinformation is a country's own people," he said.

He said it wasclear Moscow's defamation campaigns had gained traction everywhere besides English-language social media and western Europe.

One remarkably effective tactic used by Russia early in the war was disinformation false-flag operations, Mr Linvill said.

Dozens of videos were circulated claimingto debunk apparently nonexistent Ukrainian fakes.

The goal was to cast doubt over real images of Russian defeats, civilian deaths and destruction caused by the Ukraine invasion, he said.

Russian troll accounts, that were created to spread propaganda and fake news, began postingwarnings to beware ofpropaganda and fake news, he said.

"It's because of disinformation that that particular form of disinformation was so effective at reaching a broadaudience," he said.

"We were primed to look for disinformation."

Mr Linvill said the distrust that has resulted from fake news has led to unhealthy levels of distrust in society and has spurred harmful conspiracy theories.

While critical thinking is important, so is being able to trust.

"You can't simply distrust everything you read," he said.

"You just have to learn what to trust and learn the processes by which information flows."

See the rest here:

Ukraine and Russia's second front is a propaganda war. But who is winning? - ABC News