Russia’s aggression against Ukraine is being waged not only on the battlefield, but also in the information space, where propaganda creates parallel realities and undermines the democratic fabric of societies. Speaking at the international conference “Defending Democracy: Horizons of Freedom,” Yevhen Tsymbalenko from the National University of Kyiv addressed the impact of Russian propaganda on Ukrainian communities in Germany, particularly among refugees, and warned about the dangers of informational bubbles that hinder integration and weaken democratic awareness:
As my colleague Ressman mentioned earlier, we have just completed the third stage of the Media Dialogue project. Together with our partners from Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Moldova, and Belarus, we discussed democracy—how we can support it and how, unfortunately, we are currently losing it. These are extremely important issues.
However, I would like to slightly change the direction of our conversation and speak about Russian aggression, and about how Russia’s war against Ukraine is not only a physical war, but also an information war. For three years, I lived in Ukraine during the period of full-scale aggression. Later, I received an invitation from the University of Mannheim in Germany, where I continued my research.
Today, I am studying how Russian propaganda affects Ukrainian communities in Germany. I am not a refugee; I am, so to speak, a working migrant. However, I use the same information channels as Ukrainian refugees here in Germany, and I can feel that many of them remain trapped in an information bubble.
There are certain forces and power structures that prevent them from leaving this bubble, which in turn hinders their integration into German society and limits their personal and social development. That is why I want to test this hypothesis and launch a research project that will examine the impact of Russian propaganda and the formation of narratives within Ukrainian communities in Germany, especially among refugee populations.
The focus of my research is Telegram channels, because they are largely uncontrolled and allow ideas of any kind to spread very easily.
This issue affects me personally as well. I am Ukrainian, and everything that happens in Ukraine hurts me deeply. Perhaps because of this, I am not entirely objective. That is why I want to verify my assumptions through research—to confirm or to disprove them. Ideally, I would like to discover that this is not true and that these are only my personal feelings. Nevertheless, it is essential to examine it.
As a result of our previous projects and discussions with partners from different countries, we all understand that we are not fighting only for land or territory. We are fighting for national identity, for freedom, and for independence in our ideas.
This article and refined transcript were prepared by the author with AI-assisted language refinement and editorial support. The content remains fully faithful to the original video address. All responsibility for interpretation and publication rests with the author.
Watch the full video from the conference: