The Kremlin's attempts to build a "digital ghetto" inside the Russian Federation—banning foreign messengers and restricting the internet—are preparations for making future unpopular decisions. This was stated by the head of the President's Office, Kyrylo Budanov, at the Kyiv Stratcom Forum 2026, reports UNN.
Details
According to Budanov, Ukraine's enemy has colossal historical experience in the field of information-psychological operations and the distortion of meanings. Therefore, cognitive warfare requires a systematic approach, significant resources, and professional personnel.
What the Russians are doing now in the temporarily occupied territories of Ukraine is the engineering of human consciousness. It is scientifically proven that systematically broadcasting the same message for 40 days is enough for it to settle deeply in one's thinking. The enemy is trying to completely burn out Ukrainian identity in the seized lands, and we must counter this with a new model of strategic communications with our people in the occupied territories,
Budanov believes that "the Kremlin's attempts to build a 'digital ghetto' inside the Russian Federation—banning foreign messengers and restricting the internet—are preparations for making future unpopular decisions."
The total cutoff of alternative information sources is necessary for them so that the brainwashed population absorbs exclusively the official and controlled position. Russia is following the example of North Korea and building a completely isolated country,
However, according to the head of the OP, the reality on the battlefield breaks any propaganda. The path from "Kyiv in three days" to "Donbas at any cost," and now even to purely declarative demands for Ukraine's non-aligned status, testifies to the impossibility of achieving the original goals. Now, propaganda is hastily inventing new formats of "victory" to convince Russian society and justify the enormous losses in the war.
We must finally realize the scale of the mental war that the enemy is waging against us. For too long, we voluntarily gave away a huge part of our heritage. Russia simply privatized and rewrote our history for itself. Therefore, the return of historical truth, our heroes, and the self-awareness of Ukrainians must become a priority task,