The Center for Countering Disinformation (CCD) under the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine says it has recorded the start of a large-scale campaign aimed at discrediting Ukraine, falsely claiming that Kyiv is seeking to block energy supplies to the European Union.
According to Ukrinform, the CCD reported this on Facebook.
“Russia-controlled resources are spreading unsubstantiated accusations of Ukrainian ‘energy terrorism,’ claiming that Ukraine allegedly seeks to block energy supplies to Europe,” the post reads.
The main narratives of the campaign include claims that “Ukraine’s energy blackmail threatens Europeans,” that “Ukraine is demanding money, weapons, and soldiers from European countries to sustain the war,” that the Druzhba oil pipeline has no technical defects and that Ukraine is blackmailing Hungary, and that Kyiv is attempting to cut off gas supplies to Europe through the TurkStream pipeline and the Blue Stream pipeline.
“All these narratives are false, manipulative, and spread in Russia’s interests. The Kremlin’s goal is to sow distrust between Ukraine and its European partners, portray Kyiv as an unreliable ally, and weaken international support for Ukraine,” the center said.
The center stressed that in reality it is Russia that systematically uses energy as a weapon against Europe and as a tool of geopolitical influence. It also noted that Russia refuses to end the war and is responsible for strikes on energy infrastructure that affect European countries.
As Ukrinform previously reported, Russian hackers likely stole confidential information belonging to Dutch government officials through WhatsApp and Signal.
