Russian public being told invasion is limited to Donbas and casualties are minimal, US analyst says

‘There is no other narrative’

Russians are being “completely cut off” from the truth about what is happening in Ukraine, including lies about Russian deaths and aims, an American analyst has explained.

Appearing on The ReidOut on Thursday, Julia Ioffee said Russians are “being told the war is just in the Donbas” in eastern Ukraine.

“[Russians] think or are being told the war is just in the Donbas, that there are very minimal casualties on the Russian side, that the Russian side is being incredibly generous and careful with the civilians,” Ms Ioffee said.

“Of course none of this is true but that’s what Russians are being told and there is no other narrative,” she continued, adding that “hundreds of journalists” have fled Russia.

“They’re basically shutting their population off completely from the reality of this war,” Ms Ioffee said. “What Russians are seeing of this war is not what we’re seeing”. 

Her comments came after Russia’s foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said his country was not at “war” with Ukraine and again denied reports of hundreds of civilian deaths from shelling and airstrikes, including on hospitals, while speaking on Thursday.

More than 10,000 Russians have been estimated killed in the war, meanwhile, although the Kremlin has denied such claims in an apparent attempt to hide its military losses.

This map shows the extent of Russia’s war in Ukraine (Press Association Images)

Russia’s parliament has also passed a law threatening citizens with 15 years in prison for anybody found sharing “fake” news about what is happening in Ukraine.

Western analysts largely believe Mr Putin’s aims in Ukraine have mostly failed after launching his invasion last month with the false pretext that Kyiv was a “Nazi” and “anti-Russian” “regime”.

In reality, Russia was not provoked into launching a war on Ukraine and its democratically elected government, which is led by a Russian-speaking Jewish President Volodymyr Zelensky.

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