ISW explains how Russia's response to Ukraine's counteroffensive involves Lukashenko and false narratives

The Institute for the Study of War reports.

ISW points out that Russian officials and propagandists increase promotions of their own narratives regarding the Ukrainian counteroffensive in order to reinforce false claims that it is detrimental to Ukraine's further existence.

In particular, Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu said on September 2 the President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyi planned the operation in the Kherson region solely in order to create the illusion among "Western curators" that Ukrainian troops could conduct an effective counteroffensive. The self-proclaimed president of Belarus, Oleksandr Lukashenko, said on September 1 that internal Ukrainian divisions will soon force the military conflict to end.

American analysts add that Russian military propagandists reinforced these narratives on September 1-2, as the information space around the success and pace of the Ukrainian counteroffensive remain misty.

"Russian sources will continue to spread false narratives in order to use the silence of the Ukrainian military. As ISW previously noted, complex counteroffensives cannot be carried out instantly or in a few days, and the Russian interpretation of immediate Ukrainian failure due to the lack of permanent territorial gains is a deliberate eclipse of the reality," stated in ISW.

• On September 1, during an open history lesson in schools, Oleksandr Lukashenko said that the war in Ukraine will end soon, because "the conflict between the president and the military" is brewing.