How Russia attempts to discredit Ukrainian charitable foundations

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

He explained, "I would divide people into three groups: the first is those who donate and will keep donating regardless of Russian narratives. Then there are those who never donate at all. These two groups won’t be influenced by Russian tactics – some will donate no matter what, while others won't donate at all. The key target for the Russians is the middle group – those who are uncertain. These are the people they focus on. Russia mostly targets the comments on the social media pages of Ukrainian charitable foundations. For example, when a charity announces a large fundraising campaign, they flood the comments with bots that post unfounded criticism and personal attacks."

According to Starosiek, the Russian bots focus on three main "pain points." "First, they target the individuals behind the foundations, like Serhii Prytula and Vitalii Chmut. They try to discredit them by making accusations like 'Chmut is stealing money' or 'Prytula, where are the Spartans, you stole them.' The goal is to undermine the leader," he explained.

The founder of the OSINT agency also noted that Russia is trying to undermine the reputation of Ukrainian foundations by accusing them of misusing funds.

"The second main tactic is an attack on the foundation's reputation. For example, in the case of the satellite (ICEYE satellite acquired by the Serhiy Prytula Charity Foundation for the needs of Ukraine’s Armed Forces — ed.), they claim that the foundation stole money and that the satellite is nowhere to be found. Lastly, they target the misuse of funds, attempting to fabricate stories about someone buying real estate, forging documents, or misinterpreting facts to make people believe their donations are being used for the personal enrichment of the foundation's leaders. These are the three main tactics they use," said Artem Starosiek.

• On December 18, the OSINT agency Molfar published an investigation into who is behind the efforts to destroy the reputation of Ukrainian foundations.