KIEV, Ukraine — Television journalist Julia Kirienko was sheltering with Ukrainian soldiers and medics two miles (three kilometres) from the front when their cellphones began buzzing over the noise of the shelling. Everyone got the same text message at the same time.
“Ukrainian soldiers,” it warned, “they’ll find your bodies when the snow melts.”
Text messages like the one Kirienko received have been sent periodically to Ukrainian forces fighting pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country. The threats and disinformation represent a new form of information warfare, the 21st-century equivalent of dropping leaflets on the battlefield.
“This is pinpoint propaganda,” said …read more
Source: National Post
