INTERACTION OF THE ARMED FORCES OF UKRAINE AND CIVIL SOCIETY IN COUNTERING RUSSIAN PROPAGANDA

Abstract

This article examines the interaction problem between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and civil society in countering Russian propaganda. The idea that civil society in Ukraine is a permanent participant in public and political processes and performs a compensatory function against the background of the limited internal potential of state-management influence and institutions of state power in matters of ensuring national security is substantiated. The article clarifies the specifics of the interaction between the Armed Forces and civil society within the framework of conventional warfare and against the background of hybrid, informational warfare. It was found out that Ukrainian civil society has significant experience in protecting national interests and helping the defense forces of Ukraine since 2014. During the entire period of the hybrid war, the possibilities and effectiveness of interaction between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and civil society in matters of state defense have significantly increased and reached their peak against the background of a full-scale invasion in 2022. The article discusses the topic of Russian propaganda against Ukrainian civil society and reveals the main stages of the periodization of Russia’s information war against Ukraine, the features of special information operations, and their effectiveness since 2014. It is established that Ukraine, having no productive means of combating the enemy at the beginning of the modern confrontation with Russian propaganda, today has accumulated a significant arsenal of resources, including the capabilities of mass media, state defense forces, and civil society. Based on the study of the possibilities of interaction between the Armed Forces of Ukraine and civil society in countering Russian propaganda, the author concluded that today, Ukraine has rich but scattered, unsystematized experience in combating propaganda. An essential task in the framework of the interaction of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and civil society in this matter is the creation of a single concept that will help coordinate the interaction between all the bodies of the Armed Forces of Ukraine involved in the information struggle and its defense departments, mass media, as well as civil society. It was established that the Armed Forces should cooperate with mass media, public organizations, and society on joint steps to counter Russian propaganda, as well as to improve the level of their interaction with civil society.