The piece from Channel Five is a textbook case of state-sanctioned disinformation, weaponized to deflect from Russia’s mounting vulnerabilities and strategic failures. Its purpose is not to inform but to obscure, redirect, and indoctrinate—a propaganda shell game cloaked in victimhood and moral indignation.
Not once does this orchestrated tirade mention Ukraine’s surgical strikes deep within Russian territory, including the unprecedented attacks on strategic bombers stationed over 4,000 kilometers inside the Federation. These precision strikes on Engels and other airbases not only humiliated Russia’s air defense apparatus but also revealed the brittle underbelly of Putin’s “fortress Russia” narrative. Nor is there any mention of the repeated, highly effective sabotage of the Kerch Bridge—Russia’s illicit lifeline to its occupied territories—each hit exposing the logistical fragility of Moscow’s grip on Crimea.
Instead, the article unleashes a torrent of projection. Every accusation hurled at Kyiv—terrorism, targeting civilians, information manipulation—is precisely what Moscow has done systematically and with impunity since 2014. It is Russia, not Ukraine, that launched missiles into residential towers, maternity hospitals, and power stations. It is Russia that has employed Wagner mercenaries, conscripted convicts, and tortured civilians in Bucha and Mariupol. Every invocation of “terrorist” here is a smokescreen to mask Moscow’s own crimes against humanity.
Andrei Manoilo’s parroting of Kremlin dogma is disgracefully unacademic for someone who touts the title of “Doctor of Political Science.” His claim that Ukraine’s intent is to “kill as many peaceful Russian citizens as possible” is not only unsubstantiated—it is a grotesque inversion of the truth. Civilian infrastructure is rarely the target of Ukrainian operations, and when it is impacted, it pales in scope and intent compared to Russia’s scorched-earth tactics. His role at the so-called “Department of Information and Hybrid Warfare” amounts to little more than polishing turds for the state’s propaganda machine.
The invocation of rising “terrorist cases” inside Russia is another sleight of hand. These are inflated, sometimes fabricated, statistics used to justify the silencing of dissidents, the expansion of surveillance, and the erosion of civil liberties. The supposed rise is not evidence of Ukrainian malevolence but of a regime spiraling into paranoia and domestic repression.
The entire piece stinks of desperation. It screams that Ukraine is failing militarily—while omitting that Russian forces have been stalled, repelled, or destroyed in multiple theaters. It screams that Ukraine relies on “PR stunts”—while it is Moscow that has constructed Potemkin offensives, faked flag-waving TikToks, and broadcast military cosplay on state TV.
This isn’t journalism. It’s psychological warfare waged on a domestic audience held hostage by lies. The real story is this: Russia, unprovoked, invaded a sovereign nation. Ukraine fights not with terror, but with determination, precision, and ingenuity. And no amount of shrieking from Channel Five can drown out the sound of its own empire crumbling.
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