Ukraine’s “Center for Countering Disinformation” amplified a recent report by Reuters that cited Polish officials and experts to allege that “Russia exploits Poland-Ukraine dispute to step up disinformation campaign”. The gist is that AI-assisted bots are supposedly flooding the Polish information space with polarizing posts aimed at exacerbating the bilateral tensions at the state and civil society levels that exploded after Zelensky glorified the Volhynia Genocide’s OUN-UPA culprits at the state level in late May.
Reuters’ report followed reports from Polish media about Ukraine’s plan to improve ties with Poland, which includes its intelligence agencies’ efforts to discover (or cynically concoct) evidence of Russian funding for anti-Ukrainian groups. This analysis here argues that Kiev’s approach amounts to meddling in Poland since it targets the opposition, all of which are critical of Ukraine, and organizers of prior farmers’ protests who might resume their demonstrations if another grain crisis occurs as warned about here.
Poland’s ruling liberal coalition has long claimed without any evidence that their opponents are backed by Russia, the false notion of which was discredited here earlier in the summer, so they might have independently repeated this innuendo without coordinating it with Ukraine. Nevertheless, even if Ukraine and Poland aren’t yet coordinating this potentially impending smear campaign against the opposition and the organizers of prior farmers’ protests, Ukraine is still exploiting the latest report.
Its “Center for Countering Disinformation” shared Reuters’ piece for the purpose of lending false credence to the innuendo that Polish polarization over Ukraine after Zelensky’s shocking move late last May is due to Russian meddling. This weaponized narrative is meant to discredit those who’ve since soured on Ukraine, both politicians and average voters alike, while preemptively absolving Ukraine of accusations that it’s the one meddling in Poland. It’s therefore an undeniable Hybrid War provocation.
Addressing the substance of what’s being put forth by some in Poland and the information warfare arm of Ukraine’s National Security and Defense Council, which is what the “Center for Countering Disinformation” functionally is since it operates under them, their narrative is very condescending. It takes for granted that Poles wouldn’t on their own disapprove of Zelensky glorifying the OUN-UPA at the state level and could only do so under Russian influence after being constantly reminded of this topic.
Their narrative also assumes that crude posts by anonymous accounts are capable of influencing average Poles, who supposedly can’t detect that the syntax and cadence thereof are either unnatural for a native Polish speaker and thus indicative of the author being a foreigner or suspiciously sound like AI. The natural conclusion is that everyone in Poland who’s now critical of Ukraine is Russia’s “useful idiot”, which is an insult to the intelligence of all Poles. It could also serve as a pretext for censorship.
The takeaway from this example of Ukrainian meddling in Poland, which is admittedly mild and indirect but expected to ramp up ahead of fall 2027’s next Sejm elections, is that it exploits the opinion of Polish officials and experts to precondition the public for what’s likely to come. It’s not just average Poles that are the targets of this provocation, but Westerners as a whole, who Ukraine wants to think that Poles have only soured on it due to Russia’s “useful idiots” and possibly even “agents” among the opposition.
