While Russia claims to have repelled major attacks, Kiev refuses to communicate about a possible counter-offensive, preferring to remain discreet.
“Enjoy the silence”. While many questions are being asked about the form of the long-promised Ukrainian counteroffensive by Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Ukrainian authorities have communicated on the subject in rather surprising and unconventional ways.
“Silence!”
On Sunday, Ukraine’s Defense Minister Oleksii Reznikov posted a completely silent 30-second video on Twitter, showing soldiers covering their mouths with their fingers as if to ask for complete silence.
“Plans love silence, there will be no announcement as to when they will begin,” it said. The message is clear: the start of the Ukrainian counter-offensive will not be announced and speculation about it must end.
To this video, the minister added a barely subliminal message. “Words are very unnecessary, they can only do harm” (“Words really aren’t necessary, they can only do harm”, in the French version). This is the chorus of the famous Depeche Mode song, aptly titled “Enjoy the silence”.
As the Huffington Post points out, the spot was also bootlegged in annexed Crimea.
On Monday, calls for silence increased. The official Twitter account of Ukraine’s Defense Ministry cracked a simple but very clear “Shhhhhh.”
communication war
When fighting on the ground is intense, the communications war is just as intense. Ukraine claimed to be gaining ground near the devastated eastern town of Bachmout, but downplayed the scale of “offensive actions” elsewhere on the frontline and Russia instead claimed to repel large-scale attacks.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy personally thanked his troops for the territorial gains they claimed, ironically given Moscow’s “hysterical” reaction.
“On the Russian side we dramatize and pretend that Russia is being attacked by NATO, on the other side it’s about saying that everything is under control,” analyzes General Jérôme Pellistrandi, BFMTV’s defense adviser.
On Monday from Washington, US President Joe Biden scrupulously respected Ukraine’s request. When asked about the possibility of military success for Kiev, he simply remained silent and crossed his fingers in front of the camera.