Blackouts in Ukraine through the lens of Russian propaganda
After the latest Russian strikes on Ukraine's energy sector and large-scale blackouts during severe frosts, which can safely be compared to acts of genocide, Russian propaganda was faced with the question of how to present these criminal actions to the world.
Russian propagandists have no problems with their domestic audience: visit any "patriotic" Telegram channel, and literally half an hour after the latest strike, you can already see gloating discussions of its results. Undoubtedly, blackouts in Ukrainian cities are definitely pleasing to ordinary Russians. But this is not the case with the rest of the world — most people have not lost their empathy and ability to sympathize with those in trouble.
Therefore, Russian propagandists probably had to think carefully about how to present what is happening in Ukraine today because it was no longer possible to keep silent about their criminal actions.
For analysis, Texty.org.ua took the popular English-language Russian propaganda resource Lord Bebo on the X network. This is a well-known Russian network with over 700,000 readers. We mentioned it in an article about the spread of the "busification" topic on the English-language network X (Twitter). ("Busification" is an ironic neologism that emerged in the Ukrainian information space during the general mobilization in connection with the Russian invasion).
In other words, Lord Bebo presents Russian propaganda to English-speaking readers in its purest form. Until recently, in addition to describing the horrors of mobilization in Ukraine, this resource devoted a great deal of attention to refuting the crimes committed by Russians in Bucha, attempting to prove that it was all fiction.
Active mentions of blackouts in Ukraine began in mid-January this year. The Ukrainian energy sector was experiencing the consequences of the most devastating strikes. At first, there were sparse reports citing the mayor of Kyiv about electricity problems, presented, of course, in such a way that there was no mention of the real cause of the problems — Russian strikes.
Cheap mockery and nightclubs
The first steps taken by Russian propagandists were frankly clumsy: they were unable to go beyond their internal "victory mania". They published a photo of broken batteries somewhere in a building on a street in Kyiv named after John McCain, with the caption: "John McCain is partly responsible for this mess in Ukraine".
The first steps taken by Russian propagandists were frankly clumsy: they were unable to go beyond their internal "victory mania"
But then they corrected themselves and offered a conspiracy theory that perhaps the real reason for the electricity problems was Volodymyr Zelensky's unwillingness to hold presidential elections: "Chair of the Central Election Commission of Ukraine said that preparations for possible elections would be delayed due to power cuts. <...> Now it's getting suspicious, maybe it was on purpose. Is Zelenskyy trying to play games again?"
But conspiracy theories alone will not suffice, especially since the reason for the power outages is evident to everyone. And here the Russians begin to do what they would never do in their own information space, where the results of criminal strikes are presented as another victory.
For Western readers, they do the exact opposite. They try to downplay the consequences of their strikes or even present them in a comical light, reducing a real crime against humanity to a joke. And here, literally everything is used.
Of course, Russian propagandists could not ignore the statement by former Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba, who called on Ukrainians to support small and medium-sized businesses, in particular by visiting various restaurants. Here, they unerringly focused on the word "restaurants", taken out of context.
Propagandists also found a humorous quote from Dmytro's wife, Svitlana Paveletskaya, about the possibility of warming up with sex toys from an interview recorded back in November 2025. All of this, of course, was translated into English and published with appropriate comments for their readers.
The resource's feed also features a story by a Kyiv blogger who, due to the cold in his apartment, is forced to move into the bathroom. The reason is simple: the bathroom is smaller and easier to heat. But surely these are not the reasons why Russian propagandists are presenting such material.
And, of course, Lord Bebo's feed featured photos allegedly taken in Kyiv nightclubs that are still operating despite the blackout.
The propaganda account Lord Bebo publishes content that distorts the scale of the tragedy and changes the perspective. For example, one of the posts features a story by a Ukrainian blogger about how she and her family are coping with the crisis in their ultra-modern home.
Shifting focus
At the same time, Lord Bebo is flooded with videos about snow and the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia. The region has indeed seen unusually heavy snowfall, even for this region. Still, the pedantry with which Russian propagandists are promoting this topic suggests they have a clear goal in mind. Most likely, they want to downplay the story of Ukraine's harsh winter this year, which the Russian aggressor has decided to exploit to the fullest, and shift attention elsewhere.
And videos from the Kamchatka Peninsula, often generated by AI, showing joyful children sliding down from rooftops, seem to say: Is it winter in Ukraine? It's winter in Russia, and it's fine, people are even having fun.
Typical Russian propaganda
On the Lord Bebo page, there is no mention of the suffering of ordinary people in Ukraine due to blackouts or Russian strikes. Only a hidden mockery of Ukrainians who, for some reason, have moved to live in toilets, but at the same time have luxurious houses and go to nightclubs. Such posts evoke specific associations with Soviet propaganda, when, during the Holodomor, foreigners were shown "rich" collective farms to distract their attention from the consequences of genocide.
And, by the way, the parallels do not end there. Darkness and cold eventually become "silent killers". It is not a sudden missile strike. Here, everything is more muted and stretched out over time. And, accordingly, the world's media attention to such things may be less. But we need to write and shout about this so that the Russians don't pull the wool over the eyes of the whole world again.
