Today at 13:23
Russia is launching an information-psychological operation (IPSO) against Volodymyr Zelenskyy with the aim of discrediting his legitimacy after May 20, the expected date of expiration of his five-year term as president. The main goal of such a campaign is to undermine his status as supreme commander in chief and destroy the unity of Ukrainian society. Political scientist Volodymyr Fesenko spoke about this on the FREEDOM TV channel.
“First of all, in this way they want to undermine the unity of Ukrainian society. Russia has not been able to defeat Ukraine on the battlefield for more than two years. And, apparently, they realized that one of the reasons for Ukraine’s resilience is unity in the fight against Russian aggression. They want to undermine this unity,” he said.
According to the political scientist, Russians want to “play on” the political differences that existed before the war. Also – on problems that arose after 2022.
“The idea is to undermine the status of the Ukrainian president as the supreme commander in chief. They are already feeding the Ukrainian soldiers at the front the idea that you won’t have a legitimate president, so you shouldn’t follow orders. This is in order to create chaos and instability in Ukraine,” he explained.
Fesenko emphasized that instability in Ukrainian society could play a key and decisive role for Russia in winning the war.
“But, as public opinion polls show, Ukrainians are not buying into this campaign. And even those who can criticize the president, they understand perfectly well that we must maintain unity in the fight against the common enemy – Russia,” concluded Volodymyr Fesenko.
Earlier, Igor Popov, an expert at the Ukrainian Institute of the Future, noted that in the West there is no doubt about the legitimacy of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy after May 2024, when his five-year term in office expires.
