Russia-Ukraine War: Truth Was The First Victim

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky regularly announces that Russian aircraft have been shot down, sometimes ten in ten days, including fighter jets and spy planes. However, it should be remembered that this is a land war, with the air force and navy playing a relatively small role.

Bahmut, 2024. március 3. Az ukrán 28. gépesített dandár katonái egy 122 milliméteres önjáró löveggel készülnek orosz állásokat támadni a kelet-ukrajnai Bahmut település közelében húzódó frontvonalnál 2024. március 3-án. MTI/AP/Efrem Lukackij Fotó: Efrem Lukackij

The statements released by the Russians and the Ukrainians must be interpreted within the context of information warfare, and it should be remembered that both sides greatly exaggerate their statements about the Russian-Ukrainian war. The Ukrainians focus these reports on planes and warships because they are less successful elsewhere, and it is always the successes that should be highlighted. Some of these are well proven, while on land they have few successes, said Attila Demko, head of the Center for Geopolitics at the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, in response to an inquiry from Magyar Nemzet.

"There is no doubt that the Ukrainian army has had some success in shooting down Russian planes in the recent past, and this has been verified by the Russians on several occasions. But given the size of the Russian air force, these otherwise spectacular losses are much less noticeable. This is a land war, and the navy or air force do not play a crucial role."

The decisive factor is whether or not land forces take a town, whether or not a battalion is destroyed. Ukrainian successes are indeed serious at times, but not where they are needed,

Truth is always the first victim of war

It's important to note that more information is coming out on social media from the Russian side, while the Ukrainians can hide a lot of things. "The Russians don't have such a strong grip on social media, with ordinary people often uploading videos of burning planes or oil refineries to the internet. There is probably less discipline because the average Russian does not feel as threatened as a Ukrainian. We get a distorted picture of what is happening in the Russia-Ukraine war if we only look at the videos posted on the internet. Truth is always the first victim of war," the expert underlined.

"The Ukrainians want to draw sympathy, since without Western help they would have lost the war by now. When horrible things happened like in Bucha, they presented everything, but when they have military losses and their air defense does not work well, they try to keep it secret. That is natural."

Ukraine's information warfare is very clever, well organized, better organized than Russia's. Ukrainians can cover up their losses, but when the Russians make a mistake and civilians fall victim, they always show what took place,

the expert explained. "But this also applies to the Russians. Both sides always show it when civilians fall victim, portraying the other as terrorists," he added.

As to why there is little evidence from the Ukrainian side about the downing of the planes, Attila Demko said that "there are coincidences when a plane is destroyed, someone is filming. Take Prigozhin's aircraft, but there are also videos and pictures of the IL-76. It is simply difficult to tell".

"When Zelensky announces that a plane was shot down, but has no proof, it could be that the Russians were able to prevent the footage from being released or there was simply no footage taken. Or what the Ukrainians claim is just not true. In a war, both sides try to depict the best image of themselves, while the enemy is seen as incompetent and incapable," the expert added.

Hard to check authenticity

There are countless videos and images posted on the internet, and it is difficult to check them for authenticity. What is real can often and easily be confused with staged or edited pictures and videos.

It is extremely difficult to tell which is authentic and which is not. Even the best experts can be fooled by an edited video. But a clue can be found when a photo or a news item appears about a pilot's funeral. Many people don't look for videos or photos, but for reports of funerals, especially if it says war hero,

Demko pointed out.

It's hard to tell from a law-quality photo whether it's real or not. But the expert says that if we have the name of the pilot, the type of plane he was flying and the fact that he is described as a war hero, then we can say it is authentic. There have been several examples of this on both the Ukrainian and Russian sides. In the absence of this, it is questionable whether the plane that was thought to have been downed on the basis of the radar image was indeed shot down.

Cover photo: Soldiers of Ukraine's 28th mechanized brigade prepare to attack Russian positions with a 122 mm self-propelled gun on the front line near Bakhmut in eastern Ukraine on March 3, 2024 (Photo: MTI/AP/Efrem Lukacki)