Petro Andriushchenko

Head of Center for the Study of the Occupation I Керівник Центру вивчення окупації I Consultant & Analyst

Interregional Academy of Personnel Management Center for the Study of the Occupation I Центр вивчення окупації

Ukraine

Mar 31, 2026

Kherson. An almost dead city. Because of the endless and open terror by the Russians, even those who stayed are afraid to go outside.
This is something completely new in the history of humanity. And we do not talk enough about Kherson. Far too little.

SEE VIDEO HERE:

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/petro-andriushchenko-80248321a_kherson-an-almost-dead-city-because-of-activity-7444611952074596352-HwjE?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAAbzsX4Bd5uGRRvx_FE5Zra0KIdYj1g_WBs

In the occupied part of Donetsk region, Russia has begun mass recruitment of students directly inside universities.

At Donetsk National Technical University (DonNTU), a campaign to recruit students into the so-called “UAV troops” has been running since at least early March. Universities are effectively being turned into recruitment hubs.

Printed advertisements and promotional materials calling for enlistment have appeared in several universities across the occupied “DNR”.

Students are promised “easy service” for one year and guaranteed release after the contract ends.

However, according to our sources, a contract with these so-called “UAV units” does not differ from a standard contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense.

In practice, this means that instead of operating drones, recruits can be sent to assault positions near Pokrovsk or Huliaipole.

And the contract itself is effectively open-ended — it can be extended regardless of the soldier’s own decision.

How Russian propaganda enters global media — the case of the “Azov Ring”

Ukrainian reputable media outlets often pull Russian narratives directly into our information space simply because “it’s from Reuters.” Let’s look at the facts.

The port of Mariupol handled 6.8 million tons of grain in 2020–2021. This was normal pre-war capacity and a standard level of port activity.

Since 2022, the total throughput has not exceeded 150,000 tons. That is roughly 2.4% of the annual pre-war volume.

In practical terms, the port is dead.

Now let’s read what Reuters writes: that the ports of Mariupol and Berdyansk have supposedly been restored and reopened under the Russian flag. If we translate that statement into numbers, it means the following: a port operating at 2–3% of its normal capacity is described as “restored.”

That is not journalism.
That is reproduction of a Russian narrative.

And this is only the first example.

The second example concerns the story about so-called new transport routes. Reuters writes that new railway and road routes allow Russia to bypass the Kerch Bridge.

It sounds impressive. The problem is that it simply does not correspond to reality.

The Novoazovsk — Mariupol — Berdyansk — Prymorsk — Dzhankoy — Simferopol route has always existed. It existed long before the war. It is not new.

As of today, not a single new kilometer of this road has been put into operation. The only genuinely new section currently under construction is the Mariupol bypass road.

That’s it.

Even the pace of Russian reconstruction tells its own story. The Mariupol–Novoazovsk section, roughly 30 km long, took almost three years to rebuild — from autumn 2022 to spring 2025.

The distance from Mariupol to Dzhankoy is around 400 km.

At this speed, reconstruction of the so-called “Azov Ring” would take eight to ten years at best. Yet in the information space it is already presented as if the system is fully operational and dramatically changing military logistics.

So once again we see a familiar chain:

Russian statement → international media → retransmission into the Ukrainian information space.

And there is a final detail in this story. The Reuters journalists who wrote this “analytical” piece are originally from Donetsk. They live in Donetsk and reportedly hold both Russian and Ukrainian citizenship.

Which raises a simple question.

Is this truly independent journalism, or simply another channel through which Russian narratives are legitimized through a major international media brand?

Perhaps this is not even a question anymore.
Perhaps it is already the answer.