The Kremlin's propaganda machine will likely use the conflict in Israel to undermine the West's support for Ukraine: ISW

The Kremlin's propaganda machine will likely use the situation in Israel to undermine the West's support for Ukraine: ISW

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• Russian propagandists are capitalizing on the Israel conflict, per the Institute for the Study of War.
• The ISW says Kremlin narratives are now targeting "western audiences" to undermine aid to Ukraine.
• These "information operations" aim to reduce Western support for the Ukraine war, per the ISW.

The Institute for the Study of War says Russia's propaganda machine will likely use the conflict in Israel to erode the West's support for Ukraine.

"The Kremlin is already and will likely continue to exploit the Hamas attacks in Israel to advance several information operations intended to reduce US and Western support and attention to Ukraine," wrote the Washington-based think tank on Saturday.

The ISW wrote in its report that after the Hamas attacks on Saturday, the Kremlin amplified information campaigns that accused the West of ignoring Middle East conflicts to support Ukraine. These campaigns also pushed the message that global attention — in particular, resources from the West — would shift from Ukraine to the Middle East.

The institute cited examples like Russian TV host Sergey Mardan stating in his Telegram channel that the West "will take its mind off Ukraine for a while and get busy once again putting out the eternal fire in the Middle East."

Meanwhile, Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian president and deputy chairman of the Security Council of Russia, also posted similar messages on X — formerly Twitter — on Saturday. Medvedev claimed that "instead of actively working at Palestinian-Israeli settlement," the US and its allies are once again trying to "incite conflicts all over the planet."

"These Kremlin narratives target Western audiences to drive a wedge in military support for Ukraine, seek to demoralize Ukrainian society by claiming Ukraine will lose international support, and intend to reassure Russian domestic audiences that the international society will ignore Ukraine's war effort," wrote the ISW.

Ukraine was indeed left out of a stopgap funding measure passed by Congress on September 30, which averted a US government shutdown until mid November. The temporary suspension of aid to Ukraine came a week after Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visited US lawmakers on Capitol Hill, asking for more US aid.

Putin's war in Ukraine is fast approaching the 600 day mark. The Russian leader claimed on Friday that financial and military assistance from the West to Ukraine gets cut off, the country will be able to "live for only a week."

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