Media Literacy and its Role in Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)

Abstract

The vast majority of contemporary conflicts between states are of a hybrid nature. This is due to the complexity of processes taking place in the international arena. One aspect of the hybrid nature of conflicts is the issue of information warfare. The Ukrainian-Russian conflict, which has lasted since 2014, contains all the attributes of a hybrid conflict. Understanding and a thorough analysis of the relations between these countries require the atomization of the scope of the concept of hybrid war and its individual fragments. The authors of this article focus on the issue of information warfare carried out by the Russian Federation in relation to Ukraine and the issue of media literacy in the educational sphere as a tool aimed at counteracting this type of destructive policy by the Kremlin.

Full text

Future Human Image,
Volume 15, 2021
4
Media Literacy and its Role in Countering
Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)
Isabela de Andrade Gama1
Ph.D., Pontical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
(Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
E-mail: isabela_a_g@hotmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0394-2752
Wiktor Możgin2
Jagiellonian University in Kraków (Kraków, Poland)
E-mail: wiktor.mozgin@gmail.com
https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5744-8103
de Andrade Gama, Isabela and Wiktor Możgin (2021) Media Literacy and its Role in
Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine). Future Human Image, Volume 15, 4-13.
https://doi.org/10.29202/fhi/15/1
The vast majority of contemporary conicts between states are of a hybrid nature. This is due to
the complexity of processes taking place in the international arena. One aspect of the hybrid nature of
conicts is the issue of information warfare. The Ukrainian-Russian conict, which has lasted since
2014, contains all the attributes of a hybrid conict. Understanding and a thorough analysis of the
relations between these countries require the atomization of the scope of the concept of hybrid war and
its individual fragments. The authors of this article focus on the issue of information warfare carried out
by the Russian Federation in relation to Ukraine and the issue of media literacy in the educational sphere
as a tool aimed at counteracting this type of destructive policy by the Kremlin.
Keywords: hybrid war, information warfare, Russian propaganda, media literacy, information
education strategies
Received: 5 March 2021 / Accepted: 2 April 2021 / Published: 25 April 2021
© de Andrade Gama, Isabela, 2021
© Możgin, Wiktor, 2021

Media Literacy and its Role in Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)
by Isabela de Andrade Gama and Wiktor Możgin
Future Human Image,
Volume 15, 2021
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Introduction
Contemporary conicts arising in the international arena are primarily conicts over
people’s minds. Military power, which used to be a determinant of the state’s position, today is
only a background for relations between states. This is due to the apparent desire to maintain
balance in the international arena, which is to be guaranteed by international institutions
that keep order in relations between states. However, the situation is much dierent because
countries that had superpower ambitions still have them. What is more, a group of states has
emerged. The processes taking place in the international arena related to the crisis of liberal
democracy and the Western model of statehood has also manifested a desire to dominate for
several years. When conducting a thorough analysis of the space of international relations, it is
reasonable to take into account both the rst and the second group of countries.
Nevertheless, this article deals only with a narrow segment of the sphere of international
relations. It refers to the issue of the Ukrainian-Russian conict in the context of one of
the aspects of hybrid war, which is information warfare and propaganda. Today’s Russian
Federation is implementing a neo-imperial plan to rebuild its former power, is waging a
permanent information war with its opponents. Ukraine, which is within the scope of Russia’s
strategic goals, has been struggling with the problem of destructive Russian propaganda for
several years. It concerns not only the media sphere but also the cultural and educational space.
Therefore, this article aims to present the strategy of media literacy in Ukraine in the context
of the ght against the Russian information war. First of all, attention will be focused on the
education process, which is of fundamental importance for the Ukrainian state.
Understanding the processes related to the issue of information warfare between Russia
and Ukraine requires dening the concepts of hybrid war and hybridism and the scope of the
concept of media literacy. This need results from the complexity and multifaceted nature of
these concepts. Nevertheless, the legitimacy also results from the dynamics of the processes
taking place because despite recognizing the phenomenon of hybrid war by the interested
community of researchers, the understanding of this concept is constantly changing. Therefore,
the next part of the article is theoretical in nature, presenting the conceptual scope of hybrid
war.
Hybrid Warfare: A Broad Denition
Hybrid warfare has been largely explored at the academic level and by the military and
governments, raising many debates around it. It’s essential to bring up some denitions.
According to A Multinational Capability Development Campaign Project (2016-2017), the
denition of hybrid warfare is “clear”: “The international consensus on ‘hybrid warfare’ is
clear: no one understands it, but everyone, including NATO and the European Union, agrees
it is a problem. This report takes the view that in order to solve a problem, one must rst
understand it” (Cullen & Wegge, 2019: 5-7).
This denition says a lot, but the authors try to create some understanding about hybrid
warfare in the same document as follows: “It describes hybrid warfare as the synchronized use
of multiple instruments of power tailored to specic vulnerabilities across the full spectrum
of societal functions to achieve synergistic eects. The relative novelty of hybrid warfare lays
in the ability of an actor to synchronize multiple instruments of power simultaneously and
intentionally exploit creativity, ambiguity, non-linearity and the cognitive elements of warfare.
Hybrid warfare — conducted by state or non-state actors — are typically tailored to remain

Media Literacy and its Role in Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)
by Isabela de Andrade Gama and Wiktor Możgin
Future Human Image,
Volume 15, 2021
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below obvious detection and response thresholds, and often rely on the speed, volume and
ubiquity of digital technology that characterizes the present information age. It concludes that
hybrid warfare is already prevalent and widespread, is used by state and non-state actors, and
is likely to grow as a challenge, justifying new eorts by nations to understand the threat it
presents” (Cullen & Wegge, 2019: 11-15).
Although the term “hybrid warfare” has a denition(s), it still seems a blurred topic to deal
with. Usually, this term is used as something “new”, a “new” type of warfare. Mainly because
it involves communication tools, in the contemporary world, it seems new given the speed
information can be spread throughout the internet, communication apps, and social media. By
denition brought here hybrid warfare can be almost everything. It would be a non-traditional
war; however, it can be present in a traditional war too. It encompasses many elements at the
same time. The novelty is basically the use of digital technology to create threats less visible,
less tangible.
Mostly, the literature on hybrid warfare tends to focus on the cyberwar aspect. Elinor C.
Sloan puts that cyberwar is still in its infancy. For this author, this type of war under development
is raising debates more than answers, governments for example, still don’t know exactly how
to use this tool. Is it better to use it as an oensive weapon of for defense purposes? Dicult
to answer, but for her, the events of 9/11 “helped” develop part of the answer; it’s necessary to
build oensive cyber capabilities (Sloan, 2012: 37-41).
The literature on hybrid wars brings news such as Cyber War breaks with the paradigm of
traditional wars that used only human resources, air force, maritime force, land force. There’s
no clear target at the moment we live. Contemporarily with cyber forces acting, it is dicult to
identify the target and its use. There are no more barriers, limits, borders that cyberwar cannot
overcome. Still, with Sloan, information warfare which is the main focus here, is just a small
part of the so-called “hybrid warfare” (Sloan, 2012: 41-43).
From the moment that it is established here that within the scope as wide as that of hybrid
war literature, the article will deal more specically with informational warfare, contemporary
technologies, advertising, something more focused on the cyber warfare aspect. It is essential
to carry out this delimitation. After all, the hybridity of war can be traced back to very
remote times, considering that the “denition” of hybrid war is broad and encompasses great
variables for unconventional forms of conicts. Informational war is also not new. The use of
information and disinformation to psychologically aect targets has also been carried out in
the past. A great example of this (in a not so remote past) is the Cold War. However, the way
that advertising spreads has taken on a new dimension with the so-called web 2.0 (Aslam,
2020: 1294-1296).
According to James Wither, hybrid war has been gaining more attention since the annexation
of Crimea by the Russian Federation in 2014, as this was a clear case of the multiple forms that
the “hybridity” of a conict could take shape (Wither, 2020: 7-8). It is said that the annexation
of the peninsula took place through guerrilla routes, that is, the use of undercover personnel so
that they would not be identied as Russians, just as the annexation took place through cyber
ways, which would be a means of using the population’s (dis) information and manipulating it.
And this would be a great contemporary feat of hybrid war. It’s almost impossible to distinguish
between war and peace times.
Amid hybrid war, informational warfare plays a crucial role. However, even in the light of
public international law, the use of information dissemination via mass media, social media,
and applications for communication and automatic shots, for example, is still in a gray area

Media Literacy and its Role in Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)
by Isabela de Andrade Gama and Wiktor Możgin
Future Human Image,
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(Kleczkowska, 2019: 76-78). For, in certain situations, it is dicult to prove that specic
actions are being carried out to destabilize an opponent. No wonder States have been using
hackers for this type of action, turning even more challenging to know where the attacks are
coming from (Stancu, 2019: 23-27).
In the case of Ukraine and Crimea, Russia was repeatedly condemned internationally to
use “malicious” information to manipulate public opinion, primarily through the creation of
pro-Russian narratives and cyber-attacks from even within Ukraine (Iasiello, 2017: 53-55). In
addition to using traditional media such as newspapers for manipulating Ukrainian identities.
But Russia is not the only state to use these types of tactics to achieve a dierentiated battleeld.
After all, this is a “war by other means”, perhaps less costly.
As mentioned earlier, this gray area still lacks standards more adapted to this new battleeld
because of international public laws. However, as soon as the states took charge of nding a
way to deal with hybrid wars, they called them war, threats, securitizing the issue that entered
the topic of international security.
Securitizing the issue is a way of addressing this issue, but it is not the only one, and it may
not be the most ecient. Bearing in mind that access to the internet, computers, smartphones,
and social media is growing, dealing with information warfare is also inserted in the civil
sphere, in the scope of individuals, making the control of (dis) information more complicated.
Much research has been done in this context. Noteworthy is, among others, those carried
out in Pakistan and other countries in the region that are exposed to hybrid combat. According
to Shahbaz Aslam (2020), media is so important that his research shows the relevance in
educating people for the use of this “new media”. He mainly uses the example of higher
education students, which makes it valuable for the next part of this analysis. The followings
are the key objectives of this study. To study the use of social media among university students.
To investigate the students’ exposure towards misinformation regarding the security forces
of Pakistan. To measure the awareness of students about critical and creative social media
content about security forces. To explore the role of digital media skills in encountering
propaganda against security forces. Research questions (RQ1): To what extent are university
students aware of social media usage? (RQ2): To what extent students critically evaluate the
social media messages? (RQ3): To what extent students participate in encountering social
media propaganda against security forces? […] The study indicates that university students
are being exposed to propaganda messages. The study reveals that university students are
active in the functional use of social media. Therefore, this alarming situation demands the
enhancement of digital media skills among higher education students through proper training
and learning. Moreover, students’ critical and creative abilities are less compared to students’
functional abilities in consuming social media or the internet. Critical and creative skills are to
be enhanced for countering compete the hybrid warfare on social media (Aslam, 2020: 1295-
1297).
Hybridity of the Ukrainian-Russian Conict
Today, hybridity is becoming a characteristic feature of most conicts. This is because it is
done through a continuous redenition of the basic principles and means of ghting. According
to Frank Homan, the hybrid nature of conicts today means using various methods, including
the use of conventional and unconventional potential, manifested primarily through the use of
information and psychological warfare (Homan, 2007: 14-16). Nevertheless, hybridization

Media Literacy and its Role in Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)
by Isabela de Andrade Gama and Wiktor Możgin
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is a much more complex phenomenon. This is due to, for example, the concept of blurring the
earlier clear divisions between the ways of waging war and, following the considerations of
Herfried Münkler, the loss of the monopoly on the use of violence by the state (Homan, 2009:
36-38). Besides, a characteristic of a hybrid conict is the concept of a network structure,
created by entities involved in the conict and outdating the existing hierarchical system,
which allowed for a reasonably easy way to learn about decision-making centers (Evans, 2007:
5-6). Hybridity is also related to the concept of evolving complexity and disaggregation of the
operating environment.
All the aforementioned features of hybridization can be seen today in the conict in
eastern Ukraine. The Russian Federation, implementing its “proprietary” formula of a hybrid
war, supports the separatist movement in Donbas and refers to various forms of conict, their
coordination on the battleeld, and synergy to increase the eectiveness of actions (Pietras,
2017: 27). A characteristic feature of the Russian hybrid war in eastern Ukraine is, rst of all,
the façade of the legality of the actions taken. Despite evidence of a violation of international
law and taking into account the annexation of the Crimean peninsula and military interference in
the territory of the independent Ukrainian state, the international community cannot eectively
oppose Russia. This is due to the divergent interests of individual actors in the international
arena. Inuencing Russia’s behavior towards Ukraine requires joint action, which is a conditio
sine qua non for the international community, and in particular for the countries of the Central
and Eastern Europe region, which, in line with the American security concept, constitute a buer
zone between the strategic interests of the broadly understood West and the interests of the
Russian Federation. An aspect that also distinguishes the Russian hybrid war in eastern Ukraine
is the use of unmarked military units, which is intended to make it challenging to identify the
militant side.
Moreover, Russia uses local paramilitary structures, providing military and logistical
support, thus building the myth of the civil war in the Donbas (Lanoszka, 2016: 177-178).
Nevertheless, a factor that has played and continues to play a decisive role in this context is the
intensication of Russia’s activities in the eld of propaganda targeting Ukrainian society. This
is a direct reference to the prototype of the Russian formula of hybrid war, which is rebel war,
which was conceptualized in the 1960s by the Russian military strategist Yevgeny Messner.
The assumption of a rebellious war is, rst of all, inuencing the psychological sphere of the
local population. The result of such action should be the approval expressed by the inhabitants
of a given territory towards the conduct of another party (Messner, 2004: 23-27). The most
straightforward tool for this is to use the information trap of propaganda. It allows creating
appropriate attitudes within the society that is the direct target of the attack. The contemporary
conict in eastern Ukraine has just such an intentional basis because the Russian language and
Russian culture within Ukrainian society have become the destructive factor that facilitated the
destabilization of the Ukrainian state from within.
As a result, the issue of information security has become one of the priority areas of the state
authorities in Ukraine. This aspect also found interest among many Ukrainian researchers and
analysts, including, among others, Olga Belova, Volodymyr Horbulin, Dmytro Dubov, Yurii
Opalka, Heorhi Pocheptsov, and Mykola Ozhewan. In their works, they present an analysis
of Russian propaganda in Ukraine from the perspective of, rst of all, media coverage on
television, in the press, and on Internet portals. However, it is worth noting that several target
groups to which the anti-Ukrainian message of Russian media propaganda centers are directed.
It is primarily the population of the Russian Federation, the citizens of temporarily occupied

Media Literacy and its Role in Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)
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Future Human Image,
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territories located directly in the war zone and the inhabitants of the annexed Crimean Peninsula,
as well as the population of Ukraine living in the rest of the country’s territory. What’s more,
the recipient of the Russian message is also the community of third countries. Above all,
European countries’ population occurs via channels such as Sputnik, Russia Today, Ria-Novosti,
LifeNews, or Komsomolskaya Pravda (Boyd-Barrett, 2015: 1018-1021).
It is vital to understand the mechanisms and intentions of the Russian Federation’s actions in
this context. If, in the case of European countries, the Russian propaganda message is intended to
quasi legitimize Russia’s actions, then in the case of a country such as Ukraine, it is a destructive
component which is also one of the basic mechanisms of the ght against the Ukrainian state.
It is also essential to recognize that the massive information attack by the Russian Federation
against Ukraine did not start in 2014 with the intensication of military activities in the east
of the country. The Russian propaganda message has been present in the information space of
Ukraine practically since the establishment of the independent Ukrainian state in 1991. Due to
the low level of professional journalism in Ukraine and the lack of precise legal and institutional
regulations, the Russian message easily reached Ukrainian audiences. The situation changed
dramatically after 2014 when radical measures were taken to combat Russian propaganda in the
state’s information space. Legal acts were adopted to regulate the limits of the Russian language
in the broadcast media content, and activities monitoring the presence of the Russian message on
the Ukraine territory were institutionalized. The ght against the Russian propaganda message
after 2014 has therefore become a priority task for the Ukrainian state.
Higher education is a strategically important sphere in this context. Applying in a metaphorical
way the statement of the contemporary French writer Michel Houellebecq, included in his work
Soumission, that the control of the country, and with it power over it, takes place through the
appropriate education of the young generation and the imposition of cultural patterns that are
to shape attitudes towards a foreign group. Within the society of this country. Therefore, an
essential aspect in the ght against Russian propaganda should be the appropriate education of
young Ukrainians. This article takes into account the higher level of academic teaching. This
is because the authors’ assumption was to investigate the strategy of the functioning of higher
education in the conditions of hybrid war. Students are an exciting research subject because they
are young people who, on the one hand, already have full civil rights, including the opportunity to
participate in elections, and on the other hand, they are a social group that only shapes their views
and attitudes indenitely a more conscious way. Therefore, it is crucial to analyze the methods
used by the Ukrainian state in higher education to counteract Russian propaganda. Compared
to other countries in the region of Central and Eastern Europe, Ukraine is implementing an
extensive program of information warfare. This is correlated with the development of higher
education strategies and cultural education diplomacy, which is becoming an increasingly
important element in the context of information warfare (Svyrydenko, 2018: 140-142). That
is why the next section will present ways of counteracting Russian propaganda, one of the
mechanisms of hybrid war, at higher education in the Ukrainian state.
Strategies for Countering Russian Propaganda
in Ukrainian Universities
The Ukrainian higher education system has been transforming the context of information
policy since 2014. This process is highly complex, and it is necessary to present the conceptual
scope that constitutes the theoretical basis for the discussion on this topic to understand it.

Media Literacy and its Role in Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)
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First of all, the notion of media literacy is noteworthy, as it has been successfully implemented
in the Ukrainian information system and is gaining popularity year by year (Svyrydenko &
Terepyshchyi, 2020). Robert Kubey believed that media literacy is the ability to use, analyze,
evaluate and transport information presented in various ways through various channels of
communication (Kubey, 2001: 31-33). However, media literacy can also be understood as the
process of destroying articially created information structures that harm society. In this regard,
it is crucial to know the principles (rules) and the intentions for which this information was
created. Media literacy is also understood in this context as the ability to interpret information
based on a person’s experience and personal attitudes while taking into account the mental
and cultural conditions of a specic community (Potter, 2015: 24-26). It is also worth noting
that the Ukrainian legislator has interpreted the notion of literary media. The authors of the
Concept of Media Literacy Implementation in Ukraine dened this concept as an element of
media culture, which refers to the ability to use information and communication technologies
and the ability to express one’s opinion through media channels; the eective acquisition of
information on specic topics and the critical evaluation of this information based on the
knowledge already acquired; in the context of online media, media literacy is the ability to
separate real from virtual issues, that is understanding the truth of specic phenomena and
events; moreover, it is the ability to create tools and mechanisms controlling the ow of
information, taking into account the source from which this information comes (Naidonova &
Sliusarevskyi, 2016).
An analysis of the implementation of media literacy into the Ukrainian higher education
system shows that this process is based on an interdisciplinary approach. Several theories
of media literacy were combined, which allowed for comprehensive coverage of the whole
issue. Basically, the approach followed for the Ukrainian education system is based on the
protectionist theory. It is one of the oldest approaches to media literacy, as it dates back to
the 1930s. The premise of the protectionist concept is that the media harm society (Leavis &
Thompson, 1942: XI-XIV). This is because the media has shaken the current order of cultural
development, cutting itself o from ancient classical culture or the Renaissance culture, and
has replaced it with a visual-sound form transmitted via television, radio, and nowadays more
and more often via online platforms. In this respect, there has been a departure from the original
or real sources of information, which has disturbed the ability to think critically and analyze
the incoming information. The ease of obtaining information overshadowed the need to verify
it. From the perspective of the Ukrainian strategy of media literacy in higher education, this
theory is critical. It presents the methodological scope of educating the young generation in the
skills of critical thinking and verication of information sources.
Ethical theory is another concept used in the process of creating the Ukrainian model of
media literacy. It refers to the issue that the media shape certain attitudes and views. Therefore
it is vital to control the ow of information. In the context of the ght against Russian
propaganda, this is an essential element that helps avoid undesirable content in the education
process at Ukrainian universities, which has a destructive psychological and ethical impact on
the young generation (Johnson, 2001: 46-48).
Another theory that was used in the preparation of the Ukrainian model of media literacy
is the concept of critical thinking. It correlates with the protectionist theory but deals more
specically with the codes by which information is transmitted. The theory of critical thinking
is to introduce the skills of analyzing, assessing, and explaining specic processes and
phenomena in the curricula. It was also assumed that it was necessary to develop an attitude

Media Literacy and its Role in Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)
by Isabela de Andrade Gama and Wiktor Możgin
Future Human Image,
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in young people that would negate certain phenomena, which would result in an individual
willingness to check information and compare it with the current state. In fact, it is the
inclination to self-reliance and the willingness to check the information that is the fundamental
postulate of this concept (Tillman-Kelly et al., 2015: 380-382).
Finally, the last theory that has been taken into account is the socio-cultural concept. It
refers to the legitimacy of using the media in the modern world. This theory is, in a way,
a contradiction of the protectionist theory, but only where there is talk of a departure from
classical culture. The socio-cultural concept can be treated as an evolutionary consequence
of the theoretical considerations to date. The assumption is to treat the media, particularly the
so-called media 2.0, as an indispensable element of the present day. This is because today’s
world is a world of information. Due to the globalization processes and the nomadic way of
life, electronic tools help and facilitate human life. This issue, namely the issue of utility,
is essential in the context of the media literacy model implemented in higher education in
Ukraine.
These theoretical assumptions are the basis of the Concept of Media Literacy in Ukraine.
Its main task is to increase the media awareness of the young generation, which is responsible
for the future of their country. In this area, many projects have been launched in Ukraine
in recent years, such as the Remote Teaching Media Literacy Course for Citizens by IREX
and the Academy of Ukrainian Press, or the Stop Fake project, which helps to identify the
discrepancies between the real state and the one presented by the media and one more is the
OSINT Academy project, the creator of which is the Institute of Post-Information Society,
which also inspire higher education on the one hand, and are part of the ght against the
Russian propaganda message on the other. Nevertheless, it is essential to indicate that the
Ukrainian concept of media literacy is currently eectively used by individual universities. Of
course, it is worth noting that not all universities use this program, as there are many logistical
obstacles. It is comforting, however, that in Ukraine, which is involved in a hybrid conict
with the Russian Federation, tools are being developed to counteract one of the elements of
this struggle, that is, disinformation and propaganda by the enemy
The universities that have joined the Ukrainian media literacy program include the
Vinnytsia State Pedagogical University and the V. N. Karazin Kharkiv National University.
Media literacy courses at these universities are based on four primary modules:
1. Knowledge and understanding of contemporary media content.
2. Analysis and evaluation of media sources.
3. A critical approach to obtained information and its verication.
4. Contemporary mass media as eective tools for human functioning.
These assumptions are at the initial stage of their development. Therefore the challenge for
the state is to continue and properly coordinate this process. Looking from the perspective of
the eects of implementing the media literacy program at Ukrainian universities may bring in
a hybrid ght against the aggressor, extending these solutions to other universities is necessary.
Education of a responsible and informed citizen should be a priority for every state. It is
possible through the implementation of appropriate socialization programs, one of which is
literary media. Implementing its assumptions in the higher education system in Ukraine is
undoubtedly a step forward in the competition for the young generation, which determines
the future of your country. Therefore, the expansion and involvement of larger forces in
implementing the media literacy program at Ukrainian universities should be a priority for the

Media Literacy and its Role in Countering Hybrid Warfare (the Case of Ukraine)
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Future Human Image,
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government. Increasing nancial and logistic resources should go hand in hand with increasing
human potential, as the implementation of media literacy requires appropriate knowledge and
experience. Today, this project is under development, but its potential may have far-reaching
signicance, especially in the ght against the Russian aggressor.
Conclusions
Summarizing the above considerations, the authors tend to conclude that the Ukrainian
model of media literacy should constitute an integral part of the educational process, starting
from the youngest. The process of media socialization should include both the intra-Ukrainian
and international contexts. This postulate is justied because literary media can be considered
today on two levels — internal and external. Ukraine should draw experience from, among
others, specialized UNESCO units or institutions such as the Aspen Media Literacy Institute.
Nevertheless, it is vital in this context that the Russian Federation uses the “proprietary” model
of information warfare, which in Ukrainian conditions requires drawing on its own experience.
The matter of Russian propaganda has a characteristic shape that dates back to the Soviet era.
Ukrainian institutions controlling the Russian message to the public in Ukraine are unable to
verify the entire content. That is why the ability of Ukrainians to think critically and verify the
content is so important. The more the authors draw attention to the fact that the Ukrainian state
should ensure the implementation of the strictly Ukrainian model of media literacy because
within the state, it is possible to verify the truthfulness of certain information. However, this
requires more ecient actions on the part of the central government, but above all on the
part of the local government, as the rst verication of information takes place at the local
level. Ukraine has all the necessary prerogatives to control Russian broadcasts, which it has
shown by blocking access to Russian TV channels and social networking sites. However, these
steps did not fully solve the problem. That is why it is necessary to implement media literacy
through educational processes because a conscious society can build a strong state, which in
the present conditions is required for the Ukrainian state.
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