A Russian general appeared on state television to celebrate "one of the most massive attacks" on Ukraine's power grid. Then he told freezing civilians to blame their own government.
This is Russia's information war in miniature: bomb the infrastructure, then insist the victims brought it on themselves.
This victim-blaming campaign is central to Russia's hybrid warfare strategy. Moscow couples physical destruction with coordinated information operations designed to convince Ukrainians that their only escape from freezing is surrender on Russian terms.
Thus, alongside the 612 targeted strikes on Ukraine’s energy sector in 2025 alone, Russia floods the media space with distortions designed to cast its invasion as "victorious.”
Russian disinfo tactics during energy grid strikes
Russian generals gloat over civilian suffering
The tone from Russian state media over its assault on Ukraine's lifelines has been triumphalist.
One Russian general, celebrating "one of the most massive attacks with Iskander missiles" on 12 January, made the strategy explicit: "damaged energy facilities [we attacked] are all involved in providing for the military-industrial complex."
In winter conditions, these facilities become critical when heat, water, electricity are turned off."
Pain, the general suggested, was the point. "Let the people decide for themselves whether they need this conflict," the general said—leaving unexplored whether bombing civilians might harden rather than break their resolve.
Blame-shifting tactics
Pro-Kremlin commentators employ a consistent technique: say as little as possible about the actual cause of outages—Russian missiles and drones—while blaming Ukraine's leadership.
One commentator professed sympathy for Kyiv residents before insisting that "the leadership of the [Kyiv] regime, the same people who sit upstairs, on the throne, this powerful bunch in quotation marks, earning fabulous money in blood, do not want to end this war."
A Russian energy expert interviewed by pro-Kremlin media described the war Russia launched as merely a "military crisis" requiring a technical solution: "The longer all this continues, the less stable the energy system is and the longer it will have to be restored."
Framing deliberate attacks as a technical problem allows propagandists to distance themselves from their destruction, all while projecting false concern.
Distorting Western media coverage
Russian outlets have also manipulated Western reporting to amplify their narrative.
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A New York Times article describing Ukrainian civilians' daily struggles to survive the cold was recirculated by pro-Kremlin media. But where the Times covered these hardships with sorrow, Russian outlets appeared to revel in them as evidence that Ukrainian resistance is weakening.
On Telegram, the article was distorted further, with claims that "American journalists" had said "many are tired" of the war and that "it is necessary to make territorial concessions so that everything stops"—a fabrication with no basis in the original reporting.
One Kyiv resident, amidst -15°C temperatures and rolling blackouts, told CNN quite the opposite: "It's a very difficult situation, but better to live in the cold and dark than under a Russian flag."
How Russia manipulates Western media coverage
Part of a broader disinformation campaign
The energy crisis propaganda fits within Russia's wider information warfare against Ukraine, which, according to EUvsDisinfo, accounts for over 40% of all pro-Kremlin disinformation cases in their database.
The campaign follows familiar patterns: deny responsibility, blame victims, amplify any sign of Western fatigue, and present surrender as the only path to relief.
