War and Inclusivity: How Enemy Propaganda Seeks to Deteriorate Ukrainian Perception of People with Disabilities

The team of analysts at Detector Media examined over 18,000 messages in the Ukrainian segment of social networks to identify key propaganda manipulations regarding ableism — the systemic discrimination against people with chronic illnesses and disabilities in Ukraine.

Читати українською

People with disabilities are a vulnerable group targeted by Russian propaganda. The Kremlin not only instrumentalizes and stigmatizes these individuals but also speculates on the very concept of “disability/loss of function” for its selfish purposes. Moreover, the Ukrainian social sphere is already loaded with stereotypes. For example, such individuals are often excessively glorified or pitied; in the Ukrainian segment of social networks, people with disabilities are portrayed as “unfortunate,” “unpleasant,” “incapable,” or “angry.” The issue of disability has become particularly acute in the context of the full-scale invasion. Russian military aggression in Ukraine and the daily war crimes of the invaders lead to severe injuries — affecting both military and civilian people. They can suffer injuries that lead to deterioration of health and disability, meaning certain limitations in a person’s life activities due to illness or the effects of injuries. Disability should be considered not as a “physical obstacle” for individuals to function in a certain environment but as barriers they encounter daily: stereotypes and judgments about people with disabilities, economic and institutional barriers, and even limited access to information and communication.

Like any democratic country that cherishes human rights values at its core, Ukraine strives to create conditions for equal access for all people with disabilities to fundamental human freedoms. According to the Minister of Social Policy, Oksana Zholnovych, there are currently 3 million people with disabilities in Ukraine. She also added that this number has increased by approximately 300,000 during the year and a half of the full-scale war. In December 2023, during the summary meeting of the Accessibility Council, Ukraine’s First Lady Olena Zelenska stated that it is the Ukrainian military that makes this issue visible. During the meeting, it was also explained how Ukraine has been striving to implement projects to ensure accessibility for Ukrainians. The Ministry of Economy has introduced a program to compensate employers who create jobs for professionals with disabilities. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Reintegration is developing state construction norms that consider accessibility requirements. The Ministry of Digital Transformation has introduced new standards for digital communications of public authorities, focusing on expanding inclusive digital opportunities for people with disabilities and involving every citizen in the nation-building process. Additionally, the Ministry of Social Policy has improved the system of the provision of social services for people with disabilities. These are just the institutional changes; there are also a number of initiatives in the social, educational, and civil sectors. Currently, we observe a positive dynamic, visibility of the issue, and the fact that it does not go unnoticed in the Ukrainian discourse — barrier-free access is becoming effective, not merely nominal. There is still much work to be done in Ukraine, but democratic openness allows human rights defenders to speak about the problems and, consequently, to contribute to certain solutions. 

The research was conducted by Lesia Bidochko, Yehor Brailian, Kostiantyn Zadyraka, Vitaliy Mykhailiv, Andriy Pylypenko, Oleksiy Pivtorak, Pavlo Rud, Oleksandr Siedin, Orest Slyvenko. The visualizations were designed by Nataliya Lobach.

During the 1980 Olympic Games in Moscow, a Western journalist inquired whether the Soviet Union would participate in the first Paralympic Games, set to take place later that year in Great Britain. The Soviet representative’s response was quick, firm, and perplexed, “There are no disabled in the USSR!” This denial of the very existence of citizens with disabilities essentially meant a policy of alienation and social distancing within the state socialism framework. Historically, in the countries of the Soviet bloc, people with physical and mental conditions were stigmatized, a trend that has persisted in modern Russia, where its propaganda uses this topic to its advantage. Moscow perpetuates a discriminatory policy towards people with disabilities and exports it as disinformation campaigns against Ukraine, spreading toxic stereotypes that Ukrainian society tries to combat. In Russia, data about people with disabilities are systematically silenced and concealed. In September 2023, journalists from the Russian branch of RFE/RL discovered that Russia’s social fund ceased publishing data from the federal register of persons with disabilities (the original Russian title — федеральный реестр инвалидов, Federal Register of Invalids). Even a seemingly insignificant detail like this demonstrates the state-level attitude towards disability, which later projects onto the social level: the absence of proper and sensitive language in legislation, the total violation of the rights of people with disabilities; mobilization of people with disabilities to the frontline, lack of decent living conditions, and more.

During the monitoring period, Detector Media analysts observed an increase, compared to other monitoring periods, in vulnerable groups, Russian information attacks against people with disabilities in Ukraine; or exploitation of the very topic of “disability.” For example, Russians lied that Ukrainian officials wanted to abolish the status of a person with a disability in order to send as many people as possible to the front. However, it was actually about a bill that proposed replacing the status of disability with an assessment of loss of function. The fundamental goal of such an initiative is Ukraine’s rejection of the post-Soviet model of defining disability, which only provides “benefits and compensations” — a practice still prevalent in Russia. The lawmakers’ idea is that the respective changes will help create more opportunities for people with disabilities: access to education, retraining, vocational rehabilitation, and more complementary rehabilitation options. Ukraine’s task is to integrate a person with a disability into society and create proper conditions for interaction with everyone, in other words, do everything so that they do not feel barriers as they live their lives. There is a need to normalize the state and society’s attitude towards people with disabilities and consider their needs on par with the needs of other society members; thus, we must cultivate diversity and primarily consider the needs of such people.

In its disinformation messages, Russia deliberately spreads stereotypes that poison Ukraine’s social fabric, specifically by showcasing only visible disabilities. This includes individuals who might be in a wheelchair, missing a limb or have noticeable hearing or vision impairments. However, disability can be diverse: intellectual, psychosocial, and sensory. It’s crucial to understand this, as Russian propaganda, through the stigmatization of people with disabilities, aims to intimidate Ukrainians by claiming that Ukraine will not be able to assist people with disabilities, leaving them helpless and unable to fend for themselves. Propagandists often focus on severe injuries, suggesting that the “fate” of Ukrainians, if they remain in the country, is to “end up in a wheelchair.” It’s important to note that the following messages will primarily contain information about visible disabilities, considering our selection and the frequency or mass nature of propagandist inserts. The formulations in the quotes are preserved as originally written and mostly lack correct terminology. For example, it’s more appropriate to say “person with a disability,” not “invalid,” “person with limited abilities,” or “person with special needs.” It’s also more fitting to use the phrase “has a disability” rather than “suffers from,” “confined to a wheelchair,” or “victim of something.” And there aren’t “normal and healthy people” — there are simply people who do not have a disability.

Methodology

The team of analysts of the Detector Media Research Center examined 18,274 posts in the Ukrainian segment of Facebook, YouTube, Telegram, and Twitter, provided by Semantrum and LetsData. The monitoring period spans from July 27 to November 27, 2023. Read here for more details on the methodology for obtaining and processing data.

By the Ukrainian segment, we mean posts from profiles, pages, groups, and channels located in Ukraine, those that specified their location as Ukraine, or those identified as Ukrainian by data providers. We refer to social media accounts or communities that regularly spread Russian propaganda or promote a Russia-friendly agenda in a veiled form as pro-Russian social media users. To avoid spreading propagandist statements, we only quote primary sources and name them only when absolutely necessary. All publications in Russian were translated into Ukrainian.

“Consider It ‘Another’ AFU, Albeit of Invalids”

During the monitoring period, Russian propagandists simultaneously asserted two points: that the Ukrainian army would soon be mass-mobilizing people with disabilities and that the Armed Forces already consisted significantly of people with disabilities. Thus, the prophecy of a tragic “disabled” future for the Armed Forces is supported by assumptions that such a future has already arrived. Such messages are often presented in the form of ironic exaggeration. Irony in such messages acts more as an alibi, allowing the spread of blatant disinformation. In any case, the emotional message propagandists need is conveyed. “It is planned to review 170,000 decisions on exemption from conscription due to health conditions. Consider it ‘another’ Armed Forces, albeit of invalids,” says one pro-Russian propagandist resource. Simultaneously, related resources describe the supposed current state of the Armed Forces, “In the ranks of the Ukrainian army, everyone is quite the pick of the bunch — HIV-infected, amputees, and insane” or “Following the HIV-infected, disabled, and psychopaths into the last battle go the amputees.”

Propagandists describe in their imagined reality various contexts for transforming the Ukrainian Armed Forces into an “army of the disabled.” The messages can be grouped and summarized into two most prevalent themes. Firstly, propagandists communicate that the Armed Forces of Ukraine are supposedly being reluctantly replenished with people with disabilities due to the exhaustion of healthy mobilization material. “Ukraine finds itself in a rather peculiar situation: the healthy part of the society is depleting, leaving only the lame, the squint, and the wretched,” vividly conveys such a message Andriy Pinchuk, one of the military leaders of the so-called “DPR.” “There are also raids in the villages, scooping up everyone: the crooked, the squint, alcoholics, and rural disabled without fingers,” one of the popular anonymous pro-Russian Telegram channels describes the mobilization in Ukraine.

The second supposed reason for the replenishment of the Ukrainian army with people with disabilities, according to Russian propaganda, is the unwillingness of the political leadership to demobilize people from the AFU who acquired disabilities during military service. “Group 1-2 invalids can’t demobilize so as not to spoil the image of political success,” suggests one of the resources, implying that Ukrainian leaders are hiding military personnel with disabilities from the public. Sometimes, this claim included specific details. For example, a number of reports during the monitoring period mentioned an allegedly hidden battalion of amputees in the Mykolaiv region, “Near Novyi Buh, there are about a battalion of soldiers, all of them invalids, almost all with amputated limbs, who receive from 500 to 860 hryvnias per month. They are not allowed to go home to avoid paying for their injuries and because of the new law that says there are no disabled people, only people with limited physical capabilities.” It should be noted that some Ukrainian military personnel do indeed return to the ranks of the AFU after severe injuries, amputations, and prosthetics, but they do so voluntarily.

Sometimes, these two statements about the mobilization of people with disabilities and the lack of demobilization of wounded soldiers were combined into an overall statement about the soldiers with disabilities at military enlistment offices who are forcibly mobilizing men, including those with disabilities. For this purpose, Zelenskyy’s statements and decisions to replace the heads of military enlistment offices with military personnel wounded at the front were speculatively used. “‘Armless’ and ‘legless’ invalids are abducting men from the streets,” emphasized one of the pro-Russian resources. Thus, to devalue the Ukrainian army, the Russian agitprop ultimately arrived at the claim of “invalids mobilizing invalids.”

The disinformation about the Ukrainian “army of invalids” is used by Russian propaganda to boost the fighting spirit of Russians, suggesting that fighting such an army would be easier. “Expecting that people with health limitations will fight as well as those in good health is unreasonable... there is a high chance that citizens in this particular category will be most likely to surrender, where medical aid will definitely be provided,” stated one of the pro-Russian online resources.

It’s no secret that in the context of full-scale war, the Russian army outnumbers Ukraine in terms of manpower. Despite Russia having more military personnel, it urges Ukrainians not to fight as part of numerous information manipulations aimed at hindering the mobilization process in Ukraine, suggesting that only two outcomes of the war exist for them, “either death or disability.” Spreading this message, a Russian propagandist writes, “For those in Ukraine who are threatened with mobilization, I advise against taking up arms, as by wearing a military uniform, you become a LEGITIMATE military target and will be destroyed, like hundreds of thousands of AFU soldiers, and if you end up an invalid, no one in Ukraine will ever help you.” The duties of Ukrainian citizens to defend the independence and territorial integrity of the country, perform military service according to the law, or even attempt to repel the aggressor country are, of course, not mentioned in this propagandist message and similar ones.

It’s noteworthy that propagandists add a third option — a suggestion for the course of the war for Ukrainians already serving. They suggest, for their safety, that the best decision would be to lay down arms and surrender to Russia rather than fight because “the lives of Ukrainian soldiers mean nothing to the military chiefs and political leaders of the regime (the so-called ‘Kyiv regime’ — editor).” For example, for those Ukrainians already mobilized but not wanting to die or become disabled in the war, quisling Volodymyr Saldo, the head of the occupation authority in the Kherson region, on his Telegram channel, recommends surrendering, as this is supposedly the only way Ukrainian soldiers can protect their health or even lives, “Recently, one of the regional military commissioners in the territory controlled by Kyiv said that of those mobilized last autumn, only 10% remain. The rest just served as cannon fodder. The probability of dying or becoming crippled is 90%. But those who surrendered will save their lives. This is a real way out.”

Meanwhile, Russia manipulatively shifts the focus, ignoring the fact that the deaths and injuries of Ukrainians are primarily the result of its criminal armed aggression against Ukraine. During intense hostilities, casualties and injuries are an inevitable fact. However, even in these difficult circumstances, the Ministry of Defense, in cooperation with NATO and Western allies, strives to improve the capabilities of military personnel and the effectiveness of medical aid, thus reducing the number of losses overall. The Ministry of Defense of Ukraine trains Ukrainian soldiers to act in conditions of the enemy’s advantage in numbers and weaponry — its respective units are engaged in the physical and mental preparation of the military for various developments on the front line. According to a publication on the official website of the country’s Ministry of Defense, 12,000 Ukrainian servicemen and instructors, for instance, have already undergone training and qualification improvement within the NATO standards-based DEEP (Defence Education Enhancement Programme) as of November 16, 2023. However, as pro-Russian media and social media users claim, even NATO training supposedly won’t help Ukrainians in combat. For instance, one of the pro-Russian anonymous Telegram channels, without any reference to the source of information, published the following post, “60 percent of soldiers trained in NATO countries have died, another 20 percent are crippled or in captivity… So in theory, help is help… but Ukraine itself is not bad in offensives… well, with CANNON FODDER… if it wants so...”.

Given Russia’s manpower advantage throughout the full-scale war, Ukraine has had to mobilize a considerable number of its own defenders into the Defense Forces. Naturally, propagandists did not miss the opportunity to spread misinformation on this topic. They began to claim things that were, let’s say, not entirely true, “Zelensky’s new mobilization plan – to conscript both disabled people and students – angers even those who lost their minds back during the Maidan.” In August 2023, the so-called “head of the DPR,” Denis Pushilin, claimed that “among the AFU POWs, there were more and more forcibly mobilized people with disabilities.” Allegedly, the Ukrainian government ignores any health restrictions and is willing to conscript almost anyone indiscriminately. Moreover, the soldiers are supposedly deployed without proper training, trying to compensate for quality with quantity. Also, in the Telegram segment, there was a story that allegedly, in Odesa, external military commissars were brought in with the task of fulfilling the mobilization plan by any means, thus supposedly catching everyone indiscriminately. According to the Russian propaganda machine, this chaos was “covered up” by Zelenskyy and Yermak, so the mentioned military commissars were not afraid of anything or anyone, “They catch everyone. They caught a man with epilepsy again and declared him fit. The country is just in a state of chaos. They also kidnapped a guy who has a disabled sister and an elderly mother, and everything depends on him. In short, Zelenskyy is sending the sick, the poor, and the unfit for war people to the army. It feels like his task is just to dispose of as many Ukrainians as possible.”

In the Sumy region, in Shostka, military commissars allegedly wanted to send a young man without a wrist to fight. This story went viral online. The boy turned out to be Oleksandr Denysenko, who, in addition to the loss of a wrist, has had a visual disability since childhood. According to the law, Oleksandr should have been given a deferment and not taken into the army. Eventually, that’s what happened – the Sumy regional enlistment office refuted the “news” about his mobilization. The issue was that since the boy did not update his data with the enlistment office in time, information about his disability was missing. However, some resources managed to pick up this story and began to spread it in a distorted form, “Didn’t Find $5-7 Thousand: Military Commissars in the Sumy Region Sending a Wristless Boy to the Frontline... A visually impaired person from childhood living in Shostka might be declared fit for service in the AFU. Employees of the enlistment office say that his certificates mean nothing, and the public speaks of injustice due to the boy’s lack of connections and money.”

A prevalent technique in propaganda is the manipulation of numbers, either by exaggeration or diminution, aiming to cast doubt on any officially confirmed quantitative information.

Among the analyzed data, in the context of manipulations regarding disability, there has been defamation not only of the Ukrainian government but also of international organizations, particularly NATO. It’s emphasized that not only does the government in Ukraine aim to turn as many people as possible into people with disabilities through forced participation in the war, but supposedly “NATO has its own schedule for ‘gravization’ [portmonteau of “grave” and “mobilization”] and ‘disabilization’ of Ukrainians.” This contrasts with the image of Russia as a country that not only cares for its wounded but also, in the future (implying the occupation of Ukraine), will supposedly take care of Ukrainian WIAs who lost limbs fighting against Russian soldiers.

These messages can be called a variation on a manipulative idea aimed at presenting an image of a “victorious” and “all-forgiving” Russia, and readers are often provoked with questions like, “How will you look into the eyes of Russians who are treating your injured soldiers?”. A derivative of the “Mother Russia” image is used, and Ukrainians, even in the form of injured, maimed Ukrainian soldiers, are supposedly obliged to go back into its fold. Readers are assured that they should think about how they can receive forgiveness from the relatives of those they have destroyed, defending their own land. But this narrative undergoes complete inflation, considering the dozens of testimonies and personal stories of those who experienced torture, untimely medical care, inhumane treatment, and humiliation in Russian captivity, often leading to disability.

Most messages on Telegram channels that deliberately distort the number of Ukrainians injured in combat in one way or another appeal to and refer to the same source, an article by The Wall Street Journal dated August 1, 2023, interpreting its data at their whim. Detector Media has already examined this manipulation. Supposedly, according to various calculations, between 200 to 500 thousand people in Ukraine have already lost limbs, and as many as 50 thousand Ukrainian soldiers have turned to the prosthetic company Ottobock alone. Russian propaganda does not provide any source for the figures of 200-500 thousand people who lost limbs, using the method of “adding zeros” to numbers to exaggerate the issue. This probably refers to the author’s estimate of 200,000 “serious injuries caused by the war” and not to the number of people with amputated limbs. Also, the WSJ article itself clarifies that amputations are necessary only in 10% of such injuries, citing an estimate from the Kyiv-based charity organization Houp Foundation. By manipulating this sensitive topic, Russian propaganda tries to intimidate Ukrainians and encourage opposition to the current government by exaggerating the number of their fellow citizens who have had one or more limbs amputated.

In the analyzed data, there are often unsubstantiated comparisons claiming that the number of Ukrainian soldiers who have undergone limb amputations exceeded the figures of World War I or II. Such comparisons are inappropriate and manipulative, considering that data on the number of amputations during the World Wars vary from country to country, they are not even offered for comparison. Data on the exact number of wounded soldiers in Ukraine during Russia’s full-scale invasion is a matter of military secrecy. From open sources, it can be ascertained that, for example, during World War II, American soldiers suffered non-fatal injuries in 17.7 cases per 1,000 soldiers. American researchers and doctors working with World War II veterans in the post-war period note that among combat participants who entered rehabilitation centers during a certain period, there were up to 17,000 with amputated limbs, while injuries and diseases led to 120,000 amputated limbs among the civilian population (a ratio of 1 to 7). In contrast, Russian propaganda fails to acknowledge the Ukrainian civilians who have been injured and acquired a disability, whether from bombardments or living under temporary occupation in areas either liberated from or still under Russian military control.

“The Social Russia”

“We Will Protect and Coddle, but in Name Only”

Moscow attempts to speculate on the issue of disability regarding many vulnerable groups (children, women, veterans, elderly people) to demonstrate its supposed interest in establishing proper living conditions for such individuals in temporarily occupied territories. Alternatively, to display an affinity for people with disabilities – thereby spreading the notion of its exclusive “peacefulness.” Additionally, within the context of messages concerning the instrumentalization of disability, we have observed systematic justifications for the invasion of Ukraine. The narrative suggests that they are “providing protection” while portraying Ukraine as the sole aggressor. The majority of these messages describe individuals with disabilities who lost functional ability due to “shelling” by the Ukrainian Defense Forces. Essentially, Russia has been trying to exploit each vulnerable group, but now, in the context of how it assists potential persons with disabilities.

Regarding children (this category being predominant among others), propagandists employed classic rhetoric about the “children of the Donbas,” which we have written about before. They portrayed these children as victims of the “Kyiv regime,” previously “shelled by Ukraine,” according to authors of anonymous Telegram channels. Whereas with the arrival of the invaders in the temporarily occupied territories, Russia supposedly managed to reduce risks. They explained that children with disabilities emerge supposedly due to the Ukrainian army, which “kills and maims.” Meanwhile, the Kremlin extends a helping hand and tries, by all means, to prevent shelling, "At the press conference, the ‘human rights commissioner of the DNR’ spoke about the plight of children – those who are left with disabilities for their entire lives due to the Ukrainian army.” They attempted to discredit Ukraine as a failing country, incapable or unwilling to assist children with disabilities, and manipulated the issue of social payments, “In the ‘new regions,’ there are many children with developmental peculiarities. We help them, they receive social aid. If under Ukraine this amount was 5,000 rubles, under Russia it’s an entire 20,000.” Moreover, the messages discussed the situation in the occupied territories, trying to elicit pity. “News about Hamas and the militants’ abuse of children spread around the world in a few days; but somehow no one ever mentioned the ‘children of the Donbas’: since 2014, Ukraine has killed hundreds of children, left them disabled. But no one cares. Everyone is unconcerned.” As we see, such messages are only aimed at evoking strong emotions in readers without any proof. The Telegram channels’ authors are merely speculating on such topics, although in reality, there was no mention of any actual assistance or reintegration of people with disabilities into society. This variety of messages can only be called a profanation of the issue of disability. Indeed, we did not record any effective measures of assistance to persons with disabilities other than references to their “condition” in the temporarily occupied territories and the “hateful Ukrainian Nazis.” The use of children in the context of disability, as the most vulnerable segment of the population, also proves the superficial nature of Russian propaganda: to appeal to pity, emotions, fear, and sadness in order to achieve their goals, including the demonization of Ukraine. Additionally, in our analysis, we found messages supposedly describing the provision of humanitarian aid to children with disabilities, but the messages concerned not only children but were overall sporadic.

However, if we expand the context of vulnerable groups, according to the selection of propagandistic messages we have analyzed, we indeed recorded numerous messages about assistance to people with disabilities. Typically, this also involved humanitarian aid, social payments, or some sort of “charitable” actions. In contrast, it was stated that Ukraine does not want to help persons with disabilities. As a result, there were even contemplations that Ukrainians should be made disabled: with Russia, supposedly in the future, “capturing” Ukrainian lands, will be caring for these people in any case. “Due to the war, it’s necessary to drive out the maximum number of Ukrainians, men and women, making them disabled, who will not be able to work. They will need to be supported and treated, which Russia will do – it will not abandon the ‘cripples’.”

“Russia Takes Better Care of People With Disabilities Than Ukraine”

The above sample of propagandistic messages relates to how Russia uses the phenomenon of disability to cement a noble image for itself. However, in anonymous Telegram channels, there were also direct examples of how Moscow attempts to help people with visible disabilities: providing prosthetics for “war veterans” and others allegedly affected by Ukrainian actions, encouraging humanitarian aid, etc.; they wrote about conducting press conferences where they supposedly tried to address the issue of inaccessibility in Ukrainian cities captured by Russia.

In our sample, we indeed observed messages about assistance to people affected by the war, “A 36-year-old resident of Mariupol, who lost an arm and a leg, was fitted with modern prosthetics,” or they said that authorities are increasing expenditures for persons with disabilities. “Residents of the Donbas are constantly exposed to danger due to hostilities. They suffer injuries from shelling and explosions, losing limbs. They try to help them in the capital’s hospital where a Center for Prosthetics and Rehabilitation was “created exclusively.”

At the same time, propagandists demonstrate all this with the default understanding that Ukrainian military forces are supposedly inflicting injuries on civilians. The messages do not mention that Russia is the primary aggressor and that its actions are causing injuries to both people and military personnel. At the same time, we cannot verify how effectively the Russian system deals with providing special services to people with disabilities.

Although, in some messages, anonymous Telegram sources criticized the Russian government, “The government has reduced compensations for wheelchairs and prostheses for ‘invalids’. It is also concealing data about new ‘invalids,’ including those injured in Ukraine. However, the truth will eventually come out.” We see that the messages about comprehensive help do not align with the criticism of the Russian government regarding people with disabilities.

Of course, the aim of these messages is to convince that the Kremlin does care for vulnerable groups, helps them, launches new initiatives, and tries to create inclusive conditions (for everyone without exception). But this “nobility” is entirely superficial: if the Russians hadn’t attacked, there would be no need to worry about prosthetics for “war veterans”; civilians wouldn’t receive injuries and lose some of their functions; cities wouldn’t turn into ruins and become a physical barrier, for instance, for someone in a wheelchair.

“Zelenskyy Has Prepared a Nightmarish Existence for His Cripples.”

One of the main messages of Russian propaganda regarding wounded Ukrainian soldiers is that the Ukrainian state and society supposedly pay no attention to them, failing to provide treatment, rehabilitation, and recovery. Although serious problems with the rehabilitation system for the wounded are discussed in Ukraine, the propagandists primarily emphasize that these issues are not even being attempted to be resolved, "On the streets of cities, more and more former soldiers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, who have lost limbs, are begging for alms, as the state has forgotten about them as if these people are expendable.”

Propagandists write extensively about the real problems of people with disabilities in Ukraine, referring to surveys by the Sociological group “Rating”, where respondents highlight discrimination in mobility provision, physical access to public places, difficulties in employment, lack of sufficient rehabilitation resources, especially in small towns, and more. The responsibility for all problems is attributed to the current Ukrainian government and the IMF, "The government has failed all reforms, while in the country there are already over 3 million people with ‘lost function.’ While the IMF demands the Cabinet of Ministers to cut budgetary expenses for the disabled, the number of unadapted people with ‘lost function’ is increasing in Ukraine.” The fact that all problems with mobility and discrimination against people with disabilities in Ukraine existed long before the current government and could hardly be resolved under full-scale invasion conditions is not mentioned.

Propagandists very rarely mention the invasion in the context of people with disabilities, omitting the reasons and culprits for the sharp increase in the number of people with lost limbs and other serious injuries in Ukraine. In their narrative, Ukraine itself is to blame, "Zelenskyy has prepared a nightmarish existence for his cripples. Ukraine is self-destructing with half a million killed and three million disabled” (the absurd numbers of such losses have even been denied recently by Russian Defense Minister Shoigu). Shifting the responsibility for the war to Ukraine is a typical message of Russian propaganda, but in this case, the war is sometimes left out at all, as if the number of people with disabilities is increasing on its own, without Russian shells, mines, and missiles.

From this perspective, Ukraine is also held responsible for not being able to fully cope with the sudden increase in the number of people needing treatment and rehabilitation. Propagandists emphasize that “the Ukrainian government doesn’t have the money to produce a sufficient number of prosthetic limbs for servicemen” and that “the country is experiencing problems with a shortage of expert personnel for caring for people with amputated limbs, each requiring an individual prosthesis.” To these claims, which are recognized and discussed in Ukraine, they add a broad, overtly propagandistic generalization that “civilians generally cannot afford treatment.” Thus, propaganda not only conceals the direct cause of the situation but also adds lies to the facts, darkening the already grim colors with which the Russian invasion has covered Ukraine.

Propagandists discuss not just the state’s attitude toward soldiers with disabilities but also the supposed negative attitude of Ukrainian society in general. The standard propaganda strategy is to generalize individual cases of discrimination against military personnel with disabilities, presenting them as “the real attitude of Ukrainians towards servicemen who have received serious injuries in combat.” This approach was evident in the way propagandistic Telegram channels presented the case of a Georgian volunteer warrior who was denied apartment rental. According to the soldier’s wife, Katrina Kalaitanova, the refusals were specifically due to the reluctance to rent an apartment to a person with a disability.

The story gained widespread attention, and the LUN company, which posts rental advertisements, apologized to the couple and removed listings from the respective landlords from their platforms. Ukraine’s Ombudsman, Dmytro Lubinets, also spoke on similar cases, condemning discrimination based on disability and stressing its potential legal consequences. However, Russian propagandists omitted the reaction of Ukrainian society and state representatives in their messages, instead highlighting and generalizing the problematic case, "Negative attitudes towards servicemen who returned from the front with disabilities are growing in society.” Another Telegram channel, in the message about the incident with the Georgian soldier, mentioned a broader social context, supposedly explaining why apartments are not rented to military personnel with disabilities, "Payments are minimal, so people engage in shadow schemes and crime, live in poverty, the number of drug addicts/alcoholics is increasing. A separate problem is post-traumatic disorders. People are irrational, aggressive. They snap, kill, fight, maim.”

It should be noted that the tactic of demoralizing wounded Ukrainian soldiers, supposedly by negative societal attitudes towards them, is employed not only by anonymous Telegram channels but also directly as an element of pressure during interrogations of prisoners. Soldier Illia Mykhalchuk, in an interview with The Washington Post, recounted how, while in captivity of the Wagner militants, both his hands were amputated, and then, during interrogations, they tried to make him doubt how other Ukrainians would perceive him after being released from captivity. According to Mykhalchuk, the interrogations were not aimed at obtaining testimony but rather at psychological torture and undermining Ukrainian values and solidarity with other prisoners. These are the same objectives pursued by Russian propagandists, mocking Ukrainian people with disabilities and injuries resulting from Russian military actions.

Russian propaganda attempts to depict social support for people with disabilities in Ukraine as follows: the government does not care for its citizens at all. Due to the war, the majority of Ukraine’s population will consist of “people with disabilities.” As “the West will no longer give money,” they will be forgotten. And Ukraine will transform (in the imagination of Russian propaganda) into a territory of homeless people without limbs.

Such messages aim to achieve several goals: to sow division in Ukrainian society and distrust between Ukraine and partner countries and once again demonstrate the ineffectiveness of Ukrainian state institutions. This fits into the overall narrative promoted by Russia about Ukraine as a failed state. That Ukraine, supposedly “at the behest of the West, is cutting expenses for the disabled, while their number continues to grow due to the war and significant losses on the front.”

One pro-Russian Telegram channel wrote that Ukraine sends people with disabilities to demine territories to avoid paying them social assistance, "The Ukrainian government has devised several ways to involve people with disabilities for military needs. They are made into sappers, military commissars, or simply sent back into the fighting, turning a blind eye to their unfitness for service.”

However, Russians provide no evidence that Ukraine sends people with disabilities to demine areas. Ukraine and its partners are looking for ways to use modern technologies to demine effectively. As stated by Ukrainian Prime Minister Denys Shmyhal in an online speech at the International Donors’ Conference on Humanitarian Demining in Zagreb, there are currently 3,000 sappers and 29 mechanized demining vehicles. And only in the sick imagination of Russian propaganda can people with disabilities be involved in demining.

According to Russian propaganda, Ukraine does not want to provide social benefits to people with disabilities. Instead, those wounded in the war are supposedly left with nothing. Pro-Russian Telegram channels actively write, "If there’s no money in the budget for social welfare, you can always come up with some atrocity, calling it ‘care for human dignity’ or ‘in Ukraine, they want to turn the disabled into ‘partially incapable of work’ and deprive them of benefits’.”

Considering the Russian-Ukrainian war, Ukraine indeed faces challenges with social policy regarding servicemen who have been injured and then seek appropriate state assistance. Returning from the front to civilian life, veterans must go through bureaucratic procedures (military-medical commission, medical-social expert commission). Apart from the primary tasks of medical and psychological rehabilitation of people returning from the war, there is also the issue of veterans’ employment.

The main legislative document regulating social support for people with disabilities is the Law “On the Fundamentals of Social Protection of Persons with Disabilities in Ukraine.”

How can a person who has defended the country and, for example, lost a limb, continue to lead a civilian life? It is difficult to give a concrete answer to this question given the existing bureaucracy.

As Ukraine has an active civil society, the challenges for people with disabilities and their overall social support are not hidden but discussed.

In September 2023, the NGO Fight for Right published the Agenda for Reforms Demanded by People with Disabilities for 2023-2024. It summarized the current problems of people with disabilities: ensuring the receipt of necessary social services at the regional level, accessibility of public and railway transport, access of internally displaced persons to architecturally accessible housing, construction, and opening of new boarding houses.

Representatives of the NGO Right for Fight identify key problems requiring systemic solutions in Ukraine, including the bureaucratization of the disability determination process, the failure of the health assessment system to follow the International Classification of Functioning, corruption in the process of disability determination, and an insufficient number of military-medical commissions (bureaucratic barriers).

In 2023, the human rights NGO Pryncyp was established, aiming to foster respect for servicemen by the government and society. Representatives of Pryncyp have analyzed the challenges in communication between the government and veterans, conducting a sociological study, "The Path of the Wounded: Needs, Problems, and Visions for the Future,” and published the analysis “From Injury to Return: An Ethnographic Study of the Path of Veterans and Their Relatives.”

The analytical documents noted that veterans expect “appropriate infrastructure adapted to the needs of people with limited functionality.” This extends beyond the work of government institutions (Ministry of Veterans Affairs, Ministry of Social Policy of Ukraine, Ministry of Defence of Ukraine) to healthcare institutions, which require reforms towards inclusivity for people with disabilities.

NGO Pryncyp’s research highlighted the imperfections in the interaction of veterans with public authorities after injury, adversely affecting the emotional and physical state of the wounded and their families. Thus, for wounded soldiers, the war does not end with injury, as they must fight for social services from the state while and to preserve their human rights (the right to dignity).

However, there have been some advances in rehabilitation: since June 2023, the duration of rehabilitation (from two cycles of 21 days per year to eight cycles and consequently 168 days) has been extended. This decision was announced by the Ministry of Health of Ukraine in June.

NGO Pryncyp developed a legal navigator for various groups: military personnel, wounded military, families of military and veterans, and veterans. This will help navigate the legal nuances of undergoing military-medical and medical-social expert commissions, obtaining the official recognition of their disability, and gaining the status of a combat participant.

The problems faced by the military relate to the broader issue of accessibility in Ukrainian society, covering various aspects of life from public transport to the workplace. Unlike in Russia, where there is an authoritarian leader and a lack of pluralism, these issues are publicly discussed in Ukraine as it builds an inclusive society without discrimination.

In October 2023, the charitable organization Asotsiatsiya Inkliuzyvnoyi Krayiny (Association of the Inclusive Country) announced the launch of the Pratsiui (Work!) social project, a job platform for people with disabilities.

While there are concerns expressed by relatives of wounded soldiers that if they do not care for them, no one will, it is through the formation of a societal dialogue that any difficulties can be overcome, including defeating the Russian aggressor.

By exploiting the topic of people with disabilities, Russian propaganda attempts to achieve their stigmatization within society, hinder their social integration, and create the impression that the problems of this social group are secondary. With the full-scale invasion, propagandists have launched a series of new messages related not only to the “civilian themes” of people with disabilities but also in one way or another touching upon the topic of war. Consequently, they strive to impose the false impression that Ukraine will soon become a country of “amputees” injured during hostilities and that Ukrainians are mass-producing fake health impairment documents to avoid conscription, even though such a step won’t help them, as the government supposedly decided to draft people with disabilities into the Armed Forces. Cynical labels and epithets are applied to members of the Ukrainian Defense Forces in an attempt to equate their physical form with that of people with health impairments. In this way, Russian propaganda demonizes its enemies and portrays them in an uncharacteristic manner, aiming to provoke negative attitudes towards them. Russian propaganda also tries to evoke societal contempt for veterans with disabilities, portraying them as a financially burdensome group for the Ukrainian social protection system, and awaken a sense of acute social injustice, etc.

In Ukraine, people with disabilities face a number of challenges, including inadequate social payments and non-inclusive infrastructure. Hostile propaganda exploits these issues, trying to paint the impression that the Ukrainian state systematically neglects this category of people, and that society has no interest in solving their problems.

Russian propaganda tries to present people with disabilities not as active social players but as objects who need to be cared for and controlled. Russians apply a medical model of disability, which does not take into account the opinions of people with disabilities, instead prioritizing the views of medical professionals, society, and government bodies. Moreover, the responsibility for facilitating accessibility is placed on the person with a disability, not on society and relevant state agencies. It is from these foundations that Russian propaganda spreads a series of manipulative messages with an overtly ableist slant in the Ukrainian segment of social media.

Ukrainian society is more inclusive towards people with disabilities. According to a study by the “Rating” group, 98% of respondents agree that people with disabilities are full-fledged members of modern society, and 90% have a positive attitude towards the idea of considering the needs of these people in the post-war reconstruction of Ukraine. In 2024, the Ministry of Culture and Information Policy of Ukraine is launching the “Culture without Barriers” project, aimed at accessibility in providing cultural services and spaces for all Ukrainians, with special attention to veterans, people with hearing, vision, motor, mental, and intellectual impairments.