Ukrainian migrants could become the main target of Russian cyberattacks during the elections, according to an expert
10 April 12:01
EXCLUSIVE
The issue of holding elections in Ukraine remains one of the most widely discussed topics. However, in addition to security and legislative challenges, the threat of manipulation by the aggressor is coming to the forefront. Political scientist and Ph.D. in Political Science Petro Oleshchuk suggests that Ukrainians currently living abroad could become a key target of Russian propaganda. He made this statement in a comment to "Komersant Ukrainian".
According to the expert, Russia is already attempting to dictate the conditions for Ukrainian migrants’ participation in the electoral process.
“We see that the Russians are already manipulating this issue. In particular, they are trying to push conditions regarding the participation in the elections of millions of Ukrainians who are allegedly on Russian territory. At the same time, the aggressor wants to ‘count’ their votes itself. This is a serious challenge, because Ukraine cannot under any circumstances allow the counting of our compatriots’ votes on enemy territory,” Oleshchuk noted.
The greatest threat, according to the political scientist, is to Ukrainian refugees in Europe. Due to the limited number of consulates and the complexity of organizing voting for millions of people, they may find themselves in an “information vacuum,” and Russian propaganda will take advantage of this.
“Citizens abroad are often outside Ukraine’s unified information space, and this makes them an ideal target for attacks. I suspect that some political projects are created exclusively for refugees. For example, the rhetoric of Oleksiy Arestovych may be primarily designed to influence migrant communities,” the expert emphasized.
Oleshchuk also added that the format for voting abroad remains unclear. Embassies will not be able to accommodate all voters, and electronic voting is highly controversial. Therefore, a hybrid option with additional polling stations will likely be chosen. But it is precisely this complex organizational setup that could become a breeding ground for new Russian disinformation campaigns.
“This will be a huge test for Ukrainian democracy. At this point, we cannot predict all the risks, since neither the specifics of the legislation nor the security situation at the start of the election campaign are fully known,” Oleshchuk concluded.
As a reminder,regular local elections were scheduled to take place in Ukraine in October2025, but the full-scale war made holding them dangerous and practically impossible.
