Before the Invasion
The increase in Russian military presence near the Ukrainian borders in November 2021, the recognition of the so-called "LPR" and "DPR" by Russia on February 21, 2022, and the signing of a decree by the President of Ukraine the following day to mobilize reservists are only part of the well-known events that preceded Russia's full-scale invasion. Often overshadowed by the statements and actions of official state actors is the activity of the main participants in historical processes – ordinary citizens. Since Telegram was and remains a popular social network among Ukrainian citizens, it has become an important source for studying everyday practices, opinions, and moods of society before the invasion. Various topics can be explored with the dataset, including:
• How did Russian propaganda deny the possibility of a large-scale invasion into Ukraine and who did it label as the "real" enemies?
Russia categorically does not need the conflict in Donbas, just as it did not need the coup d'état in Kazakhstan. And Russia certainly has no need to attack Ukraine. Armed conflicts and coups d'état around the world in recent decades have been fuelled by certain countries, the list of which can be easily traced, for example, by the traces of stolen oil in Libya and Iraq. Right now we are witnessing another set of ‘hysteria + war’ around Donbass, as it was in 2003 in Iraq and in 2008 in South Ossetia. And I would very much like the USA and the EU to find bright minds capable of realising that today is not 2008 and certainly not 2003
• How did Russian official channels and propagandists prepare the Russian population and the territories of Ukraine occupied since 2014 for the invasion? How was hate speech against Ukrainians disseminated in pro-Russian channels/chats?
That's what I and everyone in Donbas are wondering..... How long, and to what degree should the war reach, so that finally the Russian authorities would say: fuck it all!? And not fuck the and their kind?
In a couple of days, the will face its downfall, though.
Death to the Bandera scum!
Precisely the statements of the junta from the Ukrorreich about the recreation of a dirty nuclear bomb should serve as grounds for a humanitarian intervention in Ukraine. Monkeys must not be given a grenade. They will kill themselves and cause injury to others.
• How did tensions among Belarusians increase in connection with the joint training of the armed forces of Belarus and Russia "Zapad-2021"?
Between July 21, 2021, and August 20, 2021, 29 military trains with military equipment and personnel of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation arrived in the territory of the Republic of Belarus as part of the joint strategic exercise of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Belarus and the Russian Federation 'Zapad-2021'
The railway, as always, provides the whole range of services: transporting convicts (zeks), tobacco smuggling, fake oil and gas, echelons with Russian military and Rosgvardia troops. Shame about the road.
>Maybe the rails can be dismantled.... >The train set lowered from the rails is more spectacular, and if it's with soldiers it's gorgeous in general.
• What evidence of invasion preparation was documented by human rights organizations?
In France, 'marginals' have become more active, gathering ‘volunteers’ to open local ‘DNR offices’ in different regions of the country For several years now, the so-called ‘representative office’ of the ‘DPR’ has been operating in France, which has a Facebook page. It distributes openly anti-Ukrainian materials calling for support for the occupation regime in eastern Ukraine. On 23 January this year, a message appeared on this page with with the following text: "We are looking for volunteers to open a local office of the DPR in France. All regions except Normandy, Provence, Ile-de-France. Contacts..."
⚠️ INFORMATION ABOUT THE EVACUATION FROM THE ORDLO
ℹ️ Today, the leaders of the ‘LDPR’ PMF announced the evacuation of the local population to the Russian Federation.
!! Lists for evacuation were drawn up earlier. Now journalists
RF journalists working in the LDPR are already editing stories with video about the evacuation of the local population.
!! Now they are evacuating children and people of advanced age from social type institutions (orphanages and homes for the elderly);
!! Men of conscription age are not allowed out!
Evacuate and let through the border of the ORDLO and the Russian Federation residents
ORDLO residents with Russian passports. Others are not allowed to pass.
Additional information will be communicated.
⚠️INFORMATION ABOUT THE SITUATION IN ORDLO
!! The leaders of the ‘LDPR’ announced a field mobilisation of men from 18 to 55 years old. As of this morning, military commissions of the LDPR are already contacting enterprises and conscripts;
!! Military-type educational institutions in the ORDLO are also in mobilisation mode;
!! Entry to the territory of ORDLO from the Russian Federation is prohibited, local businessmen who yesterday and earlier went to Rostov and Moscow to buy goods cannot return today;
!! Today there will be an emergency meeting of the so-called ‘people's councils’ of the Russian Federation.
‘OF THE SO-CALLED ‘PEOPLE'S COUNCILS’ OF THE LPR AND DPR. An appeal for military assistance to the Russian Federation from the ‘LPR’ and ‘DPR’ FPR is being prepared.
• What calls were made within religious organizations of different confessions in anticipation of Russian military aggression?
Mufti of the Religious Administration of Muslims of Ukraine ‘Ummah’ Said Ismagilov, in an interview with Spanish and English TV channels, answered, among other things, the question of whether Ukrainian Muslims will defend the country from Russian aggression.
"Journalists from the Spanish TV channel TVE and the Sky News channel from the United Kingdom today (2 February 2022 - Ed.) asked whether Muslims will defend Ukraine and how they will defend it from Russian aggression. Javelin, NLAW, unbridled rage and prayers! Prayers are a must!" Sheikh Said wrote on his Facebook page.
The UCCRO calls on the Presidents of Ukraine and Russia to exchange all prisoners as a step towards de-escalation of the situation.
"An eloquent expression of the goodwill of the parties to resolve the situation through diplomatic means could be the actual implementation of the agreement on the exchange of conflict-related detainees on the terms previously agreed upon within the Normandy format."
The All-Ukrainian Council of Churches and Religious Organisations addressed this call to the President of Ukraine and the President of the Russian Federation.
• How did Ukrainian Telegram channels express their concerns and doubts about the reality of the invasion? What predictions did experts and opinion leaders make before February 24, and did they foresee the start of a hot phase of full-scale war? What terms and dates were mentioned?
In the event of a rf invasion you will be Anonymous poll
-Kill the occupiers
- Run to the ATM
- I don't give a shit, I'm against war
- The rf invaded in 2014 if anyone forgot
- Evacuate to the EU.
- I'll call the guys, ask where they are and go for the scalps of the Katsaps.
- Vova will definitely chicken out, I don’t believe he won’t chicken out.
- I don't give a fuck, I'm a military man.
- I'll surrender. It's not my war.
- I'll kill my neighbours first, then those who voted for and , and then I'll take on the Katsaps.
But the danger of direct aggression has not passed! The constitutions of the so-called LDPR state that their borders are the administrative borders of the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts as they were at the time of Ukraine's independence in 1991.
The invasion scheduled for today did not take place only because of the unprecedented unity of the West, which made it clear to Putin that by attacking Ukraine, he would start a second World Cold War.
And Ukraine today has received perhaps the last chance to preserve its statehood.
How it will be used depends on each of us....
• What did users of urban chats discuss before February 24, and how did the topics of their discussions change afterwards? What new words began to be used after the start of the full-scale war?
>Good afternoon. Please advise where you can go for feeder fishing. I live in the neighbourhood of the 12th quarter. No car, that not far. Thanks in advance
>Sura is an option, but I don't know if there's anything there now.
>Yes. There were rockets flying at the .
>It's from the left bank somewhere
>You could hear it on Pobeda.
>We woke up and saw it
>On Kirov too
>The flashes were like in the direction of the airport.
• How did the catastrophic event affect the sharp change in established topics of discussion in specialized chats, for example, in economic chats focused solely on buying and selling various goods and providing services?
Selling Panasonic bread maker. Used not often bread bakes exceptionally and very tasty, has a Dispenser for adding cereals and nuts. Price 3000grn tel.[...]
>Who is going to the border with Romania tomorrow?
>Why go there tomorrow?
>Rats run first
>I have a daughter too, and I don't know what to expect. But we're not going anywhere.
It's so scary
>Everything's gonna be okay!!!!!!
These are just some of the possible questions that can be answered with this dataset. The primary goal of the dataset is to facilitate the search for archival material for conducting, among other things, comparative studies of the period before and after the invasion.
The archival units in this dataset are organized chronologically. The set includes only those units that contain materials up to February 24, 2022.
Primarily, we archived only a few days before the invasion. Of the 240 archival units, 89 were archived from February 22, 2022, 21 from February 23, 2022, and 17 from February 21, 2022. 25 archival units were archived from 2021 or earlier (in most cases, this is archiving from the channel's inception).
We did not immediately start collecting data for the period before the full-scale invasion. We loaded materials from February 24, 2022, during the initial stages of urgent archiving. Later, a decision was made to archive messages from earlier periods. As a result of this decision, some thematic blocks contain more materials up to February 24, 2022, than others. This does not indicate a prioritization of some topics over others.
The dataset contains 240 archival units: 159 channels and 81 chats. 164 archival units are classified as sensitive data, while 76 are classified as moderately sensitive data (for more information on the data sensitivity levels, see the project’s report Access, ethical and legal issues section).
The illustrations are taken from the Telegram Archive of the War.
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