Keeping an eye on Oleshky. The Kremlin and its propaganda operations targeting the White House

Until a few months ago, few had heard of Oleshky, the town that Moscow is holding hostage. Few knew the reality of a place caught between two front lines – starving and cut off – which Ukraine monitored with drones whilst Russia used it as a shield against those very drones. Today, Oleshky is a household name, a symbol. According to Il Foglio’s findings, there is a possibility that the Kremlin has begun to turn the humanitarian truce into a propaganda spectacle. It has done so in the past when Mariupol, the besieged city, was rebuilt and propaganda cameras showed its rebirth from the ruins – a scene intended to appear as a moment of celebration for Moscow. In Oleshky, there are no rebuilt theatres to show off, but there are ruins and an impoverished population who might be subjected to one final injustice: becoming part of the propaganda to demonstrate that Kyiv is the problem, that it refuses to accept the fact that Russia has now arrived there. Images from Oleshky will reach the White House, and what is shown may influence a U.S. president who, in recent weeks, has resumed humiliating Ukraine, boasting of his friendship with Kremlin leader Vladimir Putin, and parroting Moscow’s propaganda that Kyiv does not want peace. Russia is exploiting Trump and is openly relishing the opportunity; even supplying him with images from Oleshky—turning a tragedy into a farce—is part of the war waged so far. Everything that emerges from Oleshky over the coming days must be analysed, observed and examined in depth. Putin has already accused Kyiv – he did so whilst speaking on the telephone with the Pope, Leo XIV – and a humanitarian operation risks turning into a propaganda campaign aimed at the world and, above all, at Washington. In winter, Moscow’s invasion struggles far more to advance; the Ukrainian army’s Operation Vivaldi has forced Russian soldiers to retreat. What Putin cannot achieve on the battlefield, he is now seeking at the White House; Oleshky and its story are caught right in the middle.