Pro-Russian hackers spread hoaxes to divide Ukraine, allies

As Ukrainians flooded into Poland earlier this year to flee Russian invaders, a hacking group aligned with the Kremlin sought to spread rumors that criminal gangs were waiting to harvest the organs of child refugees.

The network, known to cybersecurity experts as Ghostwriter, seemingly aimed to sow distrust between Ukraine and Poland. It's one of several tactics outlined in a new report that outlines how Russia has used disinformation, fear and propaganda alongside bullets, tanks and soldiers in an effort to demoralize Ukraine and divide its allies.

The unfounded claim made its way into Russian-state media and online platforms popular with far-right groups in the U.S., where posts spreading the hoax have been shared many thousands of times on sites like Telegram and Twitter. The disinformation operation exploited legitimate concerns that Ukrainian refugees could be kidnapped by human traffickers, but no evidence of organ harvesting has surfaced.

“Ghostwriter operations will often piggyback on news stories or recent events,” said Alden Wahlstrom, a senior analyst at Mandiant, the cyber security firm that published the report Thursday. “There are certain motives that are consistent: Undercutting trust in NATO. Creating tensions.”

The report detailed several other Russian-aligned disinformation and propaganda campaigns, including bogus online claims that Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelenskyy had committed suicide or fled Ukraine. In some cases, the campaigns relied on Russian state media or fake social media accounts to disseminate the disinformation. Mandiant also identified cases in which groups linked to Russian intelligence disguised their disinformation as independent journalism. Russian diplomats have also emerged as a key vector for disinformation.

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