Russia Uses New Tactic Against Ukraine: Stealing Citizens’ Identities to Paralyze the System

The campaign began to show itself around May, when Ukrainian institutions started receiving complaints from citizens demanding urgent action on a range of issues. The messages appeared to address the consequences of Russian attacks, mobilization problems, alleged corruption, security concerns and other current topics.

According to RBC-Ukraine, the operation, called “Postman,” relies on hundreds of purported citizen complaints sent to Ukrainian government bodies, security services and military institutions. In some cases, the operatives use real personal data belonging to Ukrainians. They then build the complaints around genuine events and problems, adding invented or distorted claims.

RBC-Ukraine reported that Russian units involved in the operation sent more than 500 such complaints in June and July alone. Ukrainian institutions responded to just under 100 of them.

The complaints may not look unusual when viewed individually. Their similarities become clearer when many messages are compared. Messages supposedly sent by people of different ages, occupations and regions often follow almost the same structure. After the heading “REQUEST” comes a description of the problem, a conclusion about its alleged danger to the state and society, and nearly identical wording calling on the institution to act.

Other inconsistencies raise further suspicion. In some cases, the name of the person presented as the complainant does not match the name associated with the email address. RBC-Ukraine cited one complaint submitted under the name “Sviatoslav Podlensky” from an address registered to “Vera Savelyeva.” The same address later sent a complaint signed “Stanislav Karpenko.”

The campaign does not necessarily invent events from scratch. The reported complaints draw on real issues already known to the public, including attacks on Ukrainian facilities, disputes involving companies, destroyed petrol stations and mobilization-related questions. Fabricated details or altered cause-and-effect links can then be added to the real event, producing conclusions that do not follow from the facts.