How political advertising flourishes in wartime Ukraine

Regardless of no elections on the horizon, political promoting is progressively ramping up in wartime Ukraine.

Strolling the streets of Kyiv or scrolling by means of social media, you may come throughout commercials that resemble these usually seen throughout election season — with large names and populist slogans.

Beneath martial legislation, political promoting will not be banned. However its look is seen by some as inappropriate in a rustic grappling with a brutal war.

“The actual query is what message these political forces are sending, and what their technique is,” Viktoria Maksymova, an analyst with the political watchdog Chesno, advised the Kyiv Unbiased.

“It is clear that this promoting would not instantly convert into any votes within the elections. Just because there aren’t any elections proper now,” she stated.

Other than outright political adverts, well-known navy commanders and troopers have additionally been noticed in self-promotion. Whereas the adverts aren’t technically political, they could mirror ongoing private branding efforts, the specialists advised the Kyiv Unbiased.

With out scheduled elections, present actions do not quantity to outright campaigning. Nonetheless, specialists consider that whereas politicians search visibility, navy and public figures could also be laying early groundwork for post-war runs.

Some observers consider that when the warfare ends, many servicemen and veterans could enter the political body.

Belief within the Ukrainian navy stays exceptionally excessive. Round 47% of residents consider the navy ought to govern after the warfare, a 2024 ballot showed.

For now, photos of troopers largely seem as a part of recruitment campaigns. But, a few of these adverts, the specialists say, may additionally function early contributions to potential political futures.

Former politician and now commander of Ukraine’s third Military Corps, Common Andrii Biletskyi, has a commanding presence on his unit’s recruitment billboards.

Thought to be one among Ukraine’s handiest fight items, the third Military Corps can also be acknowledged for its daring and visually distinctive recruitment campaigns. A lot of them function Biletskyi. Biletskyi additionally often offers interviews and is now commonly featured in opinion polls, trailing far behind the frontrunners — President Volodymyr Zelensky and ex-Commander-in-Chief Valerii Zaluzhnyi, now Ukraine’s ambassador to the U.Okay.

One other latest advert marketing campaign, which sparked a vivid dialogue, is a collection of billboards that includes Yurii Hudymenko, a veteran and co-founder of the right-wing libertarian Democratic Axe (Demokratychna Sokyra) celebration.

Appointed in January 2025 as the pinnacle of the Public Anti-Corruption Council throughout the Protection Ministry, Hudymenko has appeared in adverts encouraging Ukrainians to report corruption.

The slogan reads: “Your job is to name. Our job is to jail them,” or “See corruption within the military? Name and we’ll type it out.”

Each Biletskyi and Hudymenko don’t deny that they could run for workplace sooner or later, saying that, to start with, the full-scale warfare must be over.

“I consider that the important thing issue for the existence of the state of Ukraine over the following 50–60 years will likely be a safety bloc. That’s the reason I’ve the ambition to modernize the navy bloc as a lot as attainable and make it fully-fledged,” stated Biletskyi in a latest interview, when requested about his political ambitions.

Olha Snopok, analyst on the election monitoring non-government group OPORA, views these examples as efforts at private branding aimed toward boosting one’s visibility within the public area. When a trusted determine endorses an thought, she says, persons are extra more likely to act — for example, by becoming a member of the military.

“Alternatively, this sort of PR can certainly lay the groundwork for a future political profession,” the professional stated. “It will increase identify recognition, shapes a sure public picture, and thus helps construct social capital.”

Political promoting is extensively circulating on-line as effectively, together with within the Telegram messaging app, which stays the most well-liked supply of knowledge for Ukrainians, in keeping with the newest survey performed by SOCIS.

Ukrainian politicians have tailored effectively to Telegram. A lot of them have their very own channels and submit data to focus on their audiences.

Promoting on Telegram, a platform created in Russia over a decade in the past, might pose a fair higher problem within the post-war election season, in keeping with Snopok.

At this time, Telegram permits a number of nameless channels that share plenty of posts which look like unmarked promoting, resembling posts about an oligarch’s charity basis serving to the navy. There are quite a few posts selling Yulia Tymoshenko, a Ukrainian veteran politician and chief of the Batkivshchyna (Fatherland) celebration.

Not like Fb, owned by the U.S. tech big Meta, it is almost unattainable to hint who commissioned these posts or how a lot was paid.

“The political promoting market on Telegram is huge in scale however fully non-transparent to the general public,” Snopok advised the Kyiv Unbiased. “If political forces with shadow financing — together with from Russia — start to actively enter this area, it might pose critical dangers for Ukraine: huge sums of cash will likely be poured into political promotion, primarily remaining past any state or public oversight.”

Oleksii Honcharenko, lawmaker from the opposition European Solidarity celebration who has one of many largest Telegram audiences amongst Ukrainian lawmakers, continues to observe an age-old tactic — giving out meals parcels and low cost items.

Images shared by some Ukrainians present present units with mugs, sweets, and postcards that includes the lawmaker’s portrait, despatched by a namesake heart community he based.

In the meantime, Zelensky’s Servant of the Individuals celebration continues to challenge a newspaper, serving as a promotional instrument for the president’s insurance policies and the celebration’s model.

Final yr, billboards that includes Ihor Shevchenko, the ex-Ecology Minister who unsuccessfully ran for president in 2019, started showing in downtown Kyiv.

Shevchenko has been actively selling populist messages — to desert Ukraine’s pursuit of EU membership and assist introducing the dying penalty for corruption.

Shevchenko says that his present promoting marketing campaign will not be a preparation for future elections however “fairly a type of common political communication with the general public.” He opposes holding elections earlier than the lively part of the warfare ends, however finds his adverts acceptable.

“The interval between elections is definitely the very best time for such communication — there may be much less competitors for public consideration within the data area, making it simpler and cheaper to get seen,” Shevchenko advised the Kyiv Unbiased.

In response to Shevchenko’s adverts, Kyiv residents got here up with their very own type of visible commentary. Considered one of his posters was lined over with a photograph that learn — “It is a photograph of my canine. It is extra lovely than political promoting in the course of the warfare.”

As you journey additional away from the capital, political billboards in assist of metropolis mayors grow to be widespread. In war-battered Kharkiv, a flurry of indicators learn “Proud to be a Kharkiv resident,” and the identify of town’s mayor, Ihor Terekhov, is displayed beneath.

As of September 2025, a majority of Ukrainians — 63% — consider elections must be held solely after the full-scale warfare is totally over, in keeping with a poll by the Kyiv Worldwide Institute of Sociology (KIIS). Round 22% assist holding elections after a attainable ceasefire, offered safety ensures are in place.

“It is unclear whether or not any promoting efforts will truly bear fruit, even in post-war elections. However the truth stays — political actors can’t afford to remain fully silent,” Maksymova stated.

“The actual challenge lies within the ethics of sure communication strategies.”

Notice from the writer:

Whats up there! That is Kateryna Denisova, the writer of this piece. I hope you discovered this text informative. Regardless of Russia’s ongoing full-scale warfare, Ukraine’s home politics has been again within the highlight in latest months.

Please take into account supporting our reporting. We promise to ship extra tales on this subject going ahead.

Thanks.

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