Defense Ministry spokesperson: Open source intelligence has been a helpful tool for the enemy
The enemy often learns about certain events from open sources, which is why the distribution of certain information is restricted, said the Defense Ministry head of press and information, Illarion Pavliuk, on the national telethon "United News", reports Ukrinform.
"What makes this war phenomenal is that, seeing as our society is democratic, the enemy often learns about certain events not from their own sources, not from their own intelligence, but from open sources, the mass media. So when the military says, 'Please do not report on this event,' it makes sense. It makes sense to report on the liberation of a village two days after the fact. Because the enemy uses open sources not just because everyone else uses them, but also, among other things, because the enemy, too, has issues with the flow of negative information from the front line to the command. For a totalitarian society this is an especially serious problem: one is more eager to report than to show the real situation. And we don't necessarily have to help the enemy in this," Pavliuk explained.
According to him, open source intelligence has been a helpful tool for the Ukrainian side and the enemy alike.
"As long as open source information may help the enemy understand something, he uses it right away," Pavliuk stressed.
He added that restrictions on sharing certain information apply not only to the mass media, but also to various bloggers and Telegram channels.
"The information field is a mosaic, the information varies greatly: reliable, unreliable, rumors, fakes, someone's psyops, someone's perception of an event, which already has very little to do with the event itself. When intelligence relies on open sources, it collects all this mosaic, like a puzzle picture. We want the enemy to have as few puzzle pieces as possible," Pavliuk said.
As the IMI reported, Illarion Pavliuk previously said that journalists needed to be given more access to the combat zone without compromising the security of operations.
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