Hackers accessed the personal Instagram account of Natalia Panchenko, who runs the Ukrainian civil society initiative Euromaidan Warsaw, Panchenko reported to the Institute of Mass Information.
She said that she used the compromised account to tell Polish readers about Ukraine and Poland–Ukraine relations.
Natalia Panchenko said that cyberattacks targeting her personally as well as her organisations, Euromaidan Warsaw and the Stand With Ukraine Foundation, have been spiking ahead of dates significant for Ukraine for several years in a row.
“This happens every year around dates like 24 February, the anniversary of the full-scale invasion; 9 May; 11 July; and also ahead of Ukraine’s Independence Day, which we organise in Warsaw every year,” Natalia Panchenko explained.
This time, she said, numerous attempts to access hers and the organisations’ social media and email accounts started around a week before.
“We have two-factor authentication set up everywhere, but despite that, the attackers managed to access to my Instagram account where I post in Polish. We’re now working with Meta to restore it,” the activist explained.
She also reported an intense smear campaign that occurred simultaneously.
“My words get taken out of context, attributed a different meaning, and sometimes I’m just credited with saying things I never said. This feeds into the narrative that Ukrainians supposedly want to force their will on Poland, or ‘control the Poles,'” Panchenko added.
In her view, one of the objectives of such campaigns is to turn Poles against Ukrainians and Ukrainians against Poles.
“I can’t responsibly say today who is technically behind this particular breach. That would require evidence and technical analysis. But the recurring pattern of such attacks since 2022, specifically around symbolically important dates, gives us grounds to seriously consider the possibility of a Russian trace,” Natalia Panchenko said.
She noted that “Russian propaganda doesn’t need to persuade Poles to love Russia. It’s enough for it to persuade Poles to fear and hate Ukrainians, and to persuade Ukrainians to stop trusting Poles.”
“That’s precisely why I think it’s important to talk about such cases not just as a personal attack or a single account getting hacked. This could be part of a much broader struggle over Poland–Ukraine relations and the attitudes within both societies,” Panchenko said.
She added that her teams would continue building dialogue between Poles and Ukrainians. They plan a Ukraine Independence Day celebration in Warsaw on 24 August.
Panchenko added that “no hacks or smear campagins will affect that.”
In September 2025, Natalia Panchenko reported that she had become a target of disinformation and deepfakes impersonating her.