Russian propagandists use the term “Ukrobeshenka” to describe Ukrainian migrant women who, in their opinion, behave “inappropriately” abroad and, as a result, allegedly create problems. By resorting to this concept, Russian propagandists seek to discredit the image of Ukrainian women abroad, as well as directly cause pain to members of this social category. It is about slur - an offensive word that hides discrimination against a group of people based on race, sexual orientation, gender, illness, etc. and is used, in particular, to demonstrate a lack of respect.

The National Democratic Institute (NDI) notes that not all hate speech, threats or gender-based attacks against women are cases of gender misinformation, but all fall within the definition of online violence against women.

Thus, pro-Russian resources distributed a video of a conflict that occurred in Germany between a Ukrainian migrant and a Russian man, who assured her that he himself was a “German”, since he had been living in this country for 25 years. However, the clash itself between them arose because the son of a Ukrainian woman exclaimed “Glory to Ukraine!” while playing with other children, and the Russian did not like this. Propagandists began distributing this video online with the following caption: “Ukrobeshenka in Germany hysterically defends the Nazi slogan “glory to Ukraine”. At the same time, it was the man who began to aggressively express his complaints against the boy’s mother, saying, “What the glory of Ukraine?” and “Are you fascists or what?” He also tried to offend the Ukrainian woman, claiming: “What kind of woman are you? You are “ukrop”! During the conflict, the woman reacted with restraint to the Russian’s reproaches, and also assured him that it was the Russians who were fascists, since they attacked Ukraine.

In the end, with the start of the full-scale invasion, the situation of Ukrainian women changed: there were many times more internally displaced persons and refugees, single mothers, widows, relatives of veterans and military women. Women who previously fought for their rights are now fighting for their physical survival and that of their children. And Russian propaganda continues to regularly attack Ukrainian women, in particular refugees, with the aim of influencing their morale.

The Detector Media team conducted a separate large-scale study of how propaganda is trying to discredit Ukrainian women. One can read it at the link.