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Social media was treated as a similar tool to other types of media regardless of the specific nature of the medium. During the operation PSYOP teams start to learn the social and open character of this medium, based on the free flow of information between people from all over the world. The war in Ukraine was one of the first conflicts, where social media was used as a component of military operation. Only the Arab Spring was earlier, but the Arab Spring was a social movement initiated by social media. The conflict in Ukraine combines elements of a classic military operation with so-called asymmetric and hybrid warfare. It combines the elements of the old methodology with the new one. Nevertheless, it seems that the future of wars in the 21st century belongs to those who will be able to use social media effectively. The article has been devoted to trying to answer the following research question: How did the Russian PSYOP evolve during the Crimean assassination and combat operations in Donbas? The authors dared to put forward the statement that the early stage of social media was risky due to the theoretical nature of the electronic media.
About the author
Tadeusz Szczurek, PhD at the National Defence University, Rector and Prof. at the Military University of Technology, Poland. Patrick Bell, PhD at the Florida International University, Prof. at the National Defense College of the UAE. Marcin Górnikiewicz, PhD at the National Defence University, Eng. at the Military University of Technology, Poland.
