War In Ukraine: Pro-Russian Separatists Are Hijacking Cell Networks, Sending Threatening Text Messages

Ukrainian soldiers have started to receive threatening text messages from Pro-Russian separatists who have managed to hijack cell networks in the embattled country, the Associated Press reported.

Targeted messages containing threats and disinformation have been directed to the phones of Ukrainian soldiers in specific locations throughout the country using sophisticated cellular intercepts.

Read: Pro-Russian Separatists Using False Text Messages To Destabilize Ukrainian Government, Report Says

The pinpointed messages are believed to be sent through cell site simulators, which impersonate actual cellular towers and intercept and fake data. The sophisticated technology allow the pro-Russian propagandists to create tailored messages and send them to a specific location.

It’s not uncommon for cell site simulators to be used by law enforcement agents to track cell phones. The devices have also been used by the U.S. military intelligence officers in Iraq and Afghanistan to hunt insurgents.

The messages are often designed to cause fear and confusion among the soldiers. Ukrainian soldiers fighting against pro-Russian separatists in the eastern part of the country have particularly been targeted by the modern form of propaganda.

Examples of messages collected by the Associated Press included texts that read “nobody needs your kids to become orphans,” “leave and you will live,” and “Ukrainian soldiers, they’ll find your bodies when the snow melts.”

Read: Ukraine And Russia Are At War: Russian Soldiers Arrested By Kiev In 'Act Of Gross Provocation,' Kremlin Claims

Some messages have also been disguised to make it appear they are coming from fellow Ukrainian soldiers. Those messages will attempt to convince the recipient their unit’s commander has deserted them or convince them to leave the area because their forces were being killed.

The technological and psychological warfare is not new in Ukraine. Similar mass text messaging efforts were conducted in 2014 by pro-Russian government forces to discourage gatherings of Ukrainian protesters. The Associated Press reported that a 2014 investigation a major Ukrainian cellphone company concluded that cell site simulators were being used in the country at the time.

While it is unclear what hardware is currently being used in the Ukraine, it is believed that LEER-3—Russian truck-mounted electronic warfare systems—may be responsible. The systems have been documented in parts of eastern Ukraine.

Russia, for its part, continues to deny its involvement in the Ukraine and does not claim to have any connection to the pro-Russian separatists who are present in the country despite a considerable amount of evidence that ties the group to the Russian government.

Ukrainian soldiers on the receiving end of the messages have thus far mostly laughed off the texts. A gunner who spoke to the AP said the messages had no influence on their operations. He considered them an annoyance at most. However, as the fighting carries on and more people die, the psychological effect may take more of a toll.

“Some people are psychologically influenced,” Svetlana Andreychuk, a volunteer in the Ukraine told the AP. “It’s coming regularly. People are so tired. You see people dying. And then you face this.”