“Carthage must be destroyed.” How Russian propagandists on Telegram react to attacks on Russia’s energy sector

News of Russian attacks on Ukrainian civilian infrastructure and energy facilities with civilian casualties have become commonplace in the “war” sections of Ukrainian media over the past 1,320 days of full-scale Russian aggression against Ukraine. According to Google Trends, in the last week of September - the first week of October, the search phrase “strikes on Russia” in Ukraine peaked in searches for the year from October 7, 2024 to October 7, 2025.

The search queries are results of attacks on facilities in Russia. In just one week, Russian media reported attacks on: the Russian Black Sea cities of Tuapse and Sochi, the Sverdlov pyrotechnics factory in the Nizhny Novgorod region of Russia, and a military oil depot in temporarily occupied Feodosia. And also:

“For the first time since the beginning of the SVO, drones of the Ukrainian armed forces attacked Tyumen. Unmanned aerial vehicles of the FP-1 type unsuccessfully tried to hit the refinery, having traveled more than 2,000 kilometers,” wrote a Russian Telegram channel with 1.3 million subscribers on October 6.

Russian media, citing the Russian Ministry of Defense, report that on the night of October 6, the Russian military shot down 200 drones, and on the night of October 7, 251 or even 456 drones. As a rule, the Russian Ministry of Defense speaks of “interception and destruction”. While representatives of local authorities are already talking about “fires and damage to infrastructure”.

Propaganda about the consequences of attacks on defense and strategic enterprises

Russian and propaganda Telegram channels are trying to report in the style of news about Ukrainian and Russian attacks on energy infrastructure, oil and gas production and transportation facilities. This conclusion can be drawn from 324 messages created between October 6 and 12:00 on October 8, 2025, on Telegram channels with more than 100,000 subscribers, for which data was provided by LetsData. Situation assessments and action plans for the restoration of Russian infrastructure do not take into account the option of a cessation of hostilities.

Since the beginning of October 2025, Russian media and propagandists have not shied away from retelling world media reports about the losses suffered by the Russian economy from the attacks on Telegram channels. In particular, a Telegram channel with 153,600 subscribers wrote on October 6 that the attack on the oil refinery in Kirishi, Leningrad Oblast, led to the shutdown of the most powerful unit, which processed up to 40 percent of the entire plant's oil.

“Restoration of work may take about a month. During the repair, according to industry representatives, the plant will operate at approximately 70 percent of its capacity due to the increased load on other installations, which will be used more intensively,” concludes the message on the Telegram channel with 153,600 subscribers.

The previous message is an example of optimistic presentation of information about the situation in Russia, which previously mainly exported fuel.

“Restrictions have been introduced on fuel sales in the Chelyabinsk region. Starting from October 3, no more than 30 liters of gasoline and 70 liters of diesel per car per day can be filled at gas stations of the Tamic Energy network. The restrictions are in effect everywhere and the timing of their lifting is unknown. On October 4, the “RegionUno” network took similar measures - no more than 15 liters of gasoline per day. The company explained this by the shortage on the stock exchange caused by attacks on refineries and increased fuel purchases. Local residents complain that they are now forced to look for gas stations outside the city,” wrote a Telegram channel with 575,000 subscribers.

Among the options for resolving the fuel crisis, Russian and propaganda Telegram channels report on increased fuel imports from Belarus and China. On October 8, a Russian Telegram channel with 634,000 subscribers wrote, citing Reuters, that “Belarus quadrupled gasoline exports to Russia in September.”

“The only way to fully resolve the crisis is to complete repairs to the affected refineries and successfully repel new attacks on them. Currently, about 15 percent of the refining capacity is out of service, which is why even an export ban does not allow for the full supply of the domestic market. The government is also considering increasing imports from Belarus and, possibly, China to alleviate the situation, but this will take time and, in some cases, quite complicated logistics. If there are no new massive successful attacks on oil refineries, the crisis, in our opinion, can be resolved within a month,” wrote a Russian Telegram channel with 106,000 subscribers.

Regarding Ukraine’s responsibility for the attacks on Russian companies, the Russian and propaganda segment of Telegram presents three points of view that boil down to the need to continue the war in Ukraine.

The first point of view is the official position of the Russian state. It is put forward by Russian pro-government politicians:

“Our task is to ensure security, especially of energy infrastructure... Kiev, trying to demonstrate at least some success to its Western patrons, is attacking peaceful objects in the Russian Federation... The decisions made in February 2022 were correct and timely... Russia must certainly achieve all the goals of the special military operation,” Vladimir Putin was quoted as saying in a speech to the Russian military, which he delivered on his 73rd birthday, on October 7.

The remaining two points of view are milder and harsher versions of the criticism of the official position of the Russian authorities. The mild version looks like this, as posted on a Telegram channel with 234,000 subscribers:

“As a result, as we see, despite the heroism and high professionalism of the command and staff of the air defense forces of the Russian Air Force, the enemy’s pressure is increasing, the number of drones of unmanned aerial vehicles is increasing, each of which, if hit, can destroy not only a critically important and vulnerable object of energy, transport and defense infrastructure, but also (due to secondary detonation) cause irreparable damage to nearby cities and towns.”

The authors then recount the history of the origin of the Latin saying “Carthage must be destroyed” and argue that Ukraine must also be destroyed.

The embodiment of a more severe criticism of the authorities in Russia remains the war criminal Igor Girkin, who at the time of publishing this text remains in a Russian prison. From there, he occasionally sends “letters to comrades,” which are distributed by some propagandists. In these letters, the war criminal accuses the Russian regime of “chthonic” genius, of failing to recognize that Russia is waging a war against Ukraine, not the “SVO,” and that officials are “building sports complexes and will “switch to digitalization” in a situation where electricity is cut off almost daily in numerous border (and highly developed) regions, as a result of enemy shelling, and normal Internet access has already been forgotten in many places.”

Another “Hard Winter”

 

As for the strikes on the Ukrainian energy sector, Russian propaganda has largely built a narrative of “retaliation” within the framework of the “war on infrastructure launched by Zelensky”. Although Russian-speaking propagandists have adhered to the line that strikes on energy infrastructure fit into hostilities and supposedly serve military purposes. As one of the TV propagandists wrote on his Telegram channel (440,000 subscribers):

“When strikes on thermal power plants and substations fall on cold winter days, Kiev simply will not have fuel to transport supplies to the front. Winter makes war arithmetic – whoever has light is alive”.

Such justification of strikes on the Ukrainian energy sector out of military necessity sharply contrasts with statements about “terrorist shelling” in Russian-controlled territories. In particular, the head of the occupation administration of the Zaporizhia region, Yevhen Balitsky, accused Ukrainian drones of causing mass blackouts in the occupied territories of the region. However, most propagandists, when talking about shelling energy infrastructure, do not resort to excuses based on “military” necessity, but rather use the “we didn’t start first” approach. Russian propaganda routinely claims that the “Kiev regime” is trying to inflict as much damage as possible on Russia’s energy infrastructure, thereby automatically putting “ordinary Ukrainians” under attack, who are forced to suffer “retaliation” against the Ukrainian energy sector.

“Every Ukrainian must understand that any terrorist attack by the Armed Forces of Ukraine on Russian infrastructure will be met with a much greater response from the Russian Armed Forces. And any such response will make the winter of 2025-2026 very difficult and cold for them,” threatens a Telegram channel with more than 230,000 subscribers.

The propagandists do not specify that the threats that the next winter will be very difficult have been heard since 2022, when the shelling campaign against the Ukrainian energy sector began, and when there were no major strikes on Russian oil refineries.

Pro-Russian anonymous Telegram channels, positioning themselves as “Ukrainian”, join their colleagues in accusing President Volodymyr Zelensky personally of gas shortages and increasing utility tariffs.

“Due to the infrastructure war 3.0 launched by Zelensky, gas shortages in Ukraine are growing. Bankova is demanding from creditors to pay for gas purchases, and they, in turn, will demand an increase in tariffs, which Bankova promises to do in 2026,” writes the channel with more than a million subscribers.

The same authors mention the massive shelling of Kharkiv exclusively as a “response” to the attacks on Belgorod, and also, like three years ago, predict a “difficult winter” for Ukraine.

“The Ukrainian armed forces are attacking Belgorod, cutting off its electricity, and in response, they are flying en masse over Kharkiv, which will soon also be completely without electricity and heating. This will give Zelensky a PR opportunity on the mountain of Ukrainians. Many drones will fly every day across Ukraine, as the war intensifies... Get ready for a hard winter,” propagandists predict.

Separately, a set of theses about “retaliation” includes Russian threats regarding the possible transfer of American Tomahawk missiles to Ukraine, which could potentially intensify strikes on Russian facilities. Here, propagandists are no longer limited to shelling the energy sector, threatening strikes “on decision-making centers” and even the use of nuclear weapons. Telegram channels quote one of the Russian military “experts” as stating that the Tomahawk could be responded to either by “completely destroying the government district of Kiev” or by “carrying out a demonstration nuclear strike.”

“A nuclear explosion could be over the Black Sea so that it can be seen in Odessa. Perhaps one explosion will not be enough,” the “expert” is quoted by Telegram channels.

In conclusion, Russian news and propaganda Telegram channels broadcast that the shortage of petroleum products could end in a month if there are no attacks on oil refining infrastructure. They also acknowledge the damage caused by attacks on energy infrastructure. However, the train of thought about the causes of the problems of Russian citizens stops at blaming Ukraine or the Russian authorities. But they do not reach an understanding of the need to end military aggression and return Russia to compliance with the rules of the international community.

In communicating about the Russian shelling of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure, propagandists have been repeating theses about their attacks as “retaliation” for the fourth year and promising increased cruelty towards Ukraine if partners help with new weapons.