Diana Panchenko, the Ukrainian propagandist working for the Kremlin
Trained as a journalist in Ukraine before joining the ranks of pro-Russian propagandists, Diana Panchenko creates YouTube videos about Russia's invasion of Ukraine that rack up millions of views. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) condemns her misleading use of news video formats to promote disinformation, directly threatening the right to reliable information.
Panchenko, a 36-year-old journalism school graduate from Mykolaïv, a town in southern Ukraine, allegedly posts her videos from Dubai, where she claims to live. She says that she speaks “on behalf of Ukrainians” and promises to ‘“reveal what is not shown.” A few months after the Russian invasion on 24 February 2022, Panchenko left Ukraine for Russia before settling in the United Arab Emirates.
The titles of Panchenko’s videos are propaganda clickbait: “NATO is already in Ukraine”, “Who owns Crimea?‘“, “Alexander Lukashenko: how will the war in Ukraine end?”. Yet the videos, which last around 15 minutes, are shot with several cameras against a black background, imitating the format of reliable news clips. Panchenko’s misleading content relays the Kremlin’s narrative, asserting opinions rather than facts without presenting the views of any opposing party. She accuses the Ukrainian authorities of “Nazism” and of being the perpetrators of an “ongoing war,” and asserts that Ukraine will soon “collapse.”
As of September 2024, her eponymous YouTube channel had over 1.8 million subscribers, with videos that regularly reach or exceed one million views. Panchenko presents herself as a Ukrainian journalist and her channel is registered in Ukraine, meaning that she can monetize her content, unlike YouTube channels registered in Russia. Panchenko’s channel earns between $8,000 and $130,000 (roughly 7,000€ and 11,000€) per month, according to Social Blade, a website that analyses social media traffic. Her 2023 interview with President Alexander Lukashenko, who continues leading Belarus after a rigged re-election in 2020, has surpassed the nine million mark.
"Diana Panchenko is a professional propagandist who imitates journalistic news videos to spread Kremlin-backed disinformation to Russian-speaking – and now English-speaking – audiences. By twisting facts to conform to the official Russian narrative, she pollutes the information space with falsehoods about Ukraine and other international subjects that interest Russia. RSF condemns the manipulative actions of this Russian propaganda agent, who compromises the right to reliable information."
Panchenko’s propaganda is growing its reach
In May 2024, Panchenko opened an account on X (formerly Twitter) where she posts in English, enabling her to reach new audiences abroad. In addition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Panchenko produces videos that transmit the Kremlin’s narrative on other international subjects, such as the forthcoming US presidential elections – she openly supports Donald Trump and believes he will “stop the war” in Ukraine – and the situation in Moldova, a country which, according to Panchenko, is “following in Ukraine's footsteps” by opposing Russia.
The Kremlin uses Panchenko’s videos to address the Ukrainian public directly. For example, on 28 March 2024, following a Russian cyber attack that disrupted the programming of Ukrainian television channels, viewers of Ukraine’s telemarathon saw one of Panchenko’s videos pop up on their screens.
Legal action against Panchenko
A graduate of both journalism and law school, Panchenko worked as a presenter for the local television channel Kyiv TV between 2010 and 2015, before joining NewsOne, a pro-Russian channel owned by Viktor Medvedchuk, a Ukrainian oligarch close to Vladimir Putin who is now in Russia. NewsOne was suspended by the Ukrainian government in 2021.
Panchenko has not returned to non-occupied Ukraine since her departure in 2022. The Ukrainian judiciary has been investigating Panchenko for supporting the Russian invasion of Ukraine since January 2023, and for high treason since October 2023.
Ukraine and Russia are ranked 61st and 162nd respectively out of 180 countries in RSF's 2024 World Press Freedom Index.
