Ukraine’s Silent Retreat: Why Kyiv Must Win the Information War, Not Just the Battles

With Trump and Putin exploiting the fog of war, Ukraine’s reluctance to communicate is a gift to its enemies.

In Dune: Part Two, just before Paul Atreides mounts the colossal sandworm, his mentor Stilgar offers blunt advice: We all know you're brave—just get the job done.

I feel like saying the same to Ukraine’s political, military, and media strategists. The world already knows their bravery. When in doubt, they must lean hard into truth and reality. No need to sugarcoat setbacks. No need to sell victories. Just get the job done and tell us as it is.

As soon as Syrski withdrew his troops from Kursk on the night of March 8—leaving a contingent behind to harass advancing Russian forces—Ukraine should have immediately informed the world. Anyone with a few hundred dollars could have purchased satellite images and verified it themselves. And when Syrski’s troops neared the lithium mines in Shevchenko or crossed into the heart of Toretsk, a key coal-mining town in Donetsk, Ukraine should have made it known.

But they didn’t. They failed to announce their withdrawal from Kursk, just as they failed to publicize their advances in Donetsk. This was a serious and completely avoidable mistake. Yes, Ukraine’s leadership is under immense pressure, juggling crises on multiple fronts. But their reluctance to wage the information war as aggressively as they did in the first year of the invasion is now fueling another cycle of baseless rumors and demoralizing narratives from power circles across the world.

Ukraine’s political and defense establishment must also account for Donald Trump’s instinct to exploit every situation to his advantage. The man is a pathological liar—he lied relentlessly during COVID-19, and he will lie about Ukraine without hesitation. Expecting otherwise isn’t just naïve; it’s outright stupidity.

Unfortunately, this is where Ukraine stands on the information front—lagging when they should be leading. They need to stay two steps ahead of both Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin. Had they promptly informed the world about what happened in Kursk, the following events could have been entirely avoided.

There were countless ways they could have communicated what happened, what’s happening now, and why they made their decisions. It’s not difficult—they’re making it difficult by overthinking. The world already knows their bravery; now, they need to keep us informed, not in the dark.

Update on Kursk, as of today: March 19th, 2025.

Positions as of March 19th, 2025

Ukraine hasn't just withdrawn its troops from Kursk; they've pulled even farther back from the international border. Their forces are now concentrated around Sumy, a critical Ukrainian city just 30 kilometers from Russia. This repositioning gives Russian troops in Kursk more freedom to maneuver—something they lacked just a week ago when Ukrainian forces were positioned much closer to the border.

You can compare the shift in positions with the screenshot from my March 9th, 2025, article on the Kursk withdrawal.

Ukraine claims to have credible intelligence that Russia is planning an advance into Sumy. But I’m not convinced that’s the real reason for pulling troops this far back. If that were the case, it would actually make more sense to hold positions closer to the border. I believe Syrski is running a deception operation—one so unpredictable that I can’t pin down his exact strategy. And if I can’t, chances are Russian commanders can’t either.

For those worried that Ukrainian troops are surrounded—absolutely not. That hasn’t happened, not even when the Trump administration cut off intelligence sharing with Ukraine. Not then, and not now. What’s happening in Kursk is simple: Ukraine withdrew, Russia moved in. Ten days later, they have pulled further back.

End of story.