The tone of posts from the Trukha Telegram channel, which has about 3 million subscribers, regarding Ukrainian Defense Minister Mykhailo Fedorov has changed since the middle of April of this year: every other post has become critical, according to a report using artificial intelligence authored by President of Kyiv School of Economics (KSE) Tymofiy Mylovanov.
"Now this is the main channel attacking the minister: the TCR, a person's death, corruption involving drones. There are no facts of corruption, but the attacks are real-the narrative is different. I checked this against 30,000 posts: the change is real, sharp, and occurs only on "Trukha," not on other channels," Milovanov said in a Facebook post on Wednesday.
According to the analysis, all public posts from three major channels-including "Trukha," "Ukraine Online," and "Insider UA"-were collected from December 16, 2025, to June 16, 2026.
"That's 30,758 posts collected directly via Telegram, not manually selected," the report reads.
The analysis showed that the number of "Trukha" posts about the defense minister did not change significantly, but their tone did. While until the middle of April approximately one in every 25 posts about Fedorov was critical, after the middle of April nearly every other post was critical.
In total, "Trukha" had published 47 posts about Fedorov by April, of which 27 were favorable, 18 were neutral, and two were mixed, while there were no critical posts at all. After that, the channel published 12 posts, five of which were critical.
By comparison, the Ukraine Online Telegram channel published 60 posts about the minister by April, mostly neutral or favorable, followed by seven posts-almost all of which were neutral or favorable-and then seven more posts, none of which were critical.
As for the Insider UA Telegram channel: before April-55 posts, none critical; after-11 posts, also none critical.
"Within "Trukha," Fedorov has faced noticeably harsher criticism since April than Svyrydenko did during the same period. And "Trukha" writes about Fedorov more harshly than the other two channels. When we limited our analysis to posts where Fedorov's last name appears directly in the text, the gap became even wider-so the issue isn't general mentions of Diia or the ministry," the analysis said.
The author of the report noted that five out of six critical posts from "Trukha" were published in June. In one of the examples cited, the post was about the announcement of a story on corruption in drone procurement, "which was organized by Mr. Fedorov" (https://t.me/truexanewsua/138911).
Mylovanov also added that during those same months, the Telegram channel "Insider UA" covered similar topics but with the opposite rhetoric.
"No corruption risks," record-breaking figures, and the ministry's restructuring. Two major channels are telling two incompatible stories about the same minister," the report reads.
Additionally, during the preparation of the report, 17,200 comments under the relevant posts were collected and a balanced sample was analyzed.
Thus, even under the most scathing posts against the defense minister, readers mostly did not side with the channel; only about seven out of 100 comments accused Fedorov.
According to the analysis, roughly one in three had doubts about the published post, and one in seven cast suspicion on "Trukha," commenting with remarks such as: "Who paid you?" "Is this an FSB channel?" and so on.
"If we compare posts about Fedorov before and after April, distrust specifically toward "Trukha" rose from zero to about 12 out of every 100 comments, and readers' anger was directed not at Fedorov, but at the situation, the government in general, and the commenters themselves," the report reads.
In conclusion, the report noted that "Trukha's" tone regarding the defense minister changed not in terms of the number of posts, but in terms of their content.
"From a minister whose reforms were reported on neutrally, he became the one blamed for the failure of mobilization, a person's death, and corruption involving drones. The change is evident in the numbers, and it pertains specifically to "Trukha,"" the analysis said.
To distinguish the change in attitude toward the defense minister from a general shift in the channel's tone, two analyses were conducted. Specifically, the first involved comparing posts about Fedorov on "Trukha" with posts about Ukrainian Prime Minister Yulia Svyrydenko before and after the middle of April.
The other test involved comparing "Trukha's" posts about Fedorov with posts about the defense minister on two other channels.
Earlier, Forbes Ukraine, citing three sources, reported on the possible acquisition of the "Trukha" network of Telegram channels by Kharkiv-based crypto entrepreneur Mykola Udiansky.
The article notes that, according to one of the sources, the deal took place about two months ago.
On Monday, June 15, volunteer and advisor to the defense minister Serhiy Sternenko, citing his own sources, also claimed that Udiansky had become the new owner of "Trukha."
At the same time, when asked by a Forbes Ukraine journalist, Udiansky replied that Maksym Lavrinenko remains the owner of the project.
According to data from the YouControl system, Lavrinenko remains the owner of Trukha Ukraine LLC.
