What to do with Telegram has been discussed in Ukraine for several months. Many indicate that the messenger has ties to Russia. The Freedom of Expression Committee even called for this social network to be banned.

Which channels are blocked

Telegram deleted the account of the “eVorogh” bot and other bots used to inform the Ukrainian Defense Forces about the movement/location of the invaders. It is now better and safer to use other official and verified personal contacts to transmit information about the enemy. Whatever the reasons Telegram was guided by during deletion, this will certainly add arguments regarding possible restrictions on Telegram in Ukraine,
– wrote Serhii Sternenko.

Chatbots are currently not working:

• “еВорог” (official bot of the Ministry of Digital, @evorog_bot);
• Official bots of GUR and SBU (Intelligence Bot and Stop Russian War);
• Boat coordinator from the south of Ukraine;
• Air defense boat to track the witnesses.

Actually, “eVorog” and Stop the Russian War were created in 2022 specifically to inform the Defense Forces about the movements of the invaders Ukrainian territory, movement of its equipment, accumulation of manpower, etc. So it’s clear how important these are.

About bots with the help of Coordinated the resistance movement in the south, don’t even talk. The coordinates of the enemy army can be transmitted to the @Rus_ni_peace_da_bot bot from the Telegram channel “Nikolaevsky Vanek”. Connection no longer works – system It says username not found.

The boat of the “Svoboda Rossii” Legion was also blocked.

Russians created fake bots to hijack data

Do not transfer anything anywhere until the situation with the bots is resolved. This is dangerous because the Russians have created fake bots that copy the functions of those that have already been blocked. Let’s be careful and wait for official statements!

All these links to the “eVorog” bot are fake / screenshot by Kostyantyn Ryzhenka

But the clones of “Enemy” work.

Screenshots of fake bot “eVorog” / 24 Channels

The Russians thought of everything to ensure that one person accidentally fell into their trap. And if he comes from occupied territories, he is in danger of death in the torture chamber.

Fake links to the SBU bot differ by a few letters or symbols, it is easy to confuse them with the official bot / 24 Channel Screenshot

There is information that some Russian bots also do not work – allegedly the owner of Telegram decided to block bots from both countries.

GUR’s reaction revealed: What they say in intelligence

Today, the administration of the Telegram platform unreasonably blocked a number of official bots opposing Russia’s military aggression against Ukraine, including the “Main Intelligence Bot”. This was against the rules and public statements made public by the Telegram administration,
– noted in the department.

At the same time, intelligence officers assured that Ukrainians’ personal data was safe, despite the bot being blocked. AND Warned not to send data to bots with similar names. The work of the GUR bot on other platforms is currently being restored.

There is also a reaction from the author of the Telegram channel “Nikolaevsky Vanek”

He wrote that the blocking happened suddenly without any warning. IS doubt about who caused this: One of the Russians who was later exchanged with our army complained to the people “above”This information about the situation in the South passes through the bot.

The writer of the channel noted: Of course, not all information passes through the bot, but still up to a thousand messages a week were received. Therefore, for security purposes Verified contacts and stable sources of information have been transferred to alternative communication sources (there are many of them and those that have not been translated before this). There is also a post office.

“The situation is one-sided” More than 15 similar Russian bots were found and of course no one blocked them. Instead, Ukrainian bots with the “tick” mark, personally issued by Telegram, were demolished. We draw conclusions and react accordingly. We do not expect any explanation, everything is already obvious. The most important thing is that the flow of information is with us and continues to be. We will make an alternative bot for the convenience of a certain category of people“, – concluded “Nikolayevsky Vanek”.

Official statements regarding Telegram’s partial restrictions

• Volodymyr Zelenskyy described Russia’s pressure via telegram. HE saturates the social network with misinformation.
• Kyrylo Budanov also emphasized that the telegraph needed legal regulation. This social network has long been a media platform, but many channels are anonymous. Owners are in no hurry to reveal themselves, and this creates Opportunities to manipulate public opinion.
• The latest news about Telegram is that the network is preparing changes for Ukrainian users. This was announced by Pavlo Durov himself Blocking of Ukrainian SOU bots is now associated precisely with these changes.