紐時賞析／一開始稱出動部隊只是軍事演習 俄烏資訊戰仍遠未結束

The Information War in Ukraine Is Far From Over

俄烏資訊戰仍遠未結束

If the first casualty of war is truth, then the corollary in Ukraine is that information is the first battlefield.

如果在戰爭中第一個傷亡的是真相，那麼在烏克蘭則可想而知，資訊是第一個戰場。

That was where the war began, in early 2022, weeks before Vladimir Putin sent the first rockets, armored vehicles and troops into Ukraine, when he claimed that the massive buildup of troops along Ukraine’s borders was but another military exercise. And that was where the United States and its allies scored their first victories, when they made public intelligence anticipating the invasion and the pretext Putin would use for it.

那就是戰爭開始的地方，2022年初，在俄國總統普亭出動第一批火箭、裝甲車和部隊進入烏克蘭幾周前，他宣稱沿烏克蘭邊界大規模陳兵只不過是另一場軍事演習。而且那也是美國及其盟邦取得頭幾次勝利的地方，這些國家公布情資，預見這場侵略和普亭會用的藉口。

Then, when the invasion began in February, Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, opened a second information front. He donned a soldier’s olive-drab T-shirt and issued a torrent of defiant tweets, speeches and images from devastated villages, much of it targeted at Russian audiences. His metamorphosis from a relatively unpopular president to a David defying Goliath has been instrumental in solidifying popular, military and economic support for Ukraine in the United States and Europe.

而後，當侵略在2月開始時，烏克蘭總統澤倫斯基開闢第二條資訊戰線。他穿起軍人的橄欖綠T恤，發表大量不屈不撓的推文、演說和全毀村莊的影像，其中多數針對俄國觀眾。他從一位相對不出名的總統蛻變為對抗歌利亞的大衛，有助於強化歐美人民、軍事和經濟上對烏克蘭的支持。

In these first information battles, the Americans and Ukrainians showed that they had learned the lessons of 2014, when Russia had the upper hand in propaganda, assaulting Crimea and eastern Ukraine while claiming to be responding to pleas from Russian-speaking residents.

在頭幾場資訊戰裡，美國人和烏克蘭人展現出他們從2014年學到教訓，當時俄國在宣傳上占據優勢，一邊攻擊克里米亞和烏東，一邊宣稱是在回應說俄語居民的懇求。

But the information war, like the physical war, is far from decided. Fourteen weeks into the war, many Russians seem to accept Putin’s narrative. Around the world, many countries remain on the sidelines or, like China, are on

Russia’s side. While Washington’s public comments have served to bolster the Ukrainians and rally their allies, some of those comments have played directly into Putin’s claims of a malign America determined to neuter Russia, as when President Joe Biden said of Putin, “This man cannot remain in power,” and Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin declared that America’s goal is a “weakened” Russia.

不過這場資訊戰就像實體戰一樣，勝負完全未定。戰爭開打十三周，許多俄國人似乎接受普亭的說詞。在世界各地，許多國家仍作壁上觀，或像中國大陸一樣站在俄國那邊。雖然美國的公開說法是為了鼓舞烏克蘭人並團結他們的盟友，但其中一些說法直接迎合了普亭的訴求，也就是邪惡美國決心讓俄國一蹶不振，如美國總統拜登稱普亭「這個人不能繼續掌權」，美國國防部長奧斯丁宣布，美國的目標是「削弱」俄國。

As the war enters a new phase, as the images and horrors become familiar and the costs rise, it will become ever more difficult for the Biden administration and for Zelenskyy to sustain their early lead in the information war. That makes it all the more imperative for the West to press the message that this is not a war Ukraine chose and that the cost of allowing Putin to have his way in Ukraine would be far higher than the sacrifices required to block him.

隨著戰爭進入新階段，這些影像和恐怖變得很常見，戰爭代價也上升，拜登政府和澤倫斯基將更難維持他們在這場資訊戰初期的勝利。對西方而言，散播這些訊息變得更加緊要，也就是這並非烏克蘭選擇的戰爭，任由普亭在烏克蘭胡作非為的代價，會遠高於阻止他的必要犧牲。

文／Serge Schmemann 譯／李京倫