A Ukrainian refugee says Putin's propaganda machine is turning Russians into 'zombies'

• Tetiana Gladchenko, a Ukrainian refugee, told Insider she regularly keeps up with news on the war.
• She said that she can't watch Russian news because it's "propaganda" and "crazy lying."

A Ukrainian refugee said Russian President Vladimir Putin's propaganda machine is turning Russian civilians into "zombies."

Tetiana Gladchenko, 46, and her son Art, 11, fled their home in the central Ukrainian city of Dnipro last month, a dayslong journey that consisted of a 27-hour-train ride, a second, shorter train, and two flights to get from the Polish capital Warsaw to Boston.

Since early March, Gladchenko and Art have lived with her sister in a town just south of Boston.

Gladchenko said she has constantly kept up to date with the latest news on Russia's war against Ukraine — especially news on eastern Ukraine's Donbas region, where Russian forces have launched a renewed offensive.

She said, however, that she can't read Russian news about the war because of the "propaganda."

"Only Russian news we can't hear physically because they lie — every single news lying — like, extremely lying … crazy lying," Gladchenko told Insider through translations from her sister.

She described Russian news coverage as "completely different" from what was happening in Ukraine.

"They are propaganda and they are making their people like zombies," Gladchenko said. "Physically, I can't listen [to] that news."

Since Putin's February 24 televised war declaration on Ukraine, Russia has pushed misinformation and propaganda as a way to craft the narrative back home.

Independent news outlets were shut down, and harsh censorship laws were introduced. International news and social media sites were also blocked, leaving Russian citizens with state-run news outlets as the exclusive source of information.

Russia has also tried to spin its narrative by claiming that many of the atrocities it is accused of committing are a hoax, despite overwhelming evidence from satellite imagery and local testimonies that refutes the Kremlin.

Meanwhile, Western leaders have urged Russian citizens to seek ways to access independent news from outside the country — like downloading VPNs — as a way to skirt around the censorship.