# Evolution of wartime discourse on Telegram: A comparative study of Ukrainian and Russian policymakers' communication before and after Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2510.11746 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2510.11746/

## Key facts

- Cited by 1 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 6 of its 56 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 11 Oct 2025.

## Builds on (most cited first, 6 of 6)

- [Sentence-BERT: Sentence Embeddings using Siamese BERT-Networks](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1908.10084/) (2019)
- [UMAP: Uniform Manifold Approximation and Projection for Dimension Reduction](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1802.03426/) (2018)
- [BERTopic: Neural topic modeling with a class-based TF-IDF procedure](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2203.05794/) (2022)
- [LimTopic: LLM-based Topic Modeling and Text Summarization for Analyzing Scientific Articles limitations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2503.10658/) (2025)
- [DarkGram: A Large-Scale Analysis of Cybercriminal Activity Channels on Telegram](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2409.14596/) (2024)
- [Telegram as a Battlefield: Kremlin-related Communications during the Russia-Ukraine Conflict](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2501.01884/) (2025)

## Built on by (most cited first, 1 of 1)

- [Graph-Based Detection of Disinformation Narrative Diffusion between Russian and Ukrainian Telegram Channels](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2607.11894/) (2026)

## Abstract (arXiv)

This study examines elite-driven political communication on Telegram during the ongoing Russo-Ukrainian war, the first large-scale European war in the social media era. Using a unique dataset of Telegram public posts from Ukrainian and Russian policymakers (2019-2024), we analyze changes in communication volume, thematic content, and actor engagement following Russia's 2022 full-scale invasion. Our findings show a sharp increase in Telegram activity after the invasion, particularly among ruling-party policymakers. Ukrainian policymakers initially focused on war-related topics, but this emphasis declined over time In contrast, Russian policymakers largely avoided war-related discussions, instead emphasizing unrelated topics, such as Western crises, to distract public attention. We also identify differences in communication strategies between large and small parties, as well as individual policymakers. Our findings shed light on how policymakers adapt to wartime communication challenges and offer critical insights into the dynamics of online political discourse during times of war.