Update from Ukraine on Army FM
Spirit of America has been responding to needs identified by US troops and diplomats in Ukraine since the Russian-initiated conflict erupted in 2014. Ukrainian soldiers have lost their lives defending their country, and civilians have been killed as a result of the Russian aggression — 10,225 in total. One of the primary tools that the Russians use in their hybrid warfare approach is propaganda broadcast over the airwaves. In order to provide an alternative source of information for Ukrainian soldiers fighting in the conflict zone, Spirit of America, alongside our Ukrainian partners, launched Army FM in early 2016.
Today, I can report that Army FM has received permanent licenses from the Radio Broadcasting Council to continue broadcasting positive messages and music to the Ukrainian soldiers and civilians in more than 80% of the Donbas region.
The Kyiv Post recently published an article that explains how influential the Russian propaganda can be and why Army FM’s alternative message is so important. You can read the story here.
Chris Clary
Europe project manager
Chris served as a Special Forces Weapons Sergeant in Afghanistan where he mentored Afghan Commandos from 2010-2011. He volunteered to return in 2012 to work with Afghan Local Police and Afghan National Police at a Village Stability site in central Afghanistan, and also took a leave of absence from SoA to deploy once more to Afghanistan with his Special Forces team in 2015.