Propaganda newspapers show how Russia promoted annexation in Kharkiv

IZYUM, Ukraine — Over the months Russian troops occupied this northeastern Ukrainian city, puppet authorities regularly distributed propaganda newspapers to residents, pushing a narrative of normalcy and unity even as homes and infrastructure were demolished, stores were looted and civilians struggled to find basic provisions to survive.

A trove of the Russian-language newspapers, provided to The Washington Post by a resident who said he kept them “for history,” paints a surreal version of events on the ground running in near total contradiction to the narrative from the Ukrainian government in Kyiv, and to accounts from residents who survived the violent takeover of the city in March.