People usually choose to see things through a comedic lens, which eases the stress of living in harsh situations, and Ukrainians are no exception, with their social platforms teeming with ridicule of their enemy.
In a report for Al Jazeera English, the American writer Judith Matloff collected some of the most exciting jokes, and also talked about the Russians' position on such a weapon.
The writer opened her report by commenting on what the Russians said about the reasons for the bombings that rocked on August 9, 2022, a Russian military base in the Crimea.
The writer, who is also an instructor in conflict coverage at Columbia University's Graduate School of Journalism, said the Russian Defense Ministry avoided blaming Ukraine, saying "what happened was caused by the explosion of several aviation ammunition depots" while the Ukrainian military chose to approach the issue with caution and Kyiv did not claim responsibility for it. Damage to combat aircraft and no subsequent drone strike on the naval headquarters in the Russian-occupied region.
Our new CAPTCHA in Ukraine…
Prove that you're not a robot: pic.twitter.com/o7EmXWBnra
— Ukraine Territorial Defense Forces (@TDF_UA) August 11, 2022
Instead, the Ukrainian Defense Ministry sarcastically warned on Twitter about the dangers of smoking, sarcastically suggesting that Russian soldiers caused the explosions themselves by throwing lit cigarettes.
In a fake tourist video, a Ukrainian party tweeted, "It's time to go home. Crimea is Ukraine," accompanied by Bananarama's 1983 song Cruel Summer, and in the background two shocked tourists fleeing from the nearby beach while smoke from the explosions looms over the horizon.
And in the days that followed, a barrage of similar satirical posts surfaced on several Ukrainian military Twitter accounts, with one sharing WHO advice that “smoking kills.”
.@WHO
Smoking kills!
pic.twitter.com/OdsniswTVS
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 18, 2022
Another particularly scathing tweet featured a Captcha mosaic of burning planes with instructions to "Prove you're not a robot" Please click on each image containing a plane, and if there are none, click "Skip".
Digital jokes, according to the author, are Ukraine's newest weapon of war, and although it is not yet clear what will turn out, these satirical messages are receiving millions of views on Telegram, Twitter and other communication platforms, and resonate in Ukraine itself and the global English-speaking audience.
"The military situation may be at a stalemate, but humor helps Ukraine win the information war," said Corneliu Bjola, a professor of diplomatic studies at Oxford University who specializes in digital messaging.
But as the conflict dragged on, says Bjola, the Ukrainian government made a strategic decision to keep locals and foreigners engaged through short, engaging messages that could be widely shared, in English, to resonate with Western audiences.
Just a month into the war, the Ministry of Defense published videos showing, for example, Ukrainian farmers pulling Russian military vehicles, and in the background Western songs to indicate that Ukraine is part of the West, with other tweets citing boxer Malik Tyson or the Rambo movie.
But one of the quotes most intended to prove Ukrainians' connection to the West and its culture is the one published by Ukrainian accounts on August 31, which included the famous British song from World War II "Run Rabbit.. Run" "Run, Rabbit.. Run."
Run Rabbit Run!
pic.twitter.com/7A5eKfWKXm
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 31, 2022
Mocking Russia is not new in Ukraine. In the aftermath of Moscow’s 2014 invasion of Crimea, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry enhanced its digital messaging capacity in a strategic communications unit led by current Minister Dmytro Kuleba, with advice from the United Kingdom and the United States, and that unit has already started Broadcast gifs and memes from the TV show The Simpsons in digital advertising.
You really don't change, do you?
pic.twitter.com/HDfS9A8jWZ
— Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) May 30, 2017
The years that followed gave the country ample opportunity to perfect its monetary campaign against Russia, and Kuleba brought this skill with him to his current portfolio as foreign minister.
In addition to mocking Moscow, the Ukrainian military stresses its care and compassion for animals, to emphasize the humanity of its soldiers, and memes and videos show how soldiers evacuate pets and other animals from zoos, along with scenes of Russian brutality.
Ukrainian soldiers love cats.
After all, they not only lift their spirits, but are also able to see perfectly in the dark… the occupiers have nowhere to hide.
pic.twitter.com/c3wSoCyjHW
— Defense of Ukraine (@DefenceU) August 29, 2022
The third type of message includes videos that are primarily songs glorifying destruction, but comedic, in which funny lyrical clips accompany the firing of rockets and bombing scenes, and despite the inconsistency of this combination, the catchy music with pungent lyrics made hundreds of thousands dance.
The sensational song of Turkish drones (Bayraktar) has garnered nearly two million views, with it showing a wide smile of uniformed people dancing with their guns mocking Russians as "sheep" or "mythical beings".
Digital Messages for Russia
On the other hand, the writer says: One notices that the Russian means of communication have been characterized by cruelty and seriousness since the beginning of the invasion, which Ilan Manor, a lecturer in communications at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, attributes to the fact that “Russia realized early on that humor might backfire because public opinion was against it.” Noting that the victim can make fun of the aggressor, but not the other way around.
Instead, Russian digital messages tend to magnify threats, such as nuclear war, and it's hard to provoke fear when you spread jokes.
The writer noted that this approach is different from what was known about the government of Russian President Vladimir Putin, which previously used stinging parody to belittle Western leaders and narratives, and to soften criticism about Moscow's interference in (the affairs of) other countries.
President Obama expels 35 🇷🇺 diplomats in Cold War deja vu.
As everybody, incl 🇺🇸 people, will be glad to see the last of this hapless Adm.
pic.twitter.com/mleqA16H8D
— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) December 29, 2016
And when, in 2014, NATO released satellite images of Russian tanks invading Crimea, Moscow's embassies tweeted a photo of effigy tanks, calling it "the most convincing evidence" the alliance could come up with.
The writer attributed the Ukrainians' use of jokes to their attempt to belittle Russia and their quest to raise the morale of their people amid the massive destruction that their country has suffered. After the war became a reality, Ukrainians turned to a black sense of humor.
"Our life has always been difficult, so we constantly make jokes so as not to lose our minds," Sofia Maksimev, communications coordinator for the UkraineWorld online magazine, told Al Jazeera, adding that wartime Ukrainian humor "is our national advantage, we choose to see things through a comic lens, this enables us to live easily. in extreme situations.
In absence of evidence, we definitely need Poirot in Salisbury!
pic.twitter.com/EHTlEQmcPp
— Russian Embassy, UK (@RussianEmbassy) March 18, 2018
Maximev cites a particularly amusing anecdote about a grandmother who threw a jar of pickles at a Russian rally: "Some may question this, but such a ridiculous attitude helps us laugh and calm down."
Finally, the American writer commented to Al Jazeera English: Humor can sometimes go too far and turn against it, as it focuses on glorifying what the Ukrainians are doing against the invaders and ignoring what they do towards their victims.