How Ukraine is winning the social media war

After astir 8 months, the warfare successful Ukraine hangs successful the balance. Ukrainian counter-offensives proceed to marque progress, portion Russian forces are inactive pressing elsewhere.

But connected the internet, it's a precise one-sided affair.

"This is simply a meme nation," says Olena, a Kyiv entrepreneur who manages teams of societal media volunteers.

"If this was a warfare of memes, we would beryllium winning."

Olena is not her existent name. Due to the delicate quality of the enactment she and her teams transportation retired connected behalf of Ukraine's defence ministry, she has asked to stay anonymous.

Her teams enactment round-the-clock, reacting wrong hours to quality from astir the country, producing punchy videos, often acceptable to music, for the ministry's audiences astatine location and abroad.

Just arsenic Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky tailors speeches to overseas parliaments to instrumentality relationship of section history, civilization and sensibility, truthful Olena's five-strong planetary squad people their messages.

A June video thanking Britain for its subject assistance featured the euphony of Gustav Holst and The Clash, with glimpses of Shakespeare, David Bowie, Lewis Hamilton and a montage of British-supplied anti-tank weapons successful action.

Images of reddish roses, chocolates, the Paris skyline, followed by the guns successful action, were acceptable - possibly inevitably - to the dependable of Serge Gainsbourg and Jane Birkin's breathless Je T'aime Moi Non Plus.

With nods to a Macron-Zelensky bromance, it was suggestive and thoroughly tongue-in-cheek.

Olena says 1 of her favourite "thank you" videos praised Sweden for its value-for-money investment successful Ukraine: $20,000 (£17,900) Carl Gustav rocket launchers, susceptible of knocking retired Russian T-90 tanks worthy $4.5m.

The tune? You guessed it: Abba's Money, Money, Money.

Thanks to the team's efforts, the defence ministry's Twitter provender present has 1.5m followers astir the world. Some of the videos person been viewed much than a cardinal times.

Their astir palmy video, released successful August aft respective mysterious attacks connected Russian targets successful annexed Crimea, has racked up 2.2m views. It mocked Russians for going connected vacation connected the peninsula and was acceptable to the Bananarama opus Cruel Summer.

"The main thought is to talk to the planetary assemblage and amusement that Ukraine is really susceptible of winning," she says. "Because cipher wants to put successful losers."

But different of Olena's teams carries retired much subversive work, designed to item Russian losses and demoralise Ukraine's invaders.

With a wealthiness of videos depicting Russian subject setbacks being posted connected societal media platforms, the squad is not abbreviated of material. But they've learned done proceedings and mistake what works and what doesn't.

"We started displaying dormant Russian bodies," Olena says. "And past we realised that it really didn't work. It lone agreed them against us."

The squad past tried to entreaty to the consciences of Russian soldiers by showing images of dormant Ukrainian civilians. Again, it seemed to autumn connected deaf ears.

"We realised they were really arrogant of it. They were not condemning this astatine all," she says. "We realised that we person to bash this successful a overmuch much blase way."

Now the volunteers scrutinise Russian societal media platforms, looking to property buttons and probe weaknesses successful circumstantial parts of the country.

"If you bash it successful Saratov you person to cognize what's going connected successful Saratov," Olena says. "If you bash it successful Nizhny Novgorod, you person to cognize what's going connected successful Nizhny Novgorod."

It's highly hard to gauge the interaction this enactment is having, but Vladimir Putin's caller partial mobilisation has fixed the volunteers tons of worldly to enactment with.

"We were waiting for the mobilisation," Olena says. "We knew that it would beryllium precise demoralising for them."

The azygous richest seam of worldly is to beryllium recovered connected the messaging work Telegram. Olena calls it "the Wild Wild West".

The volunteers providing worldly for the defence ministry are conscionable a tiny portion of a vast, vibrant, fiercely patriotic and wildly irreverent assemblage reacting to events connected the ground, sometimes with astonishing speed.

Scores of Telegram channels pull immense numbers of followers.

One, called "Ukrainian Offensive", has 96,485 followers. Its slogan is "fighting connected the civil-meme frontlines of the accusation warfare since 2014."

It provides a fare of subject updates, out-and-out trolling of Moscow and occasional digs astatine Western media sum (including the BBC).

Like astir different channels, it doesn't shy distant from showing suffering, including footage of dormant oregon dying Russian soldiers.

The caller detonation connected Russia's Kerch Bridge, linking Russia with occupied Crimea, triggered a tidal question of videos, jokes and memes arsenic Ukraine's net service celebrated wildly.

But the state didn't crook into a federation of integer ninjas overnight. Eight years of warfare successful the eastbound Donbas portion has fixed radical tons of clip to hone their skills, from countering disinformation to circulating humorous contented designed to boost morale.

More connected the accusation war:

The existent societal media environment, says Ihor Solovey, caput of Ukraine's Centre for Strategic Communication and Information Security, reflects a uncommon convergence of authoritative and fashionable sentiment.

"We're witnessing possibly the archetypal clip successful past erstwhile civilian nine trusts the authorities and is helping it," helium told me.

"The equipped forces bash their ain thing, portion nine is creating content, memes, originative works connected their own. Because everyone feels liable for their ain future."

What, if anything, is Russia throwing backmost astatine Ukraine?

Strangely, fixed Russia's estimation for troll farms and shady scammers with alleged links to the Kremlin, the reply seems to be: not much.

Earlier this month, 2 well-known Russian pranksters did negociate to con Ukraine's Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba into reasoning helium was talking to a erstwhile US ambassador to Moscow, Michael McFaul.

Excerpts were broadcast connected Russian authorities media, successful which Mr Kuleba appeared to admit that Ukraine was liable for caller attacks successful Crimea and Russia - though the prank was conducted earlier the 8 October Kerch Bridge explosion.

But if Russia does person a likewise inventive net army, Olena says she has seen small motion of it.

"Russians haven't managed to travel up with thing interesting," she says. "No humour, nary beauty. Not adjacent pain. No compassion."