The military situation is probably at a stalemate,” says Corneliu Bjola, a professor of diplomatic studies at Oxford University, who specialises in digital messaging. “But humour is helping Ukraine win the information war.” The basic idea here, as Alhabash pointed out, is that the war meme itself isn’t just about war. It’s about the larger cultural mood and the ways in which we receive, express, and amplify that mood. In the past, the memes might have functioned as a kind of canary in the coal mine for a larger social media response to future emergent political situations. A foreigner entering Russia would be prohibited from "interfering with the activities of public authorities of the Russian Federation, discrediting in any form the foreign and domestic state policy of the Russian Federation, public authorities and their officials", TASS said. Deadly Russian shelling continued overnight, striking targets in Ukraine's Kharkiv and Zaporizhzhia regions. Late last month, a couple of days after Russian missiles hit Kyiv, killing a Ukrainian journalist; a few weeks after Russian forces laid siege to this city, my hometown; two months after Vladimir Putin’s forces invaded my homeland, I went down into a converted bomb shelter and laughed. A lot. And it felt great.

A drunk was taking a walk in the zoo. Suddenly he saw a donkey. He elbowed his way up to the enclosure, pulled the donkey’s face up close to his own, kissed it and began to weep: “You poor bunny rabbit, what have the Communists done to you?”

First, advertising dollars go up and down with the economy. We often only know a few months out what our advertising revenue will be, which makes it hard to plan ahead. This is an outlet for releasing excessive aggression so that we are not engulfed in fear,” Kyiv resident Olexander Lisenko told Al Jazeera. Ukrainian jabs are directed at the invaders, but not towards their own fighters and victims. And it is worth noting that Zelenskyy, a comic before he assumed the presidency, has for the most part avoided jocular tweets during wartime. After all, he wants to be taken seriously as head of state.

Speaking last week, Air Force spokesperson Yurii Ihnat explained that the speed and trajectory of the Oniks and Kh-22 missiles make them very hard to intercept. The sober, polarized reactions to the memes likewise forms part of the cultural response to the invasion. Laughter or horror at a war meme are both reflections of unease about a turbulent moment; their coexistence reflects both larger societal polarization and some of that turbulence itself. After all, if laughter gets read as a mark of desensitization, displaying too much empathy can be viewed as narcissism. Is the only acceptable response, if you’re an at-home viewer, just to sit and be sad? Because no amount of sunscreen will protect them from the hazardous effects of smoking in unauthorised areas.Suka (сука): Bitch. A common insult across various Slavic languages, including Russian and Ukrainian. There’s also a diminutive, “suchka,” used as a term of endearment. Days after we spoke, Lipko joined the Territorial Defense Forces, the military reserves of Ukrainian armed forces tasked with guarding Kyiv. He hasn’t participated in the livestream show since March 13, but Dierskaia says he plans to return soon. “He probably would have to get on a very high tree to get some signal though,” she laughs. But as the conflict dragged on, Bjola says, the government made a strategic decision to keep locals and foreigners engaged through catchy, short messages that can be shared widely and, being in English, especially resonate with Western audiences. In a 2020 phone interview, Saleem Alhabash, who studies memes and social media at Michigan State University’s media psychology department, told me memes are as valid a response as any other to overwhelming events beyond our control. “These memes, the way that people are communicating, could be a reflection of the general feeling that people are having,” he said. “This uncertainty about what is going to happen, and how severe this trend is. So while they might appear humorous or [dismissive] of the seriousness, they can reflect [public] sentiment.”

Two years later, when Britain alleged that Russia had poisoned a former spy and his daughter, the Russian embassy in London posted a picture of Hercule Poirot, the detective in Agatha Christie’s murder mysteries. The caption read, “In absence of evidence, we definitely need Poirot in Salisbury!” At the moment in my feed he is being idolised," says Gere, "turned into this figure of nobility and courage and real manliness as opposed to ersatz manliness". About the council: The NATO-Ukraine Council is the joint body where Zelensky formally meets with leaders from the alliance for crisis consultation, input on key issues and updates on Ukraine's ongoing membership efforts. Dozens of cars were damaged, facades and roofs of many buildings in the city were damaged and windows were blown out,” according to the military's statement. “Several craters have been formed in the city. There are power outages, which may hamper traffic and the route of public transport may be changed.”

‘We make jokes to stay sane’

He said the trainings may be split between countries, but the final plans were still being finalized. Alhabash’s research indicates that people who share memes often aren’t thinking too deeply about what to post or share, and are “driven to make content based on what we think other people want to see on social media.” This can be a very knee-jerk experience, which doesn’t really lend itself to reflective war memes.

The plots to steal the weaponry and equipment were disrupted by Ukraine’s intelligence services and the items were ultimately recovered, according to the report, titled “DoD’s Accountability of Equipment Provided to Ukraine.” CNN obtained the report via a Freedom of Information Act request. Military.com first reported the news.However, since 2014, Russian propagandists have used the imagined persecution of Russian speakers in Ukraine as justification for Russia’s aggression. In reality, while Ukrainian was promoted to the status of official language as part of Leninopad, Russian is so accepted in Ukraine that Zelensky broke into Russian during the 2019 presidential debate to the cheers of the crowd. This dark joke refers to the terror that follows when Russian soldiers come to “save” Russian-speaking Ukrainians. I think it's not necessary,” he said. Ukraine will have a streamlined admission process and in the meantime will continue to work on the necessary reforms, Reznikov added. Dziunko is onstage with two other comedians and a well-known singer. All are seated and holding microphones, gamely trying to find humor in a place and at a moment when the tragic is trouncing the funny by a spectacular margin. On March 13, two days after Dierskaia cursed the Russians for violating the cease-fire and preventing her parents from leaving their town, she has better news to share on the show: her mother and grandmother have been safely evacuated and joined her in Central Ukraine. “I’m so happy for granny. You know, she’s not really a parkour runner at her age, so we gotta take care of her,” she says cheerfully. Dierskaia’s joke destroys her co-hosts, and Zagaikevich can’t stop laughing. “Go ahead and laugh. I was just saying I love my grandma,” Dierskaia shrugs with a smile. Two days of storms and snow in the south have left the ground sodden and unsuitable for military manoeuvres.