Amid incremental advances, and some setbacks, in its counter-offensive against the Russian forces that invaded in February 2022, the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence (MoD) delivered on 8 July 2023 another masterclass in information operations on Twitter.
A message introducing the 53-second video posting reads, “You might see us as lead characters in your favourite action films or computer games. You aren’t wrong to see us that way. However, the war in Ukraine is very real. And we very much know what we’re doing.”
The posting itself is set to the iconic hit Hold on I’m Coming by American soul/R&B duo Sam & Dave and begins with clips from the Hollywood action movies Rambo III, Commando, Red Dawn and even the satirical action comedy Tropic Thunder, as well as clips from computer games. Intercut with these is the message ‘Some people think they know what war is … from watching movies … and playing video games’. Tellingly, the adversaries in both Rambo III and Red Dawn are Russian invaders, in Afghanistan and during a fictional invasion of the United States respectively. Tropic Thunder, meanwhile, depicts the making of a Hollywood war movie where fiction becomes reality.
Then, interspersed with footage of Ukrainian personnel on actual combat operations, the video delivers the message ‘Look, we know you’re impatient … but this is our fight … it isn’t make believe … and we know what we’re doing.’
The video posting was released as Ukraine marked 500 days of fighting the Russian invasion. Also released the same day was a report showing Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky making a visit to Snake Island off the coast of southwestern Ukraine, which became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance on the opening day of the invasion when Ukrainian border guards there refused to surrender to the Russian warships Vasily Bykov and Moskva. Although the garrison was captured, Russian forces were forced to withdraw from the island by late June 2022.
In terms of information operations, the Ukrainian military has continued to run rings around its Russian adversary, the propaganda efforts of which have been clumsy by comparison. Its recent unconventional video posting, co-opting the Hollywood action heroes played by Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger, demonstrates a continued ability to ‘think outside the box’ in shoring up Western support, which has inevitably become more challenging as the war drags on.
Peter Felstead
