Ukraine’s latest weapon in the war: Jokes

‘We choose to see things through a comic lens. That makes it easier to live through drastic situations.’

By Judith Matloff

Published On 6 Sep 20226 Sep 2022

On August 9, at least a dozen explosions rocked a Russian military base in Crimea.

Russia’s defence ministry avoided assigning blame – saying the “detonation of several aviation ammunition stores” caused the blast – while, for its part, Ukraine’s military played it coy. It did not claim responsibility for the damaged combat planes, nor for a subsequent drone strike on the navy headquarters in the Russian-occupied area.

Instead, Ukraine’s defence ministry mockingly warned on Twitter about the dangers of smoking – sardonically suggesting that Russian soldiers caused the explosions themselves by tossing lit cigarettes.

https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?dnt=true&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=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&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1557621932429819907&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aljazeera.com%2Ffeatures%2F2022%2F9%2F6%2Fukraine-latest-weapon-in-the-war-jokes&sessionId=efa44c9bcb88a6e85d8ada5b224685fb08345b76&theme=light&widgetsVersion=1bfeb5c3714e8%3A1661975971032&width=550px

“Time to head home … Crimea is Ukraine,” read the text on the faux-tourism video it tweeted, in which Bananarama’s 1983 song Cruel Summer is heard playing over footage of shocked sunbathers fleeing a nearby beach as smoke from the blasts looms in the background.

In the days that followed, a barrage of similar lampooning posts appeared on various Ukrainian military Twitter handles.

One shared a World Health Organization advisory that “smoking kills”.

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