The Glamour and the Gun
On Instagram, Anastasiia Lenna’s feed is a jarring collage of modern warfare. One moment, she is a glamorous model in a photoshoot; the next, a soldier in fatigues, helmet on head and weapon in hand. With nearly 200,000 followers, the former Miss Ukraine contestant who joined the military after the 2022 invasion documents a dual reality. Her posts oscillate between the staged imagery of a combatant and the raw exhaustion of a mother of two, confronting constant air raid sirens and power cuts. “This war doesn’t take everything at once,” she writes. “It kills hope slowly.”
Documenting the Bunker: Humor as a Weapon
When bombs fell on Chernihiv, 20-year-old Valeria Shashenok (“Valerisssh” on TikTok) took refuge in a bunker with her parents and dog. She began documenting the surreal experience with dark humor. Her videos, showing daily life in a confined shelter, quickly went viral, amassing over 1.2 million followers in three weeks. She initially posted in Russian, hoping to sway public opinion, but soon switched to English to reach a global audience.
Now living in London, she reflects on her early naivete. “In Ukraine, we thought the Russians could be stopped, that Putin would be overthrown… Today, I don’t really have hope,” she admits. Despite the psychological toll, she continues her digital fight. “Some fight on the territory, in Ukraine. I am on my own front: social media. It seems ridiculous, the way I talk about the conflict. But it works.” For her, it’s a vital act of patriotism: “This is my country. This is my home.”
The Digital Battlefield and Fundraising Front
The war in Ukraine is also fought online, a clash of narratives on platforms like TikTok, Instagram, and X, which are rife with disinformation. Influencers like Valeria note a rise in hostile comments, often from what they suspect are Russian bot accounts. Yet, they persist in documenting, testifying, and arguing to shape global perception.
Their massive audiences have also been mobilized for tangible support. Figures like Elena Mandziuk, with nearly a million followers, regularly organize fundraisers. Valeria has used her platform to participate in fundraising drives, turning viral visibility into crucial financial aid for her homeland.
A War of Attrition, On and Offline
Four years on, the initial shock has given way to a grinding war of attrition, both on the ground and in the digital sphere. The influencers who once documented the invasion’s first hours now chronicle the enduring strain on civilian life and morale. Their social media profiles have evolved from spontaneous war diaries into sustained channels of advocacy, testimony, and resistance. They continue to post, driven by the unwavering hope of one day seeing a peaceful Ukraine, even as they document the slow, daily erosion of normalcy.
