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Ukraine Twitter account defends itself after being slammed for posting memes and comics amid war

'This is not a 'meme' but our and your reality right now,' tweeted the official Ukraine account after people questioned it for posting memes

The official Twitter account of Ukraine has been slammed for posting 'memes' while the Ukraine-Russia conflict has spiraled into war. Vladimir Putin, the Russian President, announced a military operation in Ukraine on Thursday. He said the decision was taken in response to the threats coming from Ukraine.

But even as explosions erupted throughout the country, the officials handling Ukraine's Twitter account have resorted to humor to respond to Russian aggression. The account posted a political cartoon of Adolf Hitler smiling down proudly at Vladimir Putin with no caption. While some people called the illustration a meme, others felt it wasn't the right response given the already tense situation.

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The official Ukraine account defended the post with another tweet after seeing the response from people. "This is not a 'meme', but our and your reality right now," read the tweet.

One user tweeted, "do you think history books are going to have to include sections about shitposting," while another said, "Countries posting war time memes life really can't be real," to which a third replied,".......It's called political propaganda.. not a meme.........." A fourth commented, "All wars should be fought with shitposts."

Many people used memes to describe how they felt about the tweet and this situation. One user joked, "Person who is making this meme: [image]," while another said, "Can’t believe I’m witnessing an image that’ll be in history books." A third simply posted a meme that said, "I really wish I weren't living through a major historical event right now!"

Multiple users joked about the approach used by the Ukraine Twitter account. One user quipped, "[Documents being hastily shredded, explosions getting closer] Ukraine social media manager: We have to get the drafts out." Another said, "At this point, we cannot downplay the importance of memes in conveying vital information on social media spaces," while a third mused, "Imagine reading history 30years from now. Russia invaded Ukraine and in response Ukraine were posting memes on their Twitter account."

Others mentioned that it's merely a political cartoon. "I wish my generation understood the difference between memes, shitposts, and actual political cartoons," said one user, while another wrote, "people mad that the ukraine twitter is tone-deaf for posting 'memes about war' are so terminally online they don't remember what a political cartoon is lol" A third commented, "People really forgot about political cartoons huh. This used to be EVERYWHERE back in the day of War. Newspapers, draft banners, etc."

One user tweeted in disbelief, "No way the world is on verge of WW3, and people are gonna start arguing on twitter, over whether it is a meme or a political cartoon...." Another was not appreciative of the tweet and said, "You must be really relaxed in that situation. Finding the time for posting this kind of stuff is amazing. I'm fully understanding your frustration and situation, but I'm not really appreciated [thinking face emoji]"

This isn't the first time the Ukraine Twitter account has used humor to address the tensions it has with its neighbors. On December 7, @Ukraine tweeted a popular meme describing types of headaches. Their version mentioned "living next to Russia" the worst kind of headache possible.

The social media handlers behind the @Ukraine Twitter had a conversation with The Washington Post through Twitter messages. "Imagine a truly good person who's been [through] a lot in the past, managed to overcome hardships and developed this very special type of sassy and darkish humor as a byproduct. This is what Ukraine is about. We laugh in the face of threats not because we underestimate them, but because what else should we do? Laydown and cry? Tears have never won anyone freedom," explained the account.

"Most probably, in the wider public, especially in countries far from Ukraine, people actually know very little about the real causes of Russia's current aggressiveness and threats against Ukraine. So we had one very practical task to achieve with this meme, which is to explain to some large and distant target audiences that Russia is the problem here, not Ukraine, the West, the US, NATO, aliens or anyone else," the account added.

The @Ukraine account users continued, "This meme hit just there, delivering a very simple, yet important message: 'Russia is the headache, Russia is the problem of the current escalation.' The types of headaches meme reached more than 55 million people, about which the account said, 'probably more than any international media could, so we achieved our task.'"

"We may not have nukes, but we have memes. Call it a security memeorandum. The truth is that humor has an enormous power, especially when facing a brutal, self-aggrandizing and extremely serious authoritarian regime like Russia. They are so serious that they actually fear humor no less than nukes. Memes do just that," the account handler concluded.