I haven't followed what's going on in Ukraine for a long time. It ended for me when Ukraine announced that it would not honor the Minsk Agreements and tried to go on the offensive in our Lugansk People’s Republic (LPR) on February 23, 2022 - the day before the Special Military Operation (SMO). Even then it was clear that no one wanted peace there. But now two events have happened that I would like to talk about. Because I have no answer as a writer. Now I read that Russia is losing the information war. You can disagree with this, but for now it's true. Now, my godfather and I have embarked on a new project - a show for the United States, where we will talk about current events and current topics, trying to bring the truth to those Americans and Europeans who are not yet hopelessly infected with propaganda, and are willing to hear an alternative opinion.
As I was preparing for the first show, I came across a gleeful announcement from the American Embassy in Kiev about the launch, with their support, of a new cartoon about the heroic Ukrainian dog “Patron.” I will not touch the cartoon itself, so as not to publicize it. Whoever wants it, will find it. As my friends said: "A very decent agitation for children 3 years and up. And while everyone is rejoicing over the new Cheburashka movie currently showing in Russia, new forms of loveliness are slowly being created in Ukraine. Cartoons that, among other things, teach young children to hate the “enemy.” And all this is done through the image of cute animals. In our case, through a dog.
It's hard for me to say what we can do about it. In my opinion, the notion that we can get children interested by using good examples from the past is wrong. I am a teenager myself, and I understand that children now live with slightly different images and characters. Anime, games, movies, music - this is the new battlefield where they're trying to win us over. And how can we respond to that? I'm glad that cartoons and movies about our past heroes are coming out. But so far, I haven't seen in literature, movies, cartoons or games any child heroes or animals worth talking about that could serve as an example. This is a major problem today. Many adults think they know what young people and children need right now. And that is why, going on the Internet, a child chooses not another flash mob of some children's organization, but a cartoon with a wonderful dog which also happens to have the Ukrainian flag behind the dog.
The second problem is that the West is not fighting us honestly. As always. Recently a journalist from a well-known publication asked me what I thought about the detention of child saboteurs in the LPR. Then I answered that Russia and Ukraine have different situations: Ukraine can afford to concoct terrorist acts, shell cities, kill people, train child terrorists. Russia cannot do this because it is morally unacceptable. We can't treat children the way they do. But when children are made the enemy now, something must be done about it.
By the way, while watching this amazing masterpiece, I learned a lot. It is especially interesting that the UNICEF Foundation, which is supposed to protect children in the world, openly participates and supports the shooting of this propaganda. But that is no longer surprising.
As of today, I have an answer for what to do about it. But in the meantime, we are preparing the first episode of the show. And we continue to fight for the possibility to have our own opinion.