Volodymyr Zolkin from Kiev wants to inform Russian citizens about the war. He lets the prisoners call home and puts the conversation online.
“Some said that Ukraine had infected birds with biological warfare agents and wanted to kill all Russians. That’s why Moscow intervened.” Phone calls to the mothers of Russian POWs are often frustrating for Volodymyr Zolkin.
READ MORE: Day 41 of the war in Ukraine – the live ticker
At the beginning of the war, he wanted to make himself useful, the 40-year-old from Kiev tells “20 Minuten”. He toned down Russian propaganda that wanted to give the people of Russia a realistic picture of the attack.
So he first posted articles about what was happening on YouTube. “Many Russians commented that it was all fake, that there were definitely no dead,” he says. He felt helpless.
A horrible collection of images
But then the Ukrainian government published “Seek Your Own”: a gruesome collection of images of bloated dead, bleeding wounded and prisoners of war to identify Russian soldiers. Anyone looking for a child, parent or friend can fill out a form.
Thanks to personal contacts with the Ministry of the Interior and an IT expert friend, Zolkin obtained these requests, compared them with the prisoners on Telegram, and thus established the respective connections with Russia. Since then, he has visited Russian POWs and let them call their loved ones. He posts the conversations online (see video). The soldiers would appreciate the opportunity to call home.
“Russians Live Like Slaves”
“Mother, we were the ones who attacked Ukraine,” a soldier tries to explain to his mother. Answer: “We don’t attack, it’s our government.” When asked by her husband if there were any reports of civilian casualties in Ukraine, his wife replied: “You know I try not to watch the news.”
Many did not even ask how the prisoners were doing. “They remain attached to propaganda. It really surprised me at first, I never thought something like this was possible,” Zolkin said.
“In short, the population is afraid of their government. Russians live like slaves, they keep saying ‘we didn’t decide anything’ and ‘we have no influence‘. Please tell me, in what normal, civilized country in the world do people think they have no control over anything?”
Does he feel sorry?
In addition to the calls to Russia, the 40-year-old also interviews prisoners one-on-one and posts those conversations online. Does he feel sorry for them? “I have mixed feelings,” says Zolkin. “On the one hand, I often have children sitting in front of me who had no idea where they were being sent.”
On the other hand, he knows that children are being killed and entire cities are being destroyed in Ukraine right now. “Our people didn’t kill anyone, they are peaceful, they stayed at home and raised their children. Of course, I have a lot more sympathy for them than I do for these people who came to kill us.”
Facebook and Twitter were once blocked after the war – although these platforms were never really important in Russia. YouTube, on the other hand, is currently heavily used by state broadcasters.
At least 600,000 views from Russia
“Of course, we continue to get a lot of comments from Kremlin bots claiming that everything is fake and fake. We get around 1,000 complaints every five minutes on our Telegram and Youtube channels.” It’s a cat and mouse game. “Many videos are blocked, we have restored them.”
But as long as YouTube is still accessible in Russia, he wants to continue his project. Despite all the hatred and slander he received from the East. According to Zolkin, about 60% of his YouTube channel’s viewers come from Russia.
“Some videos have over a million views, so we assume that at least 600,000 Russians have watched them.” Therefore, he did not give up hope of softening Moscow’s propaganda.
Nav counts 20 minutes, time rfi05/04/2022, 19:38| Act: 04.05.2022, 20:06