As Russia's invasion of Ukraine entered its third week, Volodymyr Zelenskyy was defiant in a short video posted on social media in which he shows that he's survived multiple assassination attempts -- and remains in the capital.
Published Mar. 11, 2022 3:33 PM EST | Updated Mar. 11, 2022 3:44 PM EST
A blast of frigid Arctic air this week jolted a country already under siege.
But yet, there stood its fiercest defender of the free world, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, amid freshly fallen snow speaking directly to the people of Ukraine in a self-recorded, 17-second video, reassuring citizens that he was in fact still very much alive, in the capital of Kyiv, and that, most of all, he was not about to give up the fight.
“It is snowing. This is what spring looks like. The spring is similar to the war we experience. Spring is harsh. But everything will be fine. We will win,” Zelenskyy said in a muted voice in the video, which was posted to his Instagram account on Tuesday.
In the video, Zelenskyy can be seen standing in front of what appears to be government buildings on guard for an oncoming assault, surrounded in part by cinder blocks and sandbags, a light snow having dusted the ground and evergreens in the background.
Kyiv picked up half an inch of snow on Tuesday, the same day the video appears to have been recorded and posted.
And then, in an apparent taunting of his aggressor, Russian President Vladimir Putin, Zelenskyy closes out the video with a parting wink.
For Zelenskyy, a man who has reportedly managed to stave off “more than a dozen” assassination attempts two weeks into the Russian invasion, his video appeared at once aimed to dispel any rumors that might be swirling about his well-being and to prove he is in command. It had garnered nearly 9 million views and counting, as well as 79,000-plus comments, on Instagram. And the brief clip racked up many more millions of views on Twitter.
“Authenticity has been his calling card throughout this conflict,” said social media analyst Evan Nierman, CEO of Red Banyan Crisis PR, “and I think showing: ‘Here I am, I’m with you,’ it’s his way of showing [the video] is legitimate and it’s real." Nierman has been following the crisis in Ukraine closely and analyzing the use of social media throughout the weeks-long conflict.
Ukrainian Volodymyr Zelenskyy posted a brief video on social media apparently showing him in the capital city, Kyiv, on Tuesday, March 8, 2022, just after some light snow had fallen across the city. (Instagram / Volodymyr Zelenskyy)
“He needs to show his people that he’s still alive," Nierman told AccuWeather in an interview. "His very existence is an act of defiance. His posting of these videos is a thumb in the eye to these Russians, and it’s a way to continue to inspire people and keep the morale as high as possible while they’re undergoing a brutal assault.”
There is no denying the weather’s impact, too, as snow arrived with March in the war-torn region, adding to the already brutal on-the-ground battle conditions.
It's not clear if Zelenskyy's intent was to use the fresh snowfall as a clever way of authenticating that the brief video was in fact new, thus, proving his wellbeing and whereabouts -- snow had just fallen that day and, according to AccuWeather Meteorologist Randy Adkins, the trace of snow that had fallen two days earlier would not have been enough for an accumulation to still be on the ground Tuesday.
Even if including the snowfall in the background wasn't intentional by Zelenskyy, the video still achieved the effect of essentially time-stamping the video as having been shot on Tuesday, March 8.
At only 17 seconds, the brevity of the video message combined with its content, Nierman noted, was a powerful testament to Zelenskyy’s leadership. Despite the harsh conditions and attacks, Nierman said, Zelenskyy’s not abandoning them and hasn't fled Ukraine in the face of an intensifying assault on his country.
“The weather cemented his message. The weather was part and parcel of his message because he not only showed up," said Nierman, "he referenced it directly. He made it a focal point of his address."
Frigid air has hovered over Ukraine since Monday, with temperatures averaging 4 to 8 degrees Fahrenheit (2 to 4.5 degrees Celsius) below normal -- highs have been recorded at 33 F and lows, 25. The week’s extreme cold comes in stark contrast to the unusually warm air felt in February, when the invasion began on Feb. 24.
Weather has always played a key role in wartime, and it was a critical factor in "the timing of [this] invasion," according to Nierman, the author of "Crisis Averted".
Nearly 1 million Ukrainians have been cut off from electricity and gas supplies as of Friday, according to state-owned nuclear energy provider Energoatom.
An elderly woman is coated in snow as she sits in a wheelchair after being evacuated from Irpin, on the outskirts of Kyiv, Ukraine, Tuesday, March 8, 2022. (AP Photo/Vadim Ghirda)
"Their goal clearly ... is to inflict misery on a broader populace, and I think that shows the inhumanity that’s taking place," said Nierman. "They [the Russian military] know that cutting off the power and electricity to cities in the middle of cold weather is going to be a hard thing for the population to deal with."
Social media too has become a critical part of the battlefield, providing those living thousands of miles away a mirror into the atrocities and challenges war inflicts.
And the 44-year-old Zelenskyy, a former comedian-turned-head of state, has been on the digital front of this battle, addressing his fellow Ukrainians -- and the whole world -- almost daily, urging them to continue the resistance and offering words of encouragement. He has remained a constant presence on social media, mainly Twitter and Instagram, since the start of the invasion.
“President Zelenskyy has done a marvelous job of utilizing social media in order to galvanize the West and the entire global community,” and he used “it very effectively to inspire his countrymen to take up arms,” said Nierman.
In fact, Zelenskyy's video posts have drawn millions of viewers, and his social media following has mushroomed almost overnight since the invasion. He has gone from 300,000 Twitter followers to 5.5 million, and he has attracted nearly 16 million followers on Instagram. On Twitter, he follows no one.
Describing Zelenskyy as "an excellent communicator," Nierman believes the president's "prior career as an actor has made him incredibly comfortable in front of the camera." Zelenskyy portrayed the president on a popular TV show prior to him winning the presidential election in 2019.
"Clearly he’s able to convey a message -- in this case the role of embattled hero president who’s fighting against a mammoth challenge from a menacing neighbor and rallying his countrymen and inspiring [them] to take up arms to defend his land,” Nierman said.
Ukrainians and people across the globe have now come to expect his daily video updates.
Zelenskyy’s informal address to European leaders via social media during the first days of the invasion signaled his mastery of social media.
Apart from Zelenskyy's apparent use of weather in a social media post, Nierman believes Ukraine's social media use has been the clear winner thus far.
“The Ukrainians are totally outfoxing Russia. They are winning the battle of hearts and minds, and they’re certainly winning the propaganda media war," Neirman noted. "Undoubtedly, the Ukrainians have completely outmaneuvered Putin and the Russians in terms of their ability to communicate and I think that speaks to … the way that democracies share information and they win people over with arguments, not coercion."
Zelenskyy's wink at the end of the 17-second video is an example of that winning strategy. "I’m your everyman hero," Neirman said the wink conveyed. "Hang in there, guys.”
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