Ukrainians Use Humor As A Weapon

Sitting in New Haven as the Russian army sought to invade his homeland, Oleksii Atnoniuk watched in horror — and also got a chuckle.

More than one.

One chuckle came when he watched the above video. It shows a Ukrainian farmer towing away a Russian tank.

In between organizing rallies in New Haven, meeting with members of Congress to rally support against Vladimir Putin and worrying about the fate of relatives back in Ukraine, Myron Melnyk has had some good chuckles, too. Like when he watched the above BBC video showing a Ukrainian woman cussing out would-be occupying soldiers and urging them to put her sunflower seeds in their pockets so plants can grow ​“when you die here.”

No, neither of them considers attempted genocide, mass bombings, thousands of innocent lives lost, or the departure of 1,000-plus-and-counting refugees a laughing matter. They know it’s a matter of life and death, the future of their independent homeland, a battle between freedom and tyranny.

But as the Russian invasion enters its second week, said both Melnyk and Antoniuk, organizers of New Haven’s Ukrainian-American protests this past week, humor has been among the weapons helping Ukrainians hold their ground in a David-vs-Goliath showdown that has inspired the world.

The humor doesn’t derive from the fact that the heroic Ukrainian president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, worked as a comedian before taking office. His inspiring videos of resistance have been straight-faced appeals for world support. No jokes. (Though he did offer a clever rejoinder to a U.S. offer of safe passage out of the country: ​“I don’t need a ride. I need more ammunition.”)

The humor derives from the unexpected failures of a Russian military that the world thought could roll right into Ukraine and take over its cities.

Take the farmers and the tanks. Please.

“You have a battle going on. Russians abandon their vehicles and enter the forests. The Ukrainian army withdraws to regroup. Then Ukrainian farmers come with tractors and tow Russian tanks to their backyard.”

“It’s cool to have a Russian tank in your backyard!” said Antoniuk, a Yale sophomore majoring in global affairs and economics. Antoniuk hails from Kolomyia, Ukraine, where his father remains while his mother waits out the invasion in Poland. He and Melnyk discussed the Ukrainian resistance to the Russian invasion Thursday on an episode of WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”

There’s more to the tank story: At least three such theft-of-military-equipment instances have been publicized so far on social media. One involved a “$5 million air defense system towed” by a farmer, Antoniuk said.

That prompted a public statement from a Ukrainian state tax official, concerning the farmer’s potential liability.

“According to Ukrainians laws, if you find a treasure which is very expensive, the Ukrainian state tax agency would need to tax you,” Antoniuk noted. ​“However, there was a statement: ​‘If you by any chance steal a Russian tank we will not tax that. We will not consider it income.’

“This is all on all Ukrainian news. It is just so funny.”

Antoniuk argued that humor is ​“essential to dealing with tragedy, even if the tragedy is as terrible as it is now. Humor helps you go through that. It makes people laugh. It make people see how actually not professional, not good, Russian soldiers are.”

In other words, it helps David believe he can defeat Goliath. It helps the woman in the second video resist backing down when a Russian soldier issues threats. It suggests that Goliath might not be invincible.

The war’s first week certainly suggested as much. Antoniuk that so far the Russians have been able to claim control of only one city, and a small city at that: Kherson.

Melnyk — who was U.S. Sen. Richard Blumenthal’s guest in D.C. Tuesday evening for the State of the Union address — cautioned against excessive optimism. He too takes heart in the Ukrainian people’s resistance. He also said that ​“Putin has not played all his cards. He’s not about to back off.” He hasn’t begun to use all the weapons at his disposal. Melnyk, who served as an order of battle analyst for the U.S. military during the Vietnam War, continues to anticipate that the Russian army will end up entering major cities and the Ukrainian resistance will shift to fighting an occupying force.

“The heavy lifting hasn’t started yet.”

To that end, he called on the U.S. to help bolster Ukrainian’s air capability by pushing for NATO to allow for the repair of decommissioned Soviet-era MiG‑8 fighter jets currently located in Poland. Ukraine’s military has the trained pilots who can fly them, he said. Melnyk made that pitch this week in a conference call with Connecticut’s five U.S. representatives.

Melnyk and Antoniuk also said Americans have numerous options for worthy causes to which to send donations in support of the Ukrainian people as they resist the Russian invasion of their nation. Click on this spreadsheet for details on how to donate, where.

And click on the above video to watch the full interview with Myron Melnyk and Oleksii Antoniuk on WNHH FM’s ​“Dateline New Haven.”