VIDEO. War in Ukraine: From the stoves to the hover bombs, who is Ruslan Mokrytsky, the Kiev influencer-soldier who is creating a buzz ?

L’influenceur en train de cuisiner. Capture TikTok ruslan_moktytskyi

While the incursion into the Kursk region seems to give hope to Volodymyr Zelensky's men, Ukrainian soldiers are struggling to keep smiling at the front. But a 32-year-old man has found a way to boost the troops' morale.

“A cook in the hell of war”. His name is Ruslan Mokrytsky, he is 32 years old and is fighting against Vladimir Putin's army. While the Ukrainian incursion into Russian territory, particularly in the Kursk region, the country is still suffering on the eastern and northeastern flanks. The thirty-year-old, scarred by the war, has decided to help other soldiers in his own way, reports the magazine Géo.

“I don't think about the war”

The 32-year-old Ukrainian is known to several thousand people in the country in conflict with Russia. Indeed, Rouslan is an influencer but also a soldier. Followed by more than 130,000 people on TikTok, he films himself cooking in the trenches, just a few kilometers from the front.

“A cook in the hell of war”, as he defines himself on his social network page. “After the missions, there were, let's say, a lot of horrible and stressful images. I needed to recover mentally", he confides, after being confronted with the horror of war. But the Ukrainian found refuge in cooking videos.

“It's not just me who is rebuilding myself mentally, but everyone around”, explains the man, half-influencer, half-soldier, present on the front in the Donbass. Filmed by his comrades, his videos now have millions of views, some even exceeding 7 million.

@ruslan_moktytskyi

♬ Слава нашим ЗСУ – Ярослава Руденко

"When I film Rouslan, I don't think about the war", says a soldier who is at his side in the hell of war. The thirty-year-old's meals, which can range from traditional Italian cuisine with pasta all’arrabbiata with parmesan to Ukrainian dishes, are prepared between Russian attacks. It should be remembered that he is a soldier and pilots drones and also sends gliding bombs against the Russian army.

@ruslan_moktytskyi

Protein ?

♬ Ой, мамо, люблю Гриця – Kolaba

As for the“special military operation”, launched by Vladimir Putin in February 2022, Ruslan defends himself by explaining that he is not an extremist as the Kremlin master claims, justifying his attack on Ukraine to “denazify" the country. “Russians also watch my videos. IThey see that we are ordinary people defending their country, not fascists or whatever,” the influencer says.