War in real time: TikTok and Twitter stars document Russia's war in Ukraine
A snowy sidewalk strewn with bloodied bodies. A beleaguered president roaming the streets of a country under attack. Missiles streaming. Sirens wailing. Teens making homemade bombs. And dead soldiers, so many of them, lying crumpled in fields and slumped in smoldering tanks.
Russia's invasion of Ukraine has spawned a constant stream of online content, a deluge of audio-visuals that has countered Moscow's disinformation campaign, spurred global leaders to action and helped, as they have in other recent conflicts in Syria and Ethiopia, change the way we see and understand war.
The bombings and violence in cities like Mariupol, Kharkiv and Kyiv feature a cast of newly minted stars — social media standouts who rely on satire, grit and an insider's sensibilities to document the horrors for a global audience.
Ukranian President has become the most famous and tireless online presence with, a journalist who has garnered more than 1 million Twitter followers for his play-by-plays of military operations, and , the mayor of Kyiv and a former heavyweight champion boxer who delivers dispatches from the aftermath of bombings.
