Thread by @Mylovanov

A video of #Kyiv McDonalds yesterday got 10M views. People were shocked to see civilian life , good service, and positive vibe.

They said “it doesn’t look like a war zone”. But it is.

People share other misconceptions about city life in war. I explore them here 1/

Here is the McDonalds video. Some popular accounts retweeted it separately, others just copied the video without attribution.

Many of them are anti-Ukrainian, some are skeptics.

One of the frequent comments: there is no war in Ukraine, it doesn’t look like a war zone. 2/

https://twitter.com/mylovanov/status/1662180866104147981

Let’s debunk this “no war zone” argument.

The last night, I woke up to the sound of explosions. There were three loud pops real close outside our apartment. The windows shook but held. Believe me it is not pleasant. There was a largest ever drone attack on Kyiv. People died. 3/

My sister, who lives in a different area, said they could not sleep. It was very loud, explosions, air defense, sound of shaheds.

Russia sent 54 attack drones, and 52 were intercepted. Again, civilians died.

You can read more here
ukrinform.net/rubric-ato/371… 4/

So, take me. I am the person who took that video in McDonalds on Friday night, and who could easily been hit by a drone on Saturday night. So, yes, it is a war zone. Even if McDonalds or other businesses don’t convey that impression. 5/

But they actually do so if you are perceptive. First, there are many more women than men in the video (approximately 27/17). Second, out of 27 men, two are wearing uniform, and another one is semi plain cloth military (hat, belt). That’s 18%. 6/

https://twitter.com/mylovanov/status/1662180866104147981

Two more males give a military vibe. Military intelligence is often plain clothed. This applies also to territorial defense and to people on rotation or on vacation. There are several high school aged males who are not eligible to draft yet. And there are servers. 7/

So, if you watch the video carefully, about 1/3 or more are military or likely to be military related.

But it is also true that we try not to show military in the videos here, unless it is officially authorized. For obvious security reasons. 8/

For example, in this very video, there are two military men at the end. Later they turn around and you can see their faces. Then, they join a larger group of military. I cut that part off for security reasons. 9/

I put pictures of destroyed buildings and videos of civilian life, but I never take videos on military equipment or personnel. For example, in the video above, in the first tweet, the intention is to show no military, even if there were some. I trimmed the video accordingly. 10/

Now, let’s get to the second myth or argument: the fighting age males should be on the front line / otherwise it doesn’t look like an existential fight.

This is false. If we send all males to the front our economy will collapse. We are 40 m nation, 3m are involved directly. 11/

Many millions of others are involved indirectly in defense effort, but they are civilians - volunteers, analysts, donors, logistics, R&D, diplomacy, cyber warfare, etc.

So, no, not every fighting age male should be sent to the front of the war is existential 12/

Then, there is an argument that the vibe is too good for the wartime.

This is one is silly. Look carefully at the faces of people. Many of them are grim. They are not carefree. People are looking for normalcy, and McDonalds offers a semblance. 13/

A McDonalds trip on a Friday night is something from the pre war time. Something good, from the life without bombs.

Yes, my wife and I go to movie theaters. I guess the same people would be shocked to learn the theaters work and their popcorn and we watch Marvel. 14/

It helps us forget about the war for a couple of hours but it is not quite the same. There is curfew, the theaters shut down early, and you can see a lot of people in uniform or wounded.

The train shows the most in children. Anything can trigger a panic attack in them. 15/

Let me address the complains about good service and hygiene, better in the US.

You should not assume Ukrainians don’t clean or are not polite because of the war.

It is more of the reflection on the IS that their McDonalds are not always in a good shape. 16/

Then, there is this argument “our tax payers money goes to Ukraine so they can eat in McDonalds”.

The opposite is true. Because economy is operating, because people go to restaurant, Ukraine has its own tax base to defend itself and requires less support than otherwise. 17/

So, McDonalds on Friday night is complementary to the defense effort. Because a good economy help to have stronger military. 18/

Now, people also said “why should we send any money to Ukraine if our people are suffering more than those in this McDonalds”.

This is an important question. First, both in Ukraine and in the West there are poor people and there are well off people. 19/

Everywhere around the world we should work on reducing power Ty and inequality. But this argument is irrelevant to the support of Ukraine.

What happens if Russia wins? There will be more spending on defense on the West and funds will be taken away from education, social support

A more fundamental question is why the West should support Ukraine. Many people said “we don’t care, it is not our fight”. Well, yes and no. Of Ukraine falls it will mean that the West is weak. The consequences - a more coloration world, weaker standing of the US and NATO. 21/

The consequences are clear - more terrorism, more political polarization and radicalization, threats in Europe and Asia, hurt global economy, disrupted supply chains, higher prices.

So, if we are honest to ourselves, then Ukraines victory is national interest of the West 22X.