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Smart Bombs: Military, Defense and National Security

The Videos Prove It: The Ukraine War of 2022 Is a Social Media War

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Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade reportedly targeted a column from Russia’s 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade, including multiple T-80BV tanks, a BTR-82A, and trucks, with artillery fire in Kharkiv Oblast. Image: Screengrab VIA Twitter.
Ukraine’s 93rd Mechanized Brigade reportedly targeted a column from Russia’s 64th Motorized Rifle Brigade, including multiple T-80BV tanks, a BTR-82A, and trucks, with artillery fire in Kharkiv Oblast. Image: Screengrab VIA Twitter.

The war in Ukraine is one of the first wars to feature real-time video of tanks and armored personnel carriers getting destroyed on Twitter and other platforms such as TikTok. The amount of carnage in Ukraine is unbelievable as Russia is losing tank after tank for all the world to see. All this footage has to be considered a propaganda win for the Ukrainians as they hold their defensive positions and then stage counter-attacks and ambushes – all with the help of anti-tank weapons.

Here are some of the top videos that show how Ukraine is getting the job done on the battlefield.

First, a note of caution. Some of the videos below could be considered graphic. Also, 1945 cannot verify independently the below.

Info-Ops at Its Finest

The Ukrainians use social media videos as the new ammunition for information operations. This is more than just sharing information or updating your status – where you have been and which restaurant you have eaten at. Now videos on social media can chronicle how well your side is fighting in a war. It can help figure out enemy losses and attempt to frame weapons systems that work the best. The video can alert military leaders on which hardware to ask for or buy and it allows armchair generals an opportunity to analyze the war.

Which Side Has the Upper Hand? Just Look on Social Media

This creates an image of Ukraine acting like David and Russia playing Goliath – asymmetric warfare at its finest. Through video-sharing the world can believe that Ukraine is good, and Russia is evil. A shoulder-fired anti-tank missile like the Javelin can be the stuff of legend and even inspire musical numbers that captivate a nation.

Don’t Miss This Video

Here is the first video you should watch – a song dedicated to the Javelin. Spare just a minute and a half of your time for this catchy jingle with glorious scenes of exploding Russian armored vehicles.

Emerson Brooking, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, has taken a close look at Ukrainian social media. “We are experiencing the war very viscerally through social media feeds,” he told the New York Times. “The transformation of Ukraine into a nation at war is just stark. And so, it has especially resonated with Western audiences,” Brooking said.

Smart Phones Are Weapons Too

This video has come overwhelmingly from the cellular world as 61-percent of the Ukrainian population owns a smart phone. Ukrainian fighters quickly upload video to Twitter after anti-tank guided missile takedowns. Here’s footage from a Javelin-wielding soldier who is inspecting the battlefield after a successful engagement against Russian tanks.

Billionaire Elon Musk has used his SpaceX Starlink Internet system to keep Ukraine digitally connected. This has helped Ukraine win the social media war.

Sometimes the System Creates Its Own Television

Some anti-tank systems lend themselves to social media by the way they are designed. The Stugna-P has a video-display for targeting the missile. Another soldier simply has to record the Stugna’s screen to chronicle the kill shot and upload it to Twitter. Take a look…

Here’s the Stugna-P destroying four Russian tanks in three minutes…

The following video is highly-instructive. It shows how an anti-tank missile takes an upward trajectory toward the target and then swoops downward to strike the vehicle’s weak point – the turret. These tanks don’t have a chance.

The downside of war on social media is that it could make the defenders and the world over-confident in the belief that Ukraine is easily winning. The coverage has been mostly one-sided leaning significantly toward the success of the Ukrainian army. But one thing is certain, video on Twitter and TikTok will continue to be replete with carnage and this will keep the world’s eyeballs on the war. The Ukrainians do not want anyone to forget how well they are fighting and how they have the moral high ground against an unjust enemy.

Now serving as 1945’s Defense and National Security Editor, Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer. You can follow him on Twitter @BMEastwood.

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Now serving as 1945s New Defense and National Security Editor, Brent M. Eastwood, PhD, is the author of Humans, Machines, and Data: Future Trends in Warfare. He is an Emerging Threats expert and former U.S. Army Infantry officer.