During the war, Ukraine has been praised by media scholars for its ability to shape the narrative of the Russian invasion. Butja and Bakhmut have been made symbols of abuse, outright executions and a brutal war. It has led to the image of Ukraine as a valiant victim offering resistance to its overpowered neighbor's brutal and merciless war of aggression.
The struggle has been best illustrated by President Volodymyr Zelenskyi, who at the beginning of the war stayed in Kiev, wore green military clothes and visited soldiers along the front lines. This is in contrast to Vladimir Putin, who rarely shows up.
Four and a half years later, however, the competition for attention is fierce. That's why new stories are needed, like the one about the front town of Oleshky, where the civilian population is starving. After the footage of drones feeding the civilian population in the city, the city has received a lot of international attention.
- Concrete pictures and films that really show the consequences of the war make the misery closer, which is needed for the commitment to increase. This is a place where the suffering is enormous and when pictures are published of soldiers and drones dropping food to the civilian population, it reaches through the noise of everything else that is happening, says Marie Grusell, who researches strategic communication at the University of Gothenburg.
Oleshky's last grocery store closed in January, and in May food deliveries stopped completely. Since then, voices in Ukraine have pointed to the impending disaster, but it is only in recent weeks that the warnings have really increased.
Recently, in a speech at the UN, Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha called on the international community to put pressure on Russia so that the population of the city would receive help. Other politicians and institutions have also lifted the city during the second half of September.
And it has had an effect. Recently, The Guardian, Reuters, ABC News, Financial Times and Euronews have reported on the city and the civilian population there. On X, several videos of Ukrainian drones delivering food from the air to the starving population are also spread.
The question is whether Oleshky will become a symbol, as Butja and Bakhmut have become. It is too early to say, says Marie Grusell.
During the long war, Marie Grusell believes that much that could be highlighted in Ukraine has been underreported because interest in a place or a war naturally wanes after a while.
After that, something that stands out is needed so that interest can be captured again.
She points out that Ukraine during the war has been good at highlighting new stories during the war. President Zelensky in particular is skilled, she says.
- He is a former actor and has a developed sense of communication. He knows which places to visit and which newspapers to appear in. I think they are working very strategically to showcase Ukraine. I see it as a survival strategy, which should not be interpreted as something negative. They have to be seen to get help quite simply, she says.
Zelenskyy himself has stated this on several occasions: Ukraine must not fall into oblivion internationally - then the humanitarian and military support to the country will decrease, he has said.
- That's why they have to constantly switch gears and find new places and questions that reach the noise and pass the news evaluation. Olesjky may now become the latest example of that, says Marie Grusell.
