Ukraine and Russia are exhausted. Neither side is close to defeat and yet discontent is growing on both sides. In Russia, open criticism of the regime is spreading. Social media influencers have, bizarrely, led the charge. In Ukraine, fury is directed at press gangs who hunt down young men and force them, often violently, into the army. Today, the chances of some kind of political crisis in either Kyiv or Moscow seem more likely than a great breakthrough on the battlefield. 

In Russia, there was a rare example of the Kremlin responding to criticism earlier this month when influencer Viktoria Bonya posted an Instagram video addressing Vladimir Putin. “The people are afraid of you, artists are afraid, governors are afraid,” she said. “There is a big wall between you and the people.” It’s been watched more than 24 million times. Bonya is the former star of Russian Big Brother, famous mostly for being famous, and she lives in Monaco with the son of an Irish billionaire. Yet Putin spokesman Dimtri Peskov said her video touched on “very resonant topics.” It’s a sign that Russia’s political managers have noticed a sudden change in mood. 

Other influencers such as Katya Gordon, who lives in Moscow, has posted videos attacking pro-Kremlin TV propagandists and warning of rising social discontent. Pro-Kremlin actor Ivan Okhlobystin, who once described the invasion of Ukraine as a “holy war,” joined in the appeals to the Kremlin leader, calling the clampdown on foreign social media platforms “a huge mistake… If they want to bring us back to the USSR, then a time machine would need to be built first. Without that, it simply won’t work.” 

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