The blurred lines between patriotism and profiteering in Ukraine

What is the right way to commemorate a war when it is still being fought? Many victories, tragedies and acts of defiance have already been depicted in Ukrainian books, films and art. Popular subjects include the liberation of Snake Island, the defence of the Azovstal plant, the horrors of the Bucha massacre, a woman offering sunflower seeds to an occupying Russian soldier so they can grow when he dies, and the sinking of the Moskva warship.

However, it doesn’t take much to blur the lines between patriotism and profiteering. Anything with a military logo sells. Military–patriotic themes are being used to flog all sorts of products. War symbols have been slapped on socks, flip flops, vodka labels, designer clothes, sweets and even sex shops.  Ukrainians are keen to buy from local sellers who promise to share profits with the army.

In Kyiv you can get ‘heroic Bucha Kombucha with citrus flavour’, ‘Azovstal’ radish seeds and ‘Ukrainian rage’ onion bulbs. There are ‘Heroes don’t die’ beer and coffee cups bearing the face of an assassinated Ukrainian soldier. One restaurant offers ‘Chornobaivka’ steaks, named after an occupied village in Kherson Oblast which Ukrainian forces shelled so much that, the joke went, Russians fried there.

There seem to be no limits to these attempts to demonstrate patriotism or to profit from it. ‘You don’t need such a neighbour,’ reads a dentistry advert in Lviv, depicting crooked wisdom teeth painted in the colours of the Russian flag. ‘We returned Kherson; now return the pleasant smell,’ says a banner selling deodorant for sweaty feet.

Even the most patriotic Ukrainians see all this as excessive. Soldiers complain that such marketing ploys devalue what they are going through. Selling drinks named after Bucha (the previously occupied city where hundreds of massacred bodies were found) is not so far away from using My Lai as a brand name.