Ukraine, between the virtual nuclear apocalypse and the real war that no one cares about

In the framework of the thousandth day of the war, this week has taken on metaverse proportions, as the real world has suddenly merged with the virtual. Once again, the main leitmotif has been the nuclear threat and the possible consequences. As an unexpected prelude to the release of the long-awaited STALKER 2, the pride of the Ukrainian video game industry that transports players to the post-apocalyptic world of the Chernobyl exclusion zone, came the impact of an intercontinental ballistic missile. Russian President Vladimir Putin denied it was an ICBM, as Ukraine claims, but made clear it was a state-of-the-art ballistic missile intended as a warning of its nuclear capabilities.

These weapons, developed during the Cold War between the United States and the USSR as a key piece of nuclear deterrence, have yet to be used in actual combat. However, the recent test of a Russian missile, albeit without a nuclear payload, devastated another infrastructure target and injured two civilians. Putin’s message was clear. Analysts contested the definition: some called it a “last salute to Biden” in response to the permission he gave Kyiv to use ATACMS missiles against Russian territory; others said it was a deployment of force prior to possible peace negotiations.

For Ukrainians, however, the virtual impact of a nuclear explosion in the video game generated much more of a stir, giving rise to memes showing players with atomic explosions both on-screen and off-screen. S.TALKER 2 became a mildly radioactive force reminding the world of the war in Ukraine, even as information fatigue has already set in. This connection between the game and reality arises not only from its theme or setting, but also because the prototype of the protagonist is a fighter of the Azov battalion and because two of its developers died in combat. The new installment marks a definitive change: during the thousand days of war, the cultural and social reality has been transformed. The game is no longer intended for the post-Soviet era: it has no Russian dubbing and is not sold in the neighboring country. The developers have made it clear to the Russian audience that they are no longer welcome in the area.

For their part, Russian cyberattacks leaking parts of the game and threats by the Duma to ban it – with possible criminal penalties for acquiring it – show that the feeling is mutual. While on YouTube English-speaking gamers belt out Ukrainian songs and show landscapes that reflect wartime life, at a conference in Kyiv a moderator tried to calm the audience as air raid sirens began to sound: “Ladies and gentlemen, we will continue with the conference despite the alarm. We are monitoring the situation and will let you know if anything is coming nuclear“. Later, a translator shared this anecdote with laughter.

Ukrainian journalist Marina Danilyuk-Yermolaieva confessed on Facebook that it is very difficult to explain to foreigners the calm in the face of a nuclear threat. Finally, he came up with a universal answer: “Have you seen the documentary 1000 ways to die? no Well look at it. Russia already tried all possible methods to destroy us”.

The Third World War does not alter the stoicism of Ukraine

Not even the speech of General Valerii Zalujni – Ukrainian ambassador to the United Kingdom –, acknowledging that in 2024 the world had entered a Third World War, managed to alter this stoicism. By then, the world war was no longer a secret. The jokes and unflappable attitude seemed to have not changed, but at the points where reality approaches post-apocalyptic virtuality, the rifts within the actual war are increasingly evident.

One of these fractures is the distance between Ukraine and its international partners. In the background of the jokes emerges a growing feeling that “the world is not even worried anymore”. The nuclear threat revives memories of the guarantees that were offered to Ukraine in the Budapest Memorandum. In April 2010, Ukraine shipped more than 50 kg of highly enriched uranium to Russia as part of a deal with the United States, and promised to eliminate all of its stockpiles by 2012. With this uranium there would have been enough to make two atomic bombs. Moscow had to process it so it couldn’t be used for weapons. “The [llavors] President Obama emphasized Ukraine’s unique contribution to nuclear disarmament and ensured that the safeguards granted under the 1994 Budapest Memorandum remained in place,” both presidents said at the time. They also agreed to work together to secure the nuclear plant in Chernobyl

Another rift is the one that divides the frozen soldiers on the Donbas front, Ukrainians from European countries and those who live in big cities far from the front. The troops look at maps showing the Russian advance, or “the meat,” as they call the waves of dead enemy soldiers, while they stand their ground. The days are shorter, the nights longer and winter is approaching. Exhaustion weighs. Some soldiers complain that, instead of fortifying cities, local authorities insist on planting flower beds, as in Pokrovsk. Returning to holiday towns, where they were previously offered discounts, they now face criticism for their wages in a difficult economic context. More and more they feel that this war is lived only by them, immersed in their own post-apocalyptic reality. But in their game, the bugs they are not technical errors, but the increasing number of missing and dead.