By AFP | 2024-08-30

KYIV -- Standing amid ruins in east Ukraine, Ruslan Mokrytskyi held a combat knife and concentrated on cutting onions without crying. As trivial as it seems on the front line, it is still not easy.

The mustachioed 32-year-old in military fatigues instructed his comrade to get the right shot of him with his phone.

The angle matters. Mokrytskyi is one of Ukraine's soldier-influencers keeping up spirits in times of war and has 131,600 followers on TikTok.

"Take a close-up of my fingers," he told his friend, a cameraman for the day. "Lower the frame."

The shot showed his shrapnel-scarred hands as he peeled the onions carefully.

Mokrytskyi's social media profile describes his life as a part-time celebrity chef and soldier in a nutshell: "A cook from the hell of war."

The day AFP met him, he revisited an Italian classic, pasta all'arrabbiata.

Just 24 hours earlier, he was a drone pilot in what he called the "hell of Toretsk" -- defending the eastern city that Russia has been trying to capture for months.

'Rebuilding myself'

At the front since the start of the war in 2022, Mokrytskyi needed a form of escape while being under constant fire.

"After missions, there were, let's say... many horrible and stressful images," he said.

"I needed to recuperate mentally."

He tried to forget the horrors by plunging into films, music, reading and going on walks despite the bombs. But nothing worked.

"I got to the point where I told myself that it would be cool to film myself making fries," the soldier said.

The success of that idea exceeded his expectations: his video on fries got three million views.

Encouraged, Mokrytskyi involved friends from his battalion, who would call their wives for recipe ideas.

He then realized he was not only helping his own mental health but that of his comrades too.

"Everyone was joking around," he said. "It's not just me rebuilding myself mentally but also everyone around me."

His video sessions offer "an hour or two" of lightheartedness -- an unusual feeling on the front in Donbas, where fighting has been incessant for two and half years since Moscow invaded.

'You can go mad'

His fellow battalion member Ivan played with the camera and looked delighted with the uplifting break from war.

Normally, Ivan's nights are restless.

"When I film Ruslan, I don't think about the war," the 25-year-old said, adding that he gets the bonus of a good meal while helping make the videos.

On his TikTok page, Mokrytskyi's content alternates between cooking recipes and raw images showing the realities of war.

On top of having "vital" psychological benefits, running the social media page means the soldier retains a link with civilian life.

It also allows civilians -- as well as his family -- to keep informed on what a soldier's life is like in the east.

Mokrytskyi said that "if you do not have contact with your family, you can go mad."

He strives to make the content entertaining but war related, like converting a rifle cartridge into a pepper shaker and using products found in destroyed cities he travels through.

'We are ordinary people'

Now that he is a recognizable face, some businesses are getting interested in Mokrytskyi.

"An energy drinks company approached me," he said, to make him a brand ambassador.

"They sent packs of drinks and helped me when I was wounded," he added, his hands still bearing the scars.

He initially got generous donations from civilians, but after two and a half years of war, those have dried up.

Yet he knows his videos help keep up Ukrainian spirits -- and even may be helping undermine the enemy's stereotypes.

"The Russians also watch my videos," he said with a smile.

"They see that we are ordinary people defending their country, and not Nazis or I don't know what else," he said, referring to Moscow's portrayal of Ukraine and its stated aim of "de-Nazifying" the country.

This in part motivates him to run his cooking war channel, despite his very demanding obligations as a soldier.

When a friend was killed, it took him "four days to get back my spirits" but then he went back to making videos.

During his cooking spree, the aroma of hot parmesan rose above the ruins and Mokrytskyi emptied the pasta onto the plastic plates of his comrades.

Smiles lit up their faces.