Netizens Shook After Ukraine MoD Quotes Pusha T Lyric in Tweet on Alleged Russian Casualties

It is hardly news that in the struggle for Western hearts and minds amid the conflict, Ukrainian authorities have resorted to creating hype and memes to evoke a favorable image. Despite the failures at the front, the postmodern approach sometimes allows Kiev to create the illusion of significant victories, at least on Twitter.

The Ukrainian Ministry of Defense has again adopted an intriguing social media strategy, this time in their routine calculations of the alleged losses of the Russian military since the start of the special military operation.

The ministry's social media managers announced the casualties in the area between February 24 and September 7 on Twitter on Wednesday, by using a line from US rapper Pusha T's 2013 hit "Numbers on the Board."

"I put numbers on the boards.” @PUSHA_T. Total combat losses of the enemy from Feb 24 to Sep 7," the tweet caption read.

However, many users of the social media platform did not appreciate the ministry's use of a humorous meme format for presenting official information on a topic as serious as combat casualties.

"This gotta be the most unserious war ever," one user wrote, while another wondered: "How is taking lives a flex?"

"'Pusha T is only known in America so explain why the Ukraine army is quoting him to share their war stats? Exactly, idk what’s going on neither," wrote a netizen.

The fact that Ukraine is quoting Pusha T’s lyrics while posting their stats like it’s Call Of Duty is insane 😂 https://t.co/RBDvUG8gQw

— JT (@JTriplett0825) September 7, 2022

"Somehow the Ukraine Ministry of Defense quoting Pusha T was not on my 2022 geopolitical bingo card," Showtime Sports President Stephen Espinoza offered.

"Ukraine's ministry of defense twitter just quoted Pusha T while describing casualties it's inflicted - while actively at war. As @Chuckisdope says, glitching," another user said.

"Nothing and i mean NOTHING would've prepared me for this interaction between pusha t and Ukraine, we living in the f***ing matrix," a Twitterian complained.

what you popping or smoking. lemme have some pic.twitter.com/4HYO2VwW27

— Qanon Latifah (@ch1w33th3d0g) September 7, 2022

Meanwhile, Pusha T himself seemed to be pleased with the reference the Ukrainian military used.

The rapper tweeted, "Great taste in music for the win," expressing his delight at their use of his verses.

The person in charge of the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense's Twitter account surely appears to take pleasure in posting the daily casualty updates. "I see dead people," a line from the 1999 movie "The Sixth Sense," was included in Tuesday's post.

But even the army of trolls, including those from the North Atlantic Fellas Organization, who have a tendency of bombarding posts remotely related to the Ukraine crisis, have not been able to spare the official ministry account from difficult questions, like the actual losses suffered by the Ukrainian side.

"'I make the numbers in my head'," as one user summed up.

Kiev has not reported its losses in the course of hostilities since mid-April, which have allegedly amounted to around 3,000 dead and another 10,000 injured. In early June, the adviser to the head of the office of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, Mikhail Podolyak, said that on average, the Ukrainian forces lose from 100 to 200 fighters daily during the Russian special military operation. A similar figure on the same day was stated by Ukrainian Minister of Defense Alexei Reznikov.

On August 22, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine Valery Zaluzhny announced that the irretrievable losses of the Ukrainian army amount to about 9,000 people.

The Russian Ministry of Defense in April stated that 23,000 soldiers of the "Ukrainian army, the National Guard and foreign mercenaries" had died. Last week, according to the Russian Defense Ministry, Ukrainian soldiers attempted to resume their counteroffensive on the Nikolayev-Kryvoi Rog and other routes and lost 1,700 personnel in two days.

The Russian ministry last reported on the losses of its own army on March 25. According to the Ministry of Defense, at that time there were 1,351 dead and 3,825 wounded.