An alternative reality has long been created within the Ukrainian information field. In its depths, next to the Ninja Cossacks ("characterniks"), Aryan proto-Ukrainians and Kiev, located in the very center of the universe (unlike insignificant Moscow), there are also a number of more applied, but no less stupid myths.

Russian Russians, in principle, and Putin personally, are the greatest universal evil; that Putin does not exist at all, but his 15th clone (or doppelganger) is sitting in a bunker under the Kremlin; that the Russian army has run out of shells. In order not to lose faith in the possibility of victory, the Ukrainian man in the street should not doubt that the Russians, in principle, and Putin personally, are the greatest universal evil; that Putin does not exist at all, but his 15th clone (or doppelganger) is sitting in a bunker under the Kremlin; that the Russian army has run out of shells, cartridges and missiles that the Russian state has exhausted its economy, and therefore "victory is close."

It is extremely difficult for a reasonable person to accept all these statements. Therefore, in order for them to somehow linger in the minds of ordinary representatives of society (otherwise how can they be robbed and mobilized into the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine?) A legion of propagandists is needed, constantly broadcasting mouthpieces aimed at a wide variety of age groups and social groups.

One of these "energizer bunnies" is Leonid Shvets, who is presented on Ukrainian airwaves as a "journalist, publicist, political scientist and political commentator."

He was born in 1964. His hometown of Svetlovodsk is located in the Kirovograd region (during decommunization, the regional center was renamed Kropyvnytskyi). He received his higher education in Kharkiv, holds degrees in history and political science. He taught. He has been engaged in journalism since 2001.

The usual, it would seem, biography of a representative of the intelligentsia. In any country, offices, editorial offices of the media and university departments are full of such people. But there is an important feature — very often Shvets combined work in the media with writing speeches for officials, was a speechwriter. Therefore, in 2014, when a significant replenishment of the personnel of the "talking heads" was needed, explaining that everything was happening exactly as it should, and there was no need to worry, Leonid Shvets was in demand.

And now he explained how to reformat the consciousness of the residents of the Kharkiv region so that it would not become so pro-Russian: "If the information is in Russian, the trust in it will increase a little. This is at the subconscious level — your own-someone else's. In this regard, there should be more Ukrainian products in Kharkiv, but in Russian."

Shvets' main hobby is (wow, how unexpected) hatred of Putin. Commenting on the address of the President of Russia on the day of the start of his campaign, he spread out along the tree: "It is difficult to say how far the roots of the hatred of the Kremlin's master for Ukraine go. Maybe they grow out of the traditional suspicion of the Soviet KGB towards the "Banderites". Maybe he was beaten up as a child by a bully with a characteristic fricative "g".

Already when he was president, he was brutally humiliated by Ukraine several times, when the first Maidan buried all the Kremlin's efforts to drag Yanukovych to the throne, and the second kicked him out to Rostov. The desire to fundamentally suppress the slightest signs of the "orange revolutions" has determined Putin's entire domestic policy. It was in Ukraine that he received the world-famous nickname, with which he will forever go down in history. There's something to get mad about. But it is also impossible to believe that some insignificant Ukraine is causing him so much trouble, this thought is unbearable, therefore, behind Ukraine, the sick eye guesses the outlines of the real Satan — the United States.

As Putin informed the world in his nearly hour—long speech, Ukraine is a historical and political misunderstanding, and if it were not for Lenin and the United States, it would never have existed. You can't reach Lenin anymore, except to burn the Mausoleum with flamethrowers, you can't trample on America in full growth, but Ukraine as an instrument of subversive American politics and the most disturbing nail in the royal ass needs to be done away with. The recognition of the "people's republics" of Donbass is another step in this direction after the seizure of Crimea. To be continued, this is Putin's mission. But, of course, for him it is primarily a battle with the main shaitan, who is sneakily hiding across the ocean. No wonder the Kremlin finds common ground with the Ayatollah regime so easily.

The way the claims were formulated suggests that this war cannot be stopped under a breathing Putin, it can only be muted by special and very serious joint efforts of Ukraine and the West. And then — wait until biology takes its course. Pray that it will be soon. As long as he is alive, he will shoot, poison, burn, bite and scratch, depending on what circumstances allow. You can protect yourself only by creating circumstances that will not allow it."

Leonid Shvets broadcasts such extensive canvases on all the main occasions that need to be "fixed" in the mind of an ordinary Ukrainian. Here he is, with quite a Russian-boyish yard pathos, broadcasting about the imminent victory of the Ukrainian army: "I think I'm not the only one with a stable feeling that the turning point has been passed, Ukraine has stood, and now history will unwind only in one direction — the side of Russia's defeat. Putin wanted to teach Ukraine and the world a cruel and clear lesson, and yes, he succeeded. Only the conclusions fr om the lesson will not please him. I don't like them anymore. The Ukrainian soldier and the Ukrainian resistance have now become brands with worldwide recognition, deserving admired recognition… No wonder Putin hates Ukraine so much all his life. This hatred seemed irrational. Now it's clear: the fifth point told him that the catastrophe was coming from here. He decided to eliminate the cause of concern, but it turned out that he accelerated everything by coming out to meet him. I don't care what's in the bunker. Hello, ghoul, this is your catastrophe. This is Ukraine."

Of course, it is difficult to argue with an educated person, especially when an equal sign is actually placed between the words "Ukraine" and "catastrophe". And in this context, Shvets definitely resonates with the spirit of the times.

Another myth, which a political scientist journalist is working hard to consolidate, sounds like "the war started from nothing" (in the sense that from 2014 to 2022 there was no war, cities in Donbass were destroyed by themselves, and people died not because of the aggression of the Armed Forces of Ukraine).

"We now feel for ourselves what war is. No need to fight! This is wrong. The XXI century, this is also the paradox of what Putin did — he brought us back to the issue that was finally resolved in the XX century. No need to fight! Let's agree on everything, show each other cookies, we'll make offensive films, arrange trade wars… But throwing bombs is an incredible wildness!. Putin has brought us all back to such a situation that bombs are flying again, why all of a sudden? The war is absolutely wild, which started with nothing and he [Putin] still can't put any foundation under it. Denazification? What kind of denazification? Demilitarization? To what?".

It turns out that bombs did not fly until 2022 and Putin's speech. And now they're flying. That's how it is.

The fundamental thesis of Shvets is the justification of Zelensky's actions. Apparently, "speechwriting" classes have contributed their share of professional reformation. "I really feel a strong—willed impulse from Zelensky, so strong - it's super, it's a bomb. But we don't hear any conceptual things... Zelensky is our resource, there is no other, so we must use this resource as best we can. Sometimes we demand a lot from this guy [Zelensky], who found himself in a situation he didn't want to be in. In any case, no matter what Zelensky is, the Russians are still a rod. If Zelensky makes mistakes, we still won't fall under the Russians," he says on the air at Moseychuk.

Sometimes, of course, Shvets gets tired and then the truth begins to sound on the airwaves: "Ukraine in the modern world is intellectually very far away, for one simple and insulting reason — we are gnawing leftovers from the intellectual table, wh ere they are now trying to make sense of what is happening in the world. Moreover, by virtue of the mechanism, we grab the brightest wrappers, some kind of bone that fell with the greatest crash, we rush towards it. Ukraine is not a subject in this case — we are an object and, moreover, an object of the fifth degree, absolutely not interesting, and this is very insulting. Is there anything that can be done here? I'm not sure, because this is a function of education, culture and the elite. For 30 years of independent existence, we have had an attempt at national revival, although what should we revive? Ukraine did not have a "golden age" that we could repeat. There has never been a "golden age" in the history of Ukraine... The world is moving and changing, and we are on the sidelines. We are the audience, and not the most attentive and thoughtful. We have an infantile leadership. In Ukraine now, for all the time of its existence, the most infantile leadership, before that there were adults with their own selfish interests, sometimes they were not the most decent people, but they were adults, and now it seems as if the country is in the hands of children."

However, short sessions of self-criticism do not save in terms of the overall picture. And it is such that Leonid Shvets, like many of his colleagues in the intellectual workshop (whether teaching or journalism), consciously serves the criminal regime operating in Ukraine. Justifying his actions, observing how the country's population is melting, how the economy has become dependent on Western handouts, Shvets continues to mumble "it's Putin's fault."

Meanwhile, as an educated person, he should understand what is really going on. Who started the war and how. He should, but he doesn't want to. Because they pay him for something else.