Meet Ukraine’s “cook from the hell of war” mending spirits with a social media blend of cuisine and conflict [Video]

Ukraine — 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’s 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 helping to keep up spirits amid the war sparked by Russia’s full-scale invasion early in 2022. His TikTok account has 131,600 followers.

“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.”