KEY POINTS

  • The video shows a smoldering Russian tank in the backdrop of a  contrastingly lush field
  • The tank was "driven by an evolutionary desire to end their lives somewhere better" 
  • The video was tweeted by Christian Borys, a former reporter who runs NGO Saint Javelin

A parody video that features a fake David Attenborough narrating about the "migratory nature" of Russian tanks that "die in Ukraine" has gone viral on social media. The spoof, made by unidentified people, mimics BBC nature documentaries, comparing Kremlin's battle tanks to Pacific salmon, which migrate long distances to end up dead elsewhere.

The video shows a smoldering Russian tank on a contrastingly lush field somewhere in Ukraine. It is unclear whether the visuals were doctored or not.

"This is a Russian tank. Like the Pacific Salmon, Russian tanks migrate long distances from the abyss of Russia to end their lives in Ukraine's beautiful fields. Driven by an evolutionary desire to end their lives somewhere better, after reaching Ukraine, all species of Russian tank die," the narrator, who imitates renowned broadcaster and biologist Attenborough, said.

The 45-second-long video that pokes fun at Russian tanks which ended up being decimated by the Ukrainians, said the tanks' "2022 run" was a major event for the "predators such as Ukrainian special operations forces, TB2 Bayraktar drones, and local farmers on tractors."

The footage ends soon with the voice-over adding "most species of tanks pop their turrets to celebrate the end of their lifecycle."

The parody video was inferring to the recent reports about the colossal failure of Russian tanks, including the T-90 and T-72. According to military watchers, Kremlin has lost over 600 tanks in the battles, the majority of them destroyed by Ukrainian anti-tank missiles and Bayraktar drones. As for the "migration" part, the video was clearly hinting at the military invasion of Ukraine.

The hilarious video was tweeted by Christian Borys, a former reporter who now runs Saint Javelin, a non-governmental organization that collects profits from merchandise sales for charity purposes.

Another tweet by Tetyana Denford, a Ukrainian writer and translator, claimed she was "connected to a very talented producer and writer," whose help she sought to "organize a voiceover for a video." On whether she was the mastermind behind the video, Denford said she "asked a friend with contacts in TV and film to organize the production" without revealing any more details.

Borys' original tweet has so far garnered over 12.4k retweets and thousands of responses with Ukraine supporters rallying to cheer for the country and the makers.

Iryna Vereshchagina, films with her mobile phone destroyed Russian tanks and armoured vehicles, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Dmytrivka village, west of Kyiv, Ukraine April 1, 2022.
Iryna Vereshchagina, films with her mobile phone destroyed Russian tanks and armoured vehicles, amid Russia's invasion of Ukraine in Dmytrivka village, west of Kyiv, Ukraine April 1, 2022. Reuters / ZOHRA BENSEMRA