Yuriy Bardash on the war

Yuriy Bardash's stance on the war in Ukraine

Bardash supports Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. He stated that he feels no pity for the residents of Ukraine, called on Ukraine to capitulate, and claimed that Ukrainians' condemnation of the war and of the Russians who support it leads to confrontation between peoples.

• In spring 2022, he moved to Georgia with his wife, Yelyzaveta Kotsiuba.

• Following Bardash's anti-Ukrainian statements and his defection to the Russian side, his wife Yelyzaveta Kotsiuba announced the end of their relationship.

• In September 2022, Yuriy announced that he planned to change his name and obtain a Russian passport.

• In June 2022, Wellboy announced the termination of his collaboration with Bardash.

• On 23 January 2024, Bardash announced on his Telegram channel that he had received a Russian passport, boasting about the document while posing in front of a portrait of Vladimir Putin.

Anti-Ukrainian statements by Yuriy Bardash

• "What are people dying for right now? So that it's easier for gay people, for liberal values? I'm not against gays, well, it happens, someone likes to 'knead clay'. Okay, knead it quietly behind closed doors... European values: green energy? Are you kidding me? This is a circus. Visa-free travel? Is that what we're all going to die for? Not you, but the boys from rural villages."

• "In my understanding, the Ukrainian people are currently being held hostage, and terrorist acts will begin that people haven't even dreamed of. September 11th will seem like child's play compared to what will be unleashed on the territory of Ukraine."

• "Everyone has disowned me. My wife simply told me not to touch my daughter, that I am a traitor. I understand her, she is 25 years old, she grew up in Ukraine and knows nothing else. But Ukraine isn't made up only of juveniles, you have to understand that. The world doesn't revolve around 10% of the country's population."

• "I have been interacting with the Russian Federation since 2007, and before that I went on tour, traveled all over Russia. The potential of this country cannot be matched by any country in the world. Many people won't like this, but let's call things by their proper names. It is a vast territory, with resources, a great culture, that is a fact... And the people tearing down statues of Pushkin and Lermontov are called Banderites. 'Banderites' slaughtered Poles by the hundreds of thousands... Everyone I deal with has never read a history book in their life, yet today they are all experts. I am not an expert, I feel with my heart and have lived a bit, I am 39... Beside us is a neighbor, Russia. A large, mighty, tough, northern neighbor. You want to destroy them in righteous fury? But how could that ever happen?"

• "On behalf of all sensible Ukrainians (whose right to say what they think has now been taken away), I congratulate the supreme commander-in-chief, the great emperor of Russian lands, Vladimir Vladimirovich Putin, on his jubilee."

• "Let's understand what will happen to the refugees over there when it's all done, turning all our women into prostitutes — but they have to earn a living, don't they? They do. Are our women beautiful? Beautiful. Can anything be justified through personal advocacy? It can. Do children need to be fed? They do."

• "Know one thing: we will all be together, we will all be a strong friendly nation, and not a single piece of carrion on this planet will defeat us. We are Russian people."

What celebrities say about Bardash's civic stance

Bardash's philosophy (note: Bardash's Telegram channel) is pure vomit. Several times before the war, people sent me screenshots. He was always an anti-Semite and never hid it. He was always spouting some kind of fairy tales about Jews. Yura found himself outside his own country, among strangers, and no matter how much he wanted to be Russian, he is still from Ukraine. He had never been a devotee of the 'Russian world' or that ideology that we are all Russians. I never heard that from him. In the first days of the war, he raised money for a thermal imaging device for his wife's father, who joined the Territorial Defense, effectively supporting the Armed Forces of Ukraine. But then I realized that thermal imagers aside, vatnik brain rot is incurable

Yes, he called me, we spoke on the phone. For what purpose, I don't know. Maybe he was in an unstable, inadequate state... I blocked him and unfollowed him on Instagram. I don't know... these standard monologues from Yura... I don't even feel like talking about any of it. I don't even want to remember this person

Friends, why are you pouncing on Yura Bardash like that? First of all, he didn't betray anyone. You can only betray those of whom you are a part. Is Yura a Ukrainian? Is he part of the Ukrainian people? And what even is a Ukrainian? A person who fled the war the moment things heated up? And when forced to choose between conscience and servility? Whose actions are oversaturated with malice and hate? Who contemplates Ukrainian culture from the perspective of an 'elder Russian brother'? A person who proposes that we capitulate?