Two sisters live in the Ukrainian city of Kharkov and stream on Twitch when the sound of bombs interrupts their stream. Tens of thousands watch in shock the clips on the internet. They discuss what is happening there.
Trigger Warning: The post embeds clips showing two young women whose Twitch stream is interrupted by audible bomb explosions. Some say they find these images ‘disturbing’ and ‘scary’.
These are the two streamers:
- BULOCHKA’s real name is Julianna. She says she comes from the city of Kharkov in Ukraine, which she loves dearly. Julianna explains that she talks a bit in her Twitch streams, draws ‘cool characters’ from games or movies – and when she feels like it, she plays a bit too. Normally, 730 people watch her when she streams. When she plays, it’s usually games like GTA5 or The Witcher.
- Her sister alina_dv streams for about 300 viewers on Twitch. Like her sister, she mainly operates in the ‘Just Chatting’ category.
These clips are going around the world: A series of Twitch clips have emerged showing the two streamers sitting together at the computer and chatting with the chat, but then they suddenly become startled when they hear the sounds of bombs falling during the invasion of Ukraine by Russia.
Particularly distressing is a clip where BULOCHKA stands up at the first sound but hesitates because the impact might be further away, only to then seek what she thinks is safety at the second impact.
In a second clip, BULOCHKA is eating and looking skeptically at the camera before the sound of the bomb comes.
How is this being discussed? In the reddit “Livestreamfails”, usually cynical comments prevail. But the images of the sisters shock and disturb many. They are innocent people caught in the midst of such a situation. It is incredibly difficult to watch, says one commentator.
The users on reddit are shaken and shocked.
One user says: ‘These clips from Ukraine scare me. I have to wait an hour before I click on them. I don’t want to see people die in the stream.’
– Ukraine live blog (via Zeit)
– War in Ukraine (via nzz)
– Solidarity with Ukraine (via auswärtiges-amt)
Important Note: If dark thoughts plague you due to the current situation: You are not alone. Please seek help. For example, from the telephone counseling service at 0800/111 0 111 or the online counseling, where you can also use a chat. This is free and applies nationwide.
Are the streamers doing well? The distressing clips in which the bombs are heard are now several days old. The latest stream came Saturday evening when the two streamed from a kitchen, vaping and enjoying some ice cream.
At least there, they apparently seemed to be doing quite well under the circumstances.
Sisters now have thousands of viewers on Twitch
This stands out: What is noticeable is the strong interest in the streams of the two since the outbreak of the invasion. BULOCHKA’s viewer numbers have skyrocketed from about 950 to up to 10,700 since February 24. Alina_dv’s viewer numbers have sometimes increased by a factor of 15.
The interest in the events in Ukraine is apparently high. Even those who do not watch ARD Brennpunkt or read long articles in news magazines are confronted with what is happening in Ukraine.
On Friday, we reported on MeinMMO about a Twitch streamer who fled from his bunker in eastern Ukraine:
Escape from Tarkov: 230,000 watch moving video of a Twitch streamer fleeing from the war
