Famous travel blogger Anton Ptushkin returned to YouTube. But his new episode is unavailable in Belarus
The renowned Ukrainian travel blogger and former host of "Oryol i Reshka" (Eagle and Tails) Anton Ptushkin hadn't released videos for several years. Now, he has uploaded a video about his visit to Antarctica to his YouTube channel — in Ukrainian. But in Belarus, it can only be watched with a VPN.
The film "Antarctica" was initially released in a cinematic version. Its premiere in cinemas took place on September 4 of this year, and the film quickly became a record-breaker in viewership among documentary films in Ukraine. In just the first two weeks, the film, which tells the story of the life and work of participants of the 30th Ukrainian Antarctic Expedition at the "Academic Vernadsky" station, was watched by 200 thousand viewers.
On January 10, the film was released on Netflix. The blogger also posted the video on his YouTube channel, which has over 5.4 million subscribers, and announced that this version is 3 minutes longer than the one shown in cinemas.
Viewers noticed that, unlike previous episodes, the new video is in Ukrainian. This fact caused both surprise and gratitude, as well as dissatisfaction among some viewers.
"In what language? I don't understand Ukrainian. How to watch?" — comments of this kind can be read in Threads.
"I am Ukrainian myself, and mostly speak Russian. Many here are outraged that the voiceover is in Ukrainian. (...) If each of the countries (you, your families, children, parents, and all other people) in the CIS experienced daily what Ukrainians experience, you would perfectly understand the reason why the film was made in Ukrainian. Therefore, unfortunately, such circumstances," one user tactfully responds.
"Well, what brazen commentators! The person made a film in his native language, Ukrainian! After visiting the Ukrainian research station named Vernadsky! With his own money, the money of the state whose citizen he is, and sponsors, and it's definitely not you! Those who want to watch it in their CIS country — buy the rights, translate it into any language of your choice that you want to watch it in, and enjoy! What's with this surprise, damn it!?" — another woman doesn't hide her emotions.
"I'm from Belarus, I've thought and spoken Russian all my life, I understand both Belarusian and Ukrainian! Ptushkin, our dear falcon, publish your extraordinary content in any language," one viewer supports the author.
"People are certainly brazen. Ptushkin is Ukrainian, he released the film himself, he decided it would be in Ukrainian. In fact, it's understandable why. But there will be dissatisfied people here too: why not in Russian? Gentlemen, if you don't like watching with subtitles — then don't watch! I think Ptushkin assessed the risks and loss of reach. We also don't watch Estonian/Polish/Turkmen films because we don't understand the languages. So what?" — another argues.
Unfortunately, Belarusians, like residents of some other countries, cannot watch this video due to geographical restrictions.
"It's a pity about something else. This film is hidden from users in Belarus. It only appears with a VPN. How have I sinned so much that I'm not worthy to watch his video in Ukrainian?!" — a viewer wonders.
"Rockets flew from your territory and Russian military entered on tanks," they explain to him.
Recall that in March 2022, the blogger released a video on his YouTube channel titled "Where have I been these 8 years," in which he sharply spoke out against Russia's war against Ukraine. The aggressor's reaction was not long in coming. In April of the same year, it became known that Russia banned the blogger from entering the country for 50 years. Since the beginning of the war, Ptushkin had not released any major travel videos.
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