The warped world of anti-Ukrainian Russian fantasy novels

The past year has yielded considerable rhetoric and propaganda from Russia towards Ukraine, particularly in politics. While the two nations have generally being amiable if not friendly in their post-Soviet history, Ukrainophobia has risen to the level of bloodlust, with recent polls suggesting three quarters of Russian citizens would favor going on an offensive war against Ukraine. A byproduct of this hatred is the novel series Battlefield Ukraine by Gleb Bobrov which can only be described as Ukrainophobic smut. Set in a dystopian future very much foreshadowing the very fantasy depicted on Russian propaganda networks today, Bobrov's books, which appear to be Russia's answer to The Turner Diaries, both predate the current crisis (the first written in 2008) and have flourished under it (with new releases being hammered out). The first book in the series of paperbacks ("Ukraine in Flames"), which are typically between 300–500 pages each, portrays a guerrilla civil war that breaks out when NATO attempts to pacify a separatist eastern Ukraine resisting the 'Russophobic policies' of the central government. Other entries in the series include:

• Ukraine in Blood: Bandera Genocide
• On the Ruins of Ukraine: 2017
• Battleground Sevastopol - Hero City vs. NATO
• Ukrainian Hell: This is Our War!
• Battleground Ukraine - Broken Trident
• Ukrainian Front: Red Star over the Maidan

'Bandera Genocide' is about the "Kiev Junta" who "on the orders of their American masters, unleash a genocide against the Russian people." With the 'Nazi punishers' unable to defeat what he calls 'the militias' (presumably, Russian backed terrorists), they call in the US and NATO to intervene - and, naturally, 'only Russia alone can stop the Bandera genocide.' The artwork on the series is of particular note, with some showing terrorists killing Ukrainian soldiers (illustrated with traditional Ukrainian scalp-lock, khokhol, which is also a pejorative ethnically-charged slur used by Russians towards Ukrainians). Others show Russian soldiers executing protesters on Kyiv's Maidan, or Donetsk Republic tanks crushing cars with Ukrainian guerrilla forces inside, seen with neo-Nazi armbands. Other titles deal with Europe provoking riots in Russia to burn down Moscow, which is incidentally invaded by Ukrainians (described as a plague of "possessed rednecks"). Additionally, the US also attacks Crimea, "Little Russia" is returned to Russia from 'Russophobes', and 'Banderas' wipe out entire cities.

A sequel to the bestselling Ukrainian Front, the Kiev junta is banned! A futuristic thriller about the civil war in Ukraine. The southeast has risen in a bloody struggle against the Bandera punitive operation and NATO occupation - but Russians do not surrender!

A veritable Tom Clancy, Bobrov's books are described by the publisher as "more than just a fantasy" that only a 'veteran who has known war firsthand' could write, "so powerfully and reliably" that you will be 'completely immersed in the bloody nightmare to come."