One of Russia's official handles shared a few photos from when Ukraine was part of Soviet Russia and referred to them as "good ol' days". A reply from an official Ukrainian handle had the internet in splits. "Many Ukrainians still remember the good ol' days, when #Soviet Ukraine was the USSR's breadbasket, as well as a popular health tourism destination & industrial center. A lot of that, and much more, is available in Russia's Crimea today," @Russia tweeted. The handle usually shares images from the country. The images were tweeted with a link to an article titled "What life was like in Soviet Ukraine" which spoke of the achievements in the region during Soviet rule. From the Holodomor, the great famine of 1932-33, to the Chernobyl nuclear disaster of 1986, the article listed many controversial events in Ukraine but played down its impact. 😻 Many #Ukrainians still remember the good ol' days, when #Soviet Ukraine was the #USSR's breadbasket, as well as a popular health #tourism destination & industrial center. A lot of that, and much more, is available in 🇷🇺 #Russia's #Crimea today. pic.twitter.com/C0kCT5REqW — Russia 🇷🇺 (@Russia) June 23, 2020 Ukraine, which became an independent state in 1991, was formerly a part of the Soviet Union. In 2014, Russia annexed the region of Crimea and over 9,000 people are estimated to have died in the conflict between the two nations over the years. So in response to the tweet from the Russian handle, Ukraine's official handle tweeted: "toxic ex here". toxic ex here 👇 — Ukraine / Україна (@Ukraine) June 23, 2020 Ukrainians on social media criticised the Russian tweet which they said was "insensitive". Many also said they still believe Crimea belongs to Ukraine. They also questioned bringing back memories of the famine, which left millions of Ukrainians dead. However, many others on social media were also amused by how diplomatic wars were playing out on social media. "Remember that time you grew all that food, then we stole all that food, and we ate while you starved? Good times!" — Enlightened Fussmarkian Autocracy (@semperfitrex) June 23, 2020 Ukrainians remember how bloody Russia treated us as a breadbasket. How you forcibly took our bread and food and killed millions by man-made terror-famine. — Andrzej Leszkiewicz (@avatorl) June 23, 2020 Somehow you failed to mention Holodomor and years of slavery under Soviet occupation. — Kris (@K_K_K_L) June 23, 2020 You mean those good old days, as you've killed about 10 millions Ukrainians in famine in 1932-33? You cynic hypocrites. — Yes! Dopeless (@_dopeless) June 23, 2020 Ah yes, the good ol’ days. Those were the days. pic.twitter.com/ZaN58iUkbl — the taavi ✪ (@TaaviXD) June 23, 2020 Love that you included a photo taken in Crimea. Freudian slip? Many Ukrainians (incl. Tatars) remember the good ol days, before Russia forcibly seized and annexed Crimea. Good times, when Donetsk was a Davis Cup and UEFA match site, & when Шахта́р & Зоря played at home — Jurij Homziak 🇺🇦 🇧🇪 🇺🇸 🇪🇺 (@JurijHomziak) June 23, 2020 Crimea is Ukraine 🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦🇺🇦 — richard paish (@richpaish) June 23, 2020 I don't know who's running Ukraine's official state twitter account, but they're throwing some serious shade here. — Matthew Halliday (@MatthewHalliday) June 23, 2020 i am not yet fully grasping the fact that ukraine and russia official accounts are fighting on twitter — Sтevan ✨ (@ImStevan) June 23, 2020 Grade A diplomatic trolling right here — Rohan Batra (@rohanbats) June 23, 2020 Modern International Relations 101. Discuss. — Asad Hashim (@AsadHashim) June 23, 2020 Geopolitical romantic drama 👇🏻 — Dr. SocialDistancing Batman (@Your_Levodopa) June 23, 2020 Next generations will have tweets in their History books — ميدو مشاكل 💫 (@orewamido) June 23, 2020 Booom, dropped the bomb pic.twitter.com/0eUsyvVmVv — Sameer prakash (@Sameer42568488) June 23, 2020 2020 is WIIIIIIIILD — Caleb Simmons (@WavePunkRL) June 24, 2020 This is like Wendy's tweeting at McDonald's with a s i c k comeback but instead it's COUNTRIES with/formerly with nukes and land disputes. What in the world. — Shawn Verma (@NeedNoApplause) June 24, 2020 2020 keeps being surreal and VERY entertaining — Liam S. Crouch (@Petterroea) June 23, 2020 The reasons for the famine have always been a subject of scholarly and political debate. Some scholars have suggested the manmade famine was a consequence of the economic problems during the period of Soviet industrialisation in the Stalin era. Russia has claimed that this caused starvation in other parts of the Soviet Union.
