Thanks to your trust, VK continues to be the most popular social network in Ukraine. To make communication even more emotional and memorable, we decided to please you and every Ukrainian with a colorful set of stickers that would embody local humor, ingenuity and customs.
"VKontakte Ukraine"
Among the sticker characters are the famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko (a dog stylized like him holds the collection “Kobzar” in his hands), the heroes of the cartoon “Cossacks”, shot in the USSR at the Ukrainian studio “Kievnauchfilm”, as well as the dumpling-eating Pot-bellied Patsyuk from the story “Evenings on farm near Dikanka" by N.V. Gogol. The wolf with the catchphrase “I’ll sing now” is a character in the Soviet cartoon “Once upon a time there was a dog,” based on the Ukrainian folk tale “Sirko.”
To receive stickers, you must indicate Ukraine as your country of residence, your place of residence - any city in the country, or select the Ukrainian version of the interface.
The social network does not allow non-Ukrainian users to access the page of stickers dedicated to Independence Day, showing a general list without them. After changing the design or place of residence from Ukrainian to the previous one (for example, Russian), the stickers remain.
In addition, the design of the site has also changed for Ukrainian VKontakte users: the country’s flag has been placed on the logo. They also have access to Independence Day gifts, one of which can be sent five times for free.
In a comment to TJ, VKontakte press secretary Georgy Lobushkin explained this division as an initiative of the Ukrainian office.
We often “decorate” the site’s header, introducing additional gifts or stickers dedicated to various memorable dates for our users. This year, our Kiev headquarters proposed to celebrate a national holiday on the site for users from Ukraine in this way.
Georgy Lobushkin, press secretary of VKontakte
Press secretary of the Ukrainian office of VKontakte Vlad Legotkin told TJ that Ukraine's Independence Day is a local holiday, and residents of other countries can congratulate Ukrainians with a text or a gift that is not tied to the event.
We always try to offer our users relevant gifts with which they can congratulate their friends. For example, on City Day, residents of St. Petersburg had access to such gifts that were close and understandable primarily to themselves: images of the city’s iconic sculptures of the Bronze Horseman and the griffin from the Bank Bridge. It’s the same with Independence Day, it’s always a local holiday for residents of a certain state.
But you can also congratulate a resident of a neighboring country - first of all, with warm words. And a VKontakte gift, of course. The “Friendship” collection includes a gift with the Ukrainian flag, it is available to users from any country. We created a set of stickers specifically for Ukrainian users; we wanted to offer bright pictures that embody local humor and traditions.
Vlad Legotkin, press secretary of VKontakte Ukraine
This is not the first time that VKontakte has released sets of stickers targeting a specific audience. For example, in April, MTS created its own set of stickers, available only to those users who joined the operator’s group on the social network.
Thanks to your trust, VK continues to be the most popular social network in Ukraine. To make communication even more emotional and memorable, we decided to please you and every Ukrainian with a colorful set of stickers that would embody local humor, ingenuity and customs.
"VKontakte Ukraine"
Among the sticker characters are the famous Ukrainian poet Taras Shevchenko (a dog stylized like him holds the collection “Kobzar” in his hands), the heroes of the cartoon “Cossacks”, shot in the USSR at the Ukrainian studio “Kievnauchfilm”, as well as the dumpling-eating Pot-bellied Patsyuk from the story “Evenings on farm near Dikanka" by N.V. Gogol. The wolf with the catchphrase “I’ll sing now” is a character in the Soviet cartoon “Once upon a time there was a dog,” based on the Ukrainian folk tale “Sirko.”
To receive stickers, you must indicate Ukraine as your country of residence, your place of residence - any city in the country, or select the Ukrainian version of the interface.
The social network does not allow non-Ukrainian users to access the page of stickers dedicated to Independence Day, showing a general list without them. After changing the design or place of residence from Ukrainian to the previous one (for example, Russian), the stickers remain.
In addition, the design of the site has also changed for Ukrainian VKontakte users: the country’s flag has been placed on the logo. They also have access to Independence Day gifts, one of which can be sent five times for free.
In a comment to TJ, VKontakte press secretary Georgy Lobushkin explained this division as an initiative of the Ukrainian office.
We often “decorate” the site’s header, introducing additional gifts or stickers dedicated to various memorable dates for our users. This year, our Kiev headquarters proposed to celebrate a national holiday on the site for users from Ukraine in this way.
Georgy Lobushkin, press secretary of VKontakte
Press secretary of the Ukrainian office of VKontakte Vlad Legotkin told TJ that Ukraine's Independence Day is a local holiday, and residents of other countries can congratulate Ukrainians with a text or a gift that is not tied to the event.
We always try to offer our users relevant gifts with which they can congratulate their friends. For example, on City Day, residents of St. Petersburg had access to such gifts that were close and understandable primarily to themselves: images of the city’s iconic sculptures of the Bronze Horseman and the griffin from the Bank Bridge. It’s the same with Independence Day, it’s always a local holiday for residents of a certain state.
But you can also congratulate a resident of a neighboring country - first of all, with warm words. And a VKontakte gift, of course. The “Friendship” collection includes a gift with the Ukrainian flag, it is available to users from any country. We created a set of stickers specifically for Ukrainian users; we wanted to offer bright pictures that embody local humor and traditions.
Vlad Legotkin, press secretary of VKontakte Ukraine
This is not the first time that VKontakte has released sets of stickers targeting a specific audience. For example, in April, MTS created its own set of stickers, available only to those users who joined the operator’s group on the social network.
On the occasion of the country's Independence Day, the Ukrainian office of VKontakte released a set of free stickers dedicated to national culture, which caused a strong reaction from social network users: some began to figure out how to get stickers without being a resident of Ukraine, others were outraged by the released images.
“Thanks to your trust, VK continues to be the most popular social network in Ukraine. To make communication even more emotional and memorable, we decided to please you and every Ukrainian with a colorful set of stickers that would embody local humor, ingenuity and customs,” says in the message on the official page of VKontakte Ukraine.
Stickers are available only to those who have indicated Ukraine as their country of residence or have selected the appropriate language interface. They depict, in particular, bread on an embroidered towel, the “symbol of life” - viburnum, the heroes of the cartoon “Cossacks”, filmed in the USSR at the Ukrainian studio “Kievnauchfilm”, Pot-bellied Patsyuk from the story “Evenings on a Farm Near Dikanka” by Nikolai Gogol, depicted eating dumplings, as well as a wolf from the Soviet cartoon “Once upon a time there was a dog,” based on the Ukrainian folk tale “Sirko.”
In addition, several gifts became available to Ukrainian users, one of which - a dog wearing a T-shirt with the national flag - can be sent to five users for free.
VKontakte press secretary Georgy Lobushkin explained the appearance of stickers and gifts as an initiative of the Ukrainian office.
“We often “decorate” the site’s header, introducing additional gifts or stickers dedicated to various memorable dates for our users. This year, our Kiev headquarters proposed to celebrate a national holiday on the site for users from Ukraine in this way,” he told the publication.
VKontakte users immediately figured out how to get a set of stickers for those who do not live in Ukraine. To do this, you need to change your country of residence in the settings.
In addition to stickers, the VKontakte administration placed the national flag on the logo of the social network for Ukrainian users, which caused outrage among some of them.
The popular community “Lentach” published a message that by releasing special stickers for Ukraine’s Independence Day, the VKontakte administration ignored the Russian Flag Day celebrated the day before. The post received many likes and retweets.
Not everyone in Ukraine liked the released stickers either - the press secretary of the Ukrainian office of VKontakte, Vlad Legotkin, posted on his page a link to a note on the Dusya website, the authors of which described the images as “a set of colonial stereotypes,” referring to the Russian origin of the social network.