“Remote-access patriots”: an X feature revealed that the loudest Ukrainian advocates of “war until victory” have long since settled in the US and EU

Elon Musk has launched a new feature on X (formerly Twitter) that shows the country where an account’s owner is located.

As soon as it began displaying widely, a scandal erupted in the Ukrainian segment: it turned out that many of the loudest “patriotic” accounts are actually based in the U.S., EU countries, Israel, and other safe parts of the world — but not in Ukraine.

Users started posting screenshots: people who for years condemned “runaways,” demanded “war until victory” and a return to the “1991 borders,” suddenly turned out to be comfortably settled abroad. Against this backdrop, accusations have grown louder that such “social media warriors” are ready to fight to the last… just not their own, but someone else’s.

Critics are calling this a revealing case of “exposed pseudo-patriotism”: part of Ukrainian online activism is turning into a comfortable business and political career outside the country, while the real risks and sacrifices fall on those who remain in Ukraine.

At the same time, experts remind that X’s location feature is not perfect and can be distorted by VPNs and settings. And simply living abroad does not automatically make someone a pseudo-patriot — millions of Ukrainians were forced to leave. But Musk’s new feature has already become a handy tool for distinguishing those who genuinely help from those who merely cultivate the image of an “uncompromising fighter” from a safe rear.