Russia-Ukraine war: Zelensky presents a bouquet to an injured Katya Vlasenko.
Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky met an injured teenager in a hospital and got to know that he is a star on popular video sharing app TikTok. The 16-year-old was injured during shelling attack while leaving the town of Vorzel, near capital Kyiv.
“Everybody supports you in TikTok,” the girl, identified as Katya Vlasenko, told the Ukrainian leader.
“So we have occupied TikTok,” Zelensky asked her with a smile on his face.
“Everybody talks about you, it is all about you,” she replied.
The Ukrainian President then presented the girl with a bunch of white and pink flowers and she lay in bed. “It is not easy, but we so the right thing,” he told her.
According to Presidential office, Katya covered her younger 8-year-old brother Ihor with her body during Russian shelling in the Ukraine war as they ran from their hometown. The teenager received shrapnel wounds and her father carried the injured girl in his arms to the hospital.
The Ukrainian leader is praised globally for his courage amid the Russian attack. Zelensky refused US offer to leave the country, vowing to stay back and fight.
The White House held a virtual meeting on Zoom with top TikTok stars on the war in Ukraine. The US officials asked the popular internet figures to help them dispel fake news about the conflict.
It is not clear if any of the TikTok influencers were paid for their services. Reports say they were approached because of their work with a non-profit called Gen Z for Change.
While some may criticise the move, or argue that it amounted to controlling the narrative, TikTok is a big source of information for the young generation and the US administration officials found it important to stop the spread of misinformation on the platform.