His first name is Benjamin, but he usually goes by "Bald."
Bald has been posting travel videos since 2018. His passion is anything Soviet Union, but he will take the time to learn a language before he visits a place -- not only Russian, but Spanish, say. It's important for him to have the ability to speak to people in their native tongue.
On Friday, April 18, Bald posted a video called "Solo on Ukraine's Eastern Front." So far it's generated 2.7 million views, and based on viewer average, it will likely go over 5 million views.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O3HRnwC6pso
Most of his videos are in the neighborhood of an hour in length. In them, he usually establishes where he is and what his goal for being there is. He will start somewhere and then go seek out a place, without knowing exactly what he will find there.
For the latest Ukraine video, he starts at the Kiev train station. It's been 3 years, he says, since he last visited Ukraine, and he has finally returned to check in on how things are going.
He shows Kiev, and everything looks relatively normal. His plan is to take the train to as close as the Eastern Front as possible.
Ultimately, he will go to three different towns and cities on the Eastern Front, the biggest of which, Sumy, has a population of 250,000.
Observations:
1. Since he speaks Russian, he is able to have short conversations with the people. On a bus, he asked them if his speaking Russian bothered them. The response: No, we know you're not Russian (by your accent). And besides, over 50% of Ukrainians speak Russian.
2. Often, he will let the camera do the talking. The power of his vlog is simply to take you places in the present moment, and show you want life is life there "right now."
3. He has a great way to contextualize -- briefly and almost invisibly -- what's going on and how it's part of a historical context -- In other words, Ukrainians have dealt with war and adversity many times in the past. They're a strong and resilient people. They've survived before, and they will survive this.
Accomplishments:
It's possible to read an article on the latest Russian bombing attack on Sumy. A missile hit a downtown building and killed 34 civilians. This happened on April 13, Palm Sunday. But Bald's video is able to take you there and show you the damaged building an hour after the attack. He's able to talk to the people, and then he's there when the air raid sirens go off and people run away -- apparently the Russians like to do a second round on places they strike. You watch the video, and you feel it. Much more than reading it about it. It's a close as you can get to being there yourself.
Anyway, Sumy is 40 km from the front, and while the actual "fighting" is not happening in Sumy, it is still easily within drone and missile range.
Bald's "editorial," if you can call it that is: Check your politics at the door. Here are the real Ukranian people, just trying to get on with life. And at any moment, a missile or drone attack can take out an apartment building, a breadline, or a playground. The killing of civilians happens from an invisible Russian enemy.
The locals also tell Bald about life under occupation early in the war: The hiding in basements for weeks, the people being rounded up and tortured by the Russians, and so on. But in 2025, the nature of the war, at least for most Ukrainians not living in the Russian-controlled territories, is simply to go on with life as best they can.
Conclusions:
1. I think everyone realizes Russia started the conflict. Bald doesn't dwell on that. He's more interested in how the locals manage to keep carrying on.
2. Compare his video approach with Scott Adams' podcast. I mean, wow. All Adams does is derisively laugh at news articles that disagree with his political viewpoint. Bald, on the other hand, does a much better job at being objective in his presentation. He also is able to do something that almost no one else can do -- which is to take you to the Ukrainian Eastern Front, to show you what it's like in this moment. Unfortunately, I can picture Adams reading a story about Ukraine, laughing about it, and then basically dismissing what's going on over there, without considering, really, what's going on over there...
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