WAR TRANSFORMS UKRAINIAN BROTHERS' GAMING YOUTUBE CHANNEL

Starting out with funny videos and chat over Mario Kart racing games, two Ukrainian brothers have added a somber tone to their YouTube channel popular with young Japanese with updates from their country that bring the harsh realities of war closer to Japan.

The Russian invasion of Ukraine began just after the duo, Sava Tkachov, 26, and his younger brother Yan, 20, celebrated the second anniversary of their YouTube debut with subscribers exceeding 2 million for their Sawayan Channel and Sawayan Games that Sava hosts.

The first word of war came from their father, a business consultant who had returned to Kyiv two months ago just before Russian troops rolled in and has stayed since to help defend his country. The siblings’ YouTube content, which used to be full of pranks, jokes and action videos, has become more serious.

Worried about their 53-year-old father and friends in Ukraine, the brothers in early March announced on their channel that they planned to volunteer as defenders too. It triggered a wave of reactions, some supporting and others criticizing them.

The father objected and the Tkachovs, who have no military training, abandoned the idea, especially when Sava said he received long and serious messages from some of his teenage fans showing their willingness to follow the brothers to Ukraine.