“Bavovnyatko is a ghost animal. She is fluffy and restless. At night, Bavovnyatko quietly comes to the bases of the invaders, warehouses, airfields, oil refineries and other places filled with flammable objects, and starts playing with fire there,” the military jokers write.

This humor with a play on words is well understood by Belarusians, as it comes from the Ukrainian word “bavovna” (in Belarusian “bavouna”).

Since the Russian military and civilian authorities are not too ready to admit their failures in the war, their official terminology is filled with numerous euphemisms. Among them is the word “cotton” for an explosion. And since it only differs in accent from the word “cotton” in the meaning of “bavovna”, and automatic translators often translate this way, because of this, Ukrainians often call these “claps” “bavovna”. In this regard, the new comic character has every chance to take root and become truly popular.