World looks elsewhere as Ukraine war hits 100 days
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Ukraine is entering the next 100 days of the war without the same online attention it had going into the first 100, according to NewsWhip data exclusively provided to Axios.
Why it matters: Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky told Axios' Jonathan Swan last week that global attention has been crucial for Ukraine, but he worries people will get "fed up" and "cynical" and "wants something new." As attention wanes, so will the pressure on world leaders to help Ukraine and punish Russia.
"To the people of the United States, do not get used to this war. ... Otherwise, we are risking a never-ending war ... Don't get used to our pain."— Ukrainian first lady Olena Zelenska to ABC News
By the numbers: There has been a 22-fold decrease in social media interactions (likes, comments, shares) on news articles published about Ukraine between the first week of the war and the most recent week: from 109 million to 4.8 million.
- That trend is reflected in the volume of online media coverage, which has steadily decreased from 520k articles in the first week, down to 70k most recently.
- Over a 6-week span in April and May, there was about 6x more interest in stories about Johnny Depp and Amber Heard than about Ukraine, per NewsWhip's data.
State of play: Ukraine is still lobbying for help in its war effort, and it's still being provided, though not as quickly as Zelensky would like.
- President Biden announced this week that the U.S. will provide long-range missile systems.
- The EU agreed this week to ban most Russian oil imports.
The latest: Zelensky is still making the rounds pleading his case to the world, including directly to younger people who can bring the cause to life on social media.
