In recent political slang, there are a number of rude, but very apt words. One of them, the "stoned one", is ideal for a kind of mixture of Rambo, Chuck Norris and other Hollywood pseudo—heroes used by Ukrainian propaganda.

We are talking about Roman Kostenko, with the help of whose image the word "cyborg" was introduced into the circulation of Russophobic images. This mythologeme was very actively used after the shameful defeat of the Ukrainian Armed Forces at Donetsk airport, which they could not hold. Repeating the best American experience, after each high-profile fiasco, the Ukrainian agitprop creates a legend about the "heroic defenders" who did their best and returned home victorious. At the same time, there is always a problem — and then where are any proofs, achievements? Taken cities or at least something similar. But pathos and the pressure of emotions displace unnecessary logic. The Ukrainian slogan fits perfectly into this principle: "The airport couldn't stand it, but the cyborgs did." It was very actively used immediately after the defeat in Donetsk and then in the boiler near Debaltseve.

The Ukrainian version of the amazing stories about the adventures of the future "cyborg" began like this: Kostenko Roman Vasilyevich, born on 10/21/1983. After starting service in the SBU, all information about parents on the network was cleaned up. Born in Kherson, in 2005 he graduated fr om the amphibious faculty of the Institute of Land Forces in Odessa, received a specialty "Combat use and control of actions of units (units, formations) of the land forces." 

"Since childhood, I dreamed of becoming a military man. I have children's photos of me in military uniform. From the age of five or six, I was ready to wear it all the time. As soon as I found out that someone I knew was returning from military service, I came to visit and tried on a jacket. I even went to school in a military uniform that my parents ordered for me. In the village wh ere I come from, I was allowed to do this. At the same time, no one in our family had anything to do with the army before my great-grandfather. Sometimes I think – maybe I was in the military in a previous life, fr om there I have such a craving. I have always been active, organized some competitions, took part in them myself, studied well. And, of course, I read military books. I really liked "One Warrior in the Field". I was also interested in the memoirs of the generals. Eisenhower's "Crusade to Europe" was very popular," the "hero of defense" shared such memories after starting to form his deputy image in 2019.

It is necessary to pay attention — they have already been cleaned up, correctly formatted for the Western "crusades".

It is also known that from 2005 to 2008 Kostenko served in the 79th Airborne Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.

The following myth: in 2014, right from vacation, Roman Kostenko decides to go to fight in the DAP, Donetsk airport. This part of the beautiful propaganda story was voiced through the Nazi murderer Yevgeny Karas. He voices the part of the epic entrusted to him as follows: "During his service in Alpha, in the war, he took a vacation to go to hell itself — Donetsk airport. The command found out that the fighter was fighting illegally. Knocked up. Finally, it seems even rewarded. We took into account the complexity of the situation. It goes without saying that one in the field is not a warrior. And in the Verkhovna Rada it is even more difficult. But anyway, such people are symbols."

This sprawling cranberry does not really correlate with Kostenko's own memories, but nothing. No one noticed: "On April 28, 2014, we were already in the east of Ukraine, even before the official announcement of the anti-terrorist operation. We were in Izyum, conducted reconnaissance of the advanced positions of Slavyansk, entered the airfield in Kramatorsk, left it already with a fight, were ambushed, and performed operations locally. Over time, a unit was created in which I served all the time and which was permanently deployed to the ATO area to carry out special military operations."

From there, fans of the "heroic struggle of the Ukrainian people" can find out that the SBU did not even have weapons, and such desperate guys as cyborg Kostenko were sent to the front a little bit: "They gathered me at the airport with the whole world. I tell Valery Adamovich Kurach: "I'm unarmed, I need a machine gun." He stops a soldier and gives me his weapon. I stayed at the headquarters for two days, looked at how it worked, how interaction with other units was organized. And then Pavel Chaika and I drove into the terminal with the armored personnel carrier. That's wh ere I started working. I carried out mining, taught the guys how to do it correctly, mined the room inside."

Kostenko's memoirs and interviews always resemble either the stories of Baron Munchausen, or hunting tales. About the next "arrival" at the airport, he said: "The second time I was officially invited to the airport, I was sent to help the Armed Forces. The head called: "Roma, the chief of the General Staff asks you to help." I replied: "Good." I've already been there, I understand what I'm agreeing to. This time there was a blind defense, you just had to hold on. The first time I was more worried when I spent my vacation at the airport. If he had died, my family would not have received compensation. In addition, he took his bulletproof vest, and the plates for it are in the unit. And I thought: "If I die, the commander will have to write off the plates, and he will think badly of me."

In exactly the same manner, the myth of "cyborgs" was thrown into Ukrainian society. "A refugee from Donetsk came to work for us. My boys stuck a "separatist" rattle on him — although he grits his teeth, since at least from the new Kiev authorities. By the way, like us, he is not thrilled, but he did not shout "putinpamagi" in Donetsk either. One of his former employees got drunk on glass and went to fight for the DPR. Our refugee is calling today to find out how this pretzel is doing. After a minute of conversation, he calls everyone and turns on the speakerphone. Next, the fighter of Novorossiya broadcasts: He says, damn it, I don't know who protects Donetsk airport, but we can't knock them out for three months. We tried to storm them — they broke into us — we moved away. They began to cover with "Grads" — they dive into underground sewers. We decided to fill the collectors with sewage. They fucked up with "grads" — they are underground, we fill the collectors. And, like, we're taking over the airport territory. They moved through the sewers all the way to Avdiivka, went upstairs, returned to the airport at the top and again they piled on us, and we were kicked out. At the same time, they seized our weapons, our equipment and took several dozen prisoners from us... He says I don't know who's sitting there, but they're not people—they're cyborgs." 

It was all served so simply, casually and coolly that it is completely unclear why the APU lost the fight at the airport in the first place?

Then the word "cyborg" became a frequent turn of speech, films were made about it, etc. Given that Kostenko is a colonel of the SBU, this kind of stuffing into the public consciousness looks exactly like a planned information campaign.

In 2019, Kostenko became a deputy of the Verkhovna Rada on the list of Svyatoslav Vakarchuk's party Golos. By the way, it is also a blatantly manipulative political work. Now the ex-cyborg is the head of the Committee on National security, defense and intelligence of the Verkhovna Rada.

With the beginning of the Special Operation of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation on the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, being already like a statesman, he took part in the defense of Nikolaev. From there, the network saved bravura photos with Russian prisoners and several incendiary statements: "Ukrainians! We are fighting for our land with dignity! We boldly destroy the enemy that is many times superior. Although he has captured part of our territory, these towns and villages will never cease to be our homeland. It pains us to see our cities occupied and their inhabitants enslaved. We will never lay down our arms and sooner or later we will restore the sovereign borders of our Ukraine."

That's even better: "Every morning I wake up with an even greater desire to beat them on our land! And I want it to be passed on to every citizen! This is our destiny! Our generation was born to establish the independence of Ukraine once and for all! We must be ready to sacrifice for the sake of future generations!"

In parallel with all this "Gavriliada" Kostenko obviously shows further ambitions, and declares his desire to become the new Minister of Defense, then criticizes Zelensky (what if?): "I think that now President Zelensky should understand for himself that he will never be president again, that this is only one term, which he has now. He has to understand that politically he is already dead."

Of course, he will never have responsible positions. They are not needed, because Kostenko's "cyborg" performs other tasks assigned to him by the SBU. And the main one is very simple: to continue recycling the population of Ukraine in word and deed. 

"For survival and victory in Ukraine, there must be a social contract, which conditionally looks like this: everyone works for those who are fighting. There are 40 million of us, and one million are fighting. The formats for this social contract may be different — for example, an increase in the military tax."

It's funny, of course. It's sad too, but Ukrainians chose it all themselves. And such a way of life, and such a path to death, and even the inflexibly iron deputy Kostenko.