Volodymyr Zolkin

{{Short description|Ukrainian YouTuber and activist (born 1981)}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Volodymyr Zolkin

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| image = Volodymyr Zolkin on Lviv Media.jpg

| image_caption = Zolkin in 2022

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| birth_date = {{Birth year and age|1981}}{{cite web|access-date=2022-04-06|title=Volodymyr Zolkin|url=https://twitter.com/VolodymyrZolkin|website=Twitter}}

| birth_place = Kyiv, Ukrainian SSR, Soviet Union (now Ukraine){{cite magazine|access-date=2022-04-06|title=Vlogging the War|url=https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2022/03/21/vlogging-the-war|date=12 March 2022|magazine=The New Yorker}}

| nationality = Ukrainian

| occupation = Journalist, freelance videographer{{cite web|access-date=2022-04-07|title=Another Ukrainian Journalist Reportedly Barred from Georgia|url=https://civil.ge/archives/456840|date=19 November 2021|work=Civil Georgia}}

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| website = {{URL|www.youtube.com/c/volodymyrzolkin}}

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| years_active = 2022–present (YouTube)

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Volodymyr Oleksandrovych Zolkin ({{langx|uk|Володимир Олександрович Золкін}}, born 1981) is a Ukrainian journalist, YouTuber and activist, living in Kyiv. He rose to prominence in 2022 after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, by interviewing prisoners of war for his YouTube channel, beginning 18 March 2022.{{cite web|access-date=2022-04-06|title='Often a Russian mother has a TV for a brain': Ukraine YouTuber films PoWs calling home|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/apr/05/often-a-russian-mother-has-a-tv-for-a-brain-ukraine-youtuber-films-pows-calling-home|date=5 April 2022|website=The Guardian}}

"Russian prisoners are asked to confirm that they have agreed to the interview and its broadcast, before being asked to give an account of their military background and the events that led to their capture, along with their thoughts on the war." [. . .] "The prisoners are allowed to call family and friends at home.. The reasoning is that the mothers of captured soldiers would truly listen to what their sons were saying about the truth about the war, Zolkin said."

Zolkin also independently telephones Russians with news about their relatives in the army deployed in Ukraine, and tries to counter disinformation about the war from the Russian state. He has access to a family's contact details from Look for Your Own, a service which allows Russians to leave their details and those of missing soldiers they are looking for. Zolkin matches requests with photographs and videos from the front line.{{cite news|access-date=2022-04-06|title=How Ukraine tries to undercut Moscow's censorship over Russian war victims|url=https://www.ft.com/content/542444c8-e19a-4916-84f3-9638278a7ab4|newspaper=Financial Times|date=4 March 2022}}

Zolkin's videos have been widely referenced, and praised, across western media, although lawyers have suggested that he is violating the Third Geneva Convention by parading prisoners of war on the Internet. Zolkin denies this.{{cite web | url=https://www.seznamzpravy.cz/clanek/zahranicni-zpovida-zajate-ruske-vojaky-misto-mozku-maji-televizor-plny-propagandy-207491 | title=Ví, jak přemýšlejí ruští vojáci. "Mysleli, že Ukrajinu projedou s cígem." - Seznam Zprávy }}