'KRAKEN: Temper your will' recruitment billboard, Kharkiv
Roadside billboard in Kharkiv: a bearded man in a plate carrier, arms crossed, named as 'Serhiy Velychko', stands in front of a smoky montage of armed soldiers, a helicopter and drones, beside the unit name KRAKEN and the slogan 'Temper your will', with a QR code, a phone number and two emblems. The tell is the named, unit-badged individual posed as the proof of what joining makes of a person.
- Date
- October 10, 2023
- Period
- Contemporary
- Made by
- Kraken unit (billboard also carries the emblem of Military Intelligence of Ukraine)
- Country
- Ukraine
- Medium
- Signs and banners
- Issuer type
- Military
- Regime
- Zelensky Government
- Leader
- Volodymyr Zelensky
- Audience
- Domestic public
- Purpose
- Recruit
- Theme
- War and the military
- Techniques
- Testimonial
- Source
- Identified Openly sourced: the speaker is who they say they are
- Source
- Wikimedia Commons, retrieved October 2, 2026
- Rights
- CC BY-SA 4.0 (photograph by Kristallz, per Wikimedia Commons)
Kristallz, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Text on the object
KRAKEN ЗАГАРТУЙ ВОЛЮ [QR code] +38 068 228 25 44 KRAKEN [emblem ring text, partly legible: ВІЙСЬКОВА РОЗВІДКА УКРАЇНИ] СЕРГІЙ ВЕЛИЧКО
KRAKEN TEMPER YOUR WILL [QR code] +38 068 228 25 44 KRAKEN [emblem ring text, partly legible: MILITARY INTELLIGENCE OF UKRAINE] SERHIY VELYCHKO
The QR code is not decoded. A small inventory label under the frame is part of the billboard structure, not the message. The emblem ring text is only partly legible at this resolution.
