Though it is generally unwise to judge a book by its cover — well, most of the time, anyway — what about summing up the zeitgeist of a place by the top Internet searches there. In Ukraine, a major European country at war since Russian forces launched an invasion almost ten months ago, the most searched term of 2022 was “map of air raid sirens.”Google released its annual Year in Search report last week, and Ukraine topped the “trending in 2022” topics in the news category. “Queen Elizabeth passing” is the second most searched news topic. Arguably more compelling is what millions of people inside Ukraine are searching for — first and foremost the knowledge of where Russian missiles are falling or about to fall on cities and towns across their embattled country. Searches for maps of air raid sirens peaked around October 22, the date when Moscow launched a massive missile attack targeting critical infrastructure.Look-ups for the third most searched term, “There is help,” peaked around July 24. That was just days after Secretary of Defense Austin announced that Washington would be sending additional long-range artillery systems, or HIMARS, to Ukraine as part of a military aid package. On July 22, Turkey and the UN helped finalize agreements between Russia and Ukraine to unblock the latter’s seaports so that Ukrainian grain could resume shipping to global markets via the Black Sea. The list grows more intriguing from the fifth spot, which is occupied by the name of Vladimir Zhirinovsky, an ultranationalist Russian politician and longtime member of the State Duma who was a proponent of Russian military action against NATO.Mr. Zhirinovsky, not known for his affable nature, once, on live television, threw a glass of orange juice at Boris Nemtsov, who served as Russia’s deputy prime minister under Boris Yeltsin. Mr. Nemtsov was assassinated near the Kremlin in 2015. Mr. Zhirinovsky died at a Moscow hospital on April 6, aged 75; his funeral was attended by Vladimir Putin and Russia’s defense minister, Sergei Shoigu.Figuring sixth on the list is another prominent name — a Georgian-born Ukrainian intelligence officer, Oleksiy Arestovych, who currently serves as an advisor to President Zelensky. Google searches for the telegenic Mr. Arestovych, 47, peaked in the early weeks of Russia’s invasion, between March 6 and March 19. In August, a Ukrainian television channel reported that Mr. Arestovych plans to run for president of Ukraine should Mr. Zelensky not seek a second term. The current keeper of the Kremlin, Vladimir Putin, ranked eighth on the list, followed by “The Bachelor 2022,” a television show. Coming in ninth was Bayraktar, as in the Turkish-made TB2 drones that Ukraine’s army has been using against Russian targets, including some high-profile ones like the naval cruiser Moskva which Ukraine successfully sunk in April. Yet searches for the term Bayraktar peaked before that, from February 27 to March 5.Number ten on the list is Gostomel, or Hostomel in English. Ukrainian searches for the town name peaked from February 20 to 26, during which time Russian and Ukrainian forces engaged in a fierce battle for control of Hostomel’s airport. Ukraine ultimately won, but the airport was badly damaged and an iconic Antonov An-225 cargo aircraft was destroyed in the fighting. *On the morning of December 16, Ukrainians awoke to the sound of more air raid sirens as Russia launched what the Kyiv Independent called its “seventh mass attack on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.” West of Zaporizhzhia, at the city of Kryvyi Ri, a Russian missile struck a residential building causing at least two deaths and an as yet unknown number of injuries. Kharkiv was without electricity and there were missile strikes and power outages in the Zhytomyr region, as well as strikes near Odessa. Kyiv’s mayor, Vitali Klitschko, reported at least three explosions in the capital city following Russia’s early morning strikes.
