Humorists are using the plight of this small corner of Kursk region to make a point about Russian hypocrisy – but the invasion is no joke for either side

One morning recently, historian Yevhen Murza and comedian Feliks Redka, both from the city of Sumy in eastern Ukraine, hitched a lift into Ukrainian-occupied Russia. Their mission on arrival in Sudzha, the town that has been at the centre of Ukraine’s dramatic push into Russia’s Kursk region, was an unusual one: to record the latest episode of their long-running podcast series, dedicated to popularising Ukrainian history.

The deal was agreed via Instagram with a fan of their podcast who is serving in the Ukrainian army. In exchange for a drone that Redka had bought with proceeds from a recent standup tour, the soldier agreed that he and his friends would give the pair a ride to Sudzha and back.