He has finally been found! The joke about the nonexistent Zhytomyr has taken on a fresh perspective.

A long-standing joke that Zhytomyr doesn't actually exist has been revitalized by the marketers of the fast-food chain KFC, who created a clever advertisement. At the railway station in Kyiv, they placed a banner that played on the recent GPS failures, likely due to the operations of electronic warfare systems.

The banner reads, "Welcome to Zhytomyr." Below, in smaller letters, it adds: "Yes, GPS in Kyiv doesn't always function at its best, unlike KFC. Be cautious."

Origin of the Joke About the Non-Existence of Zhytomyr

This joke, resembling a sort of game, emerged several years before the full-scale war. Twitter users (now known as X) actively debated whether Zhytomyr exists or not. It became a humorous conspiracy theory where any argument presented by users asserting that Zhytomyr is a real city was met with responses like "that's fake and Photoshop," along with supporting arguments.

For example, when one user asked, "If Zhytomyr doesn't exist, then where does the Zhytomyr highway lead?", the answer was – this highway leads to Rivne. This is indeed true — the E40 highway, which connects Kyiv with Zhytomyr, passes through Rivne and continues to Lviv, eventually crossing into Poland. The "Zhytomyr highway" only ends in Calais, France.

In response to the "killer" argument about where the famous Zhytomyr socks come from, another user was told that they are produced in the town of Korostyshiv. It is located in the Zhytomyr region; however, they were informed that confirming the existence of its administrative center is impossible.

Ukrainian Stars Embrace the "Non-Existent Zhytomyr" Joke

In 2024, Volodymyr Dantes and Jerry Heil released a song titled "Lips in Lips," which references this joke. It mentions "the geolocation of Zhytomyr."

Collected all warm feelings,

Didn’t leave even a number behind.

Simply vanished from my life,

Like the geolocation of Zhytomyr.

As reported by "Telegraph," recently the Russian ruble significantly depreciated, and social media immediately erupted with vibrant memes. At the end of November, the dollar was priced at 110.12 rubles on the interbank international currency market Forex.