Ukrainians are no longer allowed to watch the internationally renowned Russian animated series “Masha and the Bear” in their country.
The government imposed sanctions on the filmmakers on Friday, and described the cartoons as a threat to national security.
“In 2025 alone, the Ukrainian-language YouTube channel for ‘Masha and the Bear’ had over 800 million views,” Culture Minister Tetyana Berezhna wrote on Facebook. She added that there is now a legal basis for blocking the programmes in Ukraine.
“There is no place for Russian propaganda on children’s screens,” she wrote.
This follows a journalistic investigation from last year which found the Ukrainian-language YouTube channel for the Russian animated series was by far the most popular in Ukraine.
According to the report’s authors, the creators generate advertising revenue through the channel, which benefits the Russian army in its fight against Ukraine.
The main characters in the cartoons are a little girl called Masha, dressed in traditional Russian clothing, and a former circus bear who communicates solely through gestures and sounds.
The series has been in production since 2009 and has been broadcast in dozens of countries. There has also been criticism of the content in the UK and Estonia, as Masha appears in several episodes wearing military clothing and featuring Soviet symbolism.
Moscow condemned Ukraine’s move. “The fact that Ukraine has also started a war against cartoons shows, once again, the hatefulness of the Kiev regime,” said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, according to Russian news agencies.
The sanctions have been imposed for an initial period of 10 years. Kiev called on its allies to also take measures against the distribution of the animated films.
In June, the US streaming service Netflix acquired the rights to further series of the children’s programme.