bavovna 

in Ukraine we call ‘bavovna’ (‘cotton’ in English) when there is an explosion somewhere in russia.

russian media tries to use some kind of euphemisms and in some way hide or escape the fact that there was an explosion in russia. when such thing happens, they call it ‘chlopok’ (the 2nd syllable is stressed) which means like ‘pop’, ‘clap’, ‘crack’, ‘bang’.

here goes the funniest thing — the same word, ‘chlopok’, but when the 1st syllable is stressed, means ‘cotton’ in English and ‘bavovna’ in Ukrainian.

so yep, we can call it some kind of linguistic joke.
firstly it was used after 24th of February when russia invaded Ukraine.

have you heard of bavovna in Belgorod? yeah man we did it and made some russians pee their panties))

чув про бавовну в Бєлгороді? та, чувак, це наших рук діло)) росіянці трохи обісралися))

bavovna by justthinking May 8, 2022

Bavovna 

I would like to add to the top definition that "Bavovna (баво́вна)" indeed means "cotton" in English hover "hlopok (хло́пок)" is not. Hlopok is russian for "cotton". The all joke started not just because russian media used the word "hlopok" instead of "explosion" but rather because of russian bots had started to autotranslate it to Ukrainian in an attempt to fake some legit Ukrainian media sources. Put "хлопок" into a translator and most probably you will get it translated to "cotton". This was an easy giveaway that these news were posted by russian propaganda thus people started to mock them by using the world bavovna.

There is a bavovna happened on the airbase.
На авіабазі сталася бавовна.

Bavovna by Kyivpass August 25, 2022

Bavovna 

Blooming Cotton Flowers. A Symbol of a strong fuckup. "Google Translator" meme appeared after russian news were lying about big explosion happened on a temporarily occupied territory and trying to call it as a "Small Clap". Fast but wrong translation from russian to ukrainian for Breaking News created the word Bavovna which was later massively used to laugh about new explosions on the russian side, that were represented already as a photoshopped images of a blooming cotton flower.

Bavovna in Moscow, you've heard already? - Yeah, it was rad

Bavovna by urbanshik November 17, 2023

Bavovnyatko 

A fictional character named Bavovnyatko was revealed on 27 August 2022 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. The name "Bavovnyatko" was created as a play on words. In the Russian state media, the "explosion" is usually called "khlopók" ("bang" or "clap"), so as not to allegedly sow unnecessary panic among the population. With the start of a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the so-called "khlopóks" in the military warehouses of Russian invaders became more frequent in Russia, as well as in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.
The word "khlópok" (note the stress is on the first syllable) is also the Russian for "cotton". In Ukrainian, the cotton is translated as "bavovna". In the Ukrainian segment of the Internet, on social media, etc “khlópoks” in Russian military warehouses have been turned into a “bavovna” meme. Hence the origin of the little creature "Bavovnyatko" ("bavovna" + diminutive suffix "nyatko")

twitter.com/DefenceU/status/1563547416648855552

Bavovnyatko is a ghost animal. Fluffy and restless. At night, Bavovnyatko 🤗 quietly comes to the occupiers’ bases, depots, airfields, oil refineries, and other places full of flammable items and starts playing with fire there🔥

Bavovnyatko by fazan September 16, 2022

Bavovnyatko 

A fictional character named Bavovnyatko was revealed on 27 August 2022 by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defense. The name "Bavovnyatko" was created as a play on words. In the Russian state media, the "explosion" is usually called "khlopók" ("bang" or "clap"), so as not to allegedly sow unnecessary panic among the population. With the start of a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, the so-called "khlopóks" in the military warehouses of Russian invaders became more frequent in Russia, as well as in the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.
The word "khlópok" (note the stress is on the first syllable) is also the Russian for "cotton". In Ukrainian, the cotton is translated as "bavovna".
In the Ukrainian segment of the Internet, on social media, etc “khlópoks” in Russian military warehouses have been turned into a “bavovna” meme. Hence the origin of the creature "Bavovnyatko".

Bavovnyatko is a ghost animal. Fluffy and restless. At night, Bavovnyatko 🤗 quietly comes to the occupiers’ bases, depots, airfields, oil refineries, and other places full of flammable items and starts playing with fire there🔥

Bavovnyatko by fazan September 16, 2022