The Conversation (0)
Kate Plummer
Feb 25, 2022
Brave Ukrainian woman confronts heavily armed Russian troops
Independent
A Ukrainian woman has been praised for her bravery after she confronted a heavily-armed Russian soldier with sunflower seeds.
In footage captured and spread on social media, the woman is seen giving the soldier sunflower seeds (Ukraine's national flower) so that they might grow when he dies.
It comes on the second day of Putin's invasion of Ukraine. People have reported explosions, including in the capital Kyiv with the EU and US announcing economic sanctions on Russia, with UK PM Boris Johnson promising similar packages.
Within this context, the conversation between the woman and the soldier on the ground showed people the reality of what is happening in Ukraine.
The unnamed woman asked the soldier "who are you?", and he replied: "We have exercises here. Please go this way."
After asking if they are Russians, she said: "So what the f*** are you doing here?”
"You’re occupants, you’re fascists! What the f*** are you doing on our land with all these guns?
Sign up to our free Indy100 weekly newsletter
“Take these seeds and put them in your pockets, so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here,” she continued.
After he told her not to "escalate" the situation she tried to get him to accept the seeds again and said: "From this moment, you are cursed. I'm telling you."
The video was shared online by Internews Ukraine, an independent media charity based in Kiev, and duly went viral and has received 3.7 million views at the time of writing. Reacting to the footage, people praised the woman for her courage:
What an absolute badass https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1496866811110834176\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/U0mSCNtKjI— Scouse_Ma (@Scouse_Ma) 1645745908
\u2018Put sunflower seeds in your pockets so flowers will grow when you die on our land!\u2019https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1496866811110834176\u00a0\u2026— Lori Granito \ud83d\udc9b\ud83d\udc1d\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\u270a\ud83c\udffe (@Lori Granito \ud83d\udc9b\ud83d\udc1d\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\u26a7\ufe0f\ud83c\udff3\ufe0f\u200d\ud83c\udf08\u270a\ud83c\udffe) 1645741557
The women of this region are unbelievable.https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1496866811110834176\u00a0\u2026— Julia Ioffe (@Julia Ioffe) 1645761733
This is just legendary https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1496866811110834176\u00a0\u2026— Grammar Dominatrix (@Grammar Dominatrix) 1645737779
Fearlesshttps://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1496866811110834176\u00a0\u2026— Anthony (@Anthony) 1645733342
This is very powerful.\n\nShe tells the Russian soldiers to put sunflower seeds in their pockets so that flowers would grow when they die on the Ukrainian land.\n\nSunflowers are Ukraine's national flower, representing the power and warmth of the sun.https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1496866811110834176\u00a0\u2026— Ash Presto \ud83d\udc9c (@Ash Presto \ud83d\udc9c) 1645754265
Courage comes in many different forms.https://twitter.com/ukraine_world/status/1496866811110834176\u00a0\u2026— Katie S. Phang (@Katie S. Phang) 1645763141
Have your say in our news democracy. Click the upvote icon at the top of the page to help raise this article through the indy100 rankings.