A woman in Ukraine is being applauded for her bravery after a video appearing to show her confronting an armed Russian soldier and offering him sunflower seeds - so that they can grow when he dies - went viral on social media, per The Independent.
In a video shared online, the woman appears visibly upset, following Russia's invasion of Ukraine on Thursday, February 24 - as military vehicles made their way across the border and airstrikes started reportedly targeting a number of cities.
Ukraine has said there were 137 casualties on the first day of the war.
According to a transcript shared by Mashable editor Chris Taylor - who shared the video with his 20,000+ followers - the woman can be seen in the video asking the soldiers: "Who are you?", with a nearby soldier responding: "We have exercises here. Please go this way."
After asking the men if they are Russians, she says: "So what the f*** are you doing here?”
When the soldiers try to calm her down, the outraged woman says: "You're occupants, you're fascists! What the f*** are you doing on our land with all these guns?"
She then proceeds to offer him the seeds of the sunflower, which is the national flower of Ukraine.
"Take these seeds and put them in your pockets, so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here," she adds.
The video - which was reportedly filmed in Henichesk - surfaced online after it was posted by Internews Ukraine, an independent media charity based in Kyiv. It went viral on social media with more than two million views and sparked a slew of comments.
The story has also been shared by outlets such as Fox News, Daily Mail, the Guardian, and the Telegraph - however, the time at which the video was recorded is still unknown, as is the identity of those in the video.
Nevertheless, it has been widely shared on social media, with one Twitter user said: "The coming days and nights in #Ukraine are likely going to be long and hard. But with spirit like this woman shows, #Putin may find he bit off way more than he can chew. #PocketSunflowers to grow sunflowers from their graves!"
Another added: "Am I the only one reading that over and over, and getting chills each time?"
Today marks the second day of Russia's invasion of Ukraine as explosions rocked the capital, Kyiv.
The EU and US have announced sanctions against Russia in protest against the war declared on its neighbor. This comes as thousands of Russian civilians took to the streets of Moscow and St Petersburg to protest against the war.
