Things in Ukraine came to a head last week when Russian forces began invading the country. Though naturally frightening, it has since spurred many occurrences of patriotism there. One particularly touching instance occurred when an 80-year-old Ukrainian man tried to enlist in the army “for his grandkids.”
A photo depicting the event has been making the rounds on social media lately. Former Ukrainian first lady Kateryna Yushchenko shared it on Twitter Thursday night. In the post, we see an elderly man in a black cap approaching a Ukrainian soldier with a leather bag in hand. According to her, he was trying to enlist “for his grandkids.”
Someone posted a photo of this 80-year-old who showed up to join the army, carrying with him a small case with 2 t-shirts, a pair of extra pants, a toothbrush and a few sandwiches for lunch. He said he was doing it for his grandkids. pic.twitter.com/bemD24h6Ae
— Kateryna Yushchenko (@KatyaYushchenko) February 24, 2022
As of now, it’s not clear where the picture was taken but it went viral as Russia advanced on Ukraine’s capital of Kyiv. In that short timespan, it already accumulated more than 300,000 likes and a cumulative 53,000 shares through retweets and quoted tweets. Twitter users have nothing but praise for the man, commending the grandfather’s bravery and patriotism.
Given the fact that there are many fake videos and photos on social media in the last few days, we can’t confirm the validity of the photo above!
We can however confirm that a video from another elderly gentleman who gives the fist of patriotism to a Russian soldier is real. The soldier reacted in panic and shoots off a warning shot into the snow after taking the punch to the face. Watch the video here