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| - Fact Check: No, this 9-year-old Ukrainian girl holding a gun is not preparing to fight Russian troops
The photo of a 9-year-old Ukrainian girl with a shotgun, sucking on a lollipop, was shared on Facebook with the caption that she's waiting to fight Russian invaders. India Today's AFWA team found the claim to be misleading.
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India Today Fact Check
The photo was staged. The girl’s father Oleksii Kyrychenko wrote on Facebook that he took this photo on February 22, days before the Russian invasion, in an attempt to draw the world’s attention to the impending war. He said the gun was not loaded during the shoot.
More than a month into the Russian invasion of Ukraine, a photo of a young girl holding a shotgun has gone viral on Facebook.
Several people shared the photo claiming that the young Ukrainian girl was preparing to face the Russian forces. One such post read, “This is said to be a picture of a 9-year-old Ukrainian girl with a pump shotgun, sucking on a lollipop, waiting to pop some Russians. I love the strength of these people.”
Another Facebook user wrote, “This says it all. Ukrainian 9-year-old girl: sucking her lollipop & holding a rifle, while all the time ready to protect her country!”
The India Today Anti-Fake News War room (AFWA) found the viral photo was staged. The girl’s father said that he took this photo in an attempt to draw the world’s attention to the crisis in Ukraine.
The viral posts are archived here, here, and here.
AFWA probe
The viral image was originally posted by Oleksii Kyrychenko on March 11 on Facebook along with the caption, “Young girl with candy”. In the comments, he was asked if the girl in the picture was his daughter, to which he said it was. He said that she was nine and that he shot this photo to draw the world's attention to Russian aggression in Ukraine.
Kyrychenko is a resident of Kyiv. He reportedly took the photo on February 22, two days before Russia invaded Ukraine. He explained that he took the photo in an abandoned building, adding that during the shoot, the gun was not loaded.
This viral claim was debunked by USA Today earlier.
While the viral image was staged, Ukrainian children have suffered during the ongoing invasion. As per the Ukrainian government’s estimates, at least 79 children died and more than 100 children were wounded in the Russian invasion.
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