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War in Ukraine: A photo of this armed girl with a lollipop in her mouth is circulating on the net, but…

The story of the photo of this little Ukrainian girl with a lollipop in her mouth and a gun

ReutersThe story behind the photo of this little Ukrainian girl with a lollipop in her mouth and a gun in her hand

WAR IN UKRAINE – In the window frame of a dilapidated house, a little girl with blue and yellow ribbons – the colors of Ukraine – with a lollipop in her mouth, holds a weapon in her hand. The image that went viral is surprising and shocking. He, in particular, was retweeted by former President of the European Council of Poland Donald Tusk.

In a text posted this Sunday, March 13 on Facebook, the photographer returned to the history of this photo. The author of the photo Alexei Kirichenko is none other than the girl’s father. An engineer at a company in Kyiv before the Russian invasion of Ukraine that began on February 24, he is also passionate about photography.

“Of course, the weapon was not loaded”

He took a staged photo on 22 February as tensions continued to escalate “during the weeks leading up to the war”. “Intelligence from Western countries told us that war was inevitable, but it didn’t seem plausible to us,” explains the father of three. At the same time, Westerners expressed “concern”, but no sanctions were imposed on Russia.”

The image of her 9-year-old daughter posing as if surveying her surroundings is part of a series of photographs, the first of which was posted back on Feb. 22 after she decided to “take a photo to draw attention to herself.” possible war.

Oleksiy Kirichenko wanted to show “what Ukraine can be like in the near future.” “This is a photo of my daughter with a lollipop and a gun in an abandoned building,” says the man, who insists his child is not good with guns. “Of course, weapons [qui appartient à Oleksii Kyrychenko] was not charged at the time of the photo shoot.

The photo, which went viral after the war, was banned from almost every Facebook group he posted it to, including those administrated by Russians, he said. In others, because the image of an armed girl was shocking.

“The world has seen the true face of the Russian invasion”

After the start of the war, “I posted a photo on a Ukrainian cactus fan group on Facebook,” says Oleksiy Kirichenko. “And suddenly she went around the world and became a meme.” The father of the family also thanks Donald Tusk in his Facebook post, who shared the picture on March 11. He also notes that the perception of the photo of his armed daughter has changed, “the world has seen the true face of the Russian invasion.”

After the start of the war in Ukraine, which killed at least 579 civilians on Saturday, according to the UN on Saturday, Alexei Kirichenko fled the Ukrainian capital with his wife and three children to take refuge in the west of the country “with friends.” . Mobilized, like all Ukrainian men, from 18 to 60 years old, says that he has not yet been called.

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