Captured Russian Soldier in Ukraine Offered Food, Allowed to Call Mother

As the Russia-Ukraine conflict enters its second week and the war continues with no apparent signs of successful peace talks or ceasefire, the world is desperately looking for a breather from grim news coming out of Ukraine. The breather has come in the form of a heart-warming video of a captured Russian soldier being helped to some tea and snacks by Ukrainian civilians. He is also allowed to make a video call back home. Wall Street Journal reporter Matthew Luxmoore shared the video on his social media handle with the caption, “Video shared on Ukrainian channels of a captured Russian soldier apparently being fed by locals. The post says he burst into tears when he was allowed to video-call his mother. So many of these troops are just teenagers, with absolutely no clue what this war is really for.”

In the video, a tearful Russian soldier wearing camouflage fatigues is shown eating and drinking tea while a young woman with purple hair hands out a phone so he may call his mother in Russia. The Russian soldier bursts into tears as soon as the phone is connected. He appears not to be in a condition to speak but he blows kisses to the camera as people soothe him by patting him on the back. The kindness shown by the Ukrainians moved many people on the internet. Some, however, pointed out that broadcasting videos of prisoners of war is against Geneva Convention principles.