The “little girl with candy” goes around the world. A photo of a 9-year-old Ukrainian girl, a lollipop in her mouth, a double-barreled shotgun in her hands. Sitting on the windowsill of a building devastated by Russian bombs: a symbol of childhood denied in the country invaded by Moscow, but with an expression of defiance, not of terror, as if to tell the pride of the Ukrainian people even at such an early age.
The photo, taken by the girl’s father, Oleksii Kyrychenko, and posted on facebook under the title “Girl with candy” precisely to “bring the world‘s attention to Russian aggression”, bounces on social media after it was taken up by Donald Tusk , former president of the European Council. “Please don’t tell her that tougher sanctions would be too expensive for Europe!” is the message with which the Polish politician accompanies his post, referring to the fears of some economic sectors for an escalation of sanctions. The brown hair braided with a ribbon that has the red-blue colors of the Ukrainian flag, the right leg stretched out along the sill and the gaze turned outward, like a soldier on guard, a soldier of only 9 years who does not seem terrified at all. Although “built”, the photo has such a strong impact that in a few hours becomes ‘viral’. The retweets of Tusk’s post alone reach 5,000, on facebook his father Oleksii exceeds 200 shares. A photo-icon of the tragedy of children, displaced persons, deprived of school, killed by bombings, even pediatric hospitals like in Mariupol, and of a resistance that does not intend to bend.