A photo of four Ukrainian 18-year-olds who have volunteered to fight for Kyiv has been shared on Twitter – triggering widespread horror.
The image, captured by the BBC’s Middle East editor Jeremy Bowen, shows the teenagers wearing several layers, with backpacks and kneepads as well as sleeping bags, while standing in a suburban street.
They look slightly scared and are not smiling in the photo. All of them carry a large firearm and have fluorescent yellow bands on their arms.
Bowen’s caption reads: “18 year old Ukrainian volunteers off to war in Kyiv. Three days of training and they will be on the front line.”
People who saw the image were evidently dismayed to see the untrained teenagers about to go headfirst into a brutal war:
The strength of the Ukrainian resistance has stunned everyone over the last week, including the Russian forces who allegedly expected the takeover to go smoothly.
While the Ukrainian resistance has undoubtedly caused a significant delay to the Russian invasion, Putin has since turned to more violent measures and now has a 40-mile long military convoy heading to Kyiv.
As the attacks are expected to escalate, Ukraine has called on the West for more help and greater acts of intervention.
But, Nato (the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation) is not likely to send troops in to fight unless Russia sets foot on a land belonging to a Nato member – and Ukraine is not currently part of the alliance.