A heart-warming video of a group of Ukrainians feeding a Russian soldier and helping him call his mother amidst the war has surfaced online. This video showing the Russian soldier sipping tea and eating a snack has gone viral. The group of Ukrainians is receiving immense praise on social media for showing compassion to the Russian soldier, who appears to be broken as he connects with his mother. A Ukrainian woman helps him calm down as a boy holds another piece of the pasty for the soldier.

The soldier cries continuously. Unable to speak, he blows kisses to the camera.

“Remarkable video circulating on Telegram. Ukrainians gave a captured Russian soldier food and tea and called his mother to tell her he’s ok. He breaks down in tears. Compare the compassion shown here to Putin’s brutality,” said Christopher Miller, a BuzzFeed journalist.

Remarkable video circulating on Telegram. Ukrainians gave a captured Russian soldier food and tea and called his mother to tell her he’s ok. He breaks down in tears. Compare the compassion shown here to Putin’s brutality. pic.twitter.com/KtbHad8XLm— Christopher Miller (@ChristopherJM) March 2, 2022

At the time of writing, the video had been viewed over 1.3 million times, with over 27,000 users even liking it. It has been flooded with comments too.

While one user wrote, “Compassion, warm tea and homemade cake are the way to melt the cold hearts of Russia’s high command”, another said though this was “kindness”, it was “improper to display POWs to the cameras”.

Compassion, warm tea and homemade cake are the way to melt the cold hearts of Russia’s high command. This lovely video shows Ukrainian women looking after a captured Russian soldier. It’s the very opposite of the infamous Nazi and Waffen SS massacres of Allied POWs (eg #Malmedy). https://t.co/aTGdBSKtwa— JOE RICH #StandWithUkraine #SlavaUkraini (@joerichlaw) March 4, 2022

This is kindness. Its also improper to display POWs to the cameras. Its a Geneva Convention violation, even if well intended— Daniel Golding ???????? (@dgolding) March 2, 2022

According to a translation provided by The U.S. Sun, in the video, a man off-camera says, “These young men, it’s not their fault. They don’t know why they are here. They are using old maps, they are lost.”

Reports state that Russian soldiers are in disarray, battling low morale as they are asked to “fire at everyone”. Reportedly, they are also running short of resources, including food and fuel. In the absence of food, Russian soldiers are said to be sabotaging their own vehicles to avoid fighting. Ukraine, a former soviet republic, and Russia share cultural linkages and most people in Ukraine speak Russian. And thus, they say they are not against the soldiers but the Russian government. Offering food and tea shows that people-to-people ties have not completely washed away in the fog of war.