As the Russian invasion of Ukraine enters its second week, a video of a soldier singing with a guitar while in his uniform has gone viral with online people wondering whether he is a Russian or a Ukrainian one.
Russian loyalists playing music to a crowd in Schastia, allegedly. It was previously a Ukrainian held town adjacent to the frontline in Luhansk
— Pratposting (@prawst) March 3, 2022
On Feb 27th, Ukrainian authorities reported the town as falling to separatists and being "almost destroyed" https://t.co/rjUMq8HZcn
The short viral video showed a soldier with a number of people gathered around him, in what has been identified as the town of Schastia in the separatist region of Luhansk, which was recognized as an independent republic by the Russian Presiden Vladimir Putin several days before his troops entered Ukraine.
While some users shared the video thinking it was a pro-Ukraine song, others explained that the soldier was pro-Russian, believed to be a Ukrainian separatist singing in Ukrainian about "liberating the Donbas region," which should be "free from Ukraine" according to the Russians.
It’s just a song about liberating Donbas…he probably written that song himself
— {ℛøṧ﹩їα} (@Russian_Rocket) March 3, 2022
— OneWicht (@OneWicht) March 3, 2022
Pro-Russia online commentators celebrated the video as an emotional one, expressing hopes that Russia wins the ongoing battle said to target disarming Ukraine, while pro-Ukraine users labeled it as a "propaganda" video, highlighting another soldier appearing in the video as he filmed the song with a professional camera attached to a microphone.
