Russian President Vladimir Putin
decided to launch a war on Ukraine in the name of a ‘special military
operation’ on Thursday, February 24. Several media reports claimed that bomb
blasts were heard in the capital city of Kyiv and Kharkiv, which is located in the northeastern part of the country. The Russian military said that the civilians and military personnel
who surrendered were reprieved. 

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As people in Kyiv and Kharkiv started leaving
the city in search of shelters, an image
of a group of men and women praying in the snow has gone viral. The image has
been shared with claims that the Ukrainian Christians praying outdoors for
their country in the middle of the war. 

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“Ukrainian Christians pray
outdoors, in the snow, for their country in this phase of war danger. Let’s
pray for our Christian family in Ukraine, in the face of these particularly
critical times; may God grant wisdom, discernment, strength, courage,
protection to His children, to the authorities & to the whole population!,”
several Facebook users shared this image with this caption.

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According to the India Today
Anti-Fake News War room (AFWA) investigation, the viral image is three years
old and it has no relation with the Russia-Ukraine crisis. The original photo
of Ukrainian Christians praying for their country in the snow at Freedom Square
in Kharkiv, Ukraine was taken in 2019.

The anti-fake news platform found
the origin of the viral image with reverse image searches on Google and it was
published on multiple websites back in 2019.

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India Today found that the
International Mission Board, a website that is known to publish articles on
Christian religious activities, published the image on September 25, 2019.

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The author of the article, Nicole
Leigh, wrote about her experience of joining a prayer on an early morning at
Freedom Square in Kharkiv, Ukraine in 2019. According to the article, a group
of Ukrainian Christians had been praying outdoors every morning, withstanding
the inclement weather since 2014. They prayed for peace in their country.

Also Read: In pics | Russian invasion disrupts normality in Ukraine

The author wrote, “When the
prayer group began in 2014, they were threatened by soldiers and violence as
well as policemen who said they had to disperse or face jail.” But despite all
odds, this prayer group kept on praying every day, relentlessly for their
country.

It must be noted that in 2014
Russian ethnic minority-dominated Crimea broke away from Ukraine when 14,000
people lost their lives fighting in the Eastern fringe of the country.

Also Read: Russian President Putin loses allies in eastern Europe by invading Ukraine

So, it established that the image
is old and has been falsely linked to the ongoing crisis in the region.