Several supermarkets in Moscow were seen selling bottles of vodka labeled “Zelensky’s Tears.” A video was shared on social media purportedly showed the bottles on the shelves of several shops.
The seven-second clip shows a man holding the bottle in his right hand. It reads “Zelensky’s Tears” in Russian, with “limited edition” written below in English. An image on the bottle also depicts the Ukrainian president apparently wiping a tear from his right eye.
“It’s a joke,” said the man who filmed the clip, “that they are selling ‘Zelensky’s Tears’ vodka in Moscow supermarkets.”
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We cannot independently verify where the video was taken, or the authenticity of the vodka bottle.
The video comes as Russian troops carried out their offensive near Severodonetsk in an attempt to capture the city in Ukraine’s east.
Putin launched the Ukraine war on February 24 and has now been focusing on capturing the whole of the Luhansk and Donetsk regions after failing to seize the capital Kyiv in the early stages of the conflict.
Russian forces had seized the town of Metelkine, close to Severodonetsk, a regional official said on Monday.
“Unfortunately, we do not currently control Metelkine near the regional center,” Serhiy Gaidai, the head of the Luhansk Regional Military administration said. “They are working hard on the Severodonetsk industrial zone and the outskirts of the city,” Gaidai continued. “The same is true in the Toshkivka and Ustynivka districts.”
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On Monday, Russia’s defence ministry said that its forces have struck an airfield in Ukraine’s southwestern Odesa region, destroying two Bayraktar drones and a drone control station.
A high-precision Oniks missile was used to target the Artsyz airfield, according to ministry spokesman Igor Konashenkov. The comments came just hours after Ukraine’s military said its air defence system deterred two attempted attacks on the Odesa region, destroying incoming missiles.