Watermelon is the unofficial symbol of the region and the city of Kherson. The latter was released on Friday by Ukrainian forces after eight months of occupation.
“The Ukrainian city of Kherson is mainly known for its large and sweet watermelons,” wrote the online magazine. Odessa review i 2017.
Now the fruit with green skin and red, sweet flesh is taking off on Ukrainian Telegram and Twitter accounts.
Ukrainian Defense Minister Oleksiy Reznikov posted a tribute to Ukrainian soldiers – with a watermelon – on Twitter.
In videos on the Telegram messaging service, Ukrainian soldiers can be seen receiving watermelons from the celebrating population of Kherson after the liberation.
Ukrainian news website Euromaidan Press changed its logo to a watermelon to celebrate the reconquest that President Volodymyr Zelenskyi calls “historic”.
Many of the Telegram messages from Anton Gerashenko, an adviser to the Ukrainian Interior Ministry, harass Putin. One of the photos he posted shows, among other things, a figure similar to Pac-man – in the colors of melon – eating Putin and the main Russian leaders.
– They never gave up
– Today is a historic day. We are back in Kherson, Zelenskyy said on his Telegram channel when he announced that Kherson was once again a Ukrainian city.
The Ukrainian president says Ukrainian special forces are already stationed in the city. Regular troops will follow.
– The people of Kherson were waiting. They never gave up on Ukraine, he says and thanks all the Ukrainian defense.
The liberation of the city comes on the day 104 years after the signing of the armistice and the end of the First World War.