Moment ‘Russian and Ukrainian troops on snow-covered frontline pause battle to sing World War Two love song’

Video appears to show the moment Russian and Ukrainian troops on the snow-covered frontline pause fighting to sing a famous World War II love song.

In the footage, which has not been independently verified, the Russians shout a salute and the Ukrainians respond before Vladimir Putin's soldiers begin singing the legendary Soviet melody Katyusha.

In a snow-covered forest, two Russian soldiers apparently bellow the first two lines of the song.

They sang: 'Apple and pear trees blossomed,

'Mists flew over the river.'

If the video is authentic, there will be a response from the Ukrainians with the third and fourth lines:

'Katyusha went onto the bank of a river,

'On a high and steep riverbank.'

The short video then ends..

The evocative song is known from World War II, when both Russians and Ukrainians fought on the same side.

The clip has spread quickly on social media in Russia, but less so in Ukraine.

If true, it reflects the kind of seasonal changes between combatants that may have occurred in the First and Second World Wars, such as the Christmas truce on the Western Front in 1914.

It seems that the positions of the two sides are extremely close, and some might say that they are too close given the modern weapons.

It would also show that they are risking their lives and the wrath of their commanders by revealing their locations to the enemies.

Until this is verified, suspicions may remain that the video is a Russian propaganda stunt, but it is a song that detractors would be familiar with.

Nevertheless, Katyusha has mainly been used by the Russian side in the current war.

Some Ukrainian POWs complained that they were forced to sing it by their captors.

In a Russian post highlighting the video, Ukrainians sang the song as evidence of the hope that they could still be “de-zombified” by succumbing to Russian culture.

Putin's distorted doctrine falsely claims that Ukrainians have undergone “Nazification.”

“The song Katyusha is sung by the soldiers of the Russian army, and Ukrainian soldiers also sing along,” read the message.

Yet Katyusha was also a song that Ukrainians would identify with during World War II, when it was used by Stalin to inspire – and propagandize – his troops coming from the fifteen republics of the Soviet Union, including Russians and Ukrainians .

As military expert Vladyslav Shurygin, who highlighted the footage, said: “The song is an anthem. Katyusha was sung in Soviet times both in Russia and in the southern and southeastern regions of Ukraine.'

What exactly happened to this song in the video is currently unknown.

But Shurygin said: 'Most likely, the Ukrainian singers who immediately started singing Katyusha were mobilized men, some of them 50 years old. [or more].

“They remember Soviet songs well, and this was one of the most popular, and no wedding was complete without it, in now forcibly separated two parts of a once united country.

“Something about this seemed symbolic: people singing the same songs in the same language must find understanding and find a way to live together.”

Shurygin spoils what could have been a moment of unity by declaring, “We must create [Volodymyr] Zelensky remembers Katyusha, well – with the help of Grad.

“Then maybe he will also understand where Ukraine needs to go.”

Old footage shows a Red Army band playing the song in Soviet times. The band probably consisted of both Russians and Ukrainians.

At the end of the video, composer Matvey Blanter is led on stage and greeted by the Soviet choir.

He was Jewish and born in what is now Russia's Bryansk region during Tsarist times, when it was part of Chernihiv Governorate.

Chernihiv is now part of Ukraine.

The lyrics were written by the Soviet poet Mikhail Isakovsky, born in the Smolensk region of Russia.

The ballad tells about a Russian girl Katyusha who sings for her beloved soldier who is far away and at war.

The last lines are: 'Let him keep the motherland safe,

“And Katyusha will keep love safe.”