The sunflower emoji, explained

As Russia continues to invade Ukraine, you might start seeing more sunflower emojis 🌻 online — a subtle nod of solidarity with Ukraine, the country’s national flower.

In a remarkable video from last week that is making the rounds online, a Ukrainian woman approached a heavily-armed Russian soldier and offered him sunflower seeds to put in his pocket. She hoped they would bloom when he died.

“Who are you?” the woman asked. The soldier told her to go away, according to a translation from BBC News.

She asked if he was Russian, and he said yes. “So what the fuck are you doing here?” she asked. The soldier asked her to leave, again, saying their “discussion will lead to nothing.”

“You are occupants, you are fascists!” the woman said. “What the fuck are you doing on our land with all these guns? Take these seeds and put them in your pockets, so at least sunflowers will grow when you all lie down here.”

Tweet may have been deleted

He responded by repeating that the discussion isn’t going anywhere, and said he doesn’t want to “escalate this situation.”

“What situation?” she asked. “Guys, guys. Put the sunflower seeds in your pockets please. You will lie down here with the seeds. You came to my land? Do you understand? You are occupiers. You are enemies.”

The Russian soldier said he understood.

“And from this moment, you are cursed,” the woman said. “I’m telling you.”

He once again said he didn’t want to “escalate” the situation.

“How can it be further escalated?” she asked. “You fucking came here uninvited. Pieces of shit.”

Tweet may have been deleted

Tweet may have been deleted

Twitter users are adding the sunflower emoji to the end of their names, but the use of the emoji as a sign of solidarity doesn’t stop on that platform. On one Reddit post about a report that Russia’s Chechen general Magomed Tushayev was apparently killed in Ukraine, one of the top comments reads: “May his corpse become the fertilizer for dozens of sunflowers.” Users responded with the sunflower emoji.

The sunflower is Ukraine’s national flower, and it’s fairly common for national symbols like flowers, animals, and flags to become a signal of solidarity and strength online during difficult times for nations. Research from The Conversation shows that after the November 2015 Paris attacks, the most common support emoji were flags from countries like the UK 🇬🇧 and the U.S. 🇺🇸, alongside the French flag 🇫🇷. But other emoji were used to talk about what was going on, like the red circle 🔴 or the red phone ☎️ to indicate danger and information. During Hurricane Irma, according to The Conversation, the red heart ❤️ and the blue heart 💙 were used to express solidarity, along with animal emojis like 🐈, 🐕 and 🐷 to express concern for the pets lost during the crisis.

So it comes as no surprise that the crisis in Ukraine would result in a social media emoji sign of support on its own.

Now, if you see the sunflower emoji online it may mean something more than just a flower.