Ukrainian Woman Who ‘Downed Drone With Jar Of Tomatoes’ Is Staying To Fight For Her Country

A Ukrainian woman who took out a Russian drone by throwing a jar of tomatoes at it has said she plans to stay in Kyiv and fight.

Amid countless tales of bravery and courage emerging from the country Ukrainians were amused by one tale of resistance against Russian troops in particular, after a government advisor claimed that a woman had knocked a Russian drone out of the sky 'with a jar of cucumbers'.

In the following days Ukrainian news site Liga.net managed to track down the woman responsible for the simple act of heroism, who confirmed that the story was real, but with one important correction.

"It was tomatoes," the woman, named Olena, told the site.

"I don't know where all those fables about cucumbers came from."

Olena said that she'd been sitting smoking on the balcony of her Kyiv apartment when she 'saw something floating' and 'heard a buzzing' nearby.

Rather than rush into the house to find something suitable to throw, she grabbed the closest thing to her - a jar of tomatoes.

"Probably out of fear. Because I was scared. And what if they start firing at me from there! What a pity for those tomatoes… I don't know where the fables about cucumbers came from," she said.

It worked, and the drone was destroyed, leaving Olena and her husband to break the device into several pieces by stamping on it, before scattering the fragments in various bins around the area.

"I do not understand these electronics. Maybe it writes, tracks [my location.]," she said.

Olena thinks that the drone was being used by Russian soldiers looking for empty apartments to loot for food and other goods, amid reports that logistical issues have left the invading forces running low on supplies.

"They have already gone to our entrance. A neighbour noticed suspicious young men, and when she began to ask loudly who they were and where they came from, they quickly fled," she said.

Olena - a journalist and former civil servant - said that her neighbourhood in the Dnieper district of the capital has calmed down since the first days of the war, but has pledged to stay in the city despite the risk of Russian attacks, saying that she's lived there almost all her life.

"That's why I'm not going anywhere from Kyiv. I decided instantly. This is my home, my land. I will stand, gnaw, fight, fight. All that is necessary."

If you would like to donate to the Red Cross Emergency Appeal, which will help provide food, medicines and basic medical supplies, shelter and water to those in Ukraine, click here for more information.