A Ukrainian serviceman takes a rest near the town of Bakhmut, in the Donetsk region on April 28, 2023, amid the Russian invasion on Ukraine. (Photo by Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP Photo)

A Ukrainian serviceman smiles on May 21, 2024 during a moment of calm in the southeastern town of Orikhiv, Zaporizhzhia, which has been heavily damaged by Russian military strikes. (Photo by Reuters/Stringer)

A girl dismantles a Kalashnikov rifle during a training lesson focused on the “Defence of Ukraine” at the military-patriotic center for schoolchildren in Lviv on May 17, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Yuriy Dyachyshyn/AFP Photo)

A doll holding a replica of a AK47 gun is set on a tailpiece of a rocket on a roadside in a village near the town of Avdiivka, Donetsk region, on June 28, 2023, amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine. (Photo by Genya Savilov/AFP Photo)

Ukrainian servicemen prepare 122mm artillery cannon before firing towards Russian positions in Kherson region, Ukraine, Sunday October 27, 2024. (Photo by Marko Ivkov/AP Photo)

Russian support personnel work to help get Expedition 29 crew members out of the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft shortly after the capsule landed with Expedition 29 Commander Mike Fossum, and Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa on November 22, 2011 outside of the town of Arkalyk, Kazakhstan. NASA Astronaut Fossum, Russian Cosmonaut Volkov and JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency) Astronaut Furukawa are returning from more than five months onboard the International Space Station (ISS) where they served as members of the Expedition 28 and 29 crews. (Photo by Bill Ingalls/NASA via Getty Images)

For many of us, simply bending over to touch our toes can be a difficult. But it's not a problem for the world's bendiest woman Julia Günthel aka Zlata (27). Russian-born Zlata can twist herself like a snake into the most extreme poses imaginable – and has broken numerous world records for her flexibility. The former gymnast, who is 5ft 8in, is so flexible she can cram herself into a 50cm squared box. Photo: Russian-born Zlata is pictured in Fifties style glam while still managing to bend herself in half. (Photo by Barcroft Media)

Children carrying guns and flags or wearing Soviet-style uniforms have become a common sight at Victory Day parades and other events in Russian-controlled Crimea. Russian and Ukrainian human rights activists have warned that such displays point to a growing trend of promoting Russian patriotism among kids on the Crimean peninsula, annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Here: A young Crimean girl wears military-type clothes during a Victory Day celebration in Sevastopol on May 9, 2018. (Photo by Oleksandra Surgan/Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty)