Ukraine war: St Javelin and the missile that has become a symbol of Ukraine's resistance

For people of faith, Mary Magdalene is an icon of redemption; the embodiment of the mantra that no matter how far you fall, there is always hope for a second chance. For the people of Ukraine, a reimagined image of her bearing a particular weapon has become a potent symbol of resistance.

Having started as a meme, St Javelin of Ukraine, as she is now known, is becoming an increasingly familiar sight on social media and elsewhere.

In her most recent iteration, the halo encircling her head is not the radiant gold you would expect from centuries of religious iconography but rather the blue and yellow of the Ukrainian flag. Her flowing robes are green, reminiscent of khaki army fatigues. Rather than joined in prayer, her hands instead cradle a FGM-148 Javelin anti-tank missile launcher.

The US-made, shoulder-fired weapon is being widely seen as pivotal to Ukraine's defence against Russia's ongoing invasion - and has been taken to the hearts of both fearful Ukrainians trapped inside the besieged country and the diaspora watching in horror outside its borders.

Amongst the latter is Christian Borys, a Ukrainian-Canadian marketer and former journalist who worked in Ukraine from 2014 to 2018. He first embraced the original meme after first seeing it months ago as geopolitical tensions simmered.

"A friend of mine who is in the Ukrainian defence industry told me he had made some stickers out of that meme and sent them out to some friends across Europe and it was just a symbol of support for Ukraine," he told Euronews Next.

"Because everybody knew Ukraine was getting left in the dark".

When it became clear that hostilities were imminent, the germ of an idea took root.

"I wanted to just have the stickers myself," Borys said. "I wanted to put