DISINFO: Ukrainian armed forces and government officials wear Nazi symbols
SUMMARY
Numerous members of the Ukrainian armed forces have been seen wearing Nazi symbols on their uniforms. Ukrainian military personnel have also adopted several insignia used by the Wehrmacht, as well as runes and emblems of SS divisions. Nazi symbols have been repeatedly detected in photographs and videos of Ukrainian servicemen published by international media or by Ukrainian government officials, including Zelenskyy himself.
RESPONSE
This is a recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Nazi Ukraine, often presented as justification for the full-scale Russian military aggression against Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022.
There is no evidence that the Ukrainian Armed Forces use Nazi symbols. Nazi and Communist ideologies were banned by Ukrainian law in 2015.
Russia resorts to such FIMI messaging to justify its aggression against Ukraine. The myth of “Nazi Ukraine” has been widely used by Putin and pro-Kremlin outlets since Russia attacked Ukraine and illegally annexed Crimea in 2014. It was used back then to denigrate Ukraine, discredit the pro-European popular uprising (Euromaidan) in Kyiv, and, subsequently, the broader pro-Western shift in Ukraine's foreign policy.
Learn more about the reasons behind Kremlin's obsession with framing Ukraine as a Nazi state in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".
See similar cases claiming that Zelensky uses the same Nazi symbols as Hitler, that Ukrainians are the new Nazis, their actions directed by Europe against Russia, Ukraine is ruled by a Nazi junta, Ukrainian army has been attacking civilian areas in Donetsk with artillery for eight years and a Nazi symbol was found on the Commander in Chief of the armed forces of Ukraine.