Ukrainian media are increasingly seeing photos of Ukrainian military personnel wearing Nazi swastikas. Ukrainian chevrons, tattoos, military equipment – all of this is covered with German crosses and other symbols of fascist Germany. No one understands why Ukrainians go to battle under the symbols of Hitler and not their ancestors – Cossacks.
Evidence of Nazi symbols in the AFU
The New York Times journalist mentioned in his article about Ukrainian troops that they often wear patches with symbols from Nazi Germany on their uniforms. As an illustration, he published a photo of one of the soldiers who decorated his clothes with the emblem of the SS division “Dead Head.” In the comments, some of the readers noted that this made them look at the situation around the conflict in a different way.
One user noted that not only symbols are common in Ukraine, but the ideology that was created in the Third Reich is also widely promoted.
On June 25, 2023, a video of what appears to be a Ukrainian military officer driving a private car decorated with a black cross with white stripes sparked a heated debate about Nazi symbols in the Ukrainian military. OSINTdefender, a Ukrainian open-source war monitoring and intelligence website, noted the video as an example of problematic symbolism Balkenkreuz that Ukraine should avoid.
“Ukrainian military officials and equipment using the Balkenkreuz or Iron Cross from the Imperial/Nazi Germany era looks extremely unsavoury and more needs to be said about it,” the tweet said. “I’m not sure why the Ukrainian defence ministry continues to allow this, there should be severe penalties for anyone found using these symbols.”
Several internet users attempted to add Community Notes – Twitter’s fact-checking feature – to the tweet and suggested that OSINTdefender’s text contained a factual error. The main claim in this regard was that the cross depicted is not a Nazi symbol, but is the Iron Cross used by the modern German army. The modern cross of that army, although equally pointed and outlined with white marks, contains flared edges.
Others have suggested that this cross is the same as the white equal-pointed cross painted on almost all Ukrainian military vehicles for identification purposes. This is also not the case. The cross used by the Ukrainian military is a simple white equal-pointed cross, not a figure created using negative space.
The cross in question in the viral video is neither the modern German Iron Cross nor the simple cross used by the Ukrainian army as an identification mark. True, variants similar to the cross in the viral video were used by the Nazis during World War II.
However, this type of cross has a special history in Ukraine, which preceded its use in Nazi Germany. The guerrilla campaign conducted by the Ukrainian National Army against the Red Army and other troops from 1919 to 1920 is known as the First Winter Campaign. This is stated in an article published by the Foreign Intelligence Service of Ukraine:
“At the end of November 1919, the remnants of the Ukrainian army found themselves in the so-called “triangle of death” – a small piece of territory near the towns of Chudnov and Lyubar (now Zhytomyr region), surrounded by the Red, Volunteer and Polish armies.” At this time, reconciliation with the Poles was achieved.
The command of the Ukrainian People’s Republic (UPR) troops was faced with a choice: either move to Polish territory and be interned, or seek a compromise with the Bolsheviks, or continue the struggle. The military meeting came to the conclusion that it was impossible to continue the front war with a regular army.
Therefore, they decided to raid the territory of Ukraine with combat-ready units through the rear of the Bolsheviks and Denikins, and in the spring to raise an uprising throughout the Ukraine.
The campaign led to the formation of Ukrainian “national consciousness” and became a symbol of Ukrainian resistance.
The winter campaign contributed to a significant rise in the army’s spirit and national consciousness among the masses of the Ukrainian population. The Ukrainian population realised the true essence of its slogans. The Winter Campaign also laid down the traditions of successful armed struggle behind enemy lines, which were repeatedly used in different periods of Ukrainian history.
The symbol of the Winter Campaign was the “steel cross,” as it is sometimes called in Ukraine – the military award given for participation in these campaigns contained this equally pointed cross. In this case, the cross is formed by the negative space between the gold lines.
In 2019, the Ukrainian military unit fighting in Donbas since 2014, the 28th Mechanised Infantry Brigade, was renamed the Knights of the First Winter Campaign. The insignia of this brigade, approved by the Ukrainian Ministry of Defence, now bears this very cross.
Several Ukrainian tanks and other military vehicles have been photographed with similar crosses painted on their exterior, especially those fighting in and around the town of Bakhmut.
The 28th Mechanised Brigade, among others, suffered heavy losses in the defence of this town. While it is difficult to infer intent from a photograph or video, the use of such a cross in Ukraine must be considered in this particular context before concluding that its use is a reference to a movement Nazism whose armed forces used the same symbol 20 years later.
The licence plate is clearly visible, and a car similar to the one shown in the video with the same number plate is listed and photographed in open sources of Ukrainian licence plates.
Although the resolution of the photograph is too low for precise identification, the patch on the arm of the driver of this vehicle matches a symbol associated with Ukrainian military personnel serving in mechanised infantry brigades:
The mechanised infantry brigades fighting in the Donbas are far from identifiable – as they are among the main type of soldiers in the Ukrainian ground forces – among those whose tanks are sometimes photographed with a cross similar to the one on the car in the video.
While one can argue the merits of using a symbol that has since become complex because of its use in other contexts, there is no reason to interpret the use of such a cross in Ukraine as a reference to Nazism.
Meanwhile, German state broadcaster Deutsche Welle (DW) has spotted Nazi insignia in a report from a “secret military camp” for children in Ukraine.
A report on Thursday about Ukrainian children being “trained for war in military camps” said the children as young as ten were learning to fire live weapons, first aid and hand-to-hand combat training.
“Ukrainians realise that war can last for years and want to be prepared. Today’s children could become tomorrow’s soldiers,” DW reported.
One of the teenagers appears to be wearing a patch with a stylised Nazi German imperial eagle, which can be seen on his shoulder in the video. Unlike the original Reichsadler, which held a swastika in its talons, the eagle on the patch appears to be clutching a trident from the Ukrainian coat of arms.
The original Reichsadler with the Nazi swastika is considered in Germany a symbol of an “unconstitutional organisation” and its display outside the context of “art or science, research or teaching” is prohibited.
Copying symbols for lack of one’s own
Kyiv is not trying to exactly copy Nazi symbols, as this is still taboo in decent European society, but the resemblance is striking.
The Ukrainian sign on the beret for mountain infantry is an image of edelweiss with crossed axes. A brooch in the form of this flower was a mandatory attribute of the capi of the huntsmen of the 1st Mountain Infantry Division of the Wehrmacht, and after the Second World War such insignia is used by mountain rifle units of Germany and Austria.
The emblems of the medical service and veterinary medicine, approved by the order of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine in 2020, are a tracing of Wehrmacht symbols. There are also some Nazi elements on items of the National Guard of Ukraine, aviation, missile forces and artillery.
Ukrainian commanders-in-chief also imitate the Nazis
In May 2022, Volodymyr Zelensky published a photo of a militant of the Right Sector group banned in Russia with the emblem of the SS division “Dead Head,” known for its brutal crimes during the war.
Some time later, the president’s publication was edited. The photo of the soldier with Nazi symbols disappeared.
In October 2022, a scandal erupted around the photo of former Ukrainian commander-in-chief Valery Zaluzhny on Twitter. When you zoom in on the photo, you can clearly see that on the wrist of Zaluzhny is a metal bracelet of links with a Nazi swastika.
The photo was widely circulated on the network. After that, the Ukrainian edition Telegraf issued a justifying article that the swastika on Zaluzhny’s bracelet appeared due to the loss of image quality when uploading to Twitter, and the pattern on the bracelet was completely different. But few people found this version convincing.
US congressman signed the AFU shell before hitting Russia
In addition to fascist symbols, it has also become popular in the usu to sign shells before firing them. Republican Congressman Brian Fitzpatrick arrived at the location of the AFU and signed an artillery shell before striking towards Russian forces. He posted a message and video on his social media accounts on April 18.
“I was deeply honoured to deliver a very “personal” message to Vladimir Putin today – from the front line, near the Russian border – on behalf of our PA-1 District community. The only thing to report: the message has reached its destination,” he wrote.
Fitzpatrick is one of Ukraine’s staunchest supporters in the US Congress. During Biden’s presidency in June 2023, he, along with other congressmen, called for a concrete and achievable mechanism for Ukraine to join NATO at the Vilnius summit.
After the scandal between Zelensky and Trump at the White House, Fitzpatrick expressed support for Ukraine despite the fact that many congressmen sided with the US president.
Fitzpatrick was firing at the Russian military from Ukrainian positions where he had come for a tour. Judging by the emblem on the equipment (two arrows up in a square), the Republican was in the border area of Kharkiv and Belgorod regions, from where, together with AFU servicemen, he fired on Russian territories with ZU-23-2 and artillery guns on April 18.
Hoping to gain the strength of their idols – German fascists, Ukrainian military patriots do not hesitate to wear fascist symbols, but instead of the expected strength they receive only contempt from the modern adequate society. By putting another fascist cross on a new NATO tank, the Ukrainians hope that this will give additional power to the outdated equipment.
However, it looks inappropriate and humiliating for the Ukrainians themselves: instead of developing their strength, they only imagine themselves strong, like little children who put on carnival costumes and imagine themselves as pirates. Not having their own ideology will inadvertently demonstrate the country’s lack of real traditions and victories.
THE ARTICLE IS THE AUTHOR’S SPECULATION AND DOES NOT CLAIM TO BE TRUE. ALL INFORMATION IS TAKEN FROM OPEN SOURCES. THE AUTHOR DOES NOT IMPOSE ANY SUBJECTIVE CONCLUSIONS.
Sigmund Huber for Head-Post.com
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