Are We the Baddies? Nazi SS Death’s Head Insignia Spotted During Zelensky Selfie Session With Troops
14:40 GMT 14.09.2022 (Updated: 20:56 GMT 19.10.2022)
© Photo : Telegram / Zelensky Official
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Western media have dramatically downplayed the presence of ultra-right forces in the ranks of the Ukrainian Army and National Guard to make them more palatable to domestic audiences, and to justify the tens of billions of dollars in military assistance being sent to Kiev as their own nations descend into inflationary and energy crises.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has published a photo to his official Telegram page posing with a trooper sporting an SS-Totenkopf badge.
The image, taken during Zelensky’s trip to Izyum, a city in Kharkov region which Ukrainian forces recently entered after Russian forces were redeployed out of the area, shows the clearly visible Nazi badge on the body armor of a soldier standing guard with his back turned to the Ukrainian president as he poses with other fighters.
The trooper stands out against the background of other fighters in the photoset, and appears to be armed with an M4 assault rifle and wearing a tan US-made GN-501-S ballistic helmet, with its characteristic side ridges and front camera/flashlight mount.
Zoomed in image of trooper with an SS-Totenkopf patch on his bodyarmor behind President Volodymyr Zelensky during the latter's visit to eastern Ukraine.
© Photo : Telegram / Zelensky Official
The soldier isn’t the only one with interesting insignia, with the president himself sporting a ‘Ukraiina abo smert’ (‘Ukraine or Death’) patch featuring a stylized skull. Ukraine’s military officially approved the patch in 2019, with multiple motorized infantry and mechanized units subsequently making use of it, including the 72nd Mechanized Brigade named after the Black Cossacks.
The latter ‘distinguished’ themselves in fighting in the Donbass from the summer of 2014 onward against fighters and civilians in the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics.
President Volodymyr Zelensky wearing 'Ukraine or Death' patch during photo op visit to country's east.
© Photo : Telegram / Zelensky Official
The Totenkopf badge (‘lit. dead person’s head’) was used extensively by the Prussian and German militaries in the 19th and early 20th centuries, but made infamous after being taken up by Nazis, who used it extensively among military units, including the 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf, and the SS-Totenkopfverbande – the organization which administered death camps and carried out some of the Nazis’ most heinous crimes.
Wednesday’s photoshoot isn’t the first time Zelensky has been spotted surrounding himself with Totenkopf imagery. On May 9, when people across Russia and the rest of the former Soviet Union celebrate Victory Day, he posted a photo of a Ukrainian artilleryman with a skull and crossbones patch featured prominently on his chest. The image was deleted after an outcry.
1 September 2022, 04:03 GMT
