In October 2023, a video was dispersed along social networks, the authors of which captured how the President of Ukraine allegedly puts his autograph on the banner of collaborators of the Second World War. We checked whether such a description of the video is correct.

In the video, you can see how Vladimir Zelensky receives from a man in Ukrainian military uniform a blue-yellow banner and puts his signature in the corner. The description reports that before us the flag of the SS division "Galichin", recruited by Nazi Germany from Ukrainian volunteers during the Second World War. The video has gained popularity against the background Scandalrelated to the honor of the former participant in this formation of Yaroslav Gunki in the Canadian parliament during the visit of Zelensky there in September 2023. As another example of the glorification of the Nazis in modern Ukraine, the video was distributed by Russian news resources (TV channel "Tsargrad" ZOV Kyiv, ZOV Transnistria), as well as Telegram channels-among them "NE.SAHAR" (310,000 views at the time of writing this analysis), "Truthfulness"(216 000),"Uncle Glory"(209 000),"Putin in Telegram"(193 000),"Dmitry Vasilet"(179 000),"The first folk"(134,000),"Own correspondent"(120 000) and"Ostashko! Important"(108 000).

14th Volunteer Infantry Division SS "Galica»Suspicious of the mass murder of Poles and Jews during the Second World War. In 2016, the Diet of Poland qualified As a genocide for the action of division fighters in relation to the population of a number of villages in the historical region, Galicia. In Ukraine itself, the symbols of "Galicia" local laws and courts Do not reckon To the Nazi. Many Ukrainian historians insist that The verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal The recognition of the SS by a criminal organization does not apply to this division. Nevertheless, held in Kyiv in 2021 march In honor of the anniversary of the creation of the unit, it caused a sharp criticism in the Verkhovna Rada, as well as in the administration of the President of Zelensky. Kyiv police even He opened a criminal case On the use of Nazi symbolism by the participants of the event (which one is not specified).

On October 3, during a working trip to the Kharkov region, President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky I visited The location of units performing combat missions on the Kupyansk -Liman site. Among them was the 103rd separate brigade of territorial defense forces of the Armed Forces. On the official website of the first person of Ukraine there is a photo from this meeting.

In turn, a video recording, a fragment of which is distributed by Russian resources, is posted in Zelensky’s official account on Facebook. Publication Shared On the official page of the 103rd brigade. In the video, the commander of the unit, Colonel Valery Kurko gives President Emblem and Chevron Brigade (Zelensky them collecting), and also asks to sign on the banner.

The banner of the 103rd brigade, as can be seen on the frames, lies image yellow lion on a blue background.

Compare this emblem with the symbols of the Galicia division.

The two images are in common - the color and the figure of the lion, and made in different style. This is the so -called Russian Leo - Golden crowned lion on a azure background, which was portrayed on the coat of arms Galician-Volyn principality (also called the Russian kingdom). Subsequently, the lion served as a symbol Russian governorship Poland, formed from the main lands of the Galician-Volyn principality, and after the collapse of the Russian Empire fell into the coat of arms West Ukrainian People's Republic With a center in Lviv. Since 2021, the image of a lion Enters to the large state emblem of Ukraine. It is the colors of the ancient symbol of Lviv land, as counts, formed the basis of the national flag of Ukraine.

It is easy to notice that the lion on the banner of the 103rd separate brigade is practically identical to its "relative" with Emblem of Zunr And, obviously, borrowed from him.

The basis for a slightly different flag of the SS division "Galicia" too served One of the variations of the historical coat of arms, but it is unreasonable to say that these two military emblems are identical or even that one came from the other.

According to the TGSTAT service, the first video on Zelensky is supposedly Galichina with an incorrect description on October 4 at 09:15 Moscow time posted the Telegram channel "Kali South Today"(11,000 views), previously already Noticed in the spread of inaccurate information.

In June 2023, similar allegations Distributed Because of the panel with the Chevrons of the APU units, against which Zelensky sometimes records his appeals. Telegram channels reported that among the stripes there are also Chevron "Galicia". In fact, it was the emblem of the 1st separate tank brigade of the Armed Forces, which depicts not a lion, but a horse in armor.

Photo on the cover: social networks

Not true

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