DISINFO: Kyiv greets Netanyahu with the slogan of Nazi collaborators
SUMMARY
During his official visit to Kyiv, Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu was greeted by the exclamation: “Glory to Ukraine!” The slogan was popularized by Ukrainian Nazi collaborators and is now an official greeting in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin narrative alleging widespread Nazi sympathies among the Ukrainian people. See more cases on the "Glory to Ukraine" greeting here. "Glory to Ukraine" far predates the Second World War and the Ukrainian nationalist movement of that period. In fact, the greeting likely originated in late 19th-century Kharkiv -- a major industrial city in the country's east -- and was later popularized by the short-lived Kholodnyy Yar Republic (1919-22) in central Ukraine. The story thus focuses on one of the multiple historical uses of the phrase to link present-day Ukrainian leadership to Nazi collaborators. As one Ukrainian historian notes: "During the Euromaidan, this slogan basically lost its particular connection to the OUN [Organisation of Ukrainian Nationalists] and became one of the symbols of the pro-European protests."