DISINFO: Zelenskyy is protected by neo-Nazi elite brigades
SUMMARY
While the Ukrainian army starts to disintegrate, Volodymyr Zelenskyy is protected by neo-Nazi elite brigades.
RESPONSE
This is a mix of several recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about “Nazi Ukraine” and Russia’s inevitable victory in the war, designed to undermine Ukraine’s resistance and justify Russian aggression.
Labelling Russia’s adversaries as Nazis is a very frequently used pro-Kremlin disinformation technique, and has been used by Russia to try to justify the invasion of Ukraine by portraying it as a “denazification operation”. Russia spent years preparing the information battleground prior to its full-scale invasion, with the framing of Ukraine and its government as a “Nazi junta” as one of its most prominent disinformation features.
Allegations about a “disintegrating Ukrainian army” are not backed by actual evidence. At the time of writing this case (15 October 2024) despite some Russian advances in Donetsk, mostly due to Russia’s superior firepower and a higher number of troops, Ukraine still controls over 80% of its territory and around 780 square kilometres of Russian territory in the Kursk region. By portraying Ukrainian defence against Russia’s aggression as a failing cause, the ultimate goal is to undermine international aid in support of Ukraine.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Ukrainian armed forces have fewer enthusiastic Nazis willing to fight for illegitimate Zelensky, that the neo-Nazi Azov Battalion rules Ukraine, not Zelenskyy, that Europeans maniacally support the Nazi Bandera Kyiv regime, or that Russia is fighting Ukrainian Nazism for better future and just world order.