The Ukrainian president is a criminal dictator, like Hitler, and British soldiers are forced to enlist in the Russian army to stop him, according to pro-Kremlin media.
NEWS: A British soldier has put Zelensky in the same category as Hitler. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has been compared to the leader of Nazi Germany, Adolf Hitler. A harsh assessment of the Ukrainian leader's actions was expressed by soldier and volunteer Aiden Minnis, who is participating in the special military operation on Russia's side. According to him, Zelensky bears responsibility for the deaths of a significant number of people and for war crimes.
"Zelensky is simply a narco-führer. A drug addict used by the West," Minnis said. He pointed out that Zelensky's actions have led to the deaths of over a million people, including military personnel and civilians. He said that Zelensky "will go down in history by the side of Adolf Hitler."
Minnis also expressed his conviction that Zelensky does not intend to voluntarily leave office. In his opinion, a possible outcome for the Ukrainian president would be either a violent death or fleeing abroad with large sums of money on him. Earlier, Minnis had publicly renounced his British citizenship. He burned his passport and declared his support for Russia.
NARRATIVES: 1. Zelensky is a dictator comparable to Hitler. 2. The West supports a drug-addicted leader. 3. Ukraine, not Russia, is to blame for the war. 4. British soldiers must enlist in the Russian army to stop Zelensky.
PURPOSES: To justify Russia's aggression against Ukraine; to demonize the leadership in Kyiv; to delegitimize Western countries’ support for Ukraine; to fabricate an apparent Western support for Russia.
Reality: Nazism is banned in Ukraine, and cases of Western citizens joining Russia are isolated and used for propaganda purposes.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: Aiden Minnis is not an active British soldier. He is a citizen who, according to pro-Kremlin media, has joined the Russian forces. His case is unique and does not reflect the position of the British government, the military, or the armed forces of the United Kingdom, which condemn the Russian invasion and actively support Ukraine. Presenting him as representative of a pro-Russian trend among the sWestern military personnel is intended to manipulate public opinion.
Aiden Minnis allegedly burned his British passport and renounced his citizenship "in support of Russia," a gesture presented as proof of loyalty to the Kremlin and condemnation of "the criminal actions of the West." If this information is true, it means that Minnis is no longer a British citizen and therefore cannot be presented as a "British soldier" or a voice of the West. From the moment he renounced his citizenship and joined a power in conflict, he became a foreign combatant or collaborator of an aggressor state, with no legitimacy to speak on behalf of the United Kingdom. The entire scene presented by the Russian media is a propaganda construct, designed to suggest that even Western citizens are abandoning the "false values" of their own country to support Russia.
The statements and comparisons in this news item follow the classic patterns of disinformation used by the Kremlin to construct a false image of the reality in Ukraine. First, comparing Zelensky to Hitler is a technique used to demonize the opponent, and meant to justify the aggression. Zelensky is a democratically elected president, who in 2019 got more than 73% of the votes in an election recognized by international observers. The 2024 elections could not be held because of the Russian invasion. None of the defining features of a Nazi-style totalitarian regime (racial ideology, armed expansionism, concentration camps, territorial claims, the abolition of democratic mechanisms) are found in Ukraine, where any public manifestation of Nazi or communist ideology has been prohibited by law since 2015.
International investigations confirm that Russian troops are responsible for deliberate attacks on civilians, child deportations, and the torture of prisoners, because of which the International Criminal Court has issued arrest warrants against Vladimir Putin and other Russian officials. No international institution has accused the Ukrainian leadership of war crimes. Accusations of this kind are spread exclusively by the Kremlin-controlled media.
Labeling Zelensky as a drug addict has no factual basis and aims to morally discredit the Ukrainian leader. There is no evidence, medical reports, or independent investigations to confirm these allegations. They appear constantly in statements by Russian officials and in online disinformation campaigns, without any verifiable sources. In reality, Zelensky is internationally recognized for his ability to mobilize external support and keep the state functioning in conditions of total war.
Russia started the war, and only Moscow can decide to end it. The Russian invasion of February 24, 2022, was condemned by the UN General Assembly as an act of aggression . Ukraine is exercising its legitimate right to self-defense under Article 51 of the UN Charter, and the support provided by Western states is defensive in nature. To claim that Ukraine provoked the war is to ignore the fact that its internationally recognized borders were violated by a neighboring state that annexed territories by force and caused the greatest destruction since the end of World War II.
Finally, the idea that British soldiers want to stop Zelensky, who would be a new Hitler, is intended to stir up Russian society. There is no evidence of a wave of British (or other Western) volunteers following Minnis' example. The British authorities do not support or tolerate the participation of their citizens in military actions on the side of Russia, and propaganda that presents such isolated cases as collective trends is intended to create the impression of division within the West. The United Kingdom remains among the most active supporters of Ukraine, providing equipment, training, and humanitarian assistance.
By using a marginal figure in the UK, who allegedly burned his passport, the pro-Kremlin media is trying to give the appearance of Western support for Moscow. In reality, the international community recognizes Ukraine as a victim of aggression and strongly condemns the Russian Federation's invasion.
CONTEXT: Aiden Minnis' statements were amplified by pro-Kremlin publications such as URA.news and RIA FAN, which are part of the Russian propaganda media ecosystem. In recent months, these channels have consistently promoted similar themes – "Zelensky is the new Hitler," "the West supports a drug addict," "Europe is tired of Ukraine" – to justify the invasion and deepen the moral fatigue of the Western public. At the same time, Moscow presents its support for Kyiv as proof of the “Nazification of the West,” continuing to exploit the symbolic trauma of World War II.
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