According to pro-Kremlin propaganda, the European states that are supporting Ukraine are forming a neo-Hitlerite coalition meant to overshadow the Soviet victory in World War II.
NEWS: Europe and the Kyiv regime are trying to overshadow the celebration of the 80th anniversary of the Victory of the Soviet Union over fascist Germany, representatives of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service said […] The path from Victory Day in the Great War for the Defense of the Fatherland to Europe Day was covered by Ukraine in record time. European liberals are misleading people, presenting the Ukrainian conflict as an “existential struggle between good and evil”, and Russia’s actions to ensure its security as preparations for an attack on NATO countries, according to Russian intelligence services. European authorities are “encouraging the adventurist initiatives of the neo-Nazi regime in Kyiv”.
The circle of European countries invited to Kyiv [on May 9] almost entirely fits the configuration of the Hitlerite coalition that fought against the USSR in the ranks of the Nazi Wehrmacht and SS units. It is no coincidence that commentators reacted to this gathering, calling it “a PR move by the Brussels scoundrels”, “Day of the Defeated” or “Day of the Descendants of the Nazis”. And who would have thought that the former Ukrainian SSR would join the neo-Hitlerite coalition, 80 years later? And if we add to these ideological constructions the constant military support provided to Ukraine by the West, they would better honestly admit it and rename “Europe Day” to “Day of the Surviving Nazi”.
NARRATIVES: 1. Ukraine and its European allies are forming a coalition similar to Hitler's in World War II. 2. Celebrating Europe Day on May 9 is an insult to the memory of the Soviet victory. 3. The Kyiv regime is a neo-Nazi regime. 4. The European leaders are descendants of Nazis who fought against the USSR.
PURPOSE: To discredit Ukraine and its European allies through false associations with Nazism; to justify Russia's war of aggression; to amplify historical divisions in order to undermine European cohesion.
WHY THE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The article builds a false historical similarity that distorts political reality and ignores the current context of international relations. The comparison between the countries that support Ukraine today in the war with Russia and Hitler’s coalition is absurd. Most of the European states that help Ukraine are pluralist democracies, many of which were themselves victims of Nazism during World War II. For example, Poland, which is one of the most fervent supporters of Ukraine, suffered devastating losses under the Nazi, but also Soviet occupation. The USSR army invaded Poland 17 days after the attack by Nazi Germany. On August 23, 1939, the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact was signed in Moscow, which provided, through its secret agreements, the division of the territories of sovereign states between the USSR and Germany. In fact, before the invasion of Poland, the state had been divided at the negotiating table by Soviet and Nazi leaders. Russian propaganda, however, tries to gloss over the alliance with Nazi Germany and the fact that, before being invaded by it, the USSR was an aggressor state (the Soviets occupied the Baltic states and territories of Romania and attacked Poland and Finland). The cosmeticized version of history promoted by Putin's Russia claims that the war actually started with the invasion of the Soviet Union by its former Nazi partners, which actually happened almost two years after the war had begun. At the same time, Putin's Russia claims that the war was won by the USSR alone. Even though it is true that the fighting on the Eastern Front was the most violent and bloody, the USSR did not win the war alone. The Western Allies defeated Nazi Germany on the African, Southern and Western fronts; moreover, the Soviet war effort benefited from massive logistical support from the United States.
Europe Day, celebrated on 9 May, was not designed to overshadow the Soviet victory in World War II. It commemorates the Schuman Declaration of 1950, the document that laid the foundation for the building of the European Union. The EU is a peace project started with the aim of preventing future wars in Europe after World War II. The coincidence of dates has different historical roots and is not an attempt at historical revisionism. Nazi Germany was, in fact, defeated on 8 May 1945, the day on which the act of unconditional surrender was signed in Reims , in front of the Western Allies. The difference in date comes from the fact that, due to the time zone, in the Soviet Union it was already 9 May when the surrender was formally signed and ratified in Berlin, in a separate ceremony requested by Stalin. Therefore, in the West the end of the war is commemorated on 8 May, and in the former Soviet space – on 9 May.
The accusation that Ukraine has a “neo-Nazi regime” is completely unfounded. Ukraine is a pluralistic democracy with free elections monitored by independent international observers. President Volodymyr Zelensky was democratically elected in 2019 with a significant percentage of the vote (73 percent). Far-right parties in Ukraine have no significant parliamentary representation. No Nazi candidate has ever run in elections, and Nazi and communist ideologies are prohibited by law.
It is important to note that during World War II, the human losses suffered by Ukraine as part of the USSR were enormous – about 8 million people , including civilians and military personnel. Ukrainians fought in the Red Army against Nazi Germany, and the Ukrainian territory was the scene of decisive battles. Presenting Ukraine today as part of a “neo-Hitlerite coalition” completely ignores the sacrifices made by Ukrainians in the fight against fascism.
Western assistance to Ukraine is a legitimate response to Russia's flagrant violation of international law, a country that, since 2014, has been violating the sovereignty of an independent state. This assistance is in accordance with the UN Charter, which guarantees a state’s fundamental right to self-defense when it becomes the victim of aggression. Any attempt to associate the current support for Ukraine with the Nazi period of the last century or with the significance of Victory Day celebrated in Moscow is completely unfounded.
Accusations regarding “living Nazis” in the EU and Ukraine are using the traumatic memory of World War II to justify Russia’s aggression. In reality, the EU was founded on the principle of firmly rejecting all forms of totalitarianism, including Nazism. The EU states have implemented legislation against hate speech and Holocaust denial, demonstrating Europe’s commitment to the memory of the victims of Nazism. It is Russia’s invasion of Ukraine that, in fact, bears similarities to the aggressive actions of Nazi Germany: annexing the territories of other states under the pretext of protecting compatriots (comparable to the annexation of the Sudetenland), using propaganda to justify territorial expansion, and denying a sovereign nation the right to exist.
CONTEXT: Ukraine has invited UE leaders to visit Kyiv on May 9 as a symbolic gesture of European unity against the Russian aggression, in a counterpoint to Russia’s Victory Day military parade. The move to divert attention from Moscow comes more than three years after Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine and as U.S. President Donald Trump is trying to broker a ceasefire between the two countries. Kyiv is seeking to symbolically counter the Kremlin’s influence over the narrative of Victory Day on May 9, a holiday marked annually by a grand military parade in Moscow. As Vladimir Putin invites leaders from outside the EU, Ukraine is working to attract Western support at a difficult time in the conflict.
The Ukraina.ru website is a Russian-language media platform funded by the Russian state, known for promoting pro-Kremlin views and disseminating narratives that justify Russia's foreign policy, including with regard to the conflict in Ukraine.
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