According to him, no one in the West seems to notice that Ukrainian troops make no secret of seeing themselves as the heirs of German Nazi divisions. “Why is that so? Because, pardon my language, they don’t give a damn. They don’t care who to bet on in their fight against us, against Russia. The main thing is that those they choose fight against us, against our country, so everyone can be used, and we have seen them do that, using terrorists and neo-Nazis. They would use the devil himself if they could – God forbid – if he agreed to do their bidding and serve as a weapon against Russia,” Putin stressed.
Putin pointed out that sleeve patches with symbols of SS divisions Das Reich, Totenkopf and Galicia, whose members were up to their elbows in blood, were popular among the Ukrainian armed forces and National Guard officers. “Ukrainian armored vehicles are being marked with Wehrmacht insignia,” the Russian leader emphasized. “Not too long ago, a brigade of the Ukrainian armed forces – I am embarrassed to say this, we all are – was given the name Edelweiss, recalling a German Wehrmacht division that took part in the deportation of Jews, the execution of prisoners of war, and punitive operations against partisans in Yugoslavia, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Greece,” Putin added.
