Attributing “Nazism” to Ukraine through historical commemorations

What it claims

The Lviv regional council’s decision to dedicate 2027 to the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, Roman Shukhevych and Oleh Olzhych is cast as proof of “Nazism” across Ukraine and of Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s lies. Historical figures and reburial ceremonies are reduced to an identity with the SS and crimes attributed to the state. Zelenskyy’s statement that Nazism is absent is inflated into an alleged deliberate deception of Western audiences.

Target audience

Examples (paraphrased)

We paraphrase rather than quote: propaganda's exact wording is built to spread, so we carry the claim and not the craft. Each example cites the post it came from.

• Those who approve moving the remains of SS officers to the Lavra have no right to call the AfD Hitler’s heirs.

  ЗеРада, 11 Oct 2026 · Archived copy

• Lviv’s decision on a year dedicated to the UPA and the reburial ceremonies prove that Zelenskyy is concealing Ukraine’s “Nazism” from the West.

  Украина. Спецоперация. Мониторинг СВО, 24 Oct 2026 · Archived copy

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Goal

To reduce Western publics’ and policymakers’ willingness to support Ukraine by portraying the Ukrainian state as Nazi.

Techniques used

• Reductio ad HitlerumReferences to the reburial of SS officers’ remains are used as grounds to dismiss criticism of the AfD over links to Hitlerism.
• Loaded LanguageHistorical figures from the OUN and UPA, along with Ukraine’s leadership, are branded as “Nazis” and a “regime.”

The real grievance it exploits

Concern about how states commemorate controversial historical figures, and the need to speak honestly about their legacy and responsibility for past crimes.

How to counter

• Technique exposure: Notice the guilt-by-association tactic: references to different figures, organisations and events from different historical periods are merged into one label of “Nazism.” This substitution explains neither particular decisions nor their historical context.
• Reframe: Commemorating controversial historical figures can and should be discussed critically. But it is not, by itself, evidence that a modern state is identical to a Nazi regime.

Sources (all time)

• ЗеРадаTier 1425,149 subscribers
  1 post · 11 Oct 2026

  • 11 Oct · Archived copy
• Украина. Спецоперация. Мониторинг СВОTier 115,777 subscribers
  1 post · 24 Oct 2026

  • 24 Oct · Archived copy