After backlash about a public relations photo shoot featuring a Ukrainian soldier sporting Nazi symbol patches on his equipment, the Ukrainian Border Guard deleted the offending social media post on Thursday.
The October 31 Facebook album featured one soldier with the Schutzstaffel’s double SS bolts on his rifle. A patch on the soldier’s plate carrier depicted a Nazi-style Reichsadler eagle, with the Ukrainian heraldic trident replacing the Nazi swastika. The eagle was overlaid on the red and black flag of the Ukrainian Insurgent Army, which collaborated with Nazi Germany.
“There are two sides to each of us. We show the dark only to the enemy,” read the post, which depicted soldiers with photoshopped demonic shadows.
The Facebook post was deleted on Thursday after comments from social media users derided the Border Guard for an official post with Nazi imagery.
The same soldier also had pornographic content on his equipment, including a pink knife sheath depicting a naked woman in Japanese anime art style.
The same Nazi-style Reichsadler, almost identical to the one used by Nazi elements such as the Armed Forces High Command, had previously been part of controversies in the ongoing issue of Ukrainian service members being caught with Nazi and Neo-Nazi imagery and symbolism on their person and equipment.
Jewish Azov battalion
Two Jewish Azov Battalion soldiers wearing shirts with the same logo were photographed alongside a representative of the Federation of Jewish Communities of Ukraine (FJCU) in October 2023.
In 2022, a NATO social media post celebrating International Women’s Day and the contributions of women to the Ukrainian armed forces was deleted after it was noticed that one servicewoman bore the neo-Nazi black sun Sonnenrad symbol.
The Sonnenrad was also featured in old patches for the Azov battalion, an independent neo-Nazi militia integrated into the Ukrainian National Force. While it has been assimilated into the broader military system, the battalion still uses the Wolfsangel that was adopted by many Nazi military units and later Neo-Nazi organizations.