This thesis was spread on social networks in the Russian segment. The messages told how Volodymyr Zelenskyi assigned the 131st separate reconnaissance battalion of the Ukrainian Ground Forces the name of Yevhen Konovalets. Meanwhile, propagandists, in response to this, added that such actions emphasize the true “Nazi” essence of Ukraine, where officials are no longer afraid to “glorify Bandera’s supporters”.

Russian propaganda is once again speculating on the topic of Ukrainian nationalism and distorting it into “Nazism”. It seems that being a Ukrainian, taking care of one’s own state interests, is already grounds for receiving accusations of Nazism from the Russians. The authors appeal to Ukrainians and call them “nationalists” to hint at supposedly radical views among civilians. Russian propaganda deliberately exaggerates the weight of bearers of nationalist views in Ukrainian society, describing them as sharing opinions with representatives of Nazi Germany and mocking supporters of Russia. And propagandists also reduce the approval of historical figures in the Ukrainian context to “Nazism”.

And there is nothing wrong with the fact that the Ukrainian president named the reconnaissance battalion after a historical figure. Yevhen Konovalets is one of the most famous figures of the Ukrainian national movement of the twentieth century. Over the course of his 47 years, he managed to go from a student at the Faculty of Law of Lviv University to a colonel in the UPR army, commander of the Sichovi Striltsi, chairman of the Ukrainian Nationalists, founder and first leader of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists. The basic principle of nationalism is the value of the nation as the highest form of social unity and its primacy in the processes of the state. The term “nationalist” itself is not something bad, but is characterized by loyalty and devotion to one's nation.

Read more about the ideas of Ukrainian nationalism here. A researcher of political history of the early twentieth century, Doctor of Historical Sciences Oleksandr Zaitsev, spoke about how the nationalists of that time saw Ukraine. In particular, he explained that the Ukrainian version of nationalism is characterized by the fact that in the 1920s and 30s it was the nationalism of a stateless nation. Or a nation that lost its statehood during the Ukrainian Revolution, having suffered defeat in the creation of a single, integral state.

By the way, read the case in which Zelenskyi allegedly put on a jumper with an embroidered OUN coat of arms, although first of all it is the coat of arms of Ukraine.