Ukraine’s Defense Ministry posted an image of Queen Elizabeth armed with an anti-tank missile launcher
The Ukrainian Defense Ministry made a social media post on Saturday depicting Britain’s reigning monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, aiming a shoulder-fired NLAW anti-tank missile launcher. This image is one in a string of controversial social media posts made by Kiev’s government.
The drawing shows the Queen aiming a British-made missile launcher over her shoulder. On the other, she has the Ukrainian coat and arms on the other arm. “God bless the Queen, Ukraine and the whole world,”The caption appears above the image.
The United Kingdom donated thousands of single-use, NLAW missile launchers for Ukraine. These weapons were immortalized by British propaganda and Ukrainian propaganda. Mock-religious icons depict ‘Saint NLAW’ holding the missile launchers, and British politicians have claimed that Ukrainian soldiers shout “God save the Queen”They fire their weapons.
There has been much debate about the effectiveness of the NLAWs and American-supplied Javelins/Stingers. Ukraine regularly claims to have destroyed more Russian vehicles than Moscow records as lost, and in the months since Britain first sent more than 4,000 NLAWs, Kiev has petitioned the West for heavier weapons and vehicles as Russia’s advance in eastern Ukraine continued.
The Defense Ministry’s post was cheered on Twitter by pro-Ukrainian users, but slated by others. While some condemned the ministry’s support for a foreign monarch while others simply praised it. describedThis post is also available in English “cringe.”
After the Russian troops attacked Ukraine in February 2018, a few controversial posts were made by the ministry. Among them were attempts to pass off video game footage as a real-life air battle, and photos of its own soldiers wearing Nazi insignia. Other official Ukrainian government accounts have compared the country’s struggles to those of Nazi Germany, while the Ukrainian National Guard has boasted of dipping bullets into pig fat for use against Chechen Muslim soldiers, whom it called “orcs.”
Although Queen Elizabeth II is Britain’s head of state, her role is mostly a symbolic one. The country’s Defense Ministry authorized the donation of NLAW systems to Ukraine, and the Queen herself has not publicly commented on the conflict, instead making a “generous” donationIn March, humanitarian assistance groups operating in the country.
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