Russian children in cancer hospice made to stand in Z shape to support invasion
Vladimir Vavilov, chairman of a cancer charity that runs centre, organised sick children and staff to line up to produce letter in snow
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Your support makes all the difference.Terminally ill children at a hospice in Russia were told to stand outside in the shape of a Z to show support for the invasion of Ukraine.
Images of the “action”, as it was referred to by Vladimir Vavilov, the chairman of a cancer charity that runs the children’s hospice in Kazan, show around 60 people – patients and staff – gathered in the snow to perform the pro-war stunt.
The letter Z has become a propaganda symbol for the Russian army and president Vladimir Putin after it was seen on tanks and military vehicles during the assault on Ukraine.
“The action took place in the morning. Our patients and the entire team took part in it – about 60 people in total,” Mr Vavilov, who came up with the idea, wrote on the hospice’s website.
And he added: “People lined up in the form of the letter Z. In our left hand we held leaflets with the flags of the LPR, DPR, Russia and Tatarstan, and we clenched our right hand into a fist.”
LPR and DPR stand for the Luhansk People’s Republic and the Donetsk People’s Republic – rebel regions of Ukraine that Mr Putin recognised as independent states last month, before launching his full-scale invasion of the country.
Despite the letter Z not actually existing in the Cyrillic Russian alphabet, its use has become so popular since the conflict began that Russia Today, the Kremlin-funded TV channel, began selling merchandise with it emblazoned on a variety of items.
As well as military vehicles, Z has been seen printed on other Russian military hardware – as well as other letters, including O, X, A and V.
Popular theories about the letters’ origins include that they were an attempt by Russia to avoid friendly fire, while some military experts believe they represent the respective areas where troops are stationed, with Z potentially standing for Zapad, meaning west.
The Russian defence ministry has so far resisted commenting on any of the theories, but posted on its Instagram channel suggesting the Z meant Za pobedu, or “for victory”.
Mr Vavilov, whose Angela Vavilova Foundation – founded in 2003 in memory of his five-year-old daughter who died of blood cancer – runs the children’s hospice in Kazan, made clear in the post on his website that he supports the war in Ukraine.
“When a brother of our employee in the LPR died … I asked if I could go to Donbas [to fight],” he added underneath the image of children standing in the formation of a Z. “Then they asked me how old I was, and [said] they couldn’t take me because of my age.”
It comes as Russian gymnast Ivan Kuliak sparked international outrage at the World Cup event in Doha, Qatar, for wearing the symbol on the awards podium.
Mr Kuliak won bronze in the parallel bars and took to the podium to receive his prize alongside silver medallist Milad Karimi, of Kazakhstan, and event winner Illia Kovtun, of Ukraine.
The Russian was stood to the left of his Ukrainian rival and was wearing a neutral uniform – after being prevented from wearing his country’s colours due to a ban – but had used white tape to stick the letter Z to this leotard.
He now faces a lengthy ban from gymnastics after the International Gymnastics Federation (FIG) condemned his actions.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky used a historic 10-minute address to the House of Commons on Tuesday to compare his country’s fight against Russia to Britain’s Second World War battle against the Nazis.
“We do not want to lose what we have, what is ours, our country Ukraine – just the same as you did not want to lose your country when the Nazis started to fight your country and you had to fight for Britain,” Mr Zelensky told parliament.
He also repeated his call for a no-fly zone to be established by the west, begging for the UK to “make sure that our Ukrainian skies are safe”.
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