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. The image is the latest in a line of controversial social media posts by the government in Kiev.
In the drawing, the Queen is depicted aiming one of the British-made missile launchers over one shoulder, with the Ukrainian coat of arms emblazoned on her other arm. “God bless the Queen, Ukraine and the whole world,” reads a caption above the image.
Britain has donated thousands of single-use NLAW missile launchers to Ukraine, and the weapons have been immortalized in British 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” as they fire the weapons.
