

The latter theory was confirmed by Russian veteran Sergey Kuvykin, who indicated in an interview with Life that symbols including "a 'Z' in a square, a 'Z' in a circle, a 'Z' with a star or simply 'Z' on its own" have been used to tell teams apart. military's use of chevrons during the 2003 invasion of Iraq.

Some military experts think the symbols help distinguish different Russian army groups from one another, with former Royal United Services Institute director Michael Clarke saying that "often these symbols will be location-based: they will communicate where the unit is going" and pointing to the U.S. Military experts think the symbols are identifying marks used to reduce friendly fire, similar to the invasion stripes used in the Normandy landings during World War II. Some of the other letters inscribed by the Russian military on their vehicles including a V, an O, and an O with a diagonal stroke. Some Ukrainian officials and Internet users have referred to Russia as Ruzzia or RuZZia (Russian: Роzzия or РоZZия Ukrainian: Роzzія or РоZZія). Opponents of the war have pejoratively called the Z symbol a zwastika or zwaztika, in reference to the Nazi swastika, or derisively in Russian and Ukrainian as ziga (Russian: зига), in reference to Sieg Heil. The symbol has subsequently been banned from public display in various countries, and its use has been criminalized by several European governments. It is speculated that the Z helps distinguish task forces from one another and serves as an identifier to avoid friendly fire however, Russian officials have claimed various meanings for the symbol.ĭue to its association with the war in Ukraine, the Z has become a militarist symbol in Russian propaganda and is used by Russian civilians to indicate support for the invasion. zet, IPA: ) is one of several symbols (including "V" and "O") painted on military vehicles of the Russian Armed Forces involved in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Latin-script letter Z (Russian: зет, tr. Symbols used on Russian military vehicles during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine
