For Putin's Warriors, Z Is For Victory

IMAGE: A bus stop in Simferopol in the Russian-controlled Ukrainian province of Crimea with portraits of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The boards read: Left: 'The real power is in justice and truth, which is on our side'. Centre: 'Russia doesn't start wars, Russia ends them'. Right: 'We want the demilitarisation and denazification of Ukraine'. Photograph: Alexey Pavlishak/Reuters

IMAGE: Members of the Ukrainian emergency services dismantle a bomb in Chernihiv. Photograph: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters

IMAGE: A flying drone developed by members of the Ukrainian territorial defence forces in Kyiv to hurl Molotov cocktails at Russian tanks and troops. Photograph: Mykola Tymchenko/Reuters

IMAGE: Members of the Ukrainian forces take a break from the war near Demydiv. Photograph: Maksim Levin/Reuters

IMAGE: Members of the Ukrainian forces cook food during a brief break in the war. Photograph: Maksim Levin/Reuters

IMAGE: A pro-Russian trooper near a damaged residential building in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

IMAGE: Rescuers work amongst rubble at a psychiatric hospital, which was hit by a Russian shell, according to the state emergency service of Ukraine, in the village of Oskil, Izyum district, Kharkiv region. Photograph: State Emergency Service of Ukraine/Handout via Reuters

IMAGE: A destroyed vehicle at the border between Bucha and Irpin in Irpin. Photograph: Serhii Nuzhnenko/Reuters

IMAGE: Pro-Russian troops next to a tank with the letter 'Z' painted on it in the separatist-controlled town of Volnovakha in Ukraine's Donetsk region. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters

IMAGE: Though the Russian alphabet does not have the letter 'Z', Vladimir Putin's defence ministry informed its followers on Instagram that the 'Z' painted on Russian army tanks and military vehicles during the war in Ukraine is 'an abbreviation of the Russian phrase 'for victory' (za pobedu in Latin letters)', according to The Spectator magazine. Photograph: Alexander Ermochenko/Reuters