“Hitler wanted to kill me because I was Jewish. Now Putin is trying to kill me because I am Ukrainian,” declared Roman Shvartsman in his speech at the Bundestag. At 88, the Odesa native has lived through one genocide and is now witnessing another—the Russian war against Ukraine. This war is not just about territory or politics; it is about erasing an entire people. Just as Hitler sought to exterminate the Jewish population during the Second World War, Putin is waging a campaign to obliterate Ukrainians as a nation. The parallels are stark, and the message is clear: history is repeating itself, and the world cannot afford to look away.
Russia’s crimes are not news to us—we have not just heard about them; we have seen them unfold in real-time. But Roman Shvartsman’s words are not a history lesson from a textbook or a speech polished by advisers. They are the raw testimony of a man who has lived through these atrocities. In his address, he drew a chilling parallel: evil may have changed its face, but its methods remain the same as those of the Nazis in the 1940s. This is genocide, plain and simple. Putin is the new Hitler, and world leaders must acknowledge this—must remember it—before history repeats itself once again.
“The world must stop being afraid. Every effort must be made to put barbarism in its place. This is the only path to understanding and peace.”
It’s hard to say whether the West will grow more resolute after this speech, but I remain hopeful. For Ukraine, it’s vital that the world doesn’t forget about the war at the heart of Europe—that it doesn’t become just another issue in the background. As we’ve seen over the past decade, words hold no sway over Putin. He only understands the language of force, which is why military and financial support are absolutely critical for us.
Coincidentally, just ahead of the third anniversary of Russia’s full-scale invasion—and almost in tandem with Mr. Shvartsman’s speech in the Bundestag—an article was published in The Hill, an American outlet, titled The real reason Russia invaded Ukraine. I see this as another encouraging sign for Ukraine.
“Russia is not a country forged by shared values, common beliefs or a unifying purpose — it is an empire assembled by force, bound together by lies and sustained through the theft of other peoples’ art, culture and history,” the article states. The author explains that the existence of past colonial crimes committed by other states—often invoked by allies of the ‘axis of evil’—does not justify Russia’s attempt to destroy or conquer Ukraine today, in the 21st century.
Once again, it’s clear that Putin’s ultimate aim is the total destruction of Ukrainians as a people—by any means necessary, no matter how brutal. His attempts to rewrite history are only the surface of a much darker agenda. The real danger is that, while his rhetoric may appear absurd and blatantly false to Ukrainians, others might accept it as truth. This is why it’s so important to repeatedly remind the world that Putin is a new Hitler, and to bring attention to the bloody legacy of the Russian Empire—a state that, like a parasite, flourished by exploiting other nations and then claimed their achievements as its own. This narrative is essential today, as the world must see the true nature of what we’re up against.
“Ukraine’s fight today is a battle not for territory, but for historical justice and for truth,” writes Andrew Chakhoyan, Academic Director at the University of Amsterdam.
As long as the world stays silent or responds half-heartedly, Russia will continue to feel empowered and keep killing Ukrainians. On 30 January, a Shahed drone strike hit a residential building in Sumy, killing six people. This is just one example. Sadly, Ukrainians are confronted with dozens of such stories in their news feeds every single day.
