• This is a political forum that is non-biased/non-partisan and treats every person's position on topics equally. This debate forum is not aligned to any political party. In today's politics, many ideas are split between and even within all the political parties. Often we find ourselves agreeing on one platform but some topics break our mold. We are here to discuss them in a civil political debate. If this is your first visit to our political forums, be sure to check out the RULES. Registering for debate politics is necessary before posting. Register today to participate - it's free!

What Is With The Letter "Z" On All Russian Vehicles?

rhinefire

DP Veteran
Joined
May 3, 2007
Messages
10,282
Reaction score
2,964
Gender
Undisclosed
Political Leaning
Independent
The Russians don't have the letter Z in their alphabet so why is it painted on their vehicle invading Ukraine?
 
First of all, why is this question in the Breaking News forum?

As far Russian not having the letter Z, that is interesting because the leader of neighboring Ukraine (a former Soviet province) as a surname starting with Z.
 
First of all, why is this question in the Breaking News forum?

As far Russian not having the letter Z, that is interesting because the leader of neighboring Ukraine (a former Soviet province) as a surname starting with Z.

Володимир Олександрович Зеленський, I don't see a Z in there
 
Besides the "Z" standing for victory against Ukraine, the symbol is being co-opted by far-right Russian nationalists. In Cyrillic, Bb stands for Vv in English, З з for Z z in English.
 
Besides the "Z" standing for victory against Ukraine, the symbol is being co-opted by far-right Russian nationalists.

It is hard for Russia to declare victory after yachts bearing the letter Z were "keptocaptured" by Italians. John Lemon reported that last night.

In Cyrillic, Bb stands for Vv in English, З з for Z z in English.

I Googled "Russian alphabet" and found a lot of videos for learning how each letter is pronounced.
 
Last edited:
The Russians don't have the letter Z in their alphabet so why is it painted on their vehicle invading Ukraine?
 
It's probably to distinguish Russian vehicles from Ukrainian, since they share many Cold-War era models.
 
It is hard for Russia to declare victory after yachts bearing the letter Z were "keptocaptured" by Italians. John Lemon reported that last night.



I Googled "Russian alphabet" and found a lot of videos for learning how each letter is pronounced.

Yup. The Russian letter "З" is not pronounced "three".
 
It's probably to distinguish Russian vehicles from Ukrainian, since they share many Cold-War era models.

If that was their intent, they would have used a letter in their own alphabet that is not used in the Ukrainian language. (Although both alphabets are Slavic/Cyrillic, there are a few differences - and Ukrainians know them,)
 
It's probably to distinguish Russian vehicles from Ukrainian, since they share many Cold-War era models.
That, and I think the Zs are one of the invasion forces, because others have other letters on them. Some have just a Z and others have Z inside a box, and some have Vs
 
One guest on a news show said in response to all the requests by so many different leaders Putin will now deploy a "Scorched Earth" policy on Ukraine. Scary person that Putin is.
 
I also noticed their lowercase B (pronounced V) is like an italic 6, not b.
Ummm lower case В is в. (English sound V)

The sound that in English is represented by Bb is Бб in Cyrillic. And the there’s the letter ь, which has no sound, but indicates the preceding consonant is soft.
 
Last edited:
it stands for "zwastika"
 
One guest on a news show said in response to all the requests by so many different leaders Putin will now deploy a "Scorched Earth" policy on Ukraine. Scary person that Putin is.

We have known Vlaidimir Putin is scary ever since he took office - just not "scorched Earth" terrifying.
 
I also noticed their lowercase B (pronounced V) is like an italic 6, not b.

Right. My thought was that they should be using the B as the more appropriate letter to stand for "Victory." The Z is simply more a symbol for victory than a letter for "Victory."
 
Right. My thought was that they should be using the B as the more appropriate letter to stand for "Victory." The Z is simply more a symbol for victory than a letter for "Victory."

They can't do that because Ukrainian also has a Cyrillic alphabet, including the B for V. It should have been one of the two Cyrillic letters that does not exist in Ukrainian.
 
As far Russian not having the letter Z, that is interesting because the leader of neighboring Ukraine (a former Soviet province) as a surname starting with Z.

The Z sound in Russian is represented by the Cryllic letters Ж or 3.

The Romanized Z on tanks etc represents Russian nationalism.
 
Back
Top Bottom