“Wonder weapon”: Selenskyj sees Russia fail like Nazi Germany – revealing laser announcement?

Created: 05/19/2022, 16:13

By: Magdalena von Zumbusch

Zelenskyj speaks in a Twitter video about the alleged Russian use of "miracle weapons".

© Twitter/ @OriginalRamayan

A German word, known from Nazi propaganda, is used by Volodymyr Zelensky to clarify his thesis: Russia's invasion is about to fail, he says.

Kyiv - The Ukraine war continues to rage with great brutality.

Russia has recently had successes with the complete capture of Mariupol after the fall of the Azov steelworks and other conquests in south-eastern Ukraine.

However, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyj apparently sees himself in a superior position at the moment.

He describes the situation of the invaders as relatively hopeless: Recent reports from Russia about the use of laser weapons even prompted Zelenskyy to make a daring comparison.

Putin's "miracle weapons": Comparable to Nazi propaganda in World War II?

newspaper on Thursday (May 19), Zelenskyy responded

to Russia's announcement that it would use laser weapons in the fighting.

The Ukrainian President made an extreme comparison - with Nazi Germany's propaganda about alleged "wonder weapons".

The Hitler regime also promised his army shortly before the German defeat, in the hope of bringing about a turnaround in the war.

The more this propaganda was spread, the clearer it became that Germany had no real chance of victory.

After three months of bitter fighting, Russia is now also trying to find its “miracle weapon”.

And I probably found what I was looking for with laser weapons.

"All of this clearly shows the complete failure of the invasion," was Zelenskyj's verdict.

Russia's fear of admitting catastrophic strategic mistakes is reflected in the attempt to talk itself into a military trump card with silver bullets.

It is remarkable that Russia wants or needs to save ammunition with the help of lasers - and openly admits that.

"Wonder weapons": A propaganda strategy since the First World War, now revisited by Putin

The term "miracle weapon" was used in particular by Nazi propaganda during the Second World War.

The magazine

reconstructed the role of supposed special weapons, the effectiveness of which Nazi propaganda exaggerated before the looming defeat, in order to boost morale on their own side and intimidate opponents.

For example, there was the Nazis' "super cannon" - a so-called multi-chamber cannon that was re-ignited every few meters in the barrel and was supposed to reach extremely long firing ranges.

The gun was actually used, but the original plans for this weapon and probably the widespread reports about it were far more intimidating than the actual effect.

Other examples were the so-called "Little Red Riding Hood" and the "Pipe Cleaner" - precursors of today's anti-tank missiles - or the anti-aircraft missile "Taifun" and the glide bomb "Ruhrstahl".

Technically, these weapons often represented a step forward in the German weapons technology of the time, but militarily they were largely uninteresting because they could not really be used in a meaningful way, writes

.

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Even in the Ukraine war, Zelenskyj does not believe that new weapons will turn the tide: "While they are arriving with more and more 'miracle weapons', the Ukrainian armed forces and all our supporters will liberate the country step by step," the Ukrainian president promised in the video .

"How long will that take?" The only answer can be given by the further course of the war, but one is trying one's best: "As soon as possible," Zelenskyj added.

Laser weapons in the Ukraine war: production confirmed, including in Germany

However, the use of laser weapons in the Ukraine conflict is by no means impossible: what sounds like science fiction has long been reality.

Laser weapons are manufactured by the military industry and are considered to have great potential in warfare, the dpa reports.

In addition to Russia, the USA, China, Turkey, India and even Germany are betting on their development.

But the weapons have not been used on a large scale in wars so far.

If a high-energy laser beam - consisting of photons, i.e. light - hits a surface, it heats up enormously.

The beam must remain in exactly the same place throughout so that strong heating can be generated there very quickly.

For example, drones can catch fire or steel beams can melt.

The laser beams can even be invisible - which makes them all the more dangerous in war.

Despite these dangers, there were already proposals in Germany not only to manufacture laser weapons, but also to test them for their own military use: In March 2021, for example, the then federal government declared that by the end of 2022 a 20-kilowatt Want to test lasers.

It has not been confirmed whether the operation has already taken place.

However, it has been confirmed that the Bavarian police are already using laser weapons in their training.

However, these are declared to be completely harmless.

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