We will give weapons to anyone who wants to defend the country. Be ready to support Ukraine in the squares of our cities.
— Володимир Зеленський (@ZelenskyyUa) February 24, 2022
Sources say that at least 18,000 automatic rifles have been given to Kyiv volunteer fighters and step-by step guide to making petrol bombs (Molotov cocktails) has been posted on the Ministry of the Interior’s social media platforms.
The planned use of Molotov cocktails by Ukrainian fighters is ironic considering its history.
The term “Molotov cocktail” was coined by the Finns during their 1939-40 Winter War with the Soviet Union. It referred to the duplicitous Soviet foreign minister Vyacheslav Molotov, who helped craft the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact non-aggression pact between the Soviets and Nazis signed in 1939.
During the Winter War Molotov declared on Soviet state radio that bombing missions over Finland were actually airborne humanitarian food deliveries for their starving neighbors. The Finns then sarcastically dubbed the Soviet cluster bombs “Molotov bread baskets.
When the hand-held bottle firebomb was created to attack Soviet tanks, the Finnish fighters called it the “Molotov cocktail,” as “a drink to go with his food drops.”
Now it is time to give the Russians more drinks to go with their invasion.
The opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the positions of The Republican Standard.