In an interview with DW, Kravchuk once described his country as a "monkey with a grenade." The cost and responsibility nuclear weapons entailed were too great for Kyiv to take on, he said, so the nuclear button remained in Moscow. Kravchuk did the right thing. Of course, he should have negotiated better security guarantees, but no one at the time thought that Russia would one day wage war on Ukraine.

However, the origin of the image even traced back does not explain its pervasive, toxic and derisive implications that are associated with the aggressive ways and shout-outs of the radicals.