The decoration, awarded for the first time yesterday, follows an anguished debate over demands that the old Iron Cross be re-introduced. The German left remains suspicious of the new medal.

The Iron Cross medal was first established in March 1813 during the Napoleonic Wars and later was issued for bravery to German soldiers in the Franco-Prussian War (1870-71) and the First World War ...

The primary claim, in this regard, was that the cross displayed was not a Nazi symbol but was, instead, the Iron Cross used by the modern German army. This is not the case.

But they aren’t. The cross sign on President Zelenskyy’s shirt is the emblem of Ukraine’s armed forces and has been since 2009. There are many photos of him wearing the green t-shirt with the emblem.

The Iron Cross, which had fallen out of favor in 1918, was revived by the Nazis in 1939, albeit with a Nazi swastika embossed in the center of the medal's original simple black-and-silver design.