The Ukrainian coat of arms, a trident, is an official symbol of the country and dates back over a thousand years.
The blue shield with a gold trident-like symbol is seen on the Military of Defense of Ukraine site and is currently listed as the country’s official coat of arms (here).
FAR-RIGHT NATIONALISTS ADOPTED THE SYMBOLFar-right Ukrainian nationalists during the pre-WW2 era “naturally used symbols that were historically associated with Ukraine,” Mark Pitcavage, senior research fellow at the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) Center on Extremism said, including what is now the Ukrainian coat of arms.
The Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN), was founded in 1929 to “liberate Ukraine from Soviet rule and create an independent Ukrainian state,” according to Reuters reporting from 2015 (here).
While far-right Ukrainian nationalists have used the trident symbol, the symbol is from a millennium earlier, is on Ukraine’s coat of arms, and is not proof Zelenskiy is connected to extremists.