Huge satirical models of Trump, Putin and Zelensky at German carnival parades

Throngs of revellers took to the streets of Germany’s carnival strongholds on Monday, accompanied by floats that satirised the Ukrainian and Russian presidents, German politicians, former US President Donald Trump and many others.

Every year, floats address current national and global political issues with biting sarcasm.

This year, a larger-than-life Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky progressed through the streets of Cologne with a sign reading “To be or NATO be”.

In Duesseldorf, a float depicted Mr Trump stabbing a Ukrainian soldier in the back — a reference to opposition among Republicans to aid for Ukraine.

In Mainz, a Barbies and Ken pink car float featured Russian President Vladimir Putin behind Alice Weidel and Sahra Wagenknecht, the co-leaders of German political parties the far-right Alternative for Germany and the Sahra Wagenknecht Alliance, that criticise sanctions against Russia and oppose weapons deliveries to Ukraine.

A float in Duesseldorf depicted a figure in military garb labelled “Hamas” pushing what appeared to be a family toward an Israeli tank.

Germany’s unpopular government came in for lampooning, with chancellor Olaf Scholz portrayed as a sloth and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock as an elephant in a porcelain shop, the German equivalent of a bull in a china shop.