‘Dictator Domino’: After Khamenei’s killing, Ukraine shares image warning Putin is 'about to fall'

Domino effect signals shift after Khamenei’s death

After US-Israeli forces launched airstrikes that devastated Iran and killed Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Ukraine posted a cryptic image on its social media channels suggesting that Vladimir Putin could be next in line.

The AI-generated image, captioned “dictator domino”, showed photographs of ousted Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, former Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, Khamenei and Putin placed on black domino tiles arranged on a wooden surface. It portrayed a chain reaction of authoritarian leaders “falling” like dominoes, with Putin depicted as the next to fall.

While the first three leaders appeared as “fallen”, the final tile carrying Putin’s image was labelled “About To Fall”. The post came as Ukraine’s war with Russia entered its fifth year in February.

Earlier, Israeli forces and US President Donald Trump confirmed that Khamenei had been killed in a coordinated US-Israeli strike. Iranian state media later verified his death and announced a 40-day period of mourning. His killing triggered reactions ranging from public celebrations to official grief across different parts of the world.

On Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the US and Israeli strikes on Iran had created an opportunity for the Iranian people to remove what he described as the “terrorist regime” in Tehran. Kyiv has repeatedly accused Iran of supplying Moscow with weapons for its military campaign.

“Although Ukrainians never threatened Iran, the Iranian regime chose to become Putin’s accomplice and supplied him with ‘shahed’ drones, and not only the drones themselves, but also the technologies to produce them. Iran also provided other weapons to Russia,” he said in a video address posted on social media.

“It is only fair to give the Iranian people a chance to get rid of the terrorist regime, to get rid of it and guarantee the safety of all nations that have suffered from terror originating in Iran,” he added. “It is important that the United States is determined. And whenever America is determined, global criminals weaken.”