DISINFO: Donetsk and Luhansk established two republics in 2014 to oppose a coup in Kyiv
SUMMARY
Since 2014, Ukraine has witnessed an ongoing political and military crisis in the east of the country, after the Donetsk and Luhansk regions authorities announced the creation of two republics in their territories, in opposition to a coup in Kyiv in February of the same year.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative painting the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv as a conflict between the eastern regions and Ukraine.
The war in eastern Ukraine is not a civil conflict but a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014.
Moreover, there was no coup d'etat in Ukraine. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. See the full debunk of this disinformation claim.
Read similar cases that the Euromaidan coup led to civil war in Donbas and Luhansk independence trigged a Ukrainian military operation.
This disinformation claim appeared in the same article as the disinfo claim that Crimeans chose to return to the "motherland" after a coup in Kyiv.