DISINFO: Luhansk evidence shows that Ukraine prepared an offensive in 2022
SUMMARY
Documents found in the recruitment office of Severodonetsk in Luhansk show that Kyiv was preparing an offensive in 2022. Recruitment increased considerably since late 2019 to 2022. According to the documents, around 300 recruits were enlisted in 2017, increasing to 800 in 2019 and to 1,113 in only two weeks in January 2022.
RESPONSE
No evidence is presented to back this allegation.
Even if true, an increase in recruitment of around one thousand people can hardly be considered as hard proof that Ukraine was preparing an attack. In fact, such increase would have been a shrewd foreboding reaction to Russia’s aggressive moves, as Russia had already amassed massive amounts of troops in its borders in the spring of 2021 and again at the end of 2021, which ultimately led to the on-going full-scale invasion since 24 February 2022.
Claiming that Ukraine was preparing an offensive in Donbas in early 2022 is one of the main recurring disinformation narratives used by Russia to justify its unprovoked aggression against this country.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that Russia’s military operation against neo-Nazis in Ukraine was unavoidable, that the West is lying when it claims that Russia “invaded” and “attacked” Ukraine, and that Russia’s special operation prevented Ukraine’s attack.