DISINFO: Russian special operation was provoked by Ukraine and the West
SUMMARY
Russia did not invade Ukraine. Ukraine itself provoked this operation. Kyiv should have agreed with Russia so that there would be no such war. Ukraine was just an excuse to start this war. This is what the US and probably the UK wanted. They pushed Ukraine into this war.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media outlets claiming that the West is interested in an all-out war with Russia. This claim was made in the context of Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
In reality, neither Ukraine nor the West provoked Russia's large-scale invasion of Ukraine. One of Russia's aims in its so-called special military operation was protection of two separatist entities in Donetsk and Luhansk Regions from alleged genocide. There was no genocide in these areas. Ukraine was trying to implement the Minsk Agreements but the Russian-backed separatists made it impossible by shelling Ukrainian positions constantly. Western leaders had tried to diplomatically resolve the situation in the non-government-controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk Regions before the invasion. Some of them met Putin during the weeks before the aggression.
Western nations did everything they could to prevent the war and have only been reacting to stop Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine, but Moscow has been ignoring these efforts. The West is not interested in the continuation of the war at the heart of Europe and supports Ukraine with military and financial aid for the country’s efficient self-defence against the unprovoked Russian invasion - as enshirned in the UN Charter, Charter 51.
Ukraine receives weapons with the sole aim of restoring its territorial integrity within its internationally recognised borders. In several Western countries instructors train Ukrainian soldiers on how to use modern weapons and NATO officials have frequent political contacts with Ukrainian counterparts, but there are no NATO troops fighting on the front.
See similar cases that claiming that Russia is at war with NATO and the Pentagon and only the soldiers are Ukrainians; that NATO is at war with Russia with the hands of Ukrainians; thatNATO was turning Ukraine into an enemy of Russia; that NATO has no interest in peace in Ukraine; and that the West is using Ukrainians to fight Russia in Ukraine.