DISINFO: Three Ukrainian presidents have sent Nazis into the Donbas to kill civilians
SUMMARY
Three Ukrainian presidents have sent the Nazis into the Donbas to kill civilians for years. Current president Zelenskyy, former president Poroshenko and one-time acting president Turchinov all signed decrees enabling the killing of civilians. It is the presidents who give the order, so they are responsible.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Nazi Ukraine and war in Ukraine and about Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy claiming that the President of Ukraine does not want to reach peace in Donbas, that he is sending Nazis to Donbas.
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets claiming that responsibility for the war in Donbas falls entirely on Ukraine and its presidents. In reality, hostilities in Donbas were provoked by Russia in the wake of its occupation of the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea in 2014.
Volodymyr Zelenskyy is the President of Ukraine. He was elected by the majority of voters in a democratic public election. He is not controlled by 'Nazis'. The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine appeared during the Euromaidan protests in late 2013 - early 2014, when the then-president Viktor Yanukovych was toppled and later fled to Russia. The Kremlin has been using this myth since then to discredit Kyiv’s shift towards Euro-Atlantic policy.
On the claim, that Ukraine is responsible for the war in Donbas since 2014, it was Moscow’s instigating a revolt in the Eastern Ukrainian regions of Donetsk and Luhansk to have land passage to Crimea. Russia had initially hoped that other territories in Eastern and Southern Ukrainian would join these two regions, which would guarantee Russia access to the occupied peninsula of Crimes. Only Donetsk and Luhansk remained outside the government's control. Local separatists held illegal referendums there for independence from Ukraine similar to Crimea’s, hoping that Russia would annex them as well. However, the Kremlin chose not to do so as it decided to turn these regions into a zone of instability so that Kyiv remained in Moscow's zone of influence.
The Ukrainian Armed Forces have been fighting armed separatists and Russian troops rather than civilians in Donbas since 2014. Separatists often install military equipment in residential areas using civilians as human shields. Civilian victims are inevitable in such cases, so the whole blame for human rights violations is falling only on Moscow and its proxies.
The claims are presented as justification for the ongoing Russian military invasion against Ukraine, which started on 24 February 2022 with multiple attacks and broad incursions from Belarus, Russian soil and from the non-government-controlled areas (NGCA) in Eastern Ukraine.
Read more disinformation cases alleging that Ukraine is a 'Nazi state'.
See the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.