DISINFO: Ukraine is collapsing and losing its state attributes
SUMMARY
Ukraine is losing its state attributes as Volodymyr Zelenskyy remains illegally in power after the expiration of his mandate last May. Since the 2014 coup, Ukrainian rulers commit crimes on a daily basis against their own people and the Russian people. Ukraine is in the situation of a collapsed state.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative attacking Ukraine’s sovereignty and targeting its leadership, especially president Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
Despite Russia’s systematic destruction of Ukrainian infrastructure and constant attacks, Ukraine remains a fully functional country with a working government. Claims about Ukraine’s “state collapse” are baseless, aiming to portray it as a failed state as part of a core of disinformation narratives and myths justifying Russia’s aggression against its neighbour.
Although Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s continuation in power after his initial mandate expired in May 2024 generated some domestic controversy, Ukraine’s constitution is straightforward: no elections can be held during wartime and the President of Ukraine exercises his powers until the assumption of office by the newly-elected President. The continuity of government institutions is one of the key principles of the Constitution. Almost all observers consider regular elections unfeasible as there are millions of refugees abroad, hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians serving on the frontlines and a significant part of Ukrainian population lives under Russian occupation. There are also multiple funding and infrastructure problems that can hardly be addressed while the war is ongoing.
General allegations about Ukrainian leaders committing unspecified crimes against the Russian and Ukrainian peoples are unsubstantiated and must be seen as mere attempts to discredit Ukraine’s leadership. In contrast, Russia has been perpetrating widely documented war crimes in Ukraine on a regular basis since 2014, and especially after its full-scale invasion in February 2022.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives, such as claims that Zelenskyy is no more the legitimate leader of Ukraine and his decisions are illegal, that Ukraine is a pseudo-country and Zelenskyy’s regime has sold the state, that Ukraine as a state does not exist, or that Russia won’t talk to Ukraine because it is not a sovereign state.