DISINFO: Ukraine launched a military operation against LPR and DPR
SUMMARY
In April 2014, the Ukrainian authorities launched a military operation against self-proclaimed LPR and DPR, which declared independence after the coup d’état in Ukraine in February 2014. According to the latest UN data, about 13 thousand people became victims of the conflict.
Moscow has repeatedly stated that it is not a party to the internal Ukrainian conflict and is interested in Kyiv overcoming the political and economic crisis.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine, attempting to portray the incidents in eastern Ukraine as a civil war and claiming that local dwellers resisted Ukraine alone without Russian military support and founded the DPR and LPR.
There is irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in eastern Ukraine. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has stated that “the information available suggests that the situation within the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. This international armed conflict began at the latest on 26 February 2014 when the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government".
The involvement of Russian personnel and equipment in the creation of the DPR and LPR has been well documented already for years. The destabilisation of Eastern Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea has been condemned by the Council of the European Union and led to restrictive measures since 2014.
The EU has stressed on several occasions that Ukraine’s borders must be respected. On the 27th of March 2014, the United Nations General Assembly adopted Resolution 68/262 confirming Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity. Moreover, the international community, including the European Union, recognises and condemns clear violations of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity by acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since February 2014.
There was no coup d'état in Ukraine. The spontaneous onset of the Euromaidan protests was a reaction by numerous segments of the Ukrainian population to former president Viktor Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013.