DISINFO: Ukraine started a war against people who considered themselves to be a part of Russia in 2014
SUMMARY
Ukraine started a war against people who consider themselves to be a part of Russia. It should not be possible to act against this group of people – who are part of the Russian world, in terms of culture, language and traditions –, but that is what happened in 2014 when a war was launched against them.
RESPONSE
The allegation is part of a broader disinformation campaign to prepare the ground and justify the illegal annexation of Ukrainian territories by Russia.
The crisis in Ukraine began as a series of demonstrations in late 2013 which were called Euromaidan. Protesters demanded that the then-president Viktor Yanukovych sign an association agreement with the European Union. Earlier, Yanukovych – after several years of ongoing negotiations between Ukraine and the bloc – refused to sign it and halted progress towards his country’s closer relationship with the EU. After a violent reaction from the authorities towards the protesters, Yanukovych fled to Russia and a new government was formed.
Russia was afraid to lose its influence in Ukraine and reacted to the situation of its neighbour with force. In February 2014, it illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula Crimea. Russia-backed armed separatist forces began seizing territory in the East of Ukraine (the so-called Donbas region) and when the situation did not look favourably for them, the Russian army provided them with further support. See also this timeline from EUvsDisinfo.
Ukraine did not start a war against Russian culture; what started as an effort to turn the country more towards the West ended with violence by Russian interference in Ukrainian internal affairs. Ukraine has culturally been closely connected to Russia, 20 % of its citizens said their native language is Russian, 30 % of people speak both Russian and Ukrainian. The events from 2013 onward were thus not a “war” against Russian people in Ukraine.
See similar cases such as Russia only tries to protect its people in its historical borders and Mariupol is an ancient Russian city.