DISINFO: Ukraine uses terrorist tactics in Donbas, whereas DNR and LNR are peaceful states
SUMMARY
Ukraine is the only side [of the conflict in Donbas] that professes and uses terrorist tactics as a means of its political struggle. Everyone understands perfectly well that the biggest victim of the conflict in Ukraine is the truth. The LNR and DNR proved that they are normal, full-fledged, peaceful, formed states and that the Ukrainian government is the only culprit.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine. Donetsk and Luhansk are part of Ukraine and controlled by Russia-backed armed formations. Not a single country has recognised them as independent. The war in Ukraine was provoked by Russia - it is not a civil war. Ukraine does not use terrorist tactics against the residents of Donbas.
There is irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in 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 European Union stated in July 2014 that "arms and fighters continue flowing into Ukraine from the Russian Federation".
According to the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA) Russian special forces and troops operated to mobilise, lead, equip, and support separatist militias in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine from spring 2014 to the present, although their presence was denied by Moscow. On top of that, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted Russia's military presence in Ukraine in 2015.
See similar recent cases claiming that war in Ukraine is an internal conflict: only Ukraine is responsible for civil war in Donbas; Donbas conflict is a civil war; Kyiv has been conducting a military operation against Donbas because they refused to recognise the results of the coup; Donbas war is an internal Ukrainian conflict; Russia never participated in the Ukrainian conflict: this is a civil war.