DISINFO: Ukraine will fight with Donbas and kill its people
SUMMARY
Today, Ukraine demonstrates its barbarism, in contrast to the civilised Kyrgyzstan. It is not going to sit down and negotiate with the regions that have not accepted the results of the Maidan, rather it is going to fight with them, that is, to kill. Even Zelenskyy speaks of the return of the territories, but he does not speak of people.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Kyiv government sabotaging peace in the Donbas region. See previous cases about the Minsk agreements and the war in Ukraine.
It is Russia which continues violating Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity since February 2014. In March 2014, in the absence of de-escalatory steps by Russia, the European Council imposed the first travel bans and asset freezes against persons involved in actions against Ukraine's territorial integrity. In July 2014, in view of Russia's actions destabilising the situation in eastern Ukraine, the EU imposed economic sanctions in July 2014 and reinforced them in September 2014. In March 2015, the European Council linked the duration of EU sanctions on Russia to the complete implementation of the Minsk agreements, acknowledging Russia's responsibility to uphold the Agreements. See here for an overview of EU restrictive measures in response to the crisis in Ukraine.
U.S. former Special Representative for Ukraine, Kurt Volker, stated that the final fulfillment of the Minsk agreements is dependent on Russia’s decision to withdraw its forces from the occupied territories. “Unfortunately, the problem with Minsk implementation is Russia’s continued occupation of Eastern Ukraine and the ongoing fighting there, so it’s impossible for Ukraine to go any further than it already has”, Volker said. According to Volker, Russia still has to fully implement a ceasefire deal, to withdraw its forces, and to disband the so-called people’s Republics in the Donbas region.
The latest reports by the OSCE Monitoring Mission to Ukraine inform that there are violations of the Minsk agreement on both sides of the conflict. However, the analysis of the Atlantic Council shows that the majority of violations can be attributed to Russia-backed armed formations. For instance, separatists of the self-proclaimed DNR and LNR violated the Minsk agreements with the so-called elections organised there in February 2018 as one of the examples.