DISINFO: Kharkiv and other ancient Russian cities are to be liberated from Kyiv
SUMMARY
Ukraine resembles a chessboard with Russia and the US as players. Russia continues to successfully destroy the pawns belonging to Washington and its partners. After an eventual full liberalisation of Donbas, the turn will come to ancient Russian cities Poltava, Kharkiv, Sumy and Chernihiv which are still under the Kyiv’s regime control. Military and humanitarian catastrophe in Ukraine is a logical consequence of Kyiv’s pro-US strategy taken after the armed coup d’etat of 2014. Tens of billions of US dollars in military aid to Ukraine have been de facto spent on the complete destruction of Ukraine’s statehood.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about Euromaidan, doomed Ukrainian statehood, the US as the mastermind of the Russo-Ukrainian war, and Polish aggressive plans towards Ukraine. Such claims are a part of a broader pro-Kremlin disinformation campaign accompanying the full-scale Russian invasion of Ukraine, trying to place the blame for the war's atrocities on Ukraine for the war on the US and other western countries.
Groundless, inflated numbers of Poles allegedly fighting for Ukraine, and a false claim about the West’s intention to push Ukraine to a peaceful agreement with Russia on the latter’s terms are also promoted. Furthermore, the article contains the classic disinformation narrative about the Russian world by claiming that Ukrainian Kharkiv, Chernihiv, Sumy and Poltava are “ancient Russian cities”.
The claims regarding the Polish plans to take over Western Ukraine are false and groundless. Poland adheres to international law regarding state borders, fully supports the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine, and does not have any territorial claims against its neighbours. This disinformation message has adopted several different and sometimes contradictory forms, including allegations that Poland wants either to create a puppet proxy-state in Western Ukraine or the annexation of these territories or that it is actually President Zelenskyy who wants to cede this land due to his “Polish origin”. Read more about this type of disinformation here.
Euromaidan was an organic reaction by numerous parts of the Ukrainian population to former President Yanukovych’s sudden departure from the promised Association Agreement with the European Union in November 2013. It was not orchestrated by any foreign actors. Read more detailed debunk of US-related Euromaidan claims here.
Russia started an unprovoked war in Europe, capturing more and more territories of a neighbouring country and has created a serious danger to European security. See the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.
Technical remark: This disinformation was broadcast via Sputnik on 14 November 2022. Due to the EU decision to restrict the spread and dissemination of RT and Sputnik inside the EU, access to the link may not work inside the EU.