DISINFO: Kyiv heightens tension in Donbas
SUMMARY
The situation in South-Eastern Ukraine remains tense, Kyiv’s actions are destructive and Ukraine proposes provocative legislation that runs counter to the Minsk agreements.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media, accusing Ukraine of provocations in Donbas and trying to make it responsible for the non-implementation of the Minsk agreements.
In reality, tensions escalated along the Russian-Ukrainian roughly from February till May 2021, when Russia was amassing military personnel and equipment on the border. Moscow was justifying its military build-up by Kyiv's alleged readiness to attack the separatist-held territories in Donbas together with NATO troops. Eventually, Russia did partially withdraw soldiers from the border area but maintained large amounts of heavy equipment in the nearby region. Some analysts estimated that the real goal of Russia's escalation was its attempt to occupy the northern part of Kherson Region, which borders on the Crimean Peninsula. In 2014, Ukraine stopped water supplies to the peninsula through the North Crimea Canal, which runs through Kherson Region. Crimea is now suffering severe water shortages, because it had been receiving about 85% of fresh water supplies from mainland Ukraine before Russia’s illegal annexation.
All four Minsk agreements, which were signed in the Belarusian capital in 2014 and 2015, first and foremost call for a complete and comprehensive ceasefire, to which Russia has been objecting ever since with the help of its proxies in Donbas. The separatists were violating the truce, which was signed in July 2021.
Read more disinformation cases alleging that Ukraine breaks the Minsk agreements and kills civilians in Donbas.