DISINFO: The invasion is Ukraine’s fault
SUMMARY
Moscow sent troops to Ukraine on 24 February, after a seven-year standoff over Kyiv's failure to implement the Minsk agreements and end the conflict with the breakaway regions of Donetsk and Luhansk.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine, actively trying to legitimise Russia’s invasion of the country. This narrative is claiming that Ukraine is responsible for the war because the country did not implement the Minsk agreements.
Contrary to the claims, the main impediment to a peace settlement in Donbas before the invasion was, in fact, Russia’s and its proxies’ deliberate unwillingness to implement the Minsk agreements. Moscow has been illegally providing weapons to the separatists since 2014. By making statements alleging that Ukraine had done nothing to implement the Minsk agreements, Moscow and the separatists it backed were delaying a peace settlement and trying to deflect attention away from Russian responsibility.
Moreover, in late October 2021, Russia deployed as many as 190,000 troops on the border with Ukraine, as well as certain specialised military units, electronic warfare systems and heavy-armoured vehicles generating great concern in Ukraine, Europe and across the world.
On 21 February 2022, after weeks of extreme tensions, President Vladimir Putin decided to recognise the non-government controlled areas of the Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts (administrative regions) in Ukraine as independent entities and to send Russian troops into these areas. This way, Russia has clearly violated the Minsk agreements.
On 24 February 2022, Russia launched an invasion of Ukraine. The EU condemned in the strongest possible terms Russia's unprovoked and unjustified military aggression against Ukraine and imposed the toughest restrictive measures on Russia. Read more about the EU response and support for Ukraine.
For further debunking of myths related to the Minsk agreements see the EUvsDisinfo article addressing the most common disinformation claims preceding the invasion.