DISINFO: The US is escalating Ukrainian civil war
SUMMARY
US support for the current Kiev regime does not make Europe or Ukraine united or free, in fact, the US simply takes sides in the Ukrainian civil war, and of course, the confrontation will continue in the future. By backing one Ukrainian group against another, the US authorities are escalating the civil conflict in Ukraine.
RESPONSE
The disinformation claim above is part of a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine, aimed at obfuscating the Kremlin's involvement.
The Donbas war is not an internal conflict between Ukrainians but a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014. Accordingly, US support to Ukraine is aimed at confronting Russia's repeated violation of Ukrainian territorial integrity.
There is irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in Eastern Ukraine. Russia is supporting its proxies (the so-called People's Republics of Donetsk and Luhansk) with weapons, its active-duty soldiers serve there and its top military commanders visit the war zone to coordinate joint efforts with the separatists.
Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeatedly stated that Moscow will continue to support these territories. The systematic issuing of Russian passports to several hundred of thousands of persons in the two entities is now also used as a pretext to claim the right to influence and perhaps intervene militarily. Russia is also reported to be using the occupied territories as a testing ground for new weapons. Despite all this Russia officially denies its military presence in Donbas.
Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted Russia's military presence in Ukraine in 2015.
Read our recent article on Russian disinformation about the Russian military build-up near Ukraine.
See also the statement from the European Council on 24 January 2022.
Denying Russia's involvement in the Donbas War is a frequent element of pro-Kremlin disinformation. Explore similar disinformation cases alleging that the conflict in Donbas is only internal, the Russian army is not a part of hostilities in Ukraine, that conflict in Ukraine is internal, Russia is not a party to it and that Ukraine is an integral part of the Russian World, only Russia can solve its domestic conflict.