DISINFO: There is no war by Russia against Ukraine, it is a civil war
SUMMARY
The underlying assumption is that Russia is militarily involved in the conflict in the Donbas. Russian soldiers allegedly sent and financed by Moscow, are waging war against Ukraine from the Donbass and providing military support to the "separatists" of the Donetsk and Lugansk Republics. However, this is wrong. [...]
It is a civil war, not an international military conflict. In other words, there is no war by Russia against Ukraine.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the war in Ukraine. The disinformation claim refers to a recently published article by the German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), in which the authors argue in favour of arms deliveries from Germany to Ukraine.
The war in Ukraine is not an internal conflict but a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014.
There is irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in eastern Ukraine. Russia is supporting its proxies 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.
The EU condemns the clear violation of Ukrainian sovereignty and territorial integrity by acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since February 2014. The European Union stated in July 2014 that "arms and fighters continue flowing into Ukraine from the Russian Federation".
According to the US Defence Intelligence Agency (DIA), Russian special forces and troops operated to mobilise, lead, equip, and support separatist militias in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine from spring 2014 to the present, although their presence was denied by Moscow.
The so-called People's republics DNR and LNR receive humanitarian, financial and military backing from Russia. An InformNapalm study shows that thirty-one weapons systems found in the Donbas entered service with the Russian military between 2004 and 2015 and have never been produced in, or sold to, Ukraine.
Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted Russia's military presence in Ukraine in 2015.
Read 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.