DISINFO: Western powers using local Ukrainian allies in proxy war to confront Russia
SUMMARY
Ukraine is currently in a proxy war, with Western powers using local allies to confront Russia. Russia is backing pro-Russian separatists in the east of the country, while the United States and the European Union are backing the Ukrainian puppet government that emerged from Maidan.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the Ukraine conflict portrayed as a proxy war against Russia and about Euromaidan portrayed as a coup d'état led by the US and the EU that generated a puppet government.
Ukraine is not fighting on behalf of any foreign government or organisation. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically elected president and parliament. The country's sovereignty has been violated only as a result of continuous acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since 2014, culminating with a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine starting on 24 February 2022.
Ukraine is a democracy, where Ukrainian citizens elect their president in competitive elections every 5 years.
Democratic, competitive and generally well-organised presidential and parliamentary elections were held in 2014 and local elections in 2015. Petro Poroshenko won the presidency in a free and transparent nationwide poll, as reported by the OSCE.
President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was elected in 2019, in presidential election that were competitive and held with respect for fundamental freedoms, according to the OSCE.
Pro-Kremlin outlets falsely portray as a coup d’état the Euromaidan revolution, which constituted of popular demonstrations that began in Kyiv in November of 2013 and brought hundreds of thousands of Ukrainians to the streets to protest against a political decision of Viktor Yanukovych’s government, which at the last minute withdrew from a long-negotiated political association and free trade agreement with the EU, choosing instead to accept a $15 billion economic bailout to Russia.
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