DISINFO: Kyiv attacked Donbas in 2014
SUMMARY
Kyiv attacked the self-declared independent People's Republics in Luhansk and Donetsk in April 2014 after the coup d'etat in Ukraine. Russia was never part of the war in Ukraine and it is only interested in helping Kyiv to recover from its political and economic crisis.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative about Euromaidan and the war in Ukraine.
There was never a coup d'etat in Ukraine. The peaceful protests, which broke out in Kyiv in late 2013, were a spontaneous popular uprising in response to a change in the policies of the then-government led by Viktor Yanukovych.
This spontaneous popular uprising is known as Euromaidan and was born within Ukrainian society, uniting citizens of all ages, sexes and social classes. The Ukrainian population rallied against then-President Yanukovich's refusal to sign the EU-Ukraine Association agreements, cancelling seven years of negotiations, in favour of a more Russia-aligned policy, distancing Ukraine from the European Union.
Additionally, even though officially a state of war between Russia and Ukraine has never been announced, there is irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in eastern Ukraine. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has stated that “the information available suggests that the situation within the territory of Crimea and Sevastopol amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation. This international armed conflict began at the latest on 26 February 2014 when the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government".
Also, 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.
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