DISINFO: Many defended DNR and LNR against Kyiv military operation
SUMMARY
In the aftermath of the coup in the Ukrainian capital, Kyiv, the citizens of the Donbas region announced the establishment of two popular republics - the Donetsk Republic and the Luhansk Republic. The Ukrainian regime responded to this action by launching a military operation in an attempt to regain control of the region. The attempt was unsuccessful, as many citizens of the region, most of them Russians or Russian speakers, volunteered to defend the two popular republics.
RESPONSE
Recurring disinformation message about eastern Ukraine, claiming that the aggression came as a response to the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv, often painted as a coup d'état, while claiming that local dwellers resisted alone without Russian military support and founded the DPR and LPR, at the same time undermining Ukrainian statehood.
Ukraine is not at war with millions of people from Donetsk and Luhansk as pro-Kremlin disinformation often likes to present it. The aim of these messages is to present the situation in Eastern Ukraine as an internal conflict, ignoring irrefutable evidence of direct Russian military involvement in the region. These claims intentionally misrepresent the reality of Russia's direct and crucial important support to separatist militant groups in Eastern Ukraine.
The involvement of Russian personnel and equipment in the creation of the DPR and LPR has been well documented already for years. The destabilisation of Eastern Ukraine and the illegal annexation of Crimea has been condemned by the Council of the European Union and led to restrictive measures since 2014.
Additionally, issuing Russian passports in certain areas of Ukraine's Donetsk and Luhansk regions is considered an attack on Ukraine's sovereignty. And the EU described this matter as contrary to "the spirit and the objectives" of the Minsk peace accords. See here for background.
Read similar cases in our database that claim that the Euromaidan coup led to civil war in Donbas; or that Kyiv authorities want to forbid people in eastern Ukraine to speak Russian; or that Ukraine is going to send all people who received Russian passports to concentration camps; or that Zelinsky will be rescued to the US if he loses the Donbas war; or that Ukraine is preparing a military escalation in Donbas; or that Russia has nothing to do with the conflict in eastern Ukraine.