Disinfo: Newly liberated Ukrainian regions are returning to Russia

Summary

The residents of liberated territories of Kharkiv, Zaporizhzhia, and Kherson regions are going to return to Russia. Other regions may follow them. To give Ukrainians the freedom of choice, Vladimir Putin signed a decree which facilitates the issuance of Russian citizenship to all Ukrainians citizens. The major goal of the special military operation is to destroy a hostile Nazi Ukrainian army. After that, a legal environment needs to be created which would not allow extremist organisations, national battalions and anti-Russian ideology to revive. Western arms support will not be able to endlessly reanimate a puppet Kyiv regime.

Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets justifying the Russian war of aggression against Ukraine and presenting Ukraine as a non-sovereign and neo-Nazi state.

Russia's unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine is not a "special operation" but an all-out war against a sovereign state. Likewise, the occupied Ukrainian territories are not "liberated" as the publication claims, but temporarily occupied territories as a result of Russia's aggression against Ukraine.

Russia has been coming up with different explanations and pretexts for its aggression. It was Putin’s personal decision to invade Ukraine and start the largest military conflict in Europe since WWII.

The myth of Nazi-ruled Ukraine appeared during the Euromaidan protests in late 2013 - early 2014, when the then-president Viktor Yanukovych was toppled and later fled to Russia. The Kremlin has been promoting this myth since then to discredit Kyiv’s shift towards Euro-Atlantic policy. Contrary to what this disinformation narrative affirms, in 2015, Ukraine issued a ban on Nazi and Communist ideologies. On top of that, far-right groups had a very limited presence during the protests and have suffered defeats in every national election after that.

This false myth of Nazi Ukraine is a clear propaganda narrative that became a cornerstone in pro-Kremlin disinformation and served as one of the pretexts behind Russia's unjustified invasion of Ukraine. Learn more about the reasons behind the Kremlin's obsession with framing Ukraine as a Nazi state in the EUvsDisinfo analysis titled "Why does Putin portray himself as the tamer of neo-Nazism".

Read more disinformation cases about the Russian unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine.

Technical remark: This disinformation was broadcast via Sputnik on 12 July 2022. Due to the EU decision to restrict the spread and dissemination of RT and Sputnik inside the EU, access to the link may not work inside the EU.

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publication/media

  • Reported in: Issue 301
  • DATE OF PUBLICATION: 12/07/2022
  • Countries and/or Regions discussed in the disinformation: Ukraine, Russia
  • Keywords: War in Ukraine, Nazi/Fascist, Sovereignty
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Disinfo: To protect Donbas and itself, Russia has to liberate whole of Ukraine

Western arms supplies to Ukraine prolong the military actions, result in massive Ukrainian human losses, and do not change the goals of the Russian special military operation. Kyiv acts for American interests and money. American missiles can reach many large Russian cities. Hence, to guarantee the protection of Donbas republics and Russian territory, Russian troops have to liberate whole of Ukraine’s territory. Ukraine’s existence is highly dangerous for Russia and leaves Moscow no choice.

Jul 11, 2022
Disproof

This message provides an absurd interpretation of the Russian brutal aggression against Ukraine, calling it a ‘liberation’. As our recent analysis explains, pro-Kremlin outlets often present Ukraine as a non-existing entity, which somehow poses an existential threat to Russia.

Aware of this logical incongruity, pro-Kremlin propaganda tends to introduce the West into the equation and claims that the evil West controls Ukraine and uses it to attack Russia. Notably, this article claims that Ukraine fights not for its existence as a sovereign country but for “American interests and money”.

Disinfo: NATO pilot flew a helicopter that was downed in Ukraine

At the site of a helicopter shot down in Ukraine, a helmet of a NATO Air Force pilot was found. We are talking about the HGU-56/P ABH tactical helmet. Officially, the Armed Forces of Ukraine do not possess such protective equipment. This means that, most likely, either a mercenary with piloting skills or a pilot from the US could fly the downed helicopter.

Jul 09, 2022
Disproof

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about NATO and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, portraying the Alliance to be directly involved in the hostilities on the Ukrainian side.

In fact, the photos of the HGU-56/P ABH military helmet, which pro-Kremlin outlets claimed to prove the NATO pilot was flying the downed Ukrainian helicopter, were initially released by the helmet manufacturer company itself. The Instagram post of the company states that the photos were given to them by Ukrainian pilots as a sign of gratitude because the helmet saved their lives. Read the full debunk at Myth Detector.

Disinfo: The West has been aggressive towards Russia for decades

The so-called collective West, led by the United States, has been behaving exceptionally aggressively towards Russia for decades.

Jul 08, 2022
Disproof

This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets accusing the West of Russophobia.

The West has been trying to establish good-neighbourly relations with Moscow since the collapse of the Soviet Union and until the moment when Russia launched its unprovoked war of aggression against Ukraine on 24 February 2022. According to the 1997 Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security between NATO and the Russian Federation, Russia was viewed as a partner of the alliance. Western nations have been calling for solving all problems with Russia in a peaceful and diplomatic manner.