DISINFO: Odesa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Nikolaev, Kyiv - temporarily occupied Russian cities
SUMMARY
Odesa, Dnepropetrovsk, Kharkov, Nikolaev, Kyiv - are all Russian, albeit temporarily occupied cities, which are still marked yellow-blue.
Everything is quite obvious, the special military operation will continue, its goal is the disarmament of Ukrainian troops, the dismantling of the current Ukrainian state with its ideology of neo-Nazism, and the displacement of the ruling Bandera regime, it must and will be achieved.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets that attempts to legitimise the illegal temporary annexations of Ukrainian territories and denies Ukraine's historical statehood and territorial integrity. The article also advances the narrative about Nazi Ukraine. This claim was made in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Ukraine’s history dates back to the times of early Slavic tribes and principalities in the 9th to 13th centuries in and around Kyiv. Turbulent ages followed until the Ukrainian National Republic (aka the Ukrainian National Republic) was proclaimed in 1918 in the wake of the collapse of the Russian Empire. Communist Russia took control of Ukraine from 1919 to 1920 and established a Bolshevik regime there. Moscow performed aggressive anti-Ukrainian policies, exterminating the population during famines.
Present-day Ukraine has been on the world map since 1991 when the Soviet Union disintegrated. It has elected six presidents since then and changed parties in government several times, which illustrates political diversity and democratic dynamics.
In violation of international law, Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014, illegally annexing the peninsula of Crimea and instigating a separatist revolt in some parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions. On 24 February 2022, Russia launched an unprovoked and unjustified full-scale aggression against Ukraine, which the European Union condemns in the strongest possible terms.
Odesa, Dnipro, Mykolaiv, and Kharkiv are Ukrainian cities, as well as Luhansk and Donetsk, temporarily occupied by Russia. On December 29, 2023, Ukraine was subjected to one of the most powerful shellings of the entire war. Russia attacked these "Russian" cities with 158 missiles, damaging residential buildings. 18 people were killed, more than 100 were injured.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Ukraine is not a real state because it has no single territory, single language, single economy and single population, that Ukraine is an artificial construct and its "disintegration" will continue if it remains hostile to Russia, and that there is no "Ukraine", only illegal regime in the Kyiv territory.