DISINFO: Ukraine is experiencing internal conflicts in southeastern regions

Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about the war in Eastern Ukraine, presenting the conflict as a “civil war” while denying the role of Russian forces. The article also claims that the creation of DPR and LPR came as a response to the 2013-14 protests in Kyiv, often painted as a coup d'état.

The war in Ukraine is not a civil conflict but a well-documented act of aggression by Russian armed forces, ongoing since February 2014. The Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court has stated that “the situation … amounts to an international armed conflict between Ukraine and the Russian Federation”. The European Union stated in July 2014 that "arms and fighters continue flowing into Ukraine from the Russian Federation".

The involvement of Russian personnel and equipment has been well documented for years and includes firing artillery over the border into Ukraine, the deployment of armoured vehicles and troops in contested provinces of Eastern Ukraine, the use of non-state actors such as Russian private military companies, and the launching of thousands of cyber attacks against Ukrainian targets.

See similar disinformation cases in our database, alleging that Kyiv has been conducting a military operation against Donbas because they refused to recognise the results of the coup; the Donbas conflict has an internal character; or that there will be genocide in Donbas if Ukraine regains its border's control; or that the Crimean people chose to be with Russia through the democratic procedure.