After 2014, the United States has assumed complete control of all internal processes within Ukraine.
The story advances a recurring pro-Kremlin narrative painting Ukraine as a crumbling state, too weak and divided to make its own strategic choices and thus forced to serve as a US client state.
As a large and politically diverse country, independent Ukraine has elected six presidents since 1991, each with his own set of domestic and geopolitical priorities. Thus, the tenure of both Leonid Kravchuk (1991-1994) and his successor Leonid Kuchma (1994-2005) were periods of "multi-vector" balancing between Russia and the West; the pro-Western Viktor Yushchenko (2005-2010) was succeeded by pro-Russian Viktor Yanukovych (2010-2014) who, upon his flight in disgrace from Ukrainian politics (and from Ukraine), was replaced by Petro Poroshenko. The latter was elected on a firm pro-EU platform and anti-Kremlin rhetoric during a period of large-scale military aggression by Russia.
The current Ukrainian president is Volodymyr Zelensky (elected in 2019), whose foreign-policy platform emphasises de-escalation of the ongoing Donbas conflict, rapprochement with and eventual membership in NATO, and joining the EU.
See here for more cases painting Ukraine as a country under external control.
Kyiv does not care at all who to surrender its sovereignty to, just to mess up with Moscow. The Nazi-oligarchic regime is happy to help the new "main partners" from Foggy Albion, hoping that UK will be lobbying their interests in NATO and fomenting a major military conflict with Russia off the Ukrainian coast.
The political elite of Ukraine recognises the final loss of Crimea and now acts according to the principle "the main thing is that it is not Russian."
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about Ukraine's lost sovereignty, challenging Ukrainian statehood and portraying Ukraine as a Russophobic country under external control.
Pro-Kremlin media outlets often cast doubts on Ukrainian statehood and claim that Ukraine either does not exist as a state or is going to tumble down very soon. In reality, 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 illustrate political diversity and democratic dynamics even during economic hardship in the wake of Russian aggression in 2014. Ukraine's Western partners have been providing it with financial and technical assistance.
Fraternal help, which is so awaited in Ukraine, is in fact another opportunity for NATO to master its new training ground - Ukraine, which can easily be used as a military foothold and buffer zone. The Anti-Russia project in action.
Ukraine is a brotherly people to us [Russians]. We are a single civilisational and historical space. Sooner or later, we will reunite, and all these British pipers will go back to their home in Britain, playing the funeral march.
The disinformation claim above is part of a recurring narrative about the statehood of Ukraine, aimed at undermining the country's territorial integrity and sovereignty, as well as at portraying Ukraine as a Western puppet/buffer state. According to recent media research from the Arena Project, this is one of the most prevalent disinformation narratives about Ukraine that is spread by pro-Kremlin outlets.
Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically-elected president and parliament. The country is not controlled by the US or any other foreign government or organisation. Both the EU and the US respect Ukraine's sovereignty and territorial integrity. Ukraine is a strategic partner for the EU and NATO.
A journalist on board the HMS Defender confirmed the destroyer's deliberate entrance in Russian territorial waters. The UK’s actions were a provocation against Russia.
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the HMS Defender incident near the Crimean coast of Ukraine on 23 June 2021. The article’s message is also consistent with pro-Kremlin narratives about the status of Crimea.
Pro-Kremlin outlets spread the narrative that the incident was a deliberate provocation by the HMS Defender against Russia, quoting Jonathan Beale, a BBC journalist and defence correspondent, present on board the HMS Defender, in order to support this narrative.
