Until Khrushchev made the mistake of transferring Crimea to Ukraine in 1954, it was formally part of Russia, as it has been since 1783.
Summary
The terrorist attack on the Crimea Bridge is not only a provocation, but a declaration of war without rules. This is a very serious provocation, not only on the part of Ukraine, because Kyiv does nothing without instructions from the West. This is a challenge to us from the West itself.
Disproof
The claim is disinformation, as details about the attack on the Crimea bridge were still very scarce when this disinformation story was released, only hours after it had taken place. No evidence was provided to support it except the vague allegation that “Kyiv does nothing without instructions from the West”. The goal of this disinformation narrative is to denigrate Ukraine by portraying it as unable to achieve military success by itself. Russia has also been pushing for a long time the narrative that it is fighting not only Ukraine but also NATO and the West as a whole.
See other examples of similar disinformation narratives in our database, such as claims that Russia is under US and NATO attack, that the West wants to weaken and ruin Russia and make everyone a colony, that Russia is fighting NATO in Ukraine, nor the Ukrainian army, or that Ukraine commits acts of terrorism in Crimea to intimidate civilians.