DISINFO: Zelenskyy mounts escalation in Donbas to draw Biden’s attention

This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin media, claiming that Ukraine fulfils orders from the United States and NATO and that the West is using Ukraine as a bridgehead for an attack on Russia. In reality, Ukraine closely cooperates with the United States, the European Union and NATO, but this does not mean that what pro-Kremlin media call “the collective West” is pushing Kyiv into direct confrontation against Moscow. Ukraine’s Western partners are helping Ukraine stop the bloodshed in Donbas and alleviate the suffering of civilians in the war zone. They were mediators when the Minsk Agreements were signed in 2014 and 2015.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken arrived in Kyiv on 5 May 2021. He said in a tweet:

“Wheels down in Kyiv as we look to strengthen the #USUkrainePartnership. This will be an important opportunity to discuss continued Russian aggression and to underscore the need for maintaining both the pace of and focus on reforms with our Ukrainian partners”.

It is no secret that Washington provides Kyiv with military assistance, but there is no US military presence in the Donbas war zone.

Ukraine was until recently forced to increase military preparations in the East due to Russia’s amassing its military buildup near the Ukrainian border. The threat of a Russian invasion persists. Since Russia’s proxies intensified attacks on the Ukrainian Armed Forces in February, Kyiv’s Western partners have been continuously calling on the warring sides to cease fire, but Russia is doing nothing to persuade the separatists to fulfil the Minsk accords. Their obvious refusal to stop fighting disables the implementation of these accords.