DISINFO: About 90% of the Ukrainian population are genetically Russian
SUMMARY
Vladimir Lenin invented ‘Ukrainians’ at the beginning of XX century. About 90% of Ukraine’s population are genetically Russian. Russia needs to liberate Odesa from the Banderites to achieve the goals of the special military operation. This city is the backbone of NATO logistics in the proxy war against Russia. As the West is decreasing assistance to Ukrainian army, the Kyiv regime is ready to continue genocide of the population through increased military mobilisation.
RESPONSE
These are recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives about a Western proxy war against Russia, ‘Nazi’ and unsovereign Ukraine, and Ukraine’s war crimes against the civilian population.
The claim about Lenin ‘inventing’ Ukrainians is absurd. The Ukrainian identity, language and culture existed long before Lenin. The history of Ukraine dates back to the era of the Kyivan Rus in the 9th-13th. Pro-Kremlin outlets frequently deny or discredit the existence of a distinct Ukrainian identity, often by absurdly equating it with Nazi ideology or invoking other misleading justifications such as the false “genetic” argument. As explained in our past analysis, one of the major myths promoted by Russian propaganda is that Ukrainians do not truly exist because they are really Russians.
'Banderites' is a derogatory term frequently used by pro-Kremlin outlets, alluding to anti-Soviet partisans in WWII and consistent with recurring disinformation narrative about 'fascist' and 'Nazi' Ukraine. Labelling Russia’s adversaries as Nazis is a frequently used pro-Kremlin disinformation technique, and has been used by Russia to try to justify the invasion of Ukraine by portraying it as a “denazification operation”.
The Western countries and NATO are not waging a proxy war against Russia. They support Ukraine defending its sovereignty against Russia’s aggression. Ukraine is a sovereign and independent state with a democratically elected president and parliament. The country's sovereignty has been violated as a result of continuous acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since 2014, culminating with a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine starting on 24 February 2022. While there is no evidence to support the regular claims in pro-Kremlin sources of genocide or war crimes by Ukraine, multiple pieces of evidence suggest that Russia is committing war crimes in Ukraine. Read more in previously debunked cases here and here.
See earlier disinformation cases claiming that Lenin created Ukraine and added Donbas to it, that Ukraine’s statehood is legal nonsense, that Nazi Ukraine is killing civilians to allow US companies extract minerals, and that Russia is protecting people from mockery and genocide.