DISINFO: End of Ukraine war depends on Kyiv
SUMMARY
Kyiv should engage in talks with Moscow to end the Ukraine crisis. Military activities may end under more favourable conditions for Ukraine. The Ukrainian authorities should get to the negotiation table and agree that they will never threaten Russian territory.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring disinformation narrative from pro-Kremlin outlets trying to potray Kyiv as being responsible for Russia's war of aggression against Ukraine.
In reality, it is an unprovoked war and its end depends on Russia. The European Union is staunchly standing by Ukraine and calling for the immediate pull-out of Russian troops from the internationally recognised Ukrainian territories.
Ukraine has never threatened Russia. It was Russia who illegally annexed the Ukrainian peninsula of Crimea and instigated a separatist revolt in Donbas in 2014. It has been threatening Ukraine with more territorial losses ever since.
Ukraine and its Western partners have been trying to find a diplomatic solution to the war, but Russia has made it impossible to reach a peaceful settlement because of its continual bombing of civilian objects. In order to force Moscow into stopping hostilities, the European Council adopted a sixth package of economic and individual sanctions against Russia and Belarus on 3 June 2022. This package includes restrictions on exports, prohibition of consulting services, de-SWIFTing of additional banks, suspension of the broadcasting activities of several state-owned outlets, as well as individual sanctions.
Contrary to Russian claims that its troops target only military facilities in Ukraine, a lot of civilian infrastructure has been damaged or ruined and thousands of Ukrainian civilians have been killed. According to unofficial data, up to 22,000 civilians have died in Mariupol alone. Russian troops killed hundreds of civilians in the town of Bucha outside Kyiv. Similar atrocities have been discovered in many other cities where Russian forces were in control. In a recent bombing of civilian objects, at least 24 people were killed including several children and more than 200 were wounded as a Russian missile his a business centre in the city of Vinnytsia on 14 July 2022.
Read OSCE Report on violations of International Humanitarian and Human Rights Law, War Crimes and Crimes against Humanity committed in Ukraine since 24 February 2022. See also the EU's response to Russia's invasion of Ukraine here along with EU vs Disinfo's Guide to Deciphering Pro-Kremlin disinformation around Putin's War.