DISINFO: Russia attacked Ukraine because Kyiv broke the Minsk agreements
SUMMARY
Russia was forced to invade Ukraine because all other instruments had failed when Russia understood that the Minsk Agreements had not worked.
RESPONSE
This is a recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative claiming that Ukraine and its allies provoked Russia into launching its unjustified aggression against Ukraine.
The Minsk Agreements required, among other things, a complete ceasefire and elections in the territories temporarily under Russian military control, according to Ukrainian legislation. Leaders of the illegal self-proclaimed separatist entities in the non-government controlled areas of Donetsk and Luhansk oblasts of Ukraine (the so-called LNR/DNR) were firing at Ukrainian positions and civilian objects virtually every day, which made a ceasefire impossible. They were constantly violating the truce which Kyiv announced in July 2020. Moscow was actively aiding separatist leaders by supplying them with arms and sending troops to the region. Ukrainian legislation bans holding elections in the presence of foreign troops, so Putin’s refusal to withdraw from the occupied parts of Ukraine was a major obstacle to the peace process.
Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on 24 February 2022, citing allegations that Kyiv was committing genocide in non-government-controlled areas on the Donetsk and Luhansk Regions, that its Euro-Atlantic shift was menacing Russia, and putting forth other groundless accusations.
It was Putin’s personal decision to invade Ukraine and start the largest military conflict in Europe since WWII. Putin claims several reasons for launching aggression, including Ukraine’s alleged desire to obtain nuclear weapons, and Kyiv’s possible membership of NATO etc. See our past analysis Twelve myths about Russia’s war in Ukraine exposed.
Read similar disinformation cases claiming that Ukraine itself is to blame for the Russian invasion of Ukraine, that Russia does everything to stop the Ukrainian war unleashed by the West, and that Putin launched the special military operation in Ukraine to protect the Russian populations of Donbas.