DISINFO: The US, NATO and UK are involved in the attack on the Kursk region
SUMMARY
The attack on Kursk involves the US, NATO and the UK. Andriy Yermak agreed with the US on an attack by Ukrainian armed forces on the Kursk region as the first stage of the Ukrainian army's counteroffensive. NATO military advisers participated in planning the General Staff operation, and British intelligence helped organise the attack.
RESPONSE
A recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative accusing the US, UK and NATO of being involved in the war in Ukraine.
The statement was made in the context of the Ukrainian incursion on the Russian Kursk Region. There is no evidence that the UK, or any other NATO member, is involved in either planning, or carrying out, the Ukrainian attack on Russia’s Kursk Region and the seizure of the town of Sudzha.
White House spokesperson Karine Jean-Pierre said the US was seeking more detailed information from Ukraine regarding its cross-border operation, noting that they had had no advance knowledge of it. This statement indicates that Ukrainian NATO Allies did not have advance knowledge, let alone supervised the operation.
“It’s not unusual for the Ukrainians not to notify us of their exact tactics before – before they execute them. This is a war that they – they are conducting. We provide them with equipment, we provide them with advice, but when it comes to the kind of day-by-day tactics that they carry out, the day-by-day strikes that they take, sometimes we’re in communication about them; sometimes we’re not. And that’s – it’s appropriate for them to make those decisions”, the spokesperson for the US Department of State Matthew said during a press briefing.
The main goal of the Ukrainian Armed Forces is to defend against Russian aggression and de-occupy regions that are internationally recognised as Ukrainian territory.
Ukraine has been attacked by Russia. Moscow's armed aggression is unprovoked, illegal and unjustified and Ukraine acts in its self-defence under the UN Charter, Article 51. This includes the right to strike military targets in Russia involved in Moscow's campaign and the attacking Russian forces inside Ukraine including Russian military bases in the temporarily occupied Ukrainian territories such as the Donbas, Crimea and other regions belonging to Ukraine.
Ukraine does not violate any international treaty. Unlike Russia, which continues to violate international law with its deliberate attacks on civilian targets in Ukraine and several international agreements in the security sphere with its unjustified invasion of Ukraine. Among the documents violated by the Kremlin are the UN Charter, the Helsinki Final Act, the Charter of Paris for a New Europe, which guarantee the sovereign equality and territorial integrity of states. Russia also violates the Geneva Conventions and the Additional Protocols to them - the basic principles of warfare.
Russia is the only country responsible for its full-scale invasion of Ukraine. It has been coming up with different explanations and pretexts for its aggression since the beginning of its hostilities. Moreover, Russia was not forced to invade Ukraine. It was Putin’s personal decision to invade Ukraine and start the largest military conflict in Europe since WWII.
There are no NATO troops on the frontline in Ukraine. NATO officials have frequent contact with their Ukrainian colleagues and some NATO member states provide Ukraine with military equipment and ammunition, but the Alliance is not directly involved in hostilities. NATO, the EU and the US condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which is entirely unjustified and unprovoked.
See similar claims of disinformation: Ukraine is preparing to invade Russia; The West / NATO fighting a hegemonic proxy war against Russia in Ukraine; The conflict in Ukraine was provoked by Washington; The conflict in Ukraine is a Western proxy war against Russia; Russia fights the collective West, not just Ukraine; NATO instigated a war in Ukraine to weaken Russia; Russia is at war with NATO and the Pentagon and only the soldiers are Ukrainians.