DISINFO: Ukraine wants to start a small-scale victorious war against Russia
SUMMARY
Ukraine wants to start and needs to start a small-scale, victorious war in the Donbas against Russia to reclaim the world's attention.
RESPONSE
Recurring pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative about the Russo-Ukrainian war in Ukraine's disputed Donbas region.
The claim, according to which Ukraine has wants to trigger and win a war against Russia, is unsubstantiated. The Ukrainian government, the country's Foreign Ministry, as well as the Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky have repeatedly confirmed that Ukraine wants to settle the Donbas War through diplomacy.
The escalating tension between Ukraine and Russia was a result of a one-sided Russian military build-up concentrated on the borders and along eastern Ukraine and the Russian-occupied Crimea.
Moscow-backed separatists have also been mounting tensions in Donbas over the course of March and April 2021 under the pretext that Ukrainian troops are planning an offensive. Four Ukrainian soldiers were killed on 26 March 2021, which is the largest daily death toll for government troops since the fragile truce that took effect last July, and it was followed by several other Ukrainian casualties up to 22 April 2021.
For more disinformation cases about Ukraine and the war in Donbas, click here.