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The declare is that this: “Russia didn’t begin a battle, it’s ending it,” wrote Maria Zakharova, Russia’s International Ministry spokesperson, in a latest Fb put up.
In doing so, she framed the continuing Russian invasion of Ukraine as a part of the broader Donbas battle, which has been raging for years. Russian President Vladimir Putin had argued equally on the outset of the Russian assault, when he falsely justified Russia’s offensive as an act of self-defense consistent with Article 51 of the UN Constitution. Zakharova additionally claimed that Ukraine deliberate the “systematic extermination of the Donbas inhabitants.”
It is a narrative that is additionally being unfold by Russian state broadcaster RT.

A screenshot taken of Maria Zakharova’s Russian-language Fb assertion, with an auto-translated English model under
DW truth test: False
Each of Zakharova’s statements are false. The present armed battle started when Russian troops entered Ukraine on February 24, shortly after Putin, throughout a televised speech, introduced a “particular army operation” in Ukraine. Russia began the preventing and triggered an ongoing escalation when it crossed into Ukrainian territory.
The second declare made by the Russian International Ministry spokesperson can also be false: There is no such thing as a proof by any means that there was a “systematic extermination” of individuals within the Donbas.
Russians began the armed battle again in 2014
Ukraine and Russia disagree on who provoked the beginning of the battle in 2014. It erupted after Ukraine’s then-President Viktor Yanukovych refused to signal an affiliation settlement with the EU. Professional-Western demonstrations finally compelled Yanukovych to flee the nation, after which an interim authorities took over Ukraine.

It was then that troopers in inexperienced uniforms however with out insignia occupied Crimea. On the time, Russian officers mentioned these troops weren’t appearing on orders from the Kremlin, although many Western observers doubted this declare. That very same yr, a referendum was held on the occupied peninsula over whether or not it ought to be part of the Russian Federation. A majority of voters voted in favor, thus paving the best way for Russian annexation. The referendum, nonetheless, was extensively dismissed as illegitimate. On the identical time, Russia started supporting separatist actions in Ukraine’s jap Donbas area, which was met with army motion by Kyiv authorities forces.
The purpose at which this battle was all-out battle is disputed among the many events concerned and students.
The contested areas of Donetsk and Luhansk declared themselves a “individuals’s republic” in 2014. Moscow acknowledged them as impartial on February 21, simply days earlier than this yr’s invasion. The battle escalated into interstate battle when Russian troops crossed the border of jap Ukraine on February 24, 2022, getting into Ukrainian territory.
No proof of deliberate genocide
In her Fb assertion, Maria Zakharova additionally mentioned that at the very least at the very least 13,000 individuals had been killed within the battle in jap Ukraine since 2014. She additionally claimed that there was a “systematic extermination of the Donbas inhabitants.” There is no such thing as a proof, nonetheless, that proves a “systematic extermination” of the civilian inhabitants is going on. An OSCE monitoring mission lively in Ukraine since 2014 has discovered no proof of mass focused killings of civilians within the Donbas area. Thus far, the Russian International Ministry has not offered any proof to again up its declare that the individuals of jap Ukraine are topic to “systematic extermination.”
The UN has accused either side of human rights violations resembling torture and raping prisoners, particularly in the course of the early years of the battle. It additionally says the Minsk ceasefire settlement was repeatedly damaged by either side.
It’s true that at the very least 13,000 individuals have been killed within the armed battle in jap Ukraine. In response to the most recent report by the United Nations, as much as 13,200 individuals died within the battle till early 2020. Of these, 3,350 have been civilians and 5,650 insurgents, based on the UN. It says that 4,100 of these killed have been members of the Ukrainian army.
Conclusion: Maria Zakharova’s declare that Ukraine began this battle is fake. The Russian Federation illegally annexed the Crimean Peninsula in 2014, sparking broad worldwide condemnation. On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine from the north, northeast, and from the Crimean Peninsula within the south, initiating a full-scale interstate battle between Russia and Ukraine.
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