Ukraine has been under continuous Russian occupation since 2014. In February that year, Russia invaded and illegally annexed Ukraine's Crimean Peninsula and parts of Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. In autumn 2022, it used sham referenda in an attempt to annex the above-mentioned oblasts, as well as the Ukrainian regions of Zaporizhia and Kherson.
Recurrent pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative aiming to misrepresent and fuel resentment against Western support to Ukraine and force a capitulation to Russian military aggression. Designed to diminish the efforts of Ukraine's armed forces, promoting the false narrative that there is no point in supporting Ukraine because Russia cannot be defeated and Ukraine will inevitably perish.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy presented a 10-point peace plan at an EU-Ukraine summit in February 2023. The EU unequivocally supported President Zelenskyy's peace formula. It is up to Ukraine to decide when it will hold talks with Russia. The assistance to Ukraine is aimed at making Ukraine's position stronger. Read the results of the Special European Council, 9 February 2023.
The disinformation is based on an official statement from the Defence Intelligence of the Ministry of Defence of Ukraine, published on March 7, the anniversary of the creation of the International Legion of Ukrainian Military Intelligence. The statement notes that "The Legion united volunteers from more than 50 countries of the world, who, after a full-scale invasion, came to the aid of Ukrainians and began to fight the troops of terrorist Russia," the report says.
Ukraine's history dates back to the times of early Slavic tribes and principalities in the 9th to 13th centuries in and around Kyiv. Communist Russia took control of Ukraine from 1919 to 1920 and established a Bolshevik regime there. Moscow performed aggressive anti-Ukrainian policies, exterminating the population during famines.
Present-day Ukraine has been on the world map since 1991 when the Soviet Union disintegrated.
This is exactly what NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg spoke about in an interview with RFE/RL on February 23, 2024. The NATO Secretary General noted that Ukraine, when it receives F-16 fighters from its allies, according to international law, can strike military targets in Russia. However, Stoltenberg added, this issue will be resolved by the countries supplying F-16 fighters to Ukraine.
EU and US leaders are not threatening Russia with nuclear weapons or conventional warfare. They have been trying to establish good-neighbourly relations with Russia since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1997, Russia and NATO signed the Founding Act on Mutual Relations, Cooperation and Security which said that 'NATO and Russia do not consider each other as adversaries.' Several disarmament initiatives have been launched since then.
The claim that Zelenskyy uses the war for personal embezzlement is made without any evidence. International support is used by Ukraine to defend itself against the unjustified and unprovoked Russian invasion of Ukraine which started on February 24, 2022, and to support the economy in the context of Russia's full-scale invasion.
In a report by the Washington Post, Kremlin documents expose Putin's administration using Russian political strategists to push a disinformation campaign against Ukrainian President, Volodymyr Zelensky.
The British Council is the UK's international organisation for cultural relations and educational opportunities. The British Council works in over 100 countries and its aim is to build mutually beneficial cultural and educational relationships between the UK and other countries. The British Council has been working in Ukraine since 1992. The British Council in Ukraine is a non-political organisation and does not have any political agenda. It is registered as a legal entity and operates in accordance with Ukrainian law. Although the British Council receives a government grant in aid, it is operationally independent from the UK government.