According to international law, Crimea is a part of Ukraine. On 27 March 2014, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning Russia’s occupation of Crimea and stating that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. No international body has recognised the so-called referendum, which was organised by a self-proclaimed Crimean leadership lacking democratic legitimacy and installed by armed Russian military personnel following the seizure of public buildings.

The press service of the Holy See denied the claim in a comment to the fact-checking website POLYGRAPH.info. The false report continued to feature on the main website of RIA Novosti, Russia’s leading state-owned media organisation.

Ukraine’s Centre for Countering Disinformation said Ivan Syrskyi is the son of Colonel-General Oleksandr Syrskyi’s ex-wife. Colonel-General Syrskyi did not adopt Ivan, which is why Ivan is not his stepson. Ivan and his mother have been living in Australia for 14 years. Oleksandr Syrskyi does not communicate with them and is not responsible for the actions of his ex-wife’s son. Ivan Syrskyi is a private person and his actions cannot be attributed to the Ukrainian authorities. In the video, issued on 20 February 2024, Ivan Syrskyi did not ask Putin to grant him Russian citizenship or say he wanted to cast a ballot. Answering a question in the Russian Consulate General in Sydney whether he was planning to ask for a Russian passport, he said: ‘I am planning.’ He also said: ‘Glory to Russia’ and some other phrases, without mentioning Putin. Ivan Syrskyi actually asked for Russian citizenship in 2021. This was 3 years before Oleksandr Syrskyi was appointed Commander-in-Chief.

In 2014, Russian troops forcibly obliged the parliament of Crimea to organise a referendum, which was illegitimate under international law, and then illegally annexed the peninsula and brought it under Russian territorial control. The annexation has been condemned by the UN, stating that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula.

Russia’s economy has felt serious impact from the international sanctions its unjustified and unprovoked invasion of Ukraine. The ruble has weakened and inflation is soaring. Despite Moscow’s welcoming efforts, Foreign Direct Investment is falling. Hundreds of thousands of Russian citizens have fled the country since the outbreak the invasion. Sanctions on Russia’s banking and financial system, the embargo on electronic components and the price caps on Russian oil and petroleum products have also led to serious consequences for the Russian economy.

The referendum in Crimea was neither legitimate nor democratic. On 26 February 2014, the Russian Federation deployed members of its armed forces to gain control over parts of the Ukrainian territory without the consent of the Ukrainian Government. The next day a referendum was announced and a vote was held on March 16, 2014, in the Peninsula of Crimea. The territory was then controlled by Russian forces, and neither Ukrainian nor Russian election code was observed.

In 2014, Russian troops obliged the parliament of Crimea to organise a referendum, which was illegitimate under international law, and then illegally annexed the peninsula and brought it under Russian territorial control. The annexation has been condemned by the UN, stating that the referendum in Crimea was not valid and could not serve as a basis for any change in the status of the peninsula. A year after the illegal annexation, Russian President Vladimir Putin admitted that the plan to annex Crimea was ordered weeks before the so-called referendum.

No credible evidence was provided to back the claim. “The SVR, the main successor to the KGB’s First Directorate foreign spying service, advanced the accusation of the US planned cyberattacks on Russian electoral system but did not set out any evidence for its assertions,” Reuters noted. Russia has for several years refused to formally invite OSCE election observers to monitor elections within its territory. The most recent instance when the OSCE observed elections in Russia was in 2018.

On March 14, 2024, the Ukrainian national operator Energoatom announced the disconnection of the second power unit of the Khmelnytskyi Nuclear Power Plant from the network. The shutdown of the power unit was attributed to a mechanical failure in a turbine that generates electricity through steam pressure. The reactor remains fully functional, as do the nuclear fuel assemblies. Energoatom highlighted that the decision to shut down the turbine unit at KhNPP was made due to an excess of electricity in the market. All other power units are operating normally at their rated capacity, posing no threat to the station’s nuclear safety.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presented the 2023 report, which covers all aspects of the Alliance’s work over the past year. Speaking about NATO support for Ukraine, Stoltenberg noted that in 2023, a number of member countries sent long-range systems to Ukraine for the first time – British Storm Shadow missiles and French SCALP. The allies also agreed to supply F-16 aircraft to Ukraine.

Poland, France and Germany adhere to international law regarding state borders, fully supports the independence and territorial integrity of Ukraine. No state, except the Russian Federation, violated Ukraine’s territorial integrity in a display of imperial, revisionist aggression.

The Ukrainian government is not killing its own citizens. In fact, its population is defending itself against Russia’s armed aggression in a remarkable display of continued courage and determination. Ukraine’s sovereignty has been violated only as a result of continuous acts of aggression by the Russian armed forces since 2014, culminating with a full-scale military invasion of Ukraine starting on 24 February 2022.

The Anaconda plan was a military strategy proposed by Union General Winfield Scott early in the American Civil War. The plan called for a naval blockade of the Confederate littoral, thrust down the Mississippi, and the strangulation of the South by Union land and naval forces. It has nothing to do with modern politics and despite frequent disinformation claims in this regard, there is no evidence backing the idea that a so-called ‘Anaconda ring’ or a similar strategy exists.

Ukraine and its population are defending themselves against the Russian armed aggression in a remarkable display of continued courage and determination. This is not a decision by NATO, Washington, the EU or others. The US, the EU and NATO condemn in the strongest possible terms Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which is entirely unjustified and unprovoked. Not only Western but also many other nations around the world support Ukraine with military and financial aid for the country’s efficient self-defence, in accordance with the UN Charter article 51, to stop Russia’s war of aggression against Ukraine.

On 5 and 6 August 2023 Saudi Arabia hosted multinational peace talks attended by 40 countries (including China) in Jeddah focusing on Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s proposed peace plan. More recently, on 1 December 2023, a tenth working meeting with representatives of 83 states and three international organizations on the implementation of the Ukraine’s Peace Formula was held in Kyiv, Ukraine. Ukraine’s peace formula was also discussed in Davos at the WEF in January 2024. In February 2024, Switzerland announced it would organise a high-level Ukraine peace conference by the summer, the date of which has not yet been announced.

The assertion that collecting signatures is easier and more democratic in Russia than in France, thereby enabling smaller candidates to compete, is contradicted by reality. Twelve candidates participated in the 2022 French elections. In contrast, only one independent candidate competed in the 2024 Russian elections: Vladimir Putin.

The German Constitution does not restrict the state’s right to deliver military aid to third countries, as long as such deliveries are approved by the federal government. The only constitutional provision which even remotely concerns this issue is Article 26 (1) on securing international peace.

Pro-Kremlin disinformation narrative framing the exposition of Russian atrocities as false. The 2024 Oscar wining documentary film ’20 days in Mariupol’ was shot in the city of that name during the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in February-March 2022, and everything that it shows was filmed first-hand by Ukrainian video journalist Mstyslav Chernov and his team, who barely managed to escape from the city. Many of the war crimes documented by Chernov have been confirmed by other sources.

Recurring Pro-Kremlin disinformation narratives aimed to demonstrate that Ukraine’s biggest supporters have malicious intent towards Ukraine, and only provide assistance in order to exploit it. There has been no credible information or official announcements to support such claim or the UK’s intentions to seek territorial gains in Ukraine.

The claim about NATO expansion misrepresents the process of NATO enlargement. NATO does not expand, but considers the applications of candidate countries that want to join exercising their free will to decide alliance affiliation. NATO enlargement is not directed against Russia.