Combating Disinformation: Ukraine
The tyrannical war-crime-filled Russian invasion of Ukraine has been ongoing for three years. Throughout that time, a constant stream of disinformation has been released about Ukraine, its leader, Zelenskyy, and the war itself. Much of it comes from Putin and finds its way into the talking points of far-right politicians. Some of it is homegrown.
It would be terrible enough to spread these lies against any nation, but it is much worse to be spreading lies from our enemy about our ally. Here’s the real story:
Ukraine Didn’t Start This War
Ukraine did not start this war. Russia did. Putin first invaded in 2014 into the Crimea region of Ukraine. This came about after the Ukrainian people ousted their pro-Russian president. Putin made claims that the people of Crimea wanted to be part of Russia and used that as his excuse to invade.
Seven years later, in 2021, Russia began amassing forces along the Ukrainian border while denying any plans for another invasion. The new invasion began in February 2022.
Here is the statement from the US State Department on who caused this war:
The United States, our allies, and our partners worldwide are united in support of Ukraine in response to Russia’s premeditated, unprovoked, and unjustified war against Ukraine. We have not forgotten Russia’s earlier aggression in eastern Ukraine and occupation following its unlawful seizure of Crimea in 2014. The United States reaffirms its unwavering support for Ukraine’s sovereignty and territorial integrity within its internationally recognized borders, extending to its territorial waters.
The War Isn’t About NATO
The Russian invasion wasn’t because of Ukraine’s desire to join NATO. It was because Putin wanted to rebuild the USSR as his legacy. Ukraine wants to join NATO to protect itself from Russia’s continued aggression and military offenses.
NATO is a defensive military alliance, not an offensive one. Any claims of Putin worrying about having NATO at its borders is nothing more than an excuse for his terrible actions. Russia already borders several NATO nations.
If a NATO nation launches an attack, the rest of NATO is not obligated to join or support that conflict in any form. Instead, NATO protects its members by declaring that an attack on one is an attack on all, meaning that any attack on a NATO nation brings about the unified defense of that nation by all NATO members. That is why Putin doesn’t want Ukraine to join NATO–he would no longer have an advantage.
Ukraine Is America’s Ally
Ukraine is America’s ally, and Russia is America’s enemy. In 1991, after the dissolution of the USSR, Ukraine became the world’s third-largest nuclear power with 1,700 nuclear warheads. Instead of keeping these warheads, Ukraine decided to be a non-nuclear-weapon state.
They gave their nuclear weapons to Russia, and in 1994, Ukraine signed the Budapest memorandum, which declared that they would be a non-nuclear-weapon state and that the US, Great Britain, Ireland, and Russia would respect the independence, sovereignty, and existing borders of Ukraine.
The memorandum included this section:
The Russian Federation, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the United States of America reaffirm their commitment to seek immediate United Nations Security Council action to provide assistance to Ukraine, as a non-nuclear-weapon State party to the Treaty on the Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons, if Ukraine should become a victim of an act of aggression or an object of a threat of aggression in which nuclear weapons are used.
Russia has threatened to use nuclear weapons, including in defense of holding the Crimea area of Ukraine.
Here is what the US State Department said about Ukraine as recently as January 20th, 2025:
Ukraine is a key regional strategic partner that has undertaken significant efforts to modernize its military and increase its interoperability with NATO. It remains an urgent security assistance priority to provide Ukraine the equipment it needs to defend itself against Russia’s war against Ukraine.
US vs. EU aid to Ukraine
Trump made the wild claim that the US has given Ukraine $350 billion in assistance since the invasion began. However, America has approved $183 billion, $130 billion of which is obligated, and $87 billion has been dispersed so far. Trump's claim that we’ve approved twice as much funding as we have may explain why he wrongly claims half of the money is missing.
Not only is there oversight for US aid to Ukraine, but there is also a government website for it. The claim that we don’t know what this money is doing or where it is going is ridiculous. Most of what we’ve given isn’t even money; it is weapons and training.
Europe has already given Ukraine almost $150 billion in aid, with more pledges for the future. This amount is even more significant when looking at the aid as a percentage of GDP. While the US has given around 0.35% of our 2021 GDP, most of Europe has given more, including:
Croatia
Sweden
Czech Republic
United Kingdom
Slovakia
Netherlands
Poland
Finland
Latvia
Lithuania
Norway
Denmark
And Estonia tops out the list at over 3.5% of their GDP
The Aid Helps America, Too
70% of the dollar value of the US aid to Ukraine stays in America or is spent on US forces. That is because the assistance revolves around US weapons and equipment being made here, stockpile drawdowns, and training on how to use the equipment.
Beyond that, our allies have increased their spending on US equipment as they donate their existing supplies to Ukraine and increase their supplies in defense of potential Russian aggression. $45 billion worth of military purchases have been made by our allies to the US specifically for this reason since the Russian invasion began.
Zelenskyy Is Not A Dictator
The most recent falsehood is that Zelenskyy is a dictator for not holding elections. Ukraine has been under martial law since the 2022 Russian invasion began, a common practice for countries that are being invaded.
Ukranian laws expressly prohibit holding elections while under martial law. 81% of Ukrainians surveyed also said that elections should be held after the war has ended.
Even if Ukraine didn’t have laws preventing an election, a democratic election wouldn’t be feasible. Russia occupies almost 25% of Ukranian territory, millions of Ukrainians are displaced outside of the country, front-line servicemembers wouldn’t have any means of voting, and candidates and polling sites would be targets of Russian strikes.
Wars and military conflicts aren’t always clear-cut, but the invasion of Ukraine is. Russia caused it, Russia had no valid reason to go to war, Russia has committed war crimes, and Putin will not stop with Ukraine. He dreams of a rebuilt USSR, and to achieve that, he needs America to give up on Ukraine, NATO, and Europe, and that is precisely what all of the disinformation is meant to achieve.
