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What is Russia saying to the world?
Russian President Vladimir Putin called what
the Russian army is doing in Ukraine a "special military operation
in Donbas." It is not true - places where Russian tanks are
advancing and Russian missiles are falling - hundreds of kilometres
away from Donbas. The Russian army is trying to surround Kyiv, the
capital of Ukraine. Putin also explained his actions by the desire and
"demilitarization" of Ukraine and called the reason for the
invasion "genocide of civilians" in the occupied territories
of Donetsk and Luhansk. In the days leading up to the invasion, Russian
propaganda produced fakes designed to simulate attacks, mass shelling,
or intentions to attack the Ukrainian army, which occupied the Donetsk
and Luhansk regions occupied in 2014-2015. In fact, the opposite was
true - pro-Russian militants fired heavily at the positions of the
Ukrainian army, which had no intention of advancing on the occupied
territories.
The President of Russia does not hide that he
intends to return Ukraine to the zone of Russian influence, to deprive
it of the right to determine its future at any cost. He uses several
manipulative arguments to explain his actions, including accusing the Ukrainian
government of "Nazism" and even denying Ukraine's right to
state sovereignty. Putin says he does not intend to occupy Ukraine.
Still, his precise intentions are to create a puppet regime in the
occupied territories, similar to that in Belarus today. And there is
every reason to believe that Russia will not stop in Ukraine if he
manages to seize it.
What can the world do?
Ukraine does not give up and defend itself,
but it needs the help of the whole civilized world.
Words of support, solidarity and protests
against Russian aggression are essential, and we are grateful for them.
Of course, they will not protect Ukrainians from bombs and missiles;
they will not stop tanks advancing on Ukrainian soil. Every
manifestation of solidarity with our people and our state signals to
the aggressor that he is opposed not only by Ukraine, but also by the
entire civilized world. But today, to withstand, we need more.
The world community, governments,
international organizations can:
·
put
pressure on Russia through diplomatic and economic levers, forcing the
cessation of aggression;
·
provide
financial, organizational and military assistance to Ukraine;
·
receive
and support displaced persons who have lost their homes and are forced
to flee the Russian offensive;
·
confirm
in words and deeds that they do not leave Ukraine alone and do not
agree to its dismemberment or occupation to "pacify the
aggressor."
Ukraine is not just a geographical name in the
headlines. The entire world must learn about Russian aggression,
understand its essence, purpose and danger, which it carries not only
for our country.
What can the media and journalists do?
Call a spade a spade. It is not a
"crisis" or a "conflict", but a full-scale war
launched by Russia against an independent European state.
Do not repeat the Russian propaganda and
disinformation thesis, even in the status of "point of view"
or "party position". When Putin says that Ukraine is a
"Nazi" state, it is not a point of view, but a lie designed
to justify aggression.
Inform your audience more about events in
Ukraine. This war may not seem threatening enough for the inhabitants
of countries far from Ukraine, but it is a threat to the whole world
because of the right of one state to seize another simply because it
wants to destroy the world order.
Get information about Russia's aggression
against Ukraine from reliable and truthful sources. Ukraine's
information space is full of fakes created by Russia and its agents.
Unfortunately, the Ukrainian media may also contain false information
or difficult to verify allegations.
Therefore, we recommend using official
sources:
·
Official
website of the President of Ukraine (in English) https://www.president.gov.ua/en
·
Minister
of Defence of Ukraine (in English) https://www.mil.gov.ua/en/
· Armed
Forces of Ukraine https://www.zsu.gov.ua/en
·
The
National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (in English) https://www.rnbo.gov.ua/en/
·
Joint
Forces Operation (in Ukrainian) https://www.facebook.com/pressjfo.news
·
Official
site of the ArmyInform news agency (in Ukrainian) https://armyinform.com.ua/
·
Centre
for Strategic Communication (in English) https://spravdi.gov.ua/en/
You can check the information and learn about
common fakes and manipulations that Russia throws into the information
space of Ukraine on the websites of fact-checking organizations:
· Vox
Ukraine» (in English) https://voxukraine.org/en/
·
StopFake
(in English, Russian, Spanish, German, French and other) https://www.stopfake.org/ru/glavnaya-2/
· «Detector
Media» (in Ukrainian) https://detector.media/
Ukrainian media whose information can be
trusted:
·
Suspilne
(Public broadcasting) (in Ukrainian) https://suspilne.media/
·
The
National News Agency of Ukraine or Ukrinform (Russian, English,
Spanish, German, French and other versions) https://www.ukrinform.net/
· Hromadske
(in Ukrainian) https://hromadske.radio/
·
RFE/RL's Ukrainian
Service (known locally as Radio Svoboda) (in Ukrainian) https://www.radiosvoboda.org/
·
BBC
News Ukraine (in Ukrainian) https://www.bbc.com/ukrainian
· Euromaidan
Press (in English) https://euromaidanpress.com/
The websites of these organizations and the
media may be inaccessible due to Russian cyberattacks; in this case,
information can be obtained on their pages on social networks.
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