What is happening in Ukraine right now has no connection whatsoever to an alleged Western-backed coup d’état carried out in 2014. It is related, however, to the fact that Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022 aiming to seize parts of its territory. The wave of demonstrations, civil disobedience, riots, and armed clashes known as Euromaidan erupted on the night of the 21st of November 2013, when Ukrainian citizens began protesting in Kyiv. The reason for the protests was the Ukrainian government’s decision made the day before that to suspend the preparations for signing the Association and the Free Trade Agreement with the European Union , writes Truthmeter.
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We are fact-checking a post on Facebook claiming that the West performed a coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014 thereby pushing it into a civil war.
On the 2nd of May 2014, extreme Ukrainian nationalists killed 48 people in Odessa and injured approximately 200. If you are looking for the reasons for what is happening in Ukraine now, you can find them in those crucial years when the West carried out a violent coup d’état and pushed Ukraine into a civil war, states the post we are fact-checking
Such a claim is incorrect. The West did not carry out any coup d’état in Ukraine in 2014, not to mention pushing Ukraine into a civil war.
The wave of demonstrations, civil disobedience, riots, and armed clashes known as Euromaidan erupted on the night of the 21st of November 2013, when Ukrainian citizens began protesting in Kyiv. The reason for the protests was the Ukrainian government’s decision made the day before to suspend the preparations for signing the Association and the Free Trade Agreement with the European Union. The protests continued despite the intensified police presence, and the students also expressed their support. On the 30th of November, government forces used violence against the protesters, thereby intensifying the protests and attracting over 1.5 million demonstrators.
On the 30th of March 2012, the EU and Ukraine signed the Association Agreement. However, the Agreement was not ratified because Ukraine was instructed to work on its deteriorating democracy and the rule of law.
On the 21st of November 2013, the Ukrainian government suspended the preparations for signing the Association Agreement by decree. The official reason for this move was said to be the fact that Ukraine had experienced a decline in industrial output in the previous months. The Ukrainian government claimed that it would continue with the preparations for the Agreement once the declined industrial output was compensated by the European market.
The President of Ukraine at the time, Viktor Yanukovych, was attending the EU Summit that took place on the 28th and 29th of November 2013 in Vilnius, Lithuania, where the Association and the Free Trade Agreement were supposed to be signed, but that did not happen. “Financial Times” reported that the protests in 2013 were “spontaneous, triggered by the social media and caught the Ukrainian opposition unprepared”, unlike its opponents.
Many global media and international institutions and organizations present the Euromaidan events as the largest pro-European uprising in the history of Ukraine.
According to the historian from Lviv, Yaroslav Hrytsak, this represented:
A revolution of a generation that can be called modernist for Ukrainian independence, a revolution of young people who are highly educated, active on social media, mobile, and 90 percent have a college degree, but no future.
The West did not perform a coup d’état in 2014, nor did it organize protests. The demonstrations that began in Kyiv in November 2013 resulted from Ukrainians’ frustration with then-President Yanukovych, specifically with his last-minute decision to change the course and not refuse to sign the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU after seven years of negotiations. Consequently, Russian pressure halted Ukraine’s progress in the rapprochement towards the EU.
Yanukovych ended up fleeing, after which an interim government took control. Then, soldiers without state insignia occupied Crimea and raised Russian flags. Following the referendum, which is not recognized by the international community, the Russian Federation annexed Crimea.
What is happening in Ukraine now has no connection whatsoever to a Western-backed coup d’état, but it is related to the fact that Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022 aiming to seize other parts of its territory.
The military invasion carried out by Russia against democratic, independent, and sovereign Ukraine represents Russian open aggression with territorial claims. Precisely Russia initiated the war unprovoked and by violating international agreements.
On the 24th of February 2022, Russia began missile attacks on locations throughout Ukraine, including the capital city of Kyiv. Russian ground forces entered Ukrainian territory, and President Zelenskyy responded by declaring martial law, disrupting diplomatic relations with Russia, and implementing general mobilization. This invasion is the largest military attack in Europe since World War II and has been subject to widespread international condemnation, as well as the subject of sanctions against Russia.
Ukraine did not attack Russia; rather, Russia attacked Ukraine. Therefore, Ukraine has the right to defend itself, and its allies are providing military and financial assistance, as well as humanitarian aid to civilians and displaced persons. However, this aid does not make the United States and other Western countries, primarily EU member states, parties to the war. NATO has reiterated on several occasions that it is not a party to the military conflict.
Lastly, US President Joe Biden’s administration has emphasized on several occasions that no steps will be taken behind Ukraine’s back and that “nothing will be done about Ukraine, without Ukraine”. This means that the decisions regarding the war will not be made by the US or the Western allies, but by Ukraine itself, when and if it decides so.
Due to all the above-mentioned facts, we assess the fact-checked post as untrue.
