Ukraine 2000–2022 | How to Destroy a Nation: Part 3 (END)
The Beginning of the End
First Published on https://carloperoni.substack.com/p/ukraine-20002022-how-to-destroy-a-4dd?r=5l7dpt
In the previous article, we left off with President Yanukovych fleeing Kyiv after the devastating violence in Maidan Square. This event would lead to the formation of a new government and the beginning of a long civil war, whose brutality would later escalate into the worst human catastrophe of modern European history.
Regarding Fact-Checking
All the historical facts listed below have been diligently linked to multiple sources added in the footnotes, as I always do in my articles. The research for these sources took many hours of my time, not only because I fact-checked them one by one, but also because I purposely gave priority to Western media outlets, most of them well-known and respected, such as The Guardian or the BBC.
For news involving Ukrainian society and its point of view, I often used Ukrainian news outlets in English, such as The Kyiv Independent or The Kyiv Post. For public positions taken by the Kremlin, I chose to reference the official government website directly, rather than relying on summaries produced by Western sources.
February 23, 2014 — Opposition forces and protest leaders occupy the Ukrainian parliament, overthrow the ruling majority, and appoint Arseniy Yatsenyuk as prime minister, just as Victoria Nuland had hinted in her now-famous phone call. Yatsenyuk forms a government that includes four far-right ministers.
In addition:
- Andriy Parubiy, co-founder of the nationalist Svoboda party, is named Secretary of the National Security and Defense Council.
- Dmytro Yarosh, leader of the Right Sector, who after negotiations with Yatsenyuk3, is elected to parliament later that year.
The new government is immediately recognized by the U.S. and the EU.
Meanwhile, the other Ukraine, the pro-Russian East and South regions, call out the new government as a fascist junta and refuse to recognize it.
Kyiv sends in the army to suppress the protests.
The civil war begins.
March, 2014 — Many Ukrainian soldiers refuse to fire on fellow citizens. In their place, privately funded militias backed by wealthy oligarchs step in. These include the Azov, Aidar, Dnipro, Tornado, and Donbass battalions.
Amnesty International condemns these militias for committing war crimes and abuses on the civilian population.
Russian troops swiftly move in Crimea and surround the Ukrainian military base without firing a single shot. The Crimean parliament breaks away from Kyiv, declares independence, and holds a referendum. With 95.5% of the vote, the region chooses to join Russia.
May 2, 2014 — In Odessa, violent clashes between anti-government protesters and pro-Kyiv groups end in one of the worst tragedies in Ukraine’s recent history. Forty-eight people are killed, 46 of them protesters, after a fire breaks out at the Trade Unions House. The UN Human Rights Office later criticizes several authorities for their role in the disaster, citing delayed intervention and political interference in the investigation.
May 11, 2014 — Referendums on independence are held in the eastern regions of Donetsk and Lugansk. The “Yes” vote wins by 79% and 86%, respectively. President Putin does not officially recognize their independence.
Kyiv responds by sending more troops to crush the separatists.
May 25, 2014 — New presidential elections. A billionaire oligarch backed by the US, Petro Poroshenko, wins the vote, openly promising apartheid for the Russian-speaking population of Donbass during his campaign.
“We will have jobs, they won’t. We will have pensions, they won’t. Our children will go to kindergarten and school, their children will hide in basements.”
— Petro Poroshenko
He begins honoring and rewarding Ukrainian collaborators with the Nazis from World War II.
His ally Yulia Tymoshenko, one of the symbols of the Maidan Square protests, goes as far as calling for ethnic cleansing:
“Let’s go kill those damn Moskals (Russians) and hit them with nukes so that nothing remains of Russia, not even scorched earth.”
— Yulia Tymoshenko
Three foreign nationals join the new government (still led by prime minister Yatsenyuk). They were selected through a foundation funded by George Soros.
The actions of the new government are: drop Ukraine’s neutrality status, abolish the Russian language in public schools, ban the Communist Party and their symbols, and sign an association agreement with the EU.
In September, Yatsenyuk announces “The Wall”, a new project financed with US government money with the purpose of building military infrastructure between Ukraine and Russia.
The neo-Nazi Azov Battalion gets integrated into the National Guard.
Meanwhile, the CIA helps building Ukraine’s intelligence services in preparation for war with Russia.
September, 2014 — With the support of Germany and France, the OSCE brings together representatives from Kyiv, Moscow, Donetsk, and Lugansk in Minsk, where they sign the first Minsk Peace Agreement. The deal establishes a ceasefire: a part of Donbass is granted to the secessionist republics, while the remaining part returns to Ukraine in exchange for special autonomy and early regional elections.
In the next months, an humanitarian crisis unfold due to the recurrent violations of the ceasefire: by early August 2015, around 730,000 Ukrainian citizens have fled to Russia, while another 117,000 have been displaced within Ukraine.
According to the UN, the toll of the first eight years of the civil war, from 2014 to 2022, includes 14,400 deaths—3,500 of them civilians— and 38,000 injured. Among the victims there are also journalists.
February 11, 2015 — Putin and Poroshenko signs Minsk II, with Merkel and Hollande acting as guarantors. The agreement promised a ceasefire, amnesty, withdrawal of heavy weapons from the front, a 50 km buffer zone separating the armies, and a federalist constitutional reform to finally grant special autonomy to Lugansk and Donetsk.
But nationalist forces erupt again in front of the parliament, sparking new clashes that cause the death of four policemen, while far-right parties oppose the constitutional reform needed for implementing the Minsk agreements.
In 2022, Merkel admitted that the Minsk agreements had been a NATO trap for Russia, an attempt to give Ukraine precious time to strengthen and rearm. Hollande will later confirm Merkel’s words.
2017 — Trump arrives at the White House. Many senior officials are either fired or leave their roles, one of them is Victoria Nuland, who says that the new president has opposite views on Russia.
2019 — Poroshenko has Parliament approve a constitutional reform establishing that Ukraine will enter the EU and NATO.
However, he loses the presidential elections, and with 73% of the vote the country elects an outsider: comedian Volodymyr Zelensky, from a Russian-speaking and Jewish family.
During his campaign, he promises to fight corruption and end the civil war.
His party is named after his own TV series, Servant of the People, broadcast on a channel owned by an oligarch of Jewish origin, Ihor Kolomoisky, founder of a private bank, the third richest man in Ukraine, financier of Ukrainian far-right militias, and a fugitive in Israel after accusations of financial fraud against investors of his bank. He is also suspected of ordering an attempted murder against a lawyer.
Zelensky himself is suspected of illegal financial movements, as revealed by the international Pandora Papers investigation , which exposed offshore companies and a villa in Italy purchased by Zelensky for €3.8 million and registered under an Italian company. Before the election, Zelensky did not disclose ownership of this villa or the offshore companies.
Promising the end of the civil war, Zelensky has his first call with Putin to find a diplomatic solution. However, shortly after he agrees on a partnership with NATO and joint military exercises.
August-October 2019 — Macron meets Putin and proposes simplifying the Minsk Agreements through the Steinmeier Formula. This updated version calls for immediate elections in Donetsk and Lugansk, followed by a special autonomous status for the two regions to end the civil war. Putin and Zelensky are in favor, and Trump encourages them to reach an agreement. However, 10,000 nationalists take to Maidan Square, led by former president Poroshenko, accusing Zelensky of treason and demanding his resignation. The civil war continues.
November / December 2019 — Macron tries again, declaring that NATO is “brain-dead” and inviting Putin, Merkel, and Zelensky to the Paris to revive the Minsk Agreements. Putin replies that the agreements must be respected by the Ukrainian government, but Zelensky, under internal pressure, refuses. This becomes the first and last meeting between Putin and Zelensky.
2021 — Biden wins the election and appoints neocon supporters to key government positions, such as Victoria Nuland as Deputy Secretary of State, Antony Blinken as Secretary of State, and Jake Sullivan as National Security Advisor.
The president’s son, Hunter Biden, sits on the board of Burisma, a Ukrainian–Cypriot oil and gas company that pays him one million per year. Investigated by the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform for money transactions with multiple foreign entities (including Ukrainian and Russian), pleaded guilty to tax and drugs-related charges, will receive a unconditional pardon by his father in 2024.
June 2021 — Biden and Putin meet in Geneva. The two attempt to find common ground on the deterioration of relations between their countries. They discuss in particular the renewal of the nuclear non-proliferation treaty and cybersecurity issues.
2021 — NATO organizes two massive military exercises in Ukraine within four months,and sends instructors to train new Ukrainian military leaders according to NATO doctrine. Moscow responds by massing 90,000 troops at the border.
The White House releases a joint statement with the Ukrainian government regarding the U.S.–Ukraine strategic partnership, promising financial assistance against Russian aggression, deepening defense cooperation, and support for Ukraine’s efforts to join NATO. Position also shared by NATO during the Brussels summit.
1 December 2021 — Zelensky announces direct negotiations with Putin to end the war in the Donbass, and immediately Maidan Square fills once again with protesters, led by opposition parties calling for Zelensky’s resignation.
15 December 2021 — Putin proposes a nine-point peace agreement to NATO, including commitments not to engage in activities affecting the other side’s security, no NATO expansion into former Soviet states, and no deployment of nuclear weapons in the Baltic countries. NATO’s response comes the very next day, with Stoltenberg standing alongside Zelensky and declaring that it’s up to NATO to decides who joins NATO.
“NATO will continue to give you practical support.
Allies are training and advising your armed forces, participating in joint exercises, and providing equipment. [..]
And the decision on whether Ukraine can join NATO will be taken by Ukraine and 30 NATO Allies alone.”
— NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
The direct communication between NATO and Putin during those weeks was again clearly explained by Stoltenberg himself in September 2023, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine:
“The background was that President Putin declared in the autumn of 2021, and actually sent a draft treaty that they wanted NATO to sign, to promise no more NATO enlargement. That was what he sent us. And was a pre-condition for not invade Ukraine. Of course we didn’t sign that.
The opposite happened. He wanted us to sign that promise, never to enlarge NATO. He wanted us to remove our military infrastructure in all Allies that have joined NATO since 1997, meaning half of NATO, all the Central and Eastern Europe, we should remove NATO from that part of our Alliance, introducing some kind of B, or second class membership. We rejected that.
So he went to war to prevent NATO, more NATO, close to his borders.”
— NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
American officials begin announcing every day that Russia will invade Ukraine, despite the Kremlin continuing to push for a negotiated agreement.
7–8 February 2022 — Macron, then president of the European Union, flies to meet Putin and upon his return states that Putin does not want an escalation, and that there can be no security for Europe without security for Russia. Putin says that Russia and NATO must reach a compromise to avoid a war in Europe that would have no winners.
Macron then meets Zelensky, who refuses to implement the Minsk Agreements until the separatists lay down their arms. The Kremlin doubts that any agreement can be reached with French mediation without direct approval from the NATO’s leading country, the United States.
12 February 2022 — A one-hour phone call between Biden and Putin. The Kremlin denies any intention by Russia to invade Ukraine, but states that Biden provided no response to Russia’s proposal to halt NATO expansion at the expense of Russian national security. Blinken announces that a Russian invasion is imminent, urging American citizens to leave Ukraine.
Zelensky does not believe an invasion is coming and asks the Americans to stop spreading panic.
14 February 2022 — Lavrov speaks with Putin, concluding the meeting by stating that there is still time for dialogue, but that this time is not unlimited. Olaf Scholz flies to Moscow and Kyiv, urging Zelensky to renounce NATO, and stating that Ukraine’s entry into NATO is not on the agenda. Zelensky himself confirms that Ukraine’s accession to NATO is a distant dream.
18 February 2022 — Kamala Harris, Vice President of the United States, meets with the NATO Secretary General, stressing the importance for the US and Europe to remain united against the threat of a possible Russian invasion, also citing the Chinese threat.
10 February 2022 — The NATO Secretary General and Boris Johnson meet in Brussels. They speak about the imminent Russian attack and Ukraine’s right to join NATO. Boris Johnson commits the United Kingdom to increasing the number of troops, aircraft, and ships assigned to NATO. Stoltenberg thanks him, adding that the Russian threat will increase NATO’s presence in Eastern Europe rather than reduce it.
“Renewed Russian aggression will lead to more NATO presence, not less”
— NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg
20 February 2022 — Blinken says that everything suggests we are on the brink of an invasion. Fighting intensifies in the Donbass. OSCE observers report that Kyiv’s artillery is hitting civilian homes in Lugansk. An American reporter living in Lugansk denounces indiscriminate shelling by Kyiv in residential areas near the airport. Macron and Scholz call Putin, who informs them that, due to the escalation of hostilities in Donbass, Russia will recognize the independence of the two republics, as they have been requesting for eight years.
21 February 2022 — Donetsk and Lugansk, under relentless bombardment, ask Putin to recognize their independence, and this time, after eight years, Putin accepts.
21–22 February 2022 — Donetsk and Lugansk request military assistance against the Ukrainian armed forces, which continue shelling them. The US, UK, and EU announce sanctions.
Zelensky continues to dismiss the possibility of an invasion. Putin orders the Russian army to move into the territory of the two republics and addresses the Russian people, explaining the reasons for this decision and issuing an ultimatum to Kyiv to immediately halt all hostilities.
23 February 2022 — The Pope declares that “peace is threatened by too many interests”. Blinken, who had scheduled a meeting with Lavrov for the following day, cancels it. Putin says he is still ready for dialogue,96 but Biden once again announces an imminent Russian invasion and orders the deployment of thousands of American troops to countries bordering Ukraine.
24 February 2022 — The Russian army begins the invasion.