I got caught in the middle of watching Putin discussing the current events. And he did briefly illustrate and state what he says, was the beginning of the war. And he it made deliberately clear that it was not Russia, attempting to attack or start a war.
This got me thinking, and trying to figure out for certain what is the, “truth” surrounding this. The following contents, from below and onward are all collected texts and information, freely available on the internet. This is not, my words or my work. But copied information. I never want this website to become anything more than my voice, so sharing this is not easy. Because it does misalign the purpose and intention of the site. But believe me, if I ever do use other people’s words I will make it certain. So you don’t need to guess at what is from me, or not.
Something else that you need to be aware of. Is that yes, during the earlier stages of life. There was a mass famine that struck Ukraine, which was by Joseph Stalin. This has been historically known as Holodomor.
When I consider both the USA and regions of Asia. Considering our hard past with one another. I do wonder that if the blood boils like that between Russian and Ukrainian.
The vietnam war and pearl harbor. There was so much bad that went on and happened between Americans and Asians. Its hard to ignore. And the same can be said in terms of racism. Today we are now being impacted by a new injustice and death. And its destroying innocent lives. Many christians ruthlessly murdered and attacked in Africa and all around the world.
Add to the fact what is going on now in France and all of Europe. The entire world is suffering now, because of our tolerance for others. Its that same hive mind mentality that the woke and uninformed all seem to gravitate towards.
All of this aside, I do hope to share details and information that should make the situation specifically concerning Ukraine more clear and discernable. This is not at all fact. Its collected data.
There is an objective historical record we can examine. We can distinguish what is documented, what Russia claims, what Ukraine and Western governments claim, and what remains disputed. We don’t have to assume that every statement from either side is true.
The most important distinction is this: the conflict did not begin in February 2022, but Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine did begin on February 24, 2022. Those are two different historical facts, and understanding both is essential to assessing Putin’s statement.
1. What actually happened? A timeline
1991 — Ukraine becomes independent
The Soviet Union dissolves, and Ukraine becomes an independent country. Russia and Ukraine are now separate states, despite their long shared history, cultural ties, and family connections. Ukraine’s future political alignment becomes an increasingly important issue.
2013–February 2014 — Ukraine’s political crisis
Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych abandons a planned agreement with the European Union in favor of closer economic ties with Russia. Mass protests follow. After violent clashes and the collapse of a political compromise, Yanukovych flees the country, and parliament installs a new government.
Russia describes these events as an illegitimate Western-backed coup. Many Ukrainians viewed the protests as a popular uprising against corruption and authoritarianism. The transition was legally and politically contested, and not every Ukrainian supported it. https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-9476
House of Commons Library
February–March 2014 — Crimea
Russian troops seize control of key locations in Crimea, a Ukrainian peninsula with a majority ethnic-Russian population and Russia’s Black Sea Fleet base at Sevastopol. Russia then annexes Crimea after a referendum held under Russian military control.
Russia presents the referendum as an exercise of self-determination. Ukraine and most of the international community do not recognize the annexation as lawful.
House of Commons Library
2014–2021 — War in the Donbas
Armed separatists take control of parts of Donetsk and Luhansk in eastern Ukraine. Ukraine fights to regain control. Russia supports the separatists; the extent and nature of Russian military involvement evolve over time, and Russia denies being a party to the conflict in the way Ukraine and Western governments describe.
The Minsk agreements of 2014 and 2015 seek to establish ceasefires and a political settlement, but they are never fully implemented. Thousands of civilians die over the eight-year conflict.
House of Commons Library
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February 24, 2022 — Full-scale invasion
Russia launches a major invasion from several directions, including from Russia, Belarus, and Russian-occupied Crimea. Russian forces attack Ukrainian cities and military positions. The invasion expands the existing conflict into a war across much of Ukraine.
Putin calls it a “special military operation.” The UN General Assembly subsequently condemns Russia’s aggression and demands that it withdraw its forces.
Al Jazeera
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2. Why does Putin say Russia didn’t start the war?
His argument is that the events of 2022 cannot be separated from what came before. In his public statements, he has repeatedly pointed to several grievances.
| Putin’s argument | What the historical record shows |
|---|---|
| NATO expanded toward Russia. | True. Several former Soviet-bloc countries joined NATO. In 2008, NATO declared that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually become members, although Ukraine was not a NATO member when Russia invaded in 2022. |
| The 2014 change of government in Kyiv was a coup. | Yanukovych’s departure followed mass protests, deadly violence, and a breakdown of the political agreement. The circumstances and legality of the transition are contested, but calling the entire event a Western-organized coup goes beyond what the established record alone proves. |
| Russian-speaking people in Donbas needed protection. | The Donbas war was real, and civilians suffered on both sides. The UN documented thousands of civilian deaths from 2014 through 2021. That suffering does not, by itself, establish Russia’s claim that a genocide was occurring. |
| Russia had no choice but to act militarily. | This is a claim about necessity, not an established historical fact. Russia chose to launch the full-scale invasion; diplomatic alternatives and disputes over security existed, but the claim that invasion was unavoidable is not demonstrated by the evidence. |
There is a legitimate historical question about whether Western governments handled relations with Russia wisely, especially over NATO enlargement, European security, and Ukraine’s future alignment. Those decisions deserve scrutiny, too.
But two things can be true at the same time: Russia can have genuine security concerns, and those concerns do not automatically give it the right to invade a neighboring sovereign country.
3. What about the claim of genocide in eastern Ukraine?
This is one of the most important claims to examine separately.
Before 2022, civilians in the Donbas really were killed and injured. The UN’s human rights office estimated that the conflict caused between 14,200 and 14,400 deaths in total from April 2014 through December 2021, including combatants and at least 3,404 civilians. That total includes deaths aboard Malaysia Airlines flight MH17, which was shot down in July 2014.
The United Nations in Ukraine
But civilian deaths and genocide are not the same thing. Genocide requires specific acts and the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a protected national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
In March 2022, the International Court of Justice said it did not have evidence substantiating Russia’s allegation that genocide had been committed in Ukraine. It ordered Russia to suspend the military operations pending further proceedings. This was a provisional-measures decision, not a final judgment resolving every aspect of the dispute.
INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
That distinction matters: Russia had grounds to raise concerns about civilian suffering, but its allegation of genocide was not established by the evidence before the Court.
4. Did the West contribute to the circumstances that led to war?
This deserves an honest answer, rather than dismissing the question as Russian propaganda.
There are several serious issues historians and international-relations experts debate:
- NATO enlargement: Russia repeatedly objected to NATO’s eastward expansion. NATO’s 2008 declaration explicitly stated that Ukraine and Georgia would eventually become members. Whether this policy was strategically wise is debated; it does not establish that NATO planned to attack Russia.
NATO Official text
- Ukraine’s right to choose its alignment: Ukrainian governments and citizens were divided over closer ties with Russia versus integration with Europe. Russia opposed Ukraine moving toward Western institutions, while Ukraine’s government increasingly pursued that direction.
- The 2014 political crisis: Yanukovych’s departure was a turning point. Russia viewed the new political order as hostile and illegitimate; many Ukrainians supported the change. The crisis intensified Russia’s confrontation with Ukraine.
- The failure of diplomacy: The Minsk agreements failed to produce a lasting settlement in eastern Ukraine. The parties disagreed over the order of political and security measures, and ceasefire violations continued. Those failures helped preserve the conditions for further conflict.
House of Commons Library
These factors help explain how the war became possible. They do not prove that a full-scale invasion was inevitable, nor do they transfer responsibility for the decision to launch it away from the Russian government.
It is also important to distinguish between explaining why a government acted and establishing that its actions were lawful or justified. Those are separate questions.
5. So who started the war?
The answer depends on which phase of the conflict you’re talking about.
| Question | What the evidence establishes |
|---|---|
| Who began the fighting in eastern Ukraine in 2014? | The conflict emerged amid Ukraine’s political crisis, Russia’s seizure and annexation of Crimea, and the rise of armed separatist movements backed by Russia. It was not a simple case of one isolated event. |
| Who launched the full-scale invasion in February 2022? | The Russian government, under Vladimir Putin, ordered the invasion, and Russian forces entered Ukraine from multiple directions. |
| Did Russia have genuine security concerns? | Yes, its government had longstanding concerns about NATO and Ukraine’s Western alignment. Whether those concerns justified military action is a different question. |
| Was the invasion internationally accepted as lawful? | No. On March 2, 2022, the UN General Assembly adopted a resolution condemning Russia’s aggression by 141 votes to 5, with 35 abstentions. The resolution was not a criminal conviction, but it demonstrates the breadth of international opposition. |
6. How can you investigate this without simply trusting either side?
I’d recommend comparing original documents with independent historical reporting. That gives you a better chance of identifying where facts end and political interpretation begins.
United Nations — the 2022 resolution
Read the actual resolution and vote record condemning the invasion.
Read the UN resolution and voting record
House of Commons Library — historical timeline
A detailed chronology of the 2014 crisis, Crimea’s annexation, the Donbas war, and the period leading up to 2022.
International Court of Justice — the genocide allegation
Read the Court’s actual order and its discussion of the evidence available in March 2022.
Read the Court’s order of March 16, 2022
NATO — its 2008 declaration
Read the alliance’s own statement about Ukraine’s prospective membership. This helps separate what NATO actually said from what either side later claimed it said.
Read NATO’s original declaration
My overall assessment of the historical record
The most accurate account isn’t that nothing happened before Russia invaded, nor that every Russian explanation is true.
The conflict has roots in Ukraine’s post-Soviet independence, its internal political divisions, the 2014 revolution and change of government, Russia’s annexation of Crimea, the war in the Donbas, NATO–Russia tensions, and the failure of diplomacy.
But the distinction that should not get lost in all that history is this: the existence of a complicated history does not make the documented events of February 24, 2022, disappear. Russia initiated the full-scale invasion. Putin’s argument that the war had earlier roots is historically relevant; the claim that Russia therefore did not initiate the 2022 invasion is a different proposition.
One further question is worth investigating if you want to get closer to the underlying truth: what, precisely, was Russia trying to achieve when it invaded in February 2022? Putin’s stated reasons, the military operation’s initial direction toward Kyiv, and Russia’s subsequent territorial demands provide different kinds of evidence about that question.
