The Russian government uses many weapons, including blatant lies, misinformation and propaganda.

• They say that they are on a “liberating mission”, but it’s a full-fledged war against Ukraine.
• They say that Ukraine is overtaken by a “military junta” or “Kyiv regime”, but all Ukrainian presidents have been elected via open, democratic country-wide elections since 1991, the year we regained independence. Since 2014, Russia has been giving shelter to pro-Russian ex-president, Viktor Yanukovych, who is accused of state treason and multiple other crimes.
• They say that they are “demilitarizing” Ukraine, but they are really trying to destroy the defenсe infrastructure. Every independent country has the right to defend itself, and it’s not up to Russia to decide whether or not Ukraine should have the means of defenсe.
• They say that they are “denazifying” Ukraine where Nazi propaganda is condemned and illegal.
• They claim that we have been “oppressing the Russian-speaking population”, but in reality just trying to oppress the Ukrainian language and culture. Take it from a (former) Russian speaker - I have never been oppressed here.
• They claim that Ukrainians “welcome Russian liberators”, but our army has been bravely fighting them off - just like they would do with any occupant.
• They say that they are “only attacking military objects”, but they attack civil objects: residential areas, kindergartens, orphanages, power plants, and even water reserves. The report on Putin’s war crimes is already being prepared for Hague.
• They say that they are “afraid that Ukraine will create a nuclear weapon”, while Ukraine doesn’t have nuclear weapons or plans to create them. In 1994 Ukraine gave up all the nuclear weapons it had. In exchange, Russia promised to respect the independence and state borders of Ukraine. Since then, Russia has annexed the Crimean peninsula and sponsored 2 terrorist regimes that overtook parts of the Donetsk and Luhansk region.
• They say that we have been “fighting the people of Donbass” for 8 years, while Ukraine has been protecting its territories and supported the population of the temporarily occupied territories (e.g. with pensions).

We do not attack our own citizens or bomb our own territories - no democratic state would do this. No sane people would do this