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Refuting Russia's Claims: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea
By Sarah Ashton-Cirillo
In this latest media blitz by White House envoy Steve Witkoff, the world is being asked to swallow once more the bitter pill of Vlad Putin's geopolitical landscape of lies as the Kremlin is peddling an attempt to rewrite borders and history, asserting claims over the Ukrainian territories of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea. Yet facts, international law, and global consensus refute these assertions unequivocally.
Since Ukraine's independence in 1991, the world has recognized its sovereignty within clearly defined borders—including these five disputed regions. Ukraine's territorial integrity is cemented in international recognition and, potentially even more importantly, explicit Russian commitments. Among these are the 1994 Budapest Memorandum, which saw Russia pledge to respect Ukraine's 1991 sovereign borders in exchange for the dismantling of its sizeable nuclear arsenal, and a "Friendship Treaty" between Russia and Ukraine, dating to 1997, that saw Russia acknowledge Ukraine as an equal sovereign state, reinforcing the legal inviolability of its territory.
These assurances, along with the respect for international norms and the rule of law, were shattered in 2014 when Russia swept in and occupied Crimea and then staged an illegal referendum conducted under military duress. The global community overwhelmingly rejected this so-called vote, which was dismissed as illegitimate due to it being held at gunpoint rather than under free, democratic conditions.
Following the Moscow regime's brutal blueprint, Russia instigated conflict in the Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk and Luhansk, fueling separatist entities that lacked international legitimacy. February 2022 saw this aggression escalate dramatically when the Kremlin initiated a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, seizing parts of Kherson, Zaporizhzhia and expanding its reach in Donetsk and Luhansk in a genocidal frenzy accomplished through methods such as rape, torture, and the use of chemical weapons. Sham referendums were quickly orchestrated in the areas under Russian military occupation, their outcomes predetermined and designed solely to mask territorial aggression.
Claims of annexation originating from Moscow after the February invasion were universally condemned in the months following these initial and laughable pronouncements. The United Nations nearly unanimously denounced Russia's actions as violations of international law, calling for immediate reversal. The European Union and NATO followed suit, with the "latter labeling" the votes as "sham referenda," and many individual nations joined this chorus, imposing sanctions and affirming Ukraine's territorial rights. Furthermore, based on the principle of no decisions without considering that only Ukrainians can have the final say over their nation's future, the country's constitution is enshrined with the directive that any territorial changes require nationwide approval, not fraudulent regional votes orchestrated by an occupying force.
Putin's narrative, in which he claims to protect Russian-speaking natives of these regions, amplifies his imperialistic ambitions. The Russian dictator often laments the collapse of the Soviet Union and, in comments, has offered a revealing and entrenched deep-seated revisionist intent, exemplified by aggressive rhetoric towards Moldova's Transnistria, threats directed at the NATO member Baltic nations, and ongoing actions in Georgia.
Despite the messaging from the Trump Administration that has propagated Putin's falsehoods, the international community sees clear. Russia's claims on Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, Luhansk, and Crimea were founded through the illegal use of force and built up as a pyramid of falsehoods. The world knows the facts are these: Legally, historically, and morally, the five regions mentioned by Witkoff are regions unequivocally Ukrainian.
Although the world refuses to validate Putin's aggressive expansionism, recognizing that the battle for these territories is not merely Ukraine's fight but one for the very soul of the free world is key. This is a stand for the principles of sovereignty and self-determination. Ukraine's peace and salvaging of the global order rests on this foundation, and it must not only be accompanied by words but also concrete and decisive actions of all nations and people willing to understand that trusting Putin is to cast darkness upon humanity.
For those who missed this, here is the our last post:
Gonzalo Lira, Russia and the Truth
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