The undeniable fact is that Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around. That makes Russia the aggressor and Ukraine the victim in that conflict.

[–] Tomorrow_Farewell@lemmy.ml 3 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago)

Whataboutism.

Seriously claiming that other people engage in "whataboutism" is just an admittance of one's own hypocrisy.

The undeniable fact is that Russia invaded Ukraine

After NATO self-admittedly kept pushing for war with Russia with Ukraine as its proxy.

That makes Russia the aggressor and Ukraine the victim in that conflict.

Attempting to join the most prolific invader in the world is an act of aggression, and so is pushing for war with Russia. I wouldn't say that responding to those makes a state the aggressor, but the people of Ukraine (excluding its leadership) are some of the victims.

[–] RiverRock@lemmy.ml 9 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago)

"Erm sir it is actually a heckin whataboutism to point out that I have aligned myself with Nazis"

[–] culprit@lemmy.ml 11 points 17 hours ago* (last edited 17 hours ago) (1 children)

History started in 2022. I am very smart!

“Four months into this thing, I like the structural path we’re on here. As long as we help Ukraine with the weapons they need and the economic support, they will fight to the last person,” said Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.) early into the war, accidentally voicing what the war’s critics have often said about the war — that the U.S. will fight it “to the last Ukrainian.” Later, Graham called it the “best money we’ve ever spent.”

[+] grue@lemmy.world -9 points 16 hours ago (2 children)

Are you capable of admitting that Russia invaded Ukraine, not the other way around?

[–] RiverRock@lemmy.ml 8 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

Are you capable of admitting that the Ukranian government was engaged in an eight year campaign of ethnic cleansing?

[–] culprit@lemmy.ml 7 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

The revolutionary violence that swept Kyiv’s Maidan Square on the night of February 21, 2014 unleashed the forces of Ukrainian nationalism and, ultimately, Russian revanchism, and resulted in, among other things, the first full-scale land war in Europe since 1945.

In November 2013, Ukrainian President Victor Yanukovych rejected the terms of the European Union Association Agreement in favor of a $15 billion credit agreement offered by the Russian Federation. Many in the western part of Ukraine had supported the EU deal, as it would have, in their view, secured Ukraine’s future within Europe.

But, as the Europeans, Americans, Ukrainians and Russians knew full well, the association agreement with Brussels wasn’t merely a trade deal. Section 2.3 of the EU-Ukraine association agenda would have required the signatories to:

"...take measures to foster military cooperation and cooperation of technical character between the EU and Ukraine [and] encourage and facilitate direct cooperation on concrete activities, jointly identified by both sides, between relevant Ukrainian institutions and CFSP/CSDP agencies and bodies such as the European Defence Agency, the European Union Institute for Security Studies, the European Union Satellite Centre and the European Security and Defence College."

In other words, the trade deal also included the encouragement of military interoperability with forces viewed, rightly or wrongly, by the Russian government as a threat to Russian national security.

In addition, the EU association agenda required Ukraine to put up barriers to trade with Russia. An alternative proposal put forward by Romano Prodi (former Italian Prime Minister and EU Commission president) would have allowed Ukraine to trade with both Russia and the EU but was rejected by Brussels.

And so, the U.S. lent its support to the post-Maidan government (and the Anti-Terrorist Operation, or ATO, launched in April 2014) against the largely, but of course far from entirely, indigenous uprising in the Donbas. Thus began the first phase of the war, which lasted until the evening of February 24, 2022 and cost 14,000 dead and 1.5 million refugees.

https://responsiblestatecraft.org/maidan-ukraine/