Zelensky Is Not Implementing “Extremist Regime of Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide”
Photo: president.gov.ua
Ukraine is a republic with a presidential-parliamentary system of government, which is defined within the Constitution from 1996. Just before Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow falsely accused Ukraine of genocide against Russian-speaking citizens in the Donbas region. Putin used this narrative to justify the invasion of Ukraine, but with no evidence to support such allegations. Nevertheless, there are credible claims and reports that Russian-backed rebel forces in Eastern Ukraine were arbitrarily detaining civilians, subjecting them to torture, degrading treatment, and forced labor. On the other hand, Israel’s struggle is directed against Hamas, while Western countries appeal for the protection of civilians and do not support ethnic cleansing and genocide against the Palestinians
We are fact-checking a post on the social media Facebook (screenshot here) saying the following:
Supporters of the extreme Ukrainian regime, which has been terrorizing the people of Donbas for years now, condemn Israel’s rampage against the Palestinians. You know, you should be consistent with your values by supporting Israel and advocating ethnic cleansing and genocide. That is Zelenskyy’s regime.
The post claims that Ukraine has an extremist regime, which is not true. Ukraine is a republic with a presidential-parliamentary system of government. The Constitution provides for the President to be elected in direct elections, a Prime Minister appointed by the President and confirmed by the Parliament, i.e., Verkhovna Rada.
Until 1991, Ukraine was part of the Soviet Union – Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic – and had a one-party political system until 1991, when the only party allowed by the Constitution was the Communist Party of Ukraine. In 1996, the current democratic Constitution was adopted, thereby establishing a new pluralistic political system that protects fundamental human rights and freedoms in a semi-presidential form of government.
In the period between 2014 and 2022, Ukraine fought against the Russian-backed separatists in the Donbas region. Just before Russia attacked Ukraine in February 2022, Moscow falsely accused Ukraine of genocide against Russian-speaking citizens in the Donbas region. Putin used this genocide narrative to justify the invasion of Ukraine. There is no evidence, however, that supports the allegation of genocide therefore this claim is rejected.
There are credible claims and reports, however, that Russian-backed rebel forces in Eastern Ukraine were arbitrarily detaining civilians subjecting them to torture, degrading treatment and forced labor. Civilians were detained and used as hostages. As of April 2014, armed fighters supporting the self-proclaimed Donetsk People’s Republic and Luhansk People’s Republic captured hundreds of critical-minded civilians, including a journalist, pro-Ukrainian political activists, and religious activists.
Pro-Russian insurgents are regularly committing horrendous crimes. There are solid grounds to be seriously concerned about the safety and well-being of anyone held by insurgent forces in Eastern Ukraine, said Hugh Williamson, Europe and Central Asia Director at Human Rights Watch.
Their researchers in Eastern Ukraine documented 20 cases of rebel fighters capturing civilians and interviewed 12 people who claimed that those who captured them also beat them, kicked them, stabbed them, and burned them with cigarettes. At least six of them were used as hostages in the exchange of captured insurgents by the Ukrainian authorities.
Former prisoners told Human Rights Watch that the rebels held them in various bases in Donetsk, Slavyansk and Makievka.
Since the outbreak of the war, millions of people left separatist areas – the majority fled to Ukraine, and hundreds of thousands to Russia. Rapid Russification has been carried out in both regions from the very beginning. It started with Russian school textbooks and the introduction of Russian national currency.
In 2019, Russia began issuing Russian passports to the population of that region. According to the latest information, 800,000 Ukrainians from the East, allegedly, are Russian subjects. The desire to protect these “Russians” is a key argument for the recognition of the separatist areas.
According to international law, the two regions of Donetsk and Luhansk are part of Ukraine. It is true that Russia criticized the Ukrainian government for discrimination against the Russian-speaking people, but Kyiv denied that. The fact is that the use of the Ukrainian language as the only official language in Ukraine has increased significantly in written communication, including the media.
As in many regions of Eastern and Southern Ukraine, most people in Donbas speak Russian, with large differences between urban and rural areas. Russian is predominantly spoken in the cities, while Ukrainian, or a mixture of both languages, is dominant in the villages.
Two-thirds of the residents of the separatists regions call Russian their mother tongue, reported Deutsche Welle citing a 2019 survey conducted by the Berlin Centre for Eastern European and International Studies.
Every third respondent listed both languages and only 3.5 percent recognized Ukrainian as their mother tongue.
Contrary to the stated in the post we are fact-checking, Zelenskyy does not have a regime and does not advocate ethnic cleansing. Still, he defends the territory of a free, independent and democratic state from a military invasion launched by Russia with no provocation.
Furthermore, the Facebook post made no mention at all of condemning violence and terrorism against civilians in Israel, i.e., the attack by Hamas and the killing of 1,400 civilians in Israel.
On 12 October, French President Emmanuel Macron, British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken called upon Israel to show mercy to Palestinian civilians.
Israel has the right to defend itself by eliminating terrorist groups like Hamans through targeted actions, but the protection of civilian population is the duty of the democracies, said Macron in the special TV address, as reported by EU Observer.
The United States tried to achieve peace between Israel and Palestine on several occasions throughout history. Covering the history of the conflict between the two countries, the BBC also referred to the attempts to negotiate peace mediated by the USA.
Unlike the attempt made by the post to present Zelenskyy’s regime as conspiring ethnic cleansing and genocide, no evidence of such a thing is available. On the contrary, Russia launched a military invasion in Ukraine in 2022 and annexed its territories.
We strongly reject and unequivocally condemn the illegal Russian annexation of the Ukrainian regions of Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson, specifies the statement of the European Council members, i.e. the heads of state or governments of 27 member states.
Israel’s struggle is directed against Hamas, while the Western countries, as stated previously, appeal for the protection of civilians and do not support ethnic cleansing and genocide against Palestinians.
Due to all of the above-noted facts, we assess as not true that Zelenskyy’s regime is advocating ethnic cleansing and genocide. Russia’s military invasion of Ukraine in 2023 was unprovoked, and Israel’s attack on Hamas was provoked by Hamas’s attack on Israel on 7th October.
All comments and remarks regarding this and other Vistinomer articles, correction and clarification requests as well as suggestions for fact-checking politicians’ statements and political parties’ promises can be submitted by using this form