Thread by @PaulNiland

Now he's on the record with another blatant lie. This one commonly repeated by vatniks and other assorted apologists. He says that before their full scale invasion, Ukraine was shelling the Donbas for 8 years. It's whataboutism to deflect from war crimes accusations. And a lie.

https://twitter.com/BBCPolitics/status/1662757021341593600

Here are the facts.

russia invaded the Donbas in 2014. Ukraine had every right to fight to kick them out. But that never included attacks on civilians. A military force was sent to counter military force. And the Ukrainians were winning on the battlefield, map spring/summer '14.

To reverse the looming defeat more russian regular forces got involved in the fight, due to international concerns the parties were brought together in Minsk for mediation.

The resulting agreement required an international observation mission on the ground. The @OSCE namely.

Now to the conclusion of this thread. If Ukraine had spent 8 years bombing the civilian population of the Donbas, the #OSCE would have had 8 years of records of this. They don't. Because it's a russian lie.

Also, as a result of Minsk, Ukraine's artillery was kept in storage too.