1. The Ukraine war was actively and persistently prepared by the West. The work began years before Ukraine became independent in 1991 following the breakup of the USSR, dating from the point where it became possible for Western NGOs to operate on Soviet territory under perestroika. As key US operative Victoria Nuland notoriously boasted in 2013, the sums spent were of the order of $5 billion.
This process took a huge step forward with the Maidan events in 2014 and the coming to power of anti-Russian chauvinist and far right forces (many ideologically inspired by World War II Nazi collaborator Stepan Bandera), determined to crush the ethnic Russian population and “Ukrainise” the whole country. They began a civil war against the Donbass.