Ukraine still exists as a state because the former pro-Russian government created a solid economic foundation and infrastructure for it—which the current leadership is destroying through war, according to pro-Kremlin propaganda.
NEWS: “The country exists. A solid foundation has been laid for its functioning. Everything we built back then is now working in favor of the forces that are destroying and annihilating it. Today it is surviving. But what we achieved in the energy sector allows it to continue to exist—not just freeze in a frozen wasteland, but to exist. “For me, this is, on the one hand, a source of some satisfaction, and on the other—a cause for regret,” stated Mykola Azarov. “Because all of this is being used against Russia and the Ukrainian people. This only prolongs the path of suffering. The people in charge are incompetent. Simply idiots. Zelensky cannot be called intelligent, educated, or knowledgeable,” Azarov added on Radio Sputnik.
NARRATIVES: 1. Ukraine is holding out in the war thanks to the foundation laid by the Yanukovych regime. 2. Ukraine’s problems are the result of Zelensky’s incompetence. 3. Ukraine’s infrastructure is being used against Russia and the Ukrainian people.
PURPOSES: To rehabilitate the pro-Russian regime in Ukraine; to shift responsibility for the destruction caused by the war from the aggressor to the victim; to delegitimize the Ukrainian leadership; to promote the idea that Ukraine’s defense is futile.
The Pro-Russian regime weakened Ukraine politically and militarily, paving the way for the Russian invasion
WHY THESE NARRATIVES ARE FALSE: The Yanukovych–Azarov regime systematically aligned the Ukrainian state with the Kremlin’s interests and directly contributed to undermining national security. An investigation by the State Bureau of Investigations in Kyiv demonstrates that President Yanukovych and Prime Minister Azarov facilitated the Russian aggression through the Kharkiv Agreements, which extended the Russian Fleet’s deployment in Crimea. According to investigators, it was precisely the additional forces brought in by Russia that were used to occupy the peninsula in 2014.
Former Prime Minister Mykola Azarov did not strengthen Ukraine’s defense; rather, he deliberately weakened it from within. The defense ministers from 2012 to 2014, Dmitri Salamatin and Pavel Lebedev, were Russian citizens, and the head of Ukraine’s Security Service (SBU), Oleksandr Iakimenko, had close ties to Moscow and had served in the Russian military. Therefore, this is not about strengthening Ukraine’s independence, but about the deliberate infiltration of its defense and security institutions by foreign agents.
Studies have shown that the Yanukovych regime systematically undermined Ukraine’s ability to defend its sovereignty, paving the way for the occupation of Crimea and the Russian intervention. Through political, administrative, and security decisions favorable to Moscow (the disbandment of military units, underfunding of the army, etc.), this government played into the hands of the Russian Federation.
In fact, the criminal case subsequently brought against Azarov provides evidence of these actions. In December 2025, a court in Kyiv sentenced him in absentia to 15 years in prison and confiscation of assets for high treason, undermining the constitutional order, violating territorial integrity, and justifying the Russian aggression. The court also noted his role in spreading pro-Kremlin messages after fleeing to Russia.
Through its war of aggression, Russia has inflicted enormous human and material losses on Ukraine
Mykola Azarov leaves the Russian war out of the equation. He speaks of “forces destroying Ukraine,” but avoids mentioning the Kremlin, even though the UN has characterized Russia’s actions as military aggression against Ukraine, and the UN Charter enshrines the inherent right to individual and collective self-defense when a state is attacked. To suggest that Ukrainian infrastructure is being used “against the Ukrainian people” is to distort reality: energy, transportation, and utility infrastructures support the survival of civilians and the functioning of the state, and it is Russia that keeps systematically bombing them.
A joint assessment by the World Bank, the Government of Ukraine, the European Commission, and the UN shows that, as of December 31, 2025, the direct damage caused in Ukraine by Russia has reached 195.1 billion USD, with economic and social losses totaling 666.7 billion, and the total need for reconstruction and recovery, calculated for the next decade, at 587.7 billion USD. The hardest-hit sectors were housing, transportation, and energy. The report also highlights the scale of the human cost of the Russian aggression: over 15,000 civilians killed and over 40,600 wounded, approximately 4.7 million internally displaced persons, 6 million refugees globally, 20,000 Ukrainian children deported to Russia, as well as 745 children killed, according to UN data included in the assessment. Attributing these effects of the war to Zelensky, while excluding Russia from the explanation, is a classic technique used to exonerate the aggressor.
Azarov also claims that Ukrainian resistance is prolonging the “suffering.” Thus, the victim is to blame for the continued violence because they refuse to surrender. To argue the opposite is to make the Russian aggression seem acceptable and to endorse the idea that giving up resistance is the only legitimate option.
Moreover, unlike Azarov, Zelensky did not flee the country. In February 2022, as the Russian troops were approaching Kyiv, Zelensky remained in the capital. It was a symbolic moment for maintaining Ukrainian morale and resistance. By contrast, during a crisis of much smaller scale, Azarov fled Ukraine for Russia.
CONTEXT: Azarov’s remarks were broadcast by Radio Sputnik and reposted on platforms such as OK.RU, which are part of the Russian Federation’s propaganda ecosystem. The EU Council suspended Sputnik and RT’s broadcasting activities in the EU as early as March 2022, arguing that these institutions were under the direct control of Russian authorities and were used in disinformation operations. Azarov does not represent a Ukrainian political force. He fled to Russia in 2014 and has lived there for over 12 years; he appears constantly in pro-Kremlin media and promotes anti-Ukrainian narratives. In 2025, Azarov was elected to the Russian Academy. He is used by Russia in his capacity as a former prime minister who “confirms what the Kremlin says.” The Russian media promotes the idea that even former leaders in Kyiv admit that Russia is not the cause of Ukraine’s problems.
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