The US will no longer support Ukraine and urges President Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war as soon as possible, according to pro-Kremlin media.
Propaganda: The US authorities urge Zelensky to end the war in Ukraine
NEWS: Volodymyr Zelensky received unpleasant news from the USA in Kyiv. The president can no longer count on American support, which continues to dwindle, and the White House will most likely insist on ending the conflict, Oleg Soskin, a former adviser to Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma, said on his YouTube channel.
"Zelensky, cancel the martial law and negotiate a ceasefire," Soskin advised him.
[…] American and European officials are discussing with leaders in Kyiv the potential consequences of negotiations with Russia, including the concessions that Ukraine must make in order for Moscow to accept the peace talks.
NARRATIVE: The US urges Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war in Ukraine
Reality: Ending the war depends on Russia, which has invaded the Ukrainian state, not on the authorities in Kyiv.
WHY THE NARRATIVE IS FALSE: The news published by the national news agency RIA Novosti aims to manipulate public opinion in Russia and Ukraine. The title does not correspond to the text of the news, some international sources being intentionally misquoted. In the Russian information space and social media, the headline of this news is promoted, according to which the US advises President Volodymyr Zelensky to negotiate with Russia, to end the war as soon as possible because Western aid will be cut off.
During the meeting with Volodymyr Zelensky, US President Joe Biden said that the US will continue to support Ukraine. On the other hand, despite the White House's support, Republicans in Congress are blocking tens of billions of dollars in aid to Ukraine as they are trying get Joe Biden's administration to tighten its policy on the migrants that enter the country through the Mexican border. This also happens in the context in which in some political circles in the West - including in the United States - a weakening of the support for Ukraine has been observed, on the one hand because Ukraine has failed to achieve significant progress during the offensive in the summer of 2023, on the other hand against the background of the attempts by some populist parties to use the issue of the costs entailed by supporting Ukraine for electoral purposes.
The existence of political discussions and maneuvers in the United States (or other Western countries), however, does not mean that any decision has been made to stop supporting Ukraine or that Kyiv has been informed that such a decision is imminent; on the contrary, at least for the time being, the West continues to support Ukraine, and the current delays in providing aid are seen as blips rather than signs of a change in policy.
The entire false narrative is based on an incompletely quoted statement by the former Ukrainian President Leonid Kuchma's adviser, sociologist Oleg Soskin, who since the beginning of the full-scale invasion has been promoting a number of Russian propaganda topics on his YouTube channel. Instead of writing in the headline that a pro-Russian Ukrainian sociologist is giving advice to Zelensky, the Russian state media is writing that the news is coming from the American leadership, which is not true. The false narrative is built around the sociologist’s assumptions, without any official US representative being cited.
Moreover, the news story contains a number of elements of war propaganda that are justifying Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. RIA Novosti writes that Ukraine must be prepared for territorial concessions if it wants Russia to accept peace, adding that Volodymyr Zelensky must end the war at the insistence of the US. Russia's aggression against Ukraine, its wiping out towns from the face of the earth, the killing of civilians and other war crimes committed by the Kremlin are skipped and the victim is presented as an aggressor.
In fact, the end of the war does not depend on Kyiv, but on Moscow, which invaded a neighboring and independent state. According to the UN Charter, Ukraine is defending itself from Russia's armed aggression, having an inherent right to self-defense. The withdrawal of the Russian army from the territory of Ukraine is a legitimate solution to end the war of attrition from the point of view of the international law. The decision to withdraw the Russian troops from the territory of Ukraine does not depend on Kyiv, but on Moscow. The president of Ukraine may accept a truce at some point, but he cannot decide on his own to end the war that was unilaterally launched by Russia on February 24, 2022.
The Russian press also resumes the topic of territorial concessions that should be made by Ukraine under pressure from the West. In reality, the Western leaders supported Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's ten-point peace plan, which calls for restoring Ukraine’s territorial integrity . The western states support the territorial integrity of Ukraine and believe that Russia must withdraw its troops.
