Misinformation

The prevailing belief that the Russia-Ukraine war began in 2022 is a striking case of misinformation. In truth, the evidence establishes that the war started in 2014 and has continued unabated since.​

 

Defining the Terms

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To understand the conflict accurately, it's essential to distinguish between commonly conflated terms:

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• War: A sustained, organized conflict between political entities, involving military force. It can persist for years with shifting intensity.

• Invasion: A specific act in a war—entering another country’s territory by force.

• Full-scale invasion: A major military campaign involving large troop deployments and multiple fronts.

• Escalation: A significant increase in scope or intensity within an existing conflict.

 

In Ukraine’s case:

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• 2014: Russia invaded Crimea and backed armed conflict in Donbas. This marked the start of the war and an invasion.

• 2022: Russia launched a full-scale invasion, escalating an already ongoing war.

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From an international legal standpoint, the conflict met the threshold of armed aggression in 2014, as Russia’s annexation of Crimea and support for separatists constituted breaches of Ukraine’s sovereignty under Article 2(4) of the UN Charter. The established legal framework undermines the idea that 2022 marked the beginning of hostilities.

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Historical Timeline

 

• Protests start: The Ukrainian people took to the streets to protest systemic corruption and to show their support for joining the European Union (EU). There were dozens of factors contributing to these protests, but the core issues were an EU trade deal and corruption, with corruption ultimately being viewed as the gateway for Russian interference in Ukraine. 

• Regime change: Ukraine succeeded in ousting its Russian-friendly and corrupt president, Viktor Yanukovych.

• Russian response: Russia became fearful that Ukraine was moving away from its sphere of influence, and in response to losing its access to Ukraine’s president, Russia invaded Crimea. According to most theories and definitions of war, the invasion of Crimea on February 27, 2014, represents the start of the Ukraine-Russia War.

• War spreads: While Russia seized Crimea without much violence, armed fighting erupted in Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region, which borders Russia. Russia and Ukraine have been fighting ever since, though the fighting has waned and waxed with various ceasefire attempts and escalations. 

• Massive escalation: The war fundamentally changed in 2022 when Russia sent its full force into Ukraine and expanded the war to new parts of Ukraine as it attempted to re-establish a Russia-friendly government there.

 

Russia’s 2022 full-scale invasion was a significant escalation of a war that began in 2014—not a new war. Conflating escalation with inception fuels misinformation. The goals, scale, and global perception of the conflict have changed, but none of these facets is sufficient to establish that a new war began in 2022. ​

 

Why the Start Date Matters

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Knowing whether the war began in 2014 or 2022 is more than semantics. It shapes international perception, historical memory, and future diplomacy. Recognizing the conflict as a decade-long war:

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• Honors the victims and veterans from 2014 onward

• Reflects the continuity of Russian aggression

• Highlights years of failed international response

• Lays a truthful foundation for peace and accountability

 

Treating an escalation as the start of a war distorts both historical understanding and future diplomacy.

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Acknowledgements of 2014 Origins

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Governments from Russia and Ukraine, as well as third-party supporters like the United States, have all acknowledged their involvement in the conflict dating back to 2014, making the 2022 narrative a readily identifiable piece of misinformation. 

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Ukraine

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Despite emphasizing 2022 for diplomatic leverage, Ukraine's official position is consistent: the war began in 2014.

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• Zelenskyy at the UN (2022): “Russia – instead of stopping the crime of aggression, which it started back in 2014 – turned it into a full-scale invasion.”

• National memorials commemorate soldiers who died in 2014 onward.

• Ukrainian media, including Kyiv Post, Kyiv Independent, Pravda Ukraine, EuroMaidan Press, Interfax Ukraine, Ukrainian Weekly, and Bergen Global mark the war’s start in 2014.

  • ​Kyiv Post: “3 years since the start of the full-scale Russian invasion on Ukraine. 11 years since the start of the Russian war against Ukraine.”

  • Kyiv Independent: "Ten years of war"

 

Russia

Russia’s leadership has made veiled and overt admissions:

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• Putin (2014): Admitted Russian forces backed the Crimean annexation.

• Putin (2015):  Admitted to Russian military involvement in the Donbas. “We’ve never said there are no people there who deal with certain matters, including in the military area, but this does not mean that regular Russian troops are present there. Feel the difference.”

• Russia also signed the Minsk Agreements, aimed at ending fighting between Russian-backed forces and Ukraine—an implicit acknowledgment of its involvement.

 

Third Parties

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• United States: The US Ambassador to Ukraine declared on November 29, 2018, that, "For almost five years, Russia has fomented a war that has had more than 10,000 casualties."

• France: "​​At the end of 2013, a conflict broke out between Ukraine and the Russian Federation as a result of a political crisis in Ukraine.

• Washington Post: "By late 2014, the fighting involved large numbers of troops including Russian army regulars."

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Media Misrepresentation

 

The press was happy to cover the war in Ukraine from 2014 until 2022, when declaring the start of a new war and erasing the events of 2014 became the easier option.

 

• Reuters, for example, has been selling photos of the “war” in Ukraine for a decade, yet now declares the war has lasted just three years. ​

• In February 2024, more than 25 major outlets—including The Washington Post, The Guardian, CNN, Reuters, EuroNews, and Al Jazeera—marked “two years” of war in Ukraine. This subtle shift is more than editorial laziness; it’s a factual revision that contradicts the public record, Ukraine’s stated timeline, and the outlets’ own archives.

 

At the same time, not every media outlet has gotten the story wrong.

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• In the West, PBS deserves praise for its careful reporting. In 2024, for example, PBS reported that “This Saturday marks two years since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in a war that started nearly ten years ago.”

• Ukrainian media universally stand by the 2014 start date.

 

Counterarguments & Rebuttal 

 

Some argue that calling 2022 the war’s beginning reflects the scale of change:

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• The 2022 invasion was broader, bloodier, and globally visible.

• The international response shifted dramatically—from sanctions and arms transfers to media coverage.

• Even President Zelenskyy has at times referred to 2022 as a beginning, but typically in contexts aimed at Western support.

 

It's critical to recognize that these are rhetorical devices, not formal historical claims. Escalation does not equate to inception. 

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• No new belligerents have joined the fight. Russia and Ukraine have been at war since 2014.

• The war has been limited to Ukraine and Russia. It has not spread to other nations.

• Wars escalate and involve new invasions all the time. D-Day did not start World War III, for example, just because a new full-scale invasion occurred. Referring to 2022 as the start of the war is analogous to saying that D-Day started WWIII:  it captures the intensity of a moment but disregards the continuity of the conflict and the historical record.

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All told, the 2022 narrative has little merit and no hard evidence supporting it. ​Labeling 2022 as the start of the war reflects not an intent to erase history, but rather a form of narrative convenience—an oversimplification that prioritizes rhetorical impact over historical accuracy.

 

Misinformation vs. conspiracy 

 

This isn’t the product of a coordinated disinformation campaign. There is no conspiracy among media outlets or governments. Rather, this widespread error likely stems from:

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• Narrative simplification for mass audiences

• Economic pressures in modern journalism

• Engagement-driven reporting at the expense of precision

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The Toronto Star embodies the nature of this error with its publication of an article titled “Two years in, Ukraine-Russia conflict brings hard choices, fractured families,” which corrected its own mistake: “the war is not really two years old but an extension of the conflict that began in 2014 when Russia annexed Crimea.”

 

These dynamics don’t excuse the error, but they do explain it—and they point to a structural failure, not a malicious plot. Recognizing this distinction is crucial; it shifts the conversation from paranoid speculation to a more productive critique of how modern media environments oversimplify complex international issues for mass consumption.

 

A Preventable Journalistic Failure

 

Unlike past media failures—such as flawed reporting on WMDs in Iraq or the Gulf of Tonkin—the truth in this case has always been publicly available. There was no state manipulation or intelligence fog.

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The press had the facts. Many simply chose the simpler, more dramatic story: that war began in 2022. In doing so, they helped erase years of Ukrainian suffering and muddied the waters for peacemaking and justice.

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This mistake represents a preventable reporting error with significant consequences for public understanding and policy.

 

Truth and Consequences

 

The facts are indisputable:

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• Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014.

• The war began with Crimea and continued in Donbas.

• The 2022 full-scale invasion was a major escalation—not a new war.

 

Misinformation about the war’s start helps Russia obscure its decade-long aggression. It also allows some in the West to frame the conflict more conveniently—either to garner support or to feign shock.

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Correcting the record isn’t just about accuracy. It’s about justice, memory, and peace.

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Summary & Key Takeaways

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• The Russia-Ukraine war began in 2014 with the invasion of Crimea.

• Confusing war with invasion, escalation, or full-scale invasion fuels misinformation.

• All major actors—Ukraine, Russia, and the press—have acknowledged the war’s 2014 origins.

• Most Western media outlets have misreported the war’s start, erasing nearly a decade of conflict, while most Ukrainian media outlets have accurately reported the war's start. 

• This is not a conspiracy, but a structural failure of modern journalism.

• Accurate understanding of the timeline is vital for peacemaking, accountability, and historical truth.