Russia's Use of Language to Justify the War in Donbas

Moscow has long claimed that Donbas “belongs” to Russia because many there speak Russian — a false narrative echoed even by U.S. Special Envoy to the Middle East Steve Witkoff, who suggested the region should be surrendered for that reason.

In reality, Donbas’s Russian-speaking identity is the result of centuries of Russification under the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. Even so, most people in Donbas continued to identify as Ukrainian and wanted to be part of Ukraine, as multiple polls showed.

When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2014 and then escalated in 2022, it did so under the pretext of protecting Russian speakers. What it actually brought first and foremost to Donbas was destruction and death.