The Russian Leader's initial aim was to overrun Ukraine and depose its government, ending its desire to join the Western Defensive alliance NATO. But he has failed to capture the capital Kyiv and has now shifted his ambitions to Ukraine's east and south sides. Launching the invasion on February 24, he told the Russian people his main goal was to "demilitarize and de-Nazify Ukraine" to protect people subjected to eight years of bullying and genocide by Ukraine's government. He insisted, "It is not our plan to occupy the Ukraine territory, and we do not intend to impose anything on anyone by force."

He claimed this was not even a war or invasion, merely the fiction of a "special military operation" that Russian state-controlled media are required to adopt.

The claims of Nazis and genocide in Ukraine were utterly unfounded, but Russia saw this as a pivotal moment. "Russia's future and its future place in the world are at stake," said the foreign intelligence chief Sergei Naryshkin.

A month into the invasion. Russia declared its primary motive was the "liberation of Donbas"- broadly referring to Ukraine's eastern regions of Luhansk and Donetsk. More than a third of the area was seized by Russian – backed separatists in a war that began in 2014.

Kremlin claimed it had "generally accomplished" the invasion's first phase aims, which was defined as considerably reducing Ukraine's combat potential.

But Russia's failure to capture Kyiv, its heavy losses, and withdrawal from areas around the capital are evidence that it has scaled back its ambitions.

His forces were focused on seizing the two major eastern regions and creating a land corridor along the south coast, east from Crimea to the Russian border. Ahead of the invasion, President Putin wanted all of the eastern part to recognize all of Luhansk and Donetsk as belonging to two Russian puppet statelets. The head of the Luhansk statelet has already suggested holding a referendum on joining Russia, similar to an internationally discredited vote held in Crimea in 2014.

It is not yet clear if Russia's leader also hopes to control the entire southern region of Kherson and capture more territory along Ukraine's Black Sea coast. Beyond his military goals, President Putin's broader demand is to ensure Ukraine's future neutrality. The Ukrainians have offered that in return for security guarantees from allies as a part of a wide-ranging peace plan presented in talks in Turkey.

Russia is not very impressed with Ukraine's plan for the future status of Crimea, seized by Russia in 2014, to be decided during 15 years of consultations. The Kremlin says Crimea is now Russian territory and the Russian constitution bars discussing its status with anyone else. Lead negotiator Vladimir Medinsky says, "I repeat again and again: Russia's position on Crimea and Donbas remains Unchanged."

As a part of Kyiv's immediate peace proposals, all the Russian troops would leave Ukrainian territory, and the future of the eastern areas, which Russian helps-backed separatists, would be discussed by the two presidents as part of a ceasefire summit.

Ukraine will never agree to cede sovereign territory. However, Putin will not wish to abandon territorial gains made during the war, especially since he declared the aim is "liberating" Ukraine's east. Ukraine has never taken Russia seriously's demand for demilitarization, and Moscow's insistence on "de- Nazification" is merely Russian Propaganda. In Ukraine's foreign minister Dmytro Kuleba: "It's crazy, sometimes not even they can explain what they are referring to." 

- Where does NATO fit in? -

Tensions between Russia and the West have been building ever since Vladimir Putin started his Proxy war in eastern Ukraine and annexed Crimea. In response, NATO sent reinforcements to countries seen as vulnerable to Russian aggression.

In December, Moscow set out its security demands in two documents: a proposed treaty with the US and an agreement with NATO.

Essentially, Russia now wants guarantees that NATO will halt its eastward expansion, rule out membership for Ukraine and other former Soviet countries, and roll back its military deployments in Central and Eastern Europe.

Putin has now demanded a reset and wants all the NATO forces withdrawn. He wanted recognition that these nations were within Moscow's sphere of influence. 

Moscow also demanded a written guarantee that Ukraine would not be offered NATO membership and a draft treaty with the United States banning it from sending forces to areas such as the Baltics and the Black Sea.

Rasmussen went on to a various list series of international agreements on the NATO-Russia relationship, which Moscow was now seeking to ditch. They included a 1999 OSCE Charter on European Security which Russia signed up to. This grants a participating state the freedom "to choose or change its security arrangements, including treaties of alliance," the ex-NATO.

NATO is an alliance of peace, and it wants nothing but peaceful cooperation with Russia. But the cooperation has been made difficult by Putin's behavior.  

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"Words travel faster than the speed of light." This internet has played a great deal of role in justifying this statement. Netizens are quick to judge and jump to conclusions about any matter without a second thought. When Russia launched an invasive attack on Ukraine on February 24, 2022, many facts and fiction that sound pleasant to the human ear began circulating on the internet. 

We will help you differentiate facts from fiction: 

1. There are Biolabs in Ukraine Funded by the US government 

Russian President Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale military assault on Ukraine, inciting a wave of international backlash and sanctions against Russia. "Putin is the aggressor. Putin chose this war. And now he and his country will bear the consequences," President Joe Biden said. Some social media claimed the United States might have more at stake than it lets on. On Thursday, a post shared on Facebook shows a map of Ukraine pinpointing what the poster asserts are "exclusive US Biolabs in Ukraine" funded by the US Department of Defense. "By now, I think most everybody knows about Ukraine/WW3," reads the post, which amassed more than 400 interactions in a day. "So, what do we know about this??" Similar posts claimed Russia destroyed 7 of the 11 supposed labs in missile strikes. The claims are wrong, independent fact-checking outlets reported. The posts misrepresent a treaty between the United States and Ukraine to prevent biological threats. According to the Security Service of Ukraine, the labs are owned and funded by the Ukrainian government, the country's leading security agency. That agency and the US Embassy in Ukraine have said the claim of US labs is false. Numerous reports indicate it is tied to a years-long Russian disinformation campaign aimed at discrediting the United States.

2. Vladimir Putin has banned the Rothschild family from entering Russia

After Russia invaded Ukraine, several countries announced sanctions against Russian leaders, oligarchs, and families. Some social media users claim Kremlin has also aimed at a famous European banking dynasty. "Putin has banned Rothschild and his new world order banking cartel family from entering Russian territory," reads a clear headline in a February 28 post on Instagram. The image's caption claims Putin "kicked them out of Russia's back door" after "paying the debt Russia owed" with the family. The post accumulated more than 700 likes within a day. But the headline isn't accurate. The image, which spread widely on Facebook in 2020 before independent fact-checkers debunked it, is a screenshot of an article posted online nearly six years ago. There is no evidence to support its claim.

3. Claim: The Russian invasion of Ukraine is 'scripted and staged.'

Weeks into Russia's invasion of Ukraine, some on social media were suggesting the armed conflict was all for show. 

"Them: Let's pray for Ukraine! Me: It's all scripted and staged," reads the text in a February 25 Facebook meme, superimposed on a picture of the Joker. The post generated more than 1,400 interactions in a week, and similar versions of the claim circulated on Twitter and iFunny. But the claim is wrong. From sanctions against Russia to photo and video evidence of war, there's ample evidence that the conflict in Ukraine is indisputable. 

- Invasion is real-

After months of failed diplomatic efforts, President Vladimir Putin announced on February 24 in a video that Russia would invade Ukraine.

Shortly after, Russia launched a full-scale military assault. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy announced on February 24 that 137 Ukrainian soldiers and civilians had been killed, with hundreds more wounded. According to the United Nations, as of March 28, 2,975 civilian casualties were recorded in Ukraine, including 1,151 dead and 1,824 injured, although the UN said the figures are "considerably higher." 

The UN says most casualties have been caused by "explosive weapons with a wide impact area," including shelling, multi-launch rocket systems, missiles, and airstrikes. While exact numbers are unclear, some estimate that 7,000 to 15,000 Russian troops were killed in the first four weeks of the conflict. International agencies, including the World Health Organization, the UN, Populations Fund, and International Monetary Fund, have acknowledged the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Humanitarian organizations such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Medical Corps, and others have deployed teams in Ukraine to help civilians and deliver relief items. 

Correspondents worldwide have reported on the front lines since the start of the invasion, providing daily updates about air raids, bomb shelters, and families fleeing to Poland. International news organizations have shared live streams, and reporters have been killed and injured. 

Cynthia Hooper, a history professor at the College of the Holy Cross who specializes in Russian media and disinformation, says from different governments to journalists and ordinary people on the ground, no side is disputing that something is taking place. 

She said even Russian state-owned news sources, which have severely distorted and downplayed the war, "aren't debating the fact that there is a conflict going on. A massive crisis is taking place and to try to say that it doesn't seem willfully remiss, almost criminal to be honest," Hooper said, pointing to the millions of refugees who have fled Ukraine. 

Several international media have widely reported the Russian invasion's humanitarian, economic, and political impact. Many people who claim the Russia-Ukraine conflict is "staged" have cited debunked footage unrelated to the war about "crisis actors" or fake weapons. 

4. Russia deployed nuclear weapons 'in America's backyard.'

As the Russian invasion of Ukraine continues into another week, some social media users are claiming that Russian President Vladimir Putin has deployed nuclear threats to the US's doorstep.

"Russia deploys two nuke bombers in US backyard, Venezuela," reads the caption of a February 28 Facebook post. 

Accompanying the caption is a CNN news clip with a chyron that asserts Putin is "making military moves in America's backyard. "CNN correspondent Brian Todd is featured in the report saying Putin is "on America's doorstep with nuclear-capable bombers that can fly at twice the speed of sound."

"The deployment comes on the heels of Putin's recent military aggression against Ukraine," Todd says in the video.

The clip, which accrued about 14,000 shares in four days, is authentic. But it predates by more than three years the current Russian invasion of Ukraine. The broadcast referred to a training exercise between Russian and Venezuelan forces in 2018. Independent fact-checkers have debunked this claim, including Reuters and The Associated Press.

5. The Russian attack on a Mariupol maternity hospital was staged 

Russian officials and conspiracy theorists are promoting a baseless claim about the March 9 bombing of a maternity hospital in the Ukrainian city of Mariupol; Western attack leaders have described it as a "war crime."

The airstrike killed three civilians, including a child, and left 17 wounded. 

But online, some assert the hospital bombing never took place.

"The Kyiv regime's bogus claim that Russian missile hit a maternity hospital," reads a March 10 Facebook post that generated more than 300 shares in less than a week. "More info is emerging about the fake scene staged at the Mariupol hospital."

As evidence, social media users cited photos of an injured pregnant woman they claimed was a "crisis actor," someone who is paid to play a victim in high-profile tragedies. The term is popular among conspiracy theorists and has been used by Russian state media in recent weeks to downplay the invasion of Ukraine.

"The Ukrainians used the model Marianna from Mariupol for the shots," reads a March 10 Facebook post. "Marianna is a well-known beauty blogger and posed for the photo shoots in the ruins of the hospital. She played two pregnant women at once, changed clothes and applied new 'bloody' make-up."

Other social media users suggested that the Mariupol maternity hospital stopped functioning. That personnel and patients were kicked out after the building was occupied by the Azov Battalion, a far-right extremist group with a small presence in Ukraine. 

But photo and video evidence, eyewitness accounts, and official statements confirm the attack was real. 

On March 9, Ukrainian officials said a Russian airstrike destroyed Mariupol Hospital No. 3. The attack was verified by the World Health Organization's Surveillance System for Attacks on Health Care and the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights.  

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared footage of the damage to Telegram. The Mariupol City Council also shared footage on the messaging app, saying Russian forces dropped "several bombs on a children's hospital." 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy shared footage of the damage to Telegram. According to a Google translation, the Mariupol City Council also shared footage on the messaging app, saying Russian forces dropped "several bombs on a children's hospital," according to a Google translation.

Journalists with the Associated Press documented the aftermath and witnessed the damage firsthand, capturing footage of pregnant women fleeing, children crying and medics shouting. Maxar Technologies published before-and-after satellite images of the hospital showing extensive damage.

The Kremlin denied the Mariupol hospital bombing and alleged it was Western Propaganda, contrary to photo and video evidence.

- Photos don't show 'crisis actors' -

The images of the injured woman wearing polka-dotted pajamas and wrapped in a blanket show Mariana Vishegirskaya, a Ukrainian beauty blogger who survived the airstrike. She is not a "crisis actor," as some posts claim.

"We were lying in wards when glass, frames, windows, and walls flew apart," Vishegirskaya told the AP. "We don't know how it happened. We were in our wards, and some had time to cover themselves; some didn't."
For months, Vishegirskaya has shared Instagram footage of her pregnancy and images of her posing with cosmetics. As the AP reported, there's no evidence she is a crisis actor.

The narrative gained traction after the Russian Embassy in London compared a photo of Vishegirskaya fleeing to one of a woman being carried away on a stretcher. The embassy claimed in a tweet that she "played roles of both pregnant women."

But the image of the woman on a stretcher shows a different individual whose identity USA Today could not verify. Surgeon Timur Marin told the AP medics could not save the woman and her baby. Vishegirskaya gave birth on March 11. 

- Extremists didn't occupy the hospital -

There's no evidence the hospital was a nonoperational facility used by Azov fighters for military purposes, as social media posts and Russian officials have claimed.

The Russian Embassy in Israel tweeted an image of a military tank in front of a building to claim the hospital was occupied by the Azov Battalion. 

However, researchers at Bellingcat, an open-source investigation firm, found the photo was captured more than 6 miles away from the hospital.
In a March 11 statement, the UN said that the "the hospital was both identifiable and operational when it was hit." On March 2, the hospital shared a Facebook post asking for fuel tanks to keep the facility running, as Mariupol has been without power and water. 

We rate FALSE the claim that the Russian attack on a Mariupol maternity hospital was staged based on our research. Reports from the WHO, the UN, and news organizations confirm the bombing took place on March 9. Photos shared in social media posts show a Ukrainian beauty blogger who survived the attack, not a "crisis actor."