Putin baselessly claims Ukraine is committing genocide against ethnic Russians

There are several opinions about the reason Russian President Vladimir Putin attacked Ukraine on February 24, 2022. However, in a televised speech on February 23, Putin offered an unexpected - and false - reason. "The purpose of this operation is to protect people who, for eight years now, have been facing humiliation and genocide perpetrated by the Kyiv regime,” Putin said. (Genocide is “the destruction of a nation or of an ethnic group,” according to Lemkin’s definition).

Putin claims that Ukraine is specifically targeting – and killing – Russian speakers in eastern Ukraine, where Russian-backed rebel rebels have been battling the Ukrainian government since 2014. Putin's claim that Ukrainians committed genocide against Russians is an example of how genocide claims are abused for political purposes. In this situation, Putin is misusing the word to justify invading Ukraine.

Putin declared Donetsk and Luhansk, two rebel territories in the Donbas, separate entities and sent Russian soldiers there for "peacekeeping", a move largely interpreted as a reason for war. In one of his speeches, Putin reiterated his allegations of genocide, claiming he wanted to "denazify" Ukraine, a country whose democratically elected leader, President Volodymyr Zelensky, is Jewish.