As it's almost a decade now since this thread started I think we should have a quick recap oh how this all started in order to nip any revisionism in the bud.I think they're a legitimate government to most of the country, but if you happen to support the pro Russian President who was overthrown in a revolution then you might understandably not consider it a legitimate government.
- Ukraine elected a pro-EU president who would move towards a closer partnership with the EU.
- When it came time to start finalising/signing agreements with the EU the pro-EU president decided he was now pro-Russia instead so wouldn't be signing anything.
- The Ukrainian people got mad and protested.
- The now pro-Russian president had some of them shot.
- The Ukrainian people got a lot more mad and rioted.
- The now pro-Russian president fled Kiev.
- The Ukrainian government fired the now pro-Russian president.
- The now pro-Russian president fled to Russia.
- Russia used the confusion to annex the Crimean peninsula using troops stationed there plus unmarked troops "on holiday".
- Russia used the confusion to send unmarked troops "on holiday" to Donetsk and Luhansk, meeting up with local Russian immigrants and pro-Russian Ukrainians and starting a "separatist" movement.
- Once Ukraine got it's act together the "separatists" started getting facerolled by the Ukrainian military.
- Russia sent tanks, artillery and anti aircraft systems to back up their forces and proxies in the east, claiming all the time they were Ukrainians using their own equipment (this was completely debunked due to those forces using open radio communications and possessing weapons systems never exported to Ukraine).
- Either Russian operatives or Pro Russian "separatists" accidentally shot down a commercial airliner, thus drawing massive international attention to the conflict and making Russia's open support of their proxies and sympathisers in Donetsk/Luhansk untenable.
- A ceasefire would be agreed as Russia could no longer openly send the troops/weapons required to hold ground and Ukraine lacked the ability to defeat their forces outright.
And that's where things stayed for five plus years while Ukraine rapidly rearmed itself to defend against a possible invasion and Russia squandered the time building more one of prototypes that looked cool but were still 30 years behind the west.
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