'Russian aggression caused by NATO expansion': foreign anti-Ukrainian narratives for September 13

According to the National Security and Defense Council's Center for Countering Disinformation, two misleading narratives appeared on September 13.

Disinformation: American political scientist John Mearsheimer in an interview on the YouTube channel Judging Freedom said: “Russian aggression was driven by NATO expansion. The Russians, and Putin in particular, have made it clear that Ukraine's inclusion in the Alliance is an existential threat, and they will do everything possible to prevent it.”

Rebuttal: Mearsheimer is promoting the Kremlin's narrative that NATO provoked Russia to invade Ukraine in an attempt to justify Russian aggression and divert attention from the fact that it was Russia that started the war against Ukraine, violating international law and the principles of territorial integrity. The war is the result not of NATO's actions, but of Russia's imperial ambitions and its desire to control neighboring countries.

Disinformation: American political analyst Gilbert Doctorow stated: “The Ukrainians are suffering unacceptable, impossible daily losses - 2,000 or more soldiers a day on the main front line, plus 400 or 500 a day in the Kursk salient they opened up with a raid a month ago.”

Rebuttal: Such statements by the analyst are not supported by any sources and are aimed at discrediting the Ukrainian Armed Forces and spreading panic. This is part of Russia's information warfare aimed at distorting the real situation at the front.

• Earlier, American journalist Fiorella Isabel said that Ukraine is killing women and children because it is losing.