“… even as Ukraine began building a peaceful, democratic, independent nation across 93 percent of its territory, Crimea and parts of eastern Ukraine suffered a reign of terror. Today Crimea remains under illegal occupation and human rights abuses are the norm, not the exception, for many at risk groups there – Crimean Tatars, Ukrainians who won’t surrender their passports, LGBT citizens and others. In eastern Ukraine, Russia and its separatist puppets unleashed unspeakable violence and pillage; MH 17 was shot down; hundreds of Russian heavy weapons and troops poured across the border, fueling the conflict; 16 Russian uninspected ‘humanitarian convoys’ entered Ukraine in violation of agreements with the Ukrainian government, the ICRC and the international community; Donetsk airport was obliterated; Nadiya Savchenko languishes in a Moscow jail on day 82 of her hunger strike; Debaltseve, a key rail hub beyond the ceasefire lines, fell to the separatists and Russian forces six days after Minsk was signed, following a vicious assault that resulted in over 500 deaths, according to the U.N.; overall, 1.7 million Ukrainians have been forced to flee their homes; and over 6,000 have lost their lives.
“This is a manufactured conflict – controlled by the Kremlin; fueled by Russian tanks and heavy weapons; financed at Russian taxpayers’ expense and costing the lives of young Russians whose mothers, wives and children are told not to investigate their deaths too closely if they want to receive benefits. …”
– Testimony before the House Foreign Affairs Committee by Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland on March 4.