U.S. ADMITS Russia Was Provoked Into Invading Ukraine! w/ John Mearsheimer (Jimmy Dore Show)

Two Trump administration officials publicly declined to characterize Russia as the provocateur in its war against Ukraine, despite the war having begun when Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.[It began in 2014 after the coup!]

Asked during an interview with “Fox News Sunday” host Shannon Bream whether it was fair to say Russia attacked Ukraine unprovoked three years ago tomorrow, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said it was “fair to say it’s a very complicated situation.”

Trump Middle East special envoy Steve Witkoff said in a CNN interview Sunday that the war in Ukraine, “irrespective of who started it, needs to end.” He then appeared to defend Russia’s perspective by arguing that the war was not necessarily provoked by Russia.

Guest host Aaron Maté and Mearsheimer discuss this narrative shift from the administration which critics are predictably describing as the regurgitation of “Russian talking points.”



The war actually began after the neocon backed coup in 2014 after Crimea and the Eastern side of the country refused to go along with the new regime in Kiev. Things escalated in 2022 with the Russian military intervention AFTER years of failed peace negotiations, moved for Ukraine to join NATO and a large escalation of artillery strikes into the breakaway regions in the East of the country - that had killed over 10,000 people up until that point. The Russians had enough. But even after they launched their assault they were prepared to negotiate, except that this was sunk after the British, likely under neocon orders, told Zelensky not to sign any peace plan after they had already agreed in principle to do so.

Note: Unlike how Mearsheimer is charactising things, Ukraine was never looking like winning the war. Even with a small initial invasion force, the Ukrainians were doing very poorly against the Russians. The Russians only retreated very early on as a good will gesture and then later as they reorganised their army and defense lines while support from the West poured into Ukraine. At no time did the Ukrainian forces win against the Russians in a large scale stand up fight. What the Russians did do is to tactically retreat at times and then use their superior firepower to pound the overextended Ukrainians. This is why Ukraine has lost an estimated 1 million dead verses around 100,000 for the Russian side.

[Posted at the SpookyWeather2 blog, February 27, 2025.]