Who ‘Started’ the War in Ukraine?

Whether you consider Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea via Wagner Group or its 2022 invasion as the start of the war, Russian forces took the first large-scale military actions in Ukraine. But were its actions pure expansionist aggression, or a rational response to belligerent behavior by NATO?

Pure Aggression: While this stance has been most vociferously repeated by left and center outlets, many outlets on the right also take this side.

• In a fact check of Trump’s recent comment that Ukraine “started it,” BBC (Center bias) said flatly, “Ukraine didn't start the war. Russia launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, having annexed Crimea in 2014. The annexation came after Ukraine's pro-Russian president was ousted by popular demonstrations.”
• New York Times (Lean Left) was similarly curt in rejecting Trump’s claim.
• Jim Geraghty (Lean Right), writing for National Review Opinion (Right), said “Putin must be grinning from ear to ear” following Trump’s comment, which he characterized as “blaming the victim.”

Rational Response: This argument hasn’t been prominent in media coverage since Trump’s comment as of this writing, but a minority of media outlets across the spectrum have made the case for it in recent years.

• In July 2023, Thomas Fazi (not rated) opined in UnHerd (Center) that NATO forced Russia’s hand “by aggressively expanding eastward, systematically ignoring Russia’s warnings over the years.”
• In July 2024, Simon Jenkins (not rated) wrote for The Guardian (Left) that the war could have “ended in some messy compromise” after Russia fell short of taking Kyiv in its initial offensive and “has only continued because Nato, of which Ukraine is not a member, has offered to fund a Zelenskiy victory.”
• A recent book review in American Spectator (Right) characterized the 2014 ouster of Ukraine’s then-president Victor Yanukovych as a “blatant coup” driven by Western meddling, a stark contrast to BBC’s description of a democratic uprising.