Broken Promises and Covert Operations: The Path to the Ukraine Conflict

The war in Ukraine is not merely a tragic accident of history or a spontaneous conflict. It is the direct result of decades of Western betrayal, strategic deception, and calculated geopolitical maneuvering. The narrative that Russia acted in an unprovoked and irrational manner is a convenient fiction—one designed to obscure the uncomfortable truth: this war was engineered by NATO expansion, U.S.-backed regime change, and a refusal to acknowledge Russia’s security concerns.

While mainstream media paints Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a heroic defender of democracy, the reality is that he has presided over one of the most corrupt and authoritarian regimes in recent European history—one that has criminalized opposition, canceled elections, and ensured that Ukraine remains a vassal of the United States. Meanwhile, Donald Trump has publicly stated that this war should end immediately through negotiation, a position that directly contradicts the Democratic establishment’s insistence on continuing the bloodshed.

This article will lay out the real origins of the Ukraine conflict, expose the lies of Western leaders, and explain why peace is not only possible but necessary—if the American people can overcome the military-industrial complex that profits from endless war.

The seeds of this conflict were planted in the early 1990s, when the Soviet Union collapsed and Eastern Europe redefined its political landscape. Mikhail Gorbachev, the last Soviet leader, made a deal with the West: in exchange for allowing German reunification, NATO would not expand eastward. This was not some misunderstanding—it was an explicit agreement, one that was broken almost immediately once the Soviet Union dissolved.

On February 9, 1990, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker told Gorbachev that NATO would move “not one inch eastward.” The next day, West German Foreign Minister Hans-Dietrich Genscher assured Russia that NATO “has no intention to expand its territory eastward.” British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and French President François Mitterrand gave similar verbal commitments. Yet, by the mid-1990s, these promises were discarded. Under President Bill Clinton, the United States aggressively pursued NATO expansion, incorporating former Soviet-aligned nations like Poland, Hungary, and the Czech Republic. This was just the beginning. Over the next two decades, NATO crept closer and closer to Russia’s borders, absorbing the Baltic states, Romania, Bulgaria, and even setting its sights on Ukraine and Georgia.

From a Western perspective, NATO is framed as a “defensive alliance.” But from Russia’s perspective, NATO is a hostile military coalition that has expanded closer and closer to its borders, surrounding it with missile bases, military exercises, and U.S.-backed governments. Imagine if Russia formed a military alliance with Mexico and Canada, placing nuclear-capable weapons along the U.S. border. Would Washington accept this? Of course not. But this is exactly what NATO has done to Russia. For years, Russia’s warnings were ignored. Then came 2014—the moment everything changed.

Ukraine’s government was overthrown in a U.S.-backed coup in 2014. The West calls it the “Revolution of Dignity.” But in reality, it was a carefully orchestrated regime-change operation. A leaked phone call in February 2014 between U.S. Assistant Secretary of State Victoria Nuland and U.S. Ambassador Geoffrey Pyatt was leaked, in which they openly discussed who should and shouldn’t be in Ukraine’s new government. The CIA had been working with Ukrainian intelligence services for years, helping establish “forward operating bases” near Russia’s border. Millions of dollars were funneled into Ukraine through U.S. and European NGOs to support anti-Russian groups and destabilize the government.

Russian President Vladimir Putin called the 2014 events a U.S.-backed coup, and he wasn’t wrong. Washington had helped remove Ukraine’s democratically elected president, Viktor Yanukovych, and replaced him with a pro-NATO government. This was the turning point. From this moment forward, Ukraine became a Western-controlled state—and Russia knew it was only a matter of time before NATO came knocking.

What the media refuses to acknowledge is that the war in Ukraine did not begin in 2022—it began in 2014, when Ukraine’s military launched a brutal crackdown on the Donbas region. In May 2014, the Donetsk and Luhansk regions held referendums, where the majority voted for self-rule. Instead of respecting the results, the Ukrainian government launched a military assault on Donbas, leading to tens of thousands of deaths before Russia even intervened. For eight years, Ukrainian forces shelled Donetsk and Luhansk, killing Russian-speaking civilians. Where was the international outrage then? The same Western leaders who cry about “Russian aggression” today were silent when Ukraine’s military was murdering its own people in Donbas. Russia’s military intervention in 2022 was not a sudden act of aggression—it was the culmination of a war that had already been raging for nearly a decade.

While the media portrays Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky as a champion of freedom, his record tells a different story. He has banned all opposition parties, effectively turning Ukraine into a one-party dictatorship under martial law. Independent media outlets critical of the war have been shut down, and journalists who question government narratives are silenced. Elections have been suspended indefinitely, ensuring that Zelensky remains in power without democratic accountability. Former President Donald Trump recently called out Zelensky, labeling him a “dictator without elections.” And he’s right. Ukraine is not a democracy. It is a U.S.-funded autocracy where opposition is outlawed.

While the Biden administration is fueling the war with over $100 billion in aid, Trump has openly stated that the war should end immediately through negotiation. He has proposed direct peace talks between Zelensky and Putin, criticized the military-industrial complex for profiting off endless war, and argued that the war serves no benefit to the American people. Unlike Biden, whose administration is financially tied to defense contractors and war profiteers, Trump has made it clear that he does not believe in wasting American lives or money on a conflict that could have been prevented.

This war was not inevitable. It was created. Had NATO honored its agreement, had the U.S. not orchestrated a coup in 2014, had Ukraine respected Donbas’s right to self-rule, and had Washington chosen diplomacy over escalation, thousands of lives could have been saved. Instead, the Biden administration, Zelensky’s dictatorship, and the military-industrial complex have ensured that the war drags on. But the truth cannot be hidden forever. Americans are waking up. And the question is, how much longer will we allow Washington to use Ukraine as a pawn in its endless war machine?