Shortly thereafter the first shots in the present war were fired on the Russian-
sympathetic Donbass region by the newly installed Ukrainian government.
The shelling of the Donbass which claimed 14,000 lives has continued for 8
years, despite attempts at a cease-fire under the Minsk accords which Russia,
France and Germany agreed upon but Ukraine backed by the US refused to
implement. On February 24, 2022, Russia finally responded to the slaughter
in Donbass and the threat of NATO on its doorstep.
