Nope, this was reality (not “the story”) all along. Considering that it’s known nazis who were running the ethnic cleansing campaign, it’s pretty clear that you can’t have one “goalpost” without the other. The fact that this is the first time you’ve heard this and think it’s moving of goalposts really speaks to your utter ignorance on the topic. But I realize most westerners are completely ignorant on the topic sadly, seeing as the “pUtiN BIG MEANIE RuZzIa is EBIL dictatorship! Poor smol bean Ukraine!” narrative is the only thing that’s allowed through the propaganda filter there.

Spoken like someone who clearly has zero knowledge of actual history. Especially considering a large part of the reason why the coup government in Ukraine began their campaign of ethnically cleansing the eastern population of their own country was because the people living there more strongly identified with Russia, wanted to be able to keep speaking Russian without persecution, and eventually pleaded with Russia to intervene on their behalf, which Russia fortunately did. But anyone who actually understands the history of the region is a “psychopath.” lol