[mopsi]

Russian military operation against Ukraine started on 20 February 2014. This is the date inscribed on the medal awarded to participants of the operation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Medal_%22For_the_Return_of_Cri...

In the first stage, they captured Crimea. Then, on 12 April 2014, the war broke loose in Eastern Ukraine after 50 Russian commandos led by Girkin captured the town of Sloviansk. Sabotage groups sent to rile up people and sow confusion were active even earlier than that (Ukraine managed to detain a number of them).

There were no separatists, no rebels, no break-away regions, nothing before Russia manufactured them to create an appearance of a civil war and deprive Ukraine of foreign support. That was all a cover story for the military operation - on of the most effective deceptions in the history of warfare.