---
title: "“A Gift for March 8”: The Kremlin Cooks Up a New Absurd Justification for the Invasion of Ukraine"
description: "Russian leader's advisor Anton Kobyakov claimed that Russia allegedly “preempted an attack” by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, citing “documents” about a plan for Ukraine's invasion on March 8, 2022. There is no independent confirmation of these documents."
date: 2026-08-25T14:22:03.000Z
lang: en
url: https://xab.info/en/posts/krem-l-cooks-up-new-absurd-justification-for-invasion-of-ukraine
tags: [russia-ukraine-war, kremlin, propaganda, anton-kobyakov, minsk-agreements, ukraine-defense]
publisher: "XAB.info"
---

# “A Gift for March 8”: The Kremlin Cooks Up a New Absurd Justification for the Invasion of Ukraine

![Vladimir Putin at a table with a microphone amid Kremlin's absurd justifications for the invasion of Ukraine](https://xab.info/media/2026/08/25/krem-l-pridumal-novoe-opravdanie-vtorzheniya-v-ukrainu/krem-l-pridumal-novoe-opravdanie-vtorzheniya-v-ukrainu-1.webp)

## 🎯 Key Points

- Russian leader's advisor Anton Kobyakov claimed that Russia allegedly “preempted an attack” by the Ukrainian Armed Forces, getting ahead of Ukraine's “invasion plan” for March 8, 2022.
- Kobyakov cited “documents from an abandoned headquarters of a Ukrainian special operations brigade,” which have not been publicly presented or verified.
- The Kremlin repeated the cliché that the West allegedly prepared Ukraine for war under the guise of being a supporter of the Minsk agreements.
- The statement came against the backdrop of threats from the Russian embassy in London and Britain's response about continuing military support for Ukraine.

The Kremlin has formulated a new version of the “justification” for Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. According to Russian leader's advisor Anton Kobyakov, Russian forces allegedly “preempted an attack” by the Ukrainian Armed Forces on Russian territory, getting ahead of a supposed Kyiv-planned assault. This was reported by RBC-Ukraine, citing TASS. The statement came against the backdrop of ongoing strikes and mutual accusations by both sides, as well as recent threats from the Russian embassy in London.

### A New “Justification” from the Kremlin

“This has largely been forgotten now, so it is high time to remind everyone: documents found by our military back at the start of the ‘special military operation’ in an abandoned headquarters of one of the Ukrainian Armed Forces' special operations brigades specified a concrete date for the invasion of Russia — March 8, 2022,” Kobyakov stated. According to him, the start of the Russian invasion on February 24, 2022, allegedly preceded the planned offensive by Ukrainian military forces on Russian territory by two weeks. Thus, the Kremlin is once again trying to present the aggression as a “preventive” measure.

### A “Gift” for March 8

“Symbolically — they wanted to present war to us as a ‘gift’ for the women's holiday. And they got, thanks to the foresight of the Russian leadership, a ‘black mark’ on our, once shared, military holiday,” the advisor added. Moreover, he repeated the propagandist cliché that the West allegedly merely “posed as a supporter of the Minsk agreements” while in fact preparing Ukraine for war. None of the arguments presented is backed by publicly verifiable evidence.

### Contradictory Data

The Kremlin's version directly contradicts the position of the other side and publicly available facts. The Russian side insists that documents about a “plan for Ukraine's invasion of Russia on March 8, 2022” were found in the “abandoned headquarters,” and uses this as proof of the “preventive” nature of its actions. At the same time, neither these documents nor their authenticity have been publicly presented or confirmed by independent sources; Ukraine and its Western partners have consistently rejected the narrative of a “planned Ukrainian invasion.” Thus, we are faced with two incompatible versions: the Kremlin's propagandist construction and the absence of any public evidence on which it would be based.

### Context: Threats to London and Britain's Response

Kobyakov's statement came against the backdrop of sharp rhetoric surrounding weapons supplies. The day before, the Russian embassy in London threatened Britain with “consequences” following reports of Ukraine's use of British drones to strike targets on Russian territory. In response, London stated that it would continue supplying Kyiv with the weapons and equipment necessary to defend against Russian aggression, and that it does not intend to scale back military support for Ukraine.

Thus, the new “justification” from the Kremlin looks less like an argument and more like an element of an information campaign aimed at shifting responsibility for the war onto Ukraine and the West. For the reader, it is important to distinguish between two levels: the fact that such a statement was made (confirmed), and the content of the statement itself (disputed, evidence-unconfirmed propaganda).

## 🔍 Fact-Check Verification

- [“A Gift” for March 8: Putin's Team Cooks Up an Absurd Justification for the War](https://www.rbc.ua/ukr/news/podarunok-8-bereznya-putina-vigadali-absurdne-1787666956.html) - Подтверждает факт заявления Кобякова и его цитаты. Содержание заявления (план вторжения Украины 8 марта 2022) является пропагандистским и не подтверждено независимыми доказательствами.

## ❓ FAQ

### Q: What did Anton Kobyakov say about the start of the war?
**A:** He stated that, according to him, documents from an “abandoned headquarters of a Ukrainian special operations brigade” pointed to a “plan for Ukraine's invasion” of Russia on March 8, 2022, and that Russia allegedly “preempted” this attack by launching its invasion on February 24.

### Q: Are there public proofs of these “documents”?
**A:** No. In the provided sources, the documents are not presented and not verified by independent parties, so their existence and authenticity remain unconfirmed.

### Q: What context accompanied the statement?
**A:** The statement came against the backdrop of threats from the Russian embassy in London following reports of Ukraine's use of British drones, as well as Britain's statement about continuing military support for Ukraine.