A revisionist account of the war's origins puts the blame on NATO's push east rather than on unprovoked Russian aggression — a reading that undercuts the Western case for the conflict.

• Repeated promises that Ukraine would eventually join NATO, with no veto for anyone else, are named as the first trigger.
• Ukraine's military was being rebuilt to NATO standards — same weapons, same communications, same battle plans — making it a NATO army in all but name.
• Anti-missile systems placed in Ukraine would sit minutes from Moscow, shrinking Russia's warning time in a nuclear crisis.
• The 2014 fighting in eastern Ukraine is cast as a US-backed proxy war that followed the overthrow of Ukraine's government, not a Russian invasion.

Outlook: This framing keeps gaining ground in the debate over how any settlement in Ukraine should be negotiated.