Ukraine’s President Volodymyr Zelensky has painted a grim picture of his country’s war effort in recent interviews. Zelensky said his forces are suffering hundreds of casualties every day, and Russia now controls 20% of Ukraine.

Over and over, U.S. government officials and their mainstream media allies called Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine an “unprovoked attack.” The slogan became so overused that people began to ask the obvious question: Why do they protest so much? In Provoked: How...