“The military operation in Ukraine is being carried out to help our people in Donbas, who for almost eight years have been subjected to real genocide by the most barbaric methods, terrorist attacks and constant artillery fire,” said Russian President Vladimir Putin during a meeting on socio-economic support of the Russian Federation, quotes the Russian Embassy in Sofia.
In a statement, Putin said that the pro-Russian people of Donbass suffered genocide only because “they sought basic human rights – to live according to the laws and traditions of their ancestors, speak their native language, raise their children the way they want.” “All these years, the Kyiv authorities have not only ignored, but also sabotaged the implementation of the Minsk package of measures for the peaceful settlement of the crisis,” the Kremlin boss said.
The Russian president explains the invasion of Ukraine both by plans to join NATO and by his intentions to create “his own nuclear weapons and means of delivery.” “This was a real threat. In the near future, with foreign technical assistance, the pro-Nazi regime in Kyiv could acquire weapons of mass destruction, and its goal, of course, will be Russia,” Putin said.
He also spoke again about the biological weapons laboratories that Russia claims had been found in Ukraine. “Thus, all diplomatic opportunities have been completely exhausted. We simply have no options for a peaceful solution to the problems,” the Russian head of state added.
Putin also said that the military “is doing everything possible to avoid civilian casualties in Ukrainian cities.”
I want to say this for the first time: at the very beginning of the operation in Donbass, the Kyiv authorities were asked through various channels to avoid senseless bloodshed, not to engage in hostilities, but simply to withdraw their troops from Donbass. They did not want that. decision,” Vladimir Putin said.