Russian President Vladimir Putin has blamed the West for provoking the war with Ukraine, in a State of the Nation address.
“Ukraine and Donbas have become a symbol of total lies,” Putin said, accusing the West of withdrawing from “fundamental agreements” and giving “hypocritical statements” as well as expanding the Nato defence alliance and “covering us with an umbrella”.
“I want to repeat: it is them who are culpable for the war, and we are using force to stop it,” he said.
Putin’s speech came ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday.
