Russian President Vladimir Putin has said his country’s military goals in Ukraine are “noble” and will be achieved, according to Russian state news agency TASS.
Speaking at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in eastern Russia Tuesday, where he was meeting with Belarusian leader Alexander Lukashenko, Putin said the “special operation” in Ukraine was the right step as Russia “had no other choice.”
Putin said the goals of the “special military operation” was to help the people of Donbas, and “takes measures to ensure the security of Russia itself.”
“Obviously, we had no other choice, that’s right. And there is no doubt that the goals [of the special operation] will be achieved,” Putin said on Tuesday.
“The main goal is to help people in Donbas, the people of Donbas, which we recognized, were forced to do this because the Kyiv authorities, pushed by the West, refused to comply with the Minsk agreements aimed at a peaceful solution to the problems of Donbas,” Putin added.
Some background: Putin has framed the Russian invasion of Ukraine as a “special mission” to protect Russian speakers from genocide at the hands of “neo-Nazis.”
Three days before invading Ukraine, the Russian leader officially recognized the two self-proclaimed “people’s republics” of Donetsk and Luhansk in the Donbas region as independent.
Ukrainian and Western officials have said in recent days they have observed movement of Russian troops to Donbas following major setbacks for Moscow in a push to take Kyiv.
According to a senior US defense official, Russia is attempting to resupply and reinforce its forces in eastern Ukraine, as evidenced by a convoy of vehicles approaching the city of Izyum from the north.
CNN also geolocated a video shared to social media on Monday showing a large column of Russian military vehicles facing north-west, in the direction of the Donbas region.
Ukraine is investigating some 5,800 cases of alleged Russian war crimes, according to its prosecutor general.
