Vladimir Putin. Photo: kremlin.ru
Vladimir Putin in a speech on Monday vowed that Russia would achieve all the goals it has set for itself in the ongoing war against Ukraine.
“The truth is on our side. All goals set will be achieved,” Putin said, as part of a video message released to mark the second anniversary of what Russia refers to as “Reunification Day”, Moscow’s official annexation of Ukraine’s Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhzhia and Kherson regions.
The annexation followed referendums held in those territories that were widely condemned as shams by the international community.
Putin signed a document with the Russian-installed leaders of the occupied regions on 30 September 2022 to unilaterally incorporate them into Russia, despite Moscow not exercising full control over the territories.
In his speech Putin repeated his initial goal in launching the full-scale invasion of Ukraine as protecting Russian speakers from a so-called “neo-Nazi dictatorship” in Kyiv that aims to “cut them off forever from Russia, their historic homeland”.
The Kremlin leader went on to criticise “Western elites” who he claims “turned Ukraine into their colony, a military base aimed at Russia” and who fanned “hate, radical nationalism … hostility to everything Russian”.
Putin’s goals in Ukraine have been unclear since the start of the full-scale invasion, with a survey held in February by Russian independent research project Chronicles indicating that 20% of Russians were unable to state the goal of the Russian invasion. Another 15% said the invasion’s goal was “Russia’s victory”, while 2% stated that “Vladimir Putin knows the goal”.
