https://www.rt.com/russia/571248-putin-ending-ukraine-war/
“Let me repeat: we did not start the military activities, we are trying to end them,” the president said in a meeting with aviation industry executives in Moscow. Ukrainian nationalists first resorted to force in 2014, with the coup d’etat in Kiev, followed by events in Crimea and in Donbass, he argued.
“They started the war,” Putin said. “For eight years, that war continued – a war to exterminate people who live there, who feel themselves related by blood to Russia and Russian culture. How long were we supposed to tolerate that?”
What utter nonsense! The popular rebellion in 2014 was an internal Ukrainian affair and none of Russia’s business. As for Donbas and Crimea, it was the Russians who initiated military actions with their invasion of those territories. And again it must be pointed out, in Donbas the Russian population is the minority. They can feel themselves related to Russia as much as they want but they have no right to slice a part of Ukraine off, especially a part that has a Ukrainian majority. The Russians are not a superior race that can impose themselves over other ethnic groups. Those who think that they can are the real Nazis.