Putin declares Ukraine a "puppet" or "colony" of the US. Seems like an overstatement, but it's true that for years the US has been funding/training the Ukraine military and bragging about its singular influence on Ukraine's affairs. Perhaps this US intervention was ill-advised
In 2021, the US conducted an exercise *in Ukraine* featuring "joint jumps of Ukrainian and American paratroopers from a US Army C-130 aircraft." Does this excuse any insane actions Putin may take? No. But the US thinks it can do this stuff anywhere in the world without blowback 
If you never heard about "Rapid Trident 21," the exercise designed to "enhance interoperability" between the US/NATO and Ukraine, you're not alone: but the US does this all the time, virtually wherever it pleases, with no regard for how other states could find them "provocative"
You may have never heard about these exercises, but Putin is acutely aware of them -- as mentioned in today's speech. Why has the US been so dead-set on antagonizing Putin in this fashion, thus giving him a gift-wrapped rationale to justify military operations as "defensive"?
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