Putin: “I have taken the decision to carry out a special military operation. Its goal will be to defend people who for eight years are suffering persecution and genocide by the Kyiv regime. For this we will aim for demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine…
"… as well as taking to court those who carried out multiple bloody crimes against civilians including citizens of the Russian Federation. Our plans do not include occupying Ukrainian territory.”
Calls on Ukrainian soldiers to lay down arms; all “follow these demands will be able to leave the battle zone.”
“Anyone who tries to interfere with us, or even more so, to create threats for our country and our people, must know that Russia’s response will be immediate and will lead you to such consequences as you have never before experienced in your history.”
Putin's war speech was also about the US: citing the bombing of Yugoslavia and the invasion of Iraq, he called the West an "empire of lies."
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