Putin says Ukraine goals will be ‘achieved’ as he repeats ‘neo-Nazi’ claims

Russian president repeats justification for sending forces into neighbouring country as Moscow launches swarms of drones targeting Kyiv, other regions.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has repeated his reason for deploying the army into Ukraine as protecting Russian speakers from a “neo-Nazi dictatorship”, as his forces launched drone and missile attacks in various parts of the neighbouring country.

In a video message on Monday released to mark the second anniversary of what Russia calls “Reunification Day”, when it annexed four Ukrainian regions, Putin pledged that all the goals Moscow has set for itself in the war – now in its third year – would be “achieved”.

“The truth is on our side,” he declared. “Together, we are defending a safe and prosperous future for our children and grandchildren.”

The president also alleged the “neo-Nazi dictatorship” in Kyiv aimed to sever Russian speakers “forever from their historic Motherland, from Russia” – suggestions that the Ukrainian government and its allies have repeatedly rejected as a baseless pretext for a wider war of aggression.

Putin also said that “Western elites” after turning “Ukraine into their colony, into a military outpost aimed at Russia … systematically instilled hatred and radical nationalism, fuelled hostility towards everything Russia”, the Kremlin’s website quoted him as saying.