Russian president Vladimir Putin has claimed the West is the real “enemy” as his invasion of Ukraine approaches its second anniversary.
The former KGB operative, who is seeking re-election in March, claimed forces in western countries including the US and Britain were working to destroy “Russian statehood” – and providing weapons to Ukraine to ensure the world’s largest country suffered a “strategic defeat” on the battlefield.
While speaking to a wounded soldier at a military hospital, Putin claimed that “Ukraine itself is not our enemy”.
He added: “The point is not that they (the West) are helping our enemy. They are our enemy.
Putin claimed at the start of the invasion, in late February 2022, that the objective of his “special military operation” was to “de-Nazify” the government in Kyiv.
More than 315,000 Russians are believed to have been killed or wounded in the conflict since then, according to western military intelligence.
