Vladimir Putin has stirred controversy by claiming that the ongoing conflict in Ukraine is primarily the fault of Western nations.
While asserting his intentions to bring the war to an end, the Russian president continues to authorize air and missile strikes that hit civilian targets.
Putin further mentioned how he believes Western citizens have a cordial view of him and his country.
These remarks were made during his trip to the secretive nuclear city of Sarov, known as the birthplace of the Soviet atomic bomb, which took place on Friday.
He stated, “There’s certainly propaganda in the West that’s misleading people into thinking it was us who initiated the war.”
According to Putin, both Western leaders and Ukraine are ignoring the fact that it was on their part, starting in 2014, that military forces used tanks and planes against the peaceful people of the Donbas region.
“That is when the war truly began, and we are doing everything in our power to end it,” he added.
This statement comes just a week after Putin met with US President Donald Trump to discuss contentious peace negotiations in Alaska.
Although peace talks have hit a wall, there was some renewed optimism for a potential face-to-face between Putin and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, marking their first official meeting since 2019.
In another surprising claim, it was revealed that Putin personally intervened to stop his military leaders from launching an operation against Zelensky last year, as stated by one of his trusted allies.
The President of Belarus, Alexander Lukashenko, a longtime ally of Putin, recounted that the Russian leader blocked attempts to strike the Ukrainian presidency’s operational base located in Bankova, Kyiv.
This discussion came in the wake of the testing of the Oreshnik doomsday missile system in Dnipro, which occurred in November 2024 without a live warhead.
Lukashenko alleged this military test sparked plans to target Zelensky’s bunker and the center of the Ukrainian government.
“After the strike with the Oreshnik, the Ukrainians understood they were in deep trouble,” he remarked.
“They realized that Bankova could be reachable. Just a piece of insider information. Some in Russia were contemplating such plans – I won’t give names,” he said.
“But Putin said, ‘Under no circumstances would that happen.’”
“They were prepared to launch such a strike,” he claimed. “Had they targeted the decision-making centers, nothing would have remained of them.”
