Latest news about the war in Russia and Ukraine

President Putin said on Tuesday that Western allies were “punishing” themselves with economic sanctions against Russia.

Putin said in his rebuttal speech that the West had “not succeeded” in its military and economic “aggression” against Russia.

“Those who initiate sanctions are punishing themselves. They have caused inflation in their own countries, factory closures, collapse of the energy sector. They are telling their citizens that the Russians are to blame,” he said. Speech translation.

Putin said the sanctions were an attempt to destabilize Russian society, but he insisted its economy should remain strong. He added that Russia has all the necessary financial resources to guarantee its national security and development.

“Sanctions are a means, but the objective of the West and I say directly is to force the persecution of our citizens. They are trying to destabilize our society from within, but their efforts are not justified and are not succeeding,” he said.

– Karen Gilchrist

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Tuesday during his annual State of the Nation address that Western allies had “started a war” in Ukraine.

Speaking in Moscow, Putin accused the West of building up military groups on Russia’s borders.

“I want to repeat, they started the war and we used force to stop it,” Putin said, according to a translation of the speech.

Since Russia invaded Ukraine on February 24, 2022, Moscow has described the conflict as a “special military operation”.

“We did everything possible to resolve this issue in a peaceful way. We were patient to come out of this terrible conflict. However behind our backs a completely different scenario is being prepared,” he said.

– Karen Gilchrist

US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken on Tuesday called President Putin’s war a “strategic failure”.

“One year after President Putin attacked Ukraine, it is clear that his war has been a strategic failure in every sense,” Blinken said at a news conference with Greek Foreign Minister Nicos Dentias in Athens.

It comes as Putin is set to deliver his assessment of Russia’s so-called “special military operation” in Ukraine during a State of the Nation address in Moscow.

– Karen Gilchrist

China’s Foreign Minister Qin Gang on Tuesday called on some countries to stop “fueling the fire” in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, in an apparent retaliation against Western allies.

“China is deeply concerned that the Ukraine conflict will continue to escalate or spiral out of control,” Qin said during a speech at the Foreign Ministry in Beijing. We call on some countries to immediately stop burning fires.

The comments come as the United States has warned China against providing military support to Russia, which Beijing has said it has not done.

China’s top diplomat Wang Yi will visit Moscow on Tuesday to meet with President Vladimir Putin.

President Xi Jinping is expected to deliver a “peace speech” on Friday, marking the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

– Karen Gilchrist

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni will meet President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in Kyiv on Tuesday to reiterate her country’s support for Ukraine as he seeks to smooth tensions in his right-wing coalition.

The trip comes a week after his coalition partner Silvio Berlusconi, the head of Forza Italia, blamed Zelensky for Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

His visit comes a day after US President Joe Biden made a surprise visit to the Ukrainian capital on Monday to mark the war’s one-year anniversary.

– Karen Gilchrist

Russian President Vladimir Putin will deliver a closely watched speech at 9:00 a.m. London time in which he is expected to outline his latest thinking on what he continues to refer to as “special military action” in Ukraine.

“At such an important and very critical moment in our development, in our lives, everyone is waiting for a message, hoping to hear an assessment of what is happening, the special military operation,” a Kremlin spokesman told state television. A Reuters translation.

Addresses to military commanders and soldiers will be delivered to both houses of the Russian parliament in Moscow.

This comes as the war approaches its one-year anniversary on February 24.

– Jenny Reid