Putin: Ukraine a ‘hostage’ of leaders in Kyiv, Western nations

Russian President Vladimir Putin in his state-of-the-nation address on Tuesday placed blame on the West for the war in Ukraine, claiming that Ukraine is a “hostage” of leaders in Kyiv and Western nations.

“We aren’t fighting the Ukrainian people,” Putin said, according to The Associated Press. “[Ukraine] has become hostage of the Kyiv regime and its Western masters, which have effectively occupied the country.”

Putin also accused the West of attacking Russia’s economy with sanctions and launching “aggressive information attacks” against Russian culture and values in his annual address on Tuesday.

“Western elites aren’t trying to conceal their goals, to inflict a ‘strategic defeat’ to Russia,” he said. “They intend to transform the local conflict into a global confrontation.”

“It’s they who have started the war. And we are using force to end it,” Putin added.

Putin also said that Moscow was suspending its participation in the New START treaty, the last remaining nuclear arms control pact with the United States. His decision sharply ups the ante amid tensions with the U.S. over the fighting in Ukraine.

Putin’s address comes just days before the one-year anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Russia recently launched its long-anticipated counter-offensive in eastern Ukraine, sending in tens of thousands of new conscripts and renewing its widespread bombing of the country.

During a surprise visit to Ukraine on Monday, President Biden announced half a billion dollars of additional aid to Ukraine, including military equipment. The announcement came as Biden faces mounting pressure from Kyiv and at home to follow its recent offer of battle tanks with a supply of F-16 fighter jets.

“Russia’s aim was to wipe Ukraine off the map,” Biden said in joint remarks with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky. “Putin’s war of conquest is failing.”

“Putin thought Ukraine was weak and the West was divided … He thought he could outlast us. I don’t think he’s thinking that right now.”