According to Russian President Vladimir Putin, the United States and its allies control over the world is inevitably going to fall, ushering in the most perilous decade since World War II.
Putin charged that the West had sparked the conflict in Ukraine and was engaging in “dangerous, brutal, and dirty” behavior that was causing havoc around the globe. The West will ultimately need to discuss the future of the globe with Russia and other big powers, according to Putin.
The 70-year-old former KGB spy remarked at an annual foreign policy conference, “We are standing at a historical frontier: Ahead lies arguably the most perilous, uncertain, and vital decade since the end of World War Two.
The crisis, which started eight months ago when Russian soldiers invaded neighboring Ukraine, has resulted in thousands of fatalities, millions of displaced people, a jolt to the world economy, and a reopening of Cold War rifts.
In the meantime, officials said that Russian attacks on Ukraine’s energy infrastructure were causing power outages in several cities, including the capital Kyiv.
President Volodymyr Zelenskiy declared in a Thursday night video speech as he stood outside in the dark near the debris of a downed drone that the missile and drone strikes will not destroy the Ukrainian spirit.
“Shelling won’t break us; it scares me more than enemy rockets in our sky to hear their melody on our soil. We don’t fear the dark, he declared.
Putin responded simply when asked if there had been any disappointments in the previous year, adding that he always keeps in mind the Russian lives lost in Ukraine. Putin did not address recent Russian defeats on the battlefield in response to a question.
When asked if the operation was progressing as planned, Putin retorted that the Russian objectives had not altered. He said, referring to the eastern industrial region that includes two of the four Ukrainian provinces he declared seized last month, that Russia was fighting to protect the people of the Donbas. The worst effects of economic sanctions had already been felt, he claimed, and they would ultimately make Russia stronger by increasing the independence of its industry.
Since 2014, fighting has taken place in eastern Ukraine between separatists supported by Russia and the Ukrainian military.
According to Putin, liberal Western leaders have destroyed “traditional values” by imposing a culture with “dozens of genders, gay parades” on other countries.
According to the White House, Putin’s comments were not particularly novel and did not signal a shift in his strategic objectives, especially those in Ukraine.
Putin’s demand for strategic engagement prompted White House national security spokesman John Kirby to say, “At various levels, we keep open channels of contact with the Russians, and we will continue to use them.”
Putin’s speech was criticized by a presidential adviser for Ukraine as being “for Freud.”
