LIVE Updates: Vladimir Putin gives speech to Russian elites on Ukraine war

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Putin claims US started war in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has now turned his attention to the United States and is accusing it of beginning the war.

He says the “whole planet is dotted with” US military bases.

He is now claiming that by 2022 the US and Kyiv were preparing for “punitive action” in the Donbas region, parts of which are controlled by Russian separatists.

“I would like to repeat, they started the war, and we used force to stop it,” he said, to applause.

Putin complains of ‘endless flow of accusations against Russia’

Putin now complains of the “endless flow of accusations against Russia” that was made at the recent security conference, likely the one held this weekend in Munich, which Russia was barred from attending for the first time in decades.

He again blames the West for starting the conditions that led to the war.

“It was the West who released the genie from the bottle,” he said.

He says that the West allowed for the start of the Nazis in Germany in the 1930s and now claims that they are doing the same again with Ukraine.

“History keeps repeating,” he says.

It’s a reminder how much history drives Putin’s thinking and his invasion of Ukraine.

Putin claims US started war in Ukraine

Vladimir Putin has now turned his attention to the United States and is accusing it of beginning the war.

He says the “whole planet is dotted with” US military bases.

He is now claiming that by 2022 the US and Kyiv were preparing for “punitive action” in the Donbas region, parts of which are controlled by Russian separatists.

“I would like to repeat, they started the war, and we used force to stop it,” he said, to applause.

Putin repeats false claims

Vladimir Putin is continuing to call his war in Ukraine a “special military operation” and repeated his false claims that Ukraine was trying to obtain nuclear weapons and install Nato bases closer to Russia’s borders.

Under the Budapest agreement, Ukraine gave up its nuclear weapons in exchange for Western support and its bid to join Nato was repeatedly rebuffed.

He now accuses Ukraine of “centuries of colonialism and dictatorship”.

Putin acknowledges difficult time

Vladimir Putin has begun his speech.

He is standing on a stage flanked on either side by Russian flags.

He opened by acknowledging the difficult time the world is in but resolved to continue with his ambitions in Ukraine “step by step.”

Putin’s speech is to parliament and military

Putin’s speech will be to members of both houses of parliament and to military commanders and soldiers and begins at 8pm AEST.

‘Message of hope’ claims Kremlin

Earlier, Putin’s spokesman Dmitry Peskov said the Russian people were anticipating a “message of hope”.

“At such a crucial and very complicated juncture in our development, our lives, everyone is waiting for a message in the hope of hearing an assessment of what is happening, an assessment of the special military operation,” Peskov told state television.

Our live coverage begins

Hello and welcome to our rolling coverage of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s speech to the nation.

The speech will be underway in minutes and comes almost a year to the day since he ordered the invasion of Ukraine, which he thought would take only weeks.

He continues to call it a “special military operation” instead of a war or invasion, but his actions have rallied the West and NATO in support of Ukraine.

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