Iran Press/ Europe: On Wednesday, 24 February morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin officially announced a special military operation against Ukraine. Russian President Vladimir Putin says he had no other choice than to launch the military operation to stop the Ukrainian military’s interference in two eastern republics that have broken away from Ukraine. Russia perceives NATO’s eastward expansion as a threat.
Since the start of the conflict, Russia has been the target of harsh sanctions by the United States and its allies these days over its support for Russian ethnicities in eastern Ukraine and its recognition of the Donetsk and Luhansk region.
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Saturday 5 March said that Western sanctions on Russia were akin to a declaration of war and warned that any attempt to impose a no-fly zone in Ukraine would lead to catastrophic consequences for the world.
Increasingly, European diplomats believe Putin sees the west’s supply of weaponry and other support to Ukraine as a direct intervention of a kind that requires retaliation.
Referring to Ukraine’s demand for Nato to impose a no-fly zone over the country which Nato has rejected Putin added: “The realization of that demand would bring catastrophic results not only to Europe but to the whole world.” 219
