Ukrainian FM Kuleba: Putin's ultimate goal is to destroy Ukraine
The ultimate goal of Russian President Vladimir Putin is the destruction of Ukraine, Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba said during an interview with U.S.television news channel CNN on Feb. 22.
Kuleba said Putin does not seek to simply take control of Ukraine, or to seize parts of it.
“His ultimate goal is to destroy Ukraine,” the minister said.
“He is not interested in parts of Ukraine. He is not interested in even keeping the entire country under his control. He wants the idea of Ukrainian statehood to fail.”
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Feb. 21 recognized the independence of the two Russian self-declared statelets in the non-government-controlled parts of Ukraine’s Donbas region, and immediately ordered Russian troops into Ukrainian territory on a self-proclaimed “peacekeeping” mission – in fact an invasion of Ukraine. Thus, Russia unilaterally withdrew from the Minsk agreements, Ukrainian officials say.
This happened amid an escalation in the Donbas provoked by the Russian Federation and the threat of a new invasion of Russian troops into Ukraine.
In response, the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry has already proposed to sever diplomatic relations with the Russian Federation, as Kyiv and the world community condemned the Kremlin's decision, while the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and the European Union have announced the first sanctions as a result of Russia's violation of international law.
The upper chamber of the Russian parliament on Feb. 22 granted Putin the use of Russian armed forces abroad.
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