‘Russia's President Vladimir Putin has boldly claimed that it has become his responsibility to take back and strengthen Ukraine as he appeared to finally admit the invasion was about returning land to Russia.
The Russian warmonger attended a meeting with young entrepreneurs and specialists ahead of the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum in the capital Moscow, in which he compared himself to Peter the Great, the 18th-century Russian monarch, who waged war on Sweden.
Putin said: "Peter the Great led the Northern War for 21 years. It would seem that he fought with Sweden, and captured land… but he didn't conquer it, he returned it.
"Well, it seems it has also now fallen to us to take back and strengthen land and if we take these basic values as fundamental to our existence, we will prevail in solving the issues we are facing."
Up until this point, Putin and his propagandists have cited everything from a supposed "threat" posed by NATO to the "neo-Nazis" he spuriously claimed have overrun Ukraine, as reasons for his unprovoked and bloody invasion of Russia's neighbours.
But today, after more than 100 days of war, Putin has openly claimed that he is "returning" land to Russia
