President Vladimir Putin declared on Thursday that Russia's objective is to establish a "new world" and attributed Moscow's relentless offensive in Ukraine to Western hegemony. Putin has framed Russia's extensive military involvement in Ukraine, initiated in February 2022, as part of an enduring confrontation with the West.

"We are essentially tasked with creating a new world," Putin stated, asserting that the West is pursuing global "hegemony."

"The West always requires an adversary," he remarked. Putin contended that the conflict in Ukraine is not rooted in territorial disputes and that Moscow has no intentions of annexing any territories.

Russia's military controls significant portions of southern and eastern Ukraine, and Putin has officially absorbed four Ukrainian regions: Kherson, Zaporizhzhia, Donetsk, and Lugansk. Putin has consistently maintained that Ukrainian territory has historical ties to Russia and has raised questions about Ukrainian statehood.

In addition to overseeing the annexation of Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, the longtime leader, who will turn 71 this week, blamed Western nations for the conflict, which has now lasted for twenty months.

"The war, initiated by the Kyiv regime with active Western support, has been ongoing for a decade," he remarked.

"The special military operation was launched to halt it," he added, using Moscow's terminology for the offensive. Russia's military failed to capture Kyiv, Ukraine's capital, in the initial days of the offensive.