Putin calls on the Ukrainian Army to assume power

Live | Crisis in Ukraine

MADRID, Feb. 25 (Royals Blue) –

The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has called on the Ukrainian Army to assume power by force in the face of the inability of the Ukrainian authorities, whom he described as “drug addicts” and “neo-Nazis”, to reach a negotiated solution to put an end to the conflict.

“I would like to address the men of the Ukrainian Army, do not allow these nationalists to use your women, your children, your elders as human shields. Take power into your own hands,” the Russian president declared during a special meeting. of the National Security Council collected by the Russian television network RBC.

“It seems that it will be easier for us to negotiate with you than with this gang of drug addicts and neo-Nazis from Kiev who have taken the entire Ukrainian people hostage,” added the president in an intervention broadcast on Russian television and also picked up by the TASS agency.

Putin also took the opportunity to “praise the effectiveness of the Russian Armed Forces, they have been acting honorably and heroically to protect the Russian people and their homeland.”

The speech takes place after the Russian Presidency on Friday showed its willingness to send a high-level delegation to the Belarusian capital, Minsk, to hold talks with Ukraine, a day after the start of the offensive.

“In response to the request of the Ukrainian president, Volodimir Zelensky, we are ready to send representatives of the Foreign Ministry and the Presidency for negotiations,” Kremlin spokesman Dimitri Peskov said, according to the Russian news agency Sputnik.

Hours earlier, Zelensky offered Putin this process “to stop the death of people”, shortly after one of his advisers stated that Kiev is willing to negotiate a “neutral” status if, in exchange, it receives security guarantees from Moscow, as reported by the Ukrainian news agency UNIAN.