JAKARTA - Russian President Vladimir Putin said Moscow's military operation in Ukraine, launched with no other option, would no doubt achieve what he said was its starting goal.
Speaking at an award ceremony at the Vostochny Cosmodrome, Russia's Far East, President Putin was quoted by Russian news agencies as saying Moscow had no other choice but to launch a military operation to protect Russia and clashes with Ukrainian anti-Russian forces were inevitable.
"The goal is very clear and noble," President Putin said of Russia's military campaign, as reported by Reuters April 12.
President Putin said the main goal of Moscow's military intervention in Ukraine was to save people in the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine, where Russia-backed separatists have been battling Ukrainian forces since 2014.
"On the one hand, we are helping and saving people. On the other hand, we are only taking measures to ensure Russia's own security," said President Putin.
"It was clear that we had no choice. It was the right decision."
It is known that millions of Ukrainians have been forced to leave the country since Russia sent tens of thousands of troops to Ukraine on February 24, in what it called a special operation to undermine Ukraine's military capabilities, rooting out what it called dangerous nationalists.
Meanwhile, Ukrainian forces have fought hard with the West having imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia, in a bid to force the Kremlin to withdraw its troops.
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