An adviser to the Ukrainian presidential office head, Mykhaylo Podolyak, has commented on Vladimir Putin's remark that Russia is waging the war for "national interests" in Ukraine.
"Masks are off. Forget about "NATO provocations", "denazification" and other forgotten casus belli. Putin confirmed the obvious: RF is waging a genocidal type of aggression war to conquer new territories, because Peter the Great commanded that. Anyone else wants a "settlement"?" Podolyak tweeted.
Putin said on 7 December that the war in Ukraine, which he called a "special military operation", could become a "long process". At the same time, he called the annexation of part of Ukraine's territories by Russia a "significant result" of the operation.