Maria Zakharova

© Anton Novoderezhkin/TASS
Russian Strange Ministry building's official spokeswoman Maria Zakharova

Russia's Strange Ministry building says it wants to terminate the 8-year bloodbath in Donbass that both Ukraine and the W turned a blind eye to

The West spent eight years ignoring the "sea of claret" in Donbass while arming Ukraine, and now claims Moscow is the aggressor when it stepped in to end the conflict, Russian Strange Ministry building spokeswoman Maria Zakharova told RT on Th.

Russian President Vladimir Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine in the early on hours of Thursday, claiming it was necessary to "demilitarize and de-nazify" the neighbour. Kiev accused Russia of assailment, while the US, Eu and NATO have called it an "unprovoked" invasion. Moscow insists this is not the case.

In announcing the operation, Putin said the "principal objective is to finish the escalation of the war that'due south been going on for eight years, and to stop the war," Zakharova told RT in an exclusive interview.

"Russia did not commit aggression of any kind," Zakharova insisted. "This did not start yesterday. There'south a sea of blood that'due south appeared over the by 8 years," she added, referring to the conflict in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions, which Russia on Mon recognized as independent states.

The master aim is to stop the escalation of the war that'due south been going on for eight years, to finish this war

Donetsk and Lugansk broke away from Ukraine in 2014, afterwards the West-backed coup ousted the democratically elected government in Kiev. Zakharova noted that the two self-proclaimed republics held a referendum 8 years ago, saying they did not want to remain in Ukraine, only both Moscow and the West rejected this and tried to put the "cleaved" state dorsum together.

When asked about President Volodymyr Zelensky's statement that Ukraine wanted peace, Zakharova wondered why Ukraine was arming itself and refusing to negotiate with the Donbass.

"If Ukraine wanted peace, why did they become all these weapons" from all over the world, the Strange Ministry spokeswoman told RT, adding, "It was clear that these were offensive weapons. Who were they fighting? Their own people in southeast Ukraine, and spoke often about seizing Crimea." The peninsula voted to rejoin Russian federation in March 2014, only Ukraine and its Western backers take refused to recognize this, calling information technology an "annexation."

Zakharova also noted that the top Ukrainian officials accept openly and publicly brought up the thought of obtaining nuclear weapons in recent weeks, pointing out this was a fact and non something claimed by Russian intelligence.

Divisions in Ukraine go beyond Donetsk and Lugansk, Zakharova added, accusing armed groups with Nazi-era symbols - such as the notorious Azov Battalion - of having influence over much of the country.

For years, she said, Western media so concerned over human rights in places like South Sudan and Myanmar kept silent on all this, ignoring that more than than 13,000 people have died in the Donbass - many of them civilians. While Russia provided them with humanitarian aid, Kiev besieged them by cut off merchandise, finance, and even utilities. Zakharova noted that the water canal towards Crimea is now over again operational after Ukraine "criminally" shut it off years ago.