we begin with vladimir putin delivering a major speech doubling down on the goals of russia s so-called special military operation in ukraine that began a year ago. it is a day after president biden s surprise visit to the ukrainian capital. this teach along with biden s planned address in warsaw setting up an extraordinary split screen moment hours apart, the two leaders laying out their vastly different visions of the conflict. we have coverage from every angle. clare sebastian, let s start with you. on the heels of biden s unexpected historic trip to kyiv, what is vladimir putin saying this morning? well, this was unmistakably a tirade against the west. this was president putin blaming the west for starting the war in ukraine and escalating it, blaming the west for the casualties. he said west started it and russia is using force to try to stop it. and he says russia has been trying to work through this through peaceful means. take a listen. translator: i ve done absol
russia s peace initiatives, they think thing a agreesgressioner the water, killing civilians. it is a reversal of the facts on the ground that we re hearing from president putin. and he complained that he tried to work with the west and all he gotcha was nato expansion. he doubled down on the idea of de-nazifying ukraine, says that they were protecting the ukraine kran people and west was closing its eyes to the murderous regime in kyiv. and he touted the strength of the russian economy which only shrank by 2.1% despite predictions of a collapse. although it is showing signs of strain now over the result of sanctions. imf predicts that it will grow in the first quarter but not by very much. and let s bring in our
sounded a wall for western unity. for those wondering if germany s declared shift in policy was a momentary reaction to russia s invasion of ukraine, he declares we are at the end of an era of peace, underlining the creation of a $100 billion fund to upgrade the german armed forces, which he called the starkest change in german security policy since 1955. the break was so dramatic, that germany had to amend its constitution to make it possible. the tectonic shift has been triggered by the russian invasion, but it s also a response to the dawning of a new age of great power competition. a recognition that the rules-based international order built by the united states and europe, is in danger of crumbling, as countries like
it s classic cold war, dirty diplomacy. you wrote in your book, your my father. he was part of a swap. my mother was russian. he was only allowed out of the soviet union in 1969 after six years of trying, because she was add d in the same kind of swap. nothing has changed since. that s the way the kgb men who run russia roll. luke, when owen is making the point that putin s strategy is to hope the west gets tired. i would say also the price pour the ordinary europeans, the energy hikes and all that, backs unbearable. i just want to follow up on that and say one of putin s mistakes is that ukraine of 2022 was the ukraine of 2014, was there was a minority to russia.
morale. they re fighting for their country, for democracy, and the russians don t know what they re fighting for. so when you ve been there, this question is a testament of morale, where do you think it stands. i agree with that. you talk to any ukrainian soldier, they all say they re fighting for their country and so on. and the russians, it s not entirely clear what it s all about. in the beginning, it was about de- de-nazifying ukraine, then saving the donbas and the east of the country. and now putin talking about a very long war. but no one i was in kyiv on february 24th, when most people thought the ukrainian capital would fall, including the government. we ve come such a long way in ten months, the point where ukraine has evicted russia from half the territory it seized. and now my sense is we ll push