Zakharova: Russian Operation Doesn’t Begin War, It Prevents Global One

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova affirmed, on Thursday, that Russia’s special operation in Ukraine is not the beginning of a war.

Zakharova stated that the operation is called to prevent a global confrontation and put an end to hostilities in Donbass.

"This is not a beginning of war. It prevents a global military confrontation and puts an end to the war that has been underway [in Donbass]," Zakharova said.

"The war was waged on different fronts: we experienced the pressure of sanctions and on the information front we saw some monstrous fakes against us one cannot read about in any textbook," she added. "Also, there was a psychological war - attempts were made to set our people and our elite against each other, and so on."

On his part, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he had made a decision to conduct a special military operation in response to a request from the leaders of the Donbass republics. However, he stressed that Moscow’s plans did not include the occupation of Ukrainian territories.

Early this morning, Russian troops invaded Ukraine and crossed its borders into the eastern cities of Chernihiv, Kharkiv and Luhansk despite international calls for a peaceful resolution of the crisis.