The Russian President has used an address to his country to cast the invasion of Ukraine as a forced response to western policies. 

Speaking at a military parade on Red Square, Vladimir Putin likened Russia’s military action to the Allies’ fight against Nazi Germany in World War II.

He hit out at NATO countries, arguing Russia had tried “in vain” to compromise on the region’s key security issues.

Sonia Mycak, a research fellow at the ANU Centre of European Studies, told Sofie Formica importantly, Putin did not declare any victories in Ukraine.

“In the eyes of the Russian people, this remains as a special military operation,” she said.

“It was expected that he might actually announce the conscription of Russian men and that’s what declaring a war would have meant.

“At some level, there’s understanding there in that Putin regime that the Russian people won’t accept a full war.”

Press PLAY below to hear Vladimir Putin’s speech analysed in full

Image: Getty