In his speech to the assembly of national, regional, and district leaders on Russia's response to the sanctions, Putin first factually describes the situation in Ukraine, how it developed, and Russia's objective.  It stands in striking contrast to Western propaganda.

Putin's speech is also notable because he acknowledges that Russia has a fifth column that operates against her for the West:

 "Yes, of course, they will try to rely on the so-called fifth column, on national traitors, on those who earn money here, but live there, and "live" not in the geographical sense of the word, but according to their slave consciousness."

Putin then speaks of those Russians who have a villa in Miami or on the French Riviera, who cannot do without foie gras, oysters or so-called gender freedoms. These people are inherently mentally located there, and not in Russia, not with our people, not with Russia. Such people are ready to sell their mother, if only they were allowed to sit in the hallway of the West's highest caste. They want to be to be part of the West. But they forget or do not understand that the West needs them only as expendable material to use to inflict maximum damage on our people.

"The collective West is trying to split our society, speculating on combat losses, on the socio-economic consequences of sanctions, to provoke a civil confrontation in Russia and, using its "fifth column," seeks to achieve its goal. And the only goal, as I have already said, is the destruction of Russia."

Putin describes the situation as a state of war, the West's purpose being the destruction of Russia.  Diplomacy has been unable to defuse the West's intent to subvert Russia to slave status within the Empire of Lies. Russia has endured provocations for years in hopes that reason would prevail in the West, but to no avail.  Ukraine was the final straw. Ukraine's refusal to abide by the Minsk Agreement, eight years of shelling the Donbass Russians, the militarization of Ukraine by Washington, the prospect of Ukraine acquiring nuclear weapons, the discovered biowar labs operating in conjunction with Washington, and the rejection by the West of Russia's security concern left no alternative to Russian military intervention.