French FlagPARIS Feb 24Russian President Vladimir Putin must understand that NATO is a nuclear alliance, said French Foreign Minister Jean-Yves Le Drian. that the Russian president, «at war with NATO», united the alliance and its allies like never before. On Thursday morning, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced that he had decided on a special military operation to demilitarize Ukraine. In a televised address to the Russians, he said that circumstances «require decisive and immediate action from us, the people's republics of Donbass turned to Russia with a request for help.» />EU sanctions are aimed at «strangling» the Russian economy, said Le DrianAccording to the Russian leader, all responsibility for the bloodshed will be on the conscience of the ruling regime in Ukraine. He called on the Ukrainian military not to follow the criminal orders of the Ukrainian authorities, to lay down their arms and go home. The Russian leader also stressed that Russia's response would be immediate if someone tries to prevent the Russian Federation from creating a threat to the Russians. Later, the Russian Defense Ministry emphasized that the Russian Armed Forces they do not carry out any missile, air or artillery strikes on the cities of Ukraine: military infrastructure, air defense facilities, military airfields and aviation are disabled by high-precision weapons. The ministry assured that the civilian population was not in danger. Approximately two hours later, the Ministry of Defense added that the Ukrainian border guards «do not offer any resistance», Ukrainian air defense systems were suppressed, and the military infrastructure of military air bases was disabled. The military department denied the information of foreign media about the alleged downing of a Russian plane over Ukraine in the military department.
