Putin defends 'noble' aims of Ukraine invasion
STORY: Speaking at an awards ceremony at the Vostochny Cosmodrome in the Russian Far East, Putin said Moscow had no other choice but to launch a military operation to protect Russia, and that a clash with Ukraine's anti-Russian forces had been inevitable.
Putin says the "special military operation" in Ukraine is necessary because the United States was using Ukraine to threaten Russia - including via the NATO military alliance - and that Moscow had to defend Russian-speaking people in Ukraine from persecution.
He added on Tuesday that he had no doubts Russia would achieve all of its objectives in Ukraine - a conflict he cast as both inevitable and essential to defend Russia in the long term.
"Its goals are absolutely clear and noble," Putin said. "It's clear that we didn't have a choice. It was the right decision."
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance and the West has imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia in an effort to force it to withdraw its forces.
Putin toured the space port in Russia's far east with Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko.
Lukashenko, who has a track record of sometimes saying things that appear to jar with his closest ally's stated positions on a range of issues, has insisted that Belarus must be involved in negotiations to resolve the conflict in Ukraine and has said that Belarus had been unfairly labeled "an accomplice of the aggressor".
