Putin for the first time publicly called the invasion of Ukraine a 'war'

Russian President Vladimir Putin on December 22 used the word "war" in reference to the fighting in Ukraine, publicly avoiding his elaborate title of Moscow's invasion as a "special military operation" for the first time. The edition told in more detail CNN.

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“Our goal is not to spin the flywheel of a military conflict, but, on the contrary, to put an end to this war,” Putin told reporters in Moscow after participating in a meeting of the State Council on Youth Policy. “We have been and will continue to strive for this.”

Putin's critics say that the use of the word "war" to describe the conflict in Ukraine has been effectively banned in Russia since March. Then the Russian leader signed a law on censorship, which qualifies the dissemination of "fake" information about the invasion as a crime with a penalty of up to 15 years in prison for those convicted.

So Putin's use of the word has not gone unnoticed.

Nikita Yuferev, a municipal deputy from St. Petersburg who fled Russia because of his anti-war stance, said he had asked the Russian authorities to hold Putin accountable for "spreading false information about the army."

“There was no decree to end the special operation, no war was declared,” Yuferev wrote on Twitter. “Several thousand people have already been convicted for such words about the war.”

A US official said their initial assessment was that Putin's remark was not intentional and likely became a slip of the tongue. However, officials will be watching closely to see what Kremlin figures have to say about it in the coming days.

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Since the beginning of the Russian invasion of Ukraine on February 24, thousands of people have been killed, entire cities destroyed, and billions of dollars worth of infrastructure destroyed.

On that day, Putin used the term "special military operation" to explain his attack. He has called the ongoing brutality a “denazification” campaign—a definition that historians and political observers have rejected—and increasingly calls Russia's unprovoked invasion an almost existential affair.

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Putin's comments follow Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's historic trip to Washington, DC, where the president gave an impassioned speech to Congress urging the United States for more support for Ukraine.

During his visit, US President Joe Biden unveiled a $1,8 billion aid package to Ukraine that includes the Patriot missile defense system, a longstanding request from Kyiv to fend off Russian air attacks.

Speaking to reporters in Moscow, Putin called the Patriot systems "obsolete" and said Russia "will always find opposition."

“As for the Patriot, it is a rather old system, and it does not work as well as our S-300s (missile system - Ed.),” Putin said.

“Those who oppose us think it's a defensive weapon, that's what they say. But this is on their mind, and we will always find opposition. So those who do this are just wasting their time, it’s just delaying the conflict,” Putin said.

In his address to Congress, Zelenskiy briefly discussed the 10-point peace formula and the summit, which he told Biden about during a meeting at the White House. The Ukrainian leader said that Biden supports peace initiatives.

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Asked by a journalist if there are real chances for diplomacy in Ukraine, Putin said that negotiations always precede the end of a conflict.

“All conflicts, including armed ones, one way or another end with some kind of negotiations,” Putin said, accusing Zelensky of refusing to negotiate. “We never refused, this Ukrainian leadership itself refused to negotiate… sooner or later, any party to the conflict will sit down and start negotiations, and the sooner the opponents understand this, the better.”

Putin and Russian Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu on December 21 said the Kremlin would make significant investments in many areas of the military. Initiatives include scaling up the military, accelerating weapons programs and deploying next-generation hypersonic missiles to prepare Russia for what Putin called "inevitable clashes" with its adversaries.

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