Russia tried to resolve tensions with Kiev and its Western backers peacefully, but the other side did not negotiate in good faith, President Vladimir Putin has said on the anniversary of Russia's reunification with four former Ukrainian regions.

Russia is marking two years since it accepted the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics as new parts of the country, along with the regions of Zaporozhye and Kherson. The treaties with the breakaway entities were signed amid hostilities with Ukraine, after people in those territories voted for the move in referendums. Kiev has rejected the votes as a "sham" and they have failed to gain widespread international recognition.

In a short statement, Putin reminded the nation that Moscow had initially intended to facilitate the return of Donetsk and Lugansk to Ukraine, after they rebelled against Kiev in the wake of the US-backed violent coup in 2014.

"You all know how those negotiations ended: with lies, fraud, deceit from the Western elites, who have since turned Ukraine into their colony, a military foothold against Russia," the president said.

"They deliberately fostered hatred and radical nationalism, incited enmity towards anything Russian, supplied weapons, sent mercenaries and advisers, prepared the Ukrainian Army for a new war, to again, like it did in the spring and summer 2014, conduct punitive action in the southeast," he added.

The Minsk Accords, which were struck in 2014 and 2015 in a bid to resolve tensions in Ukraine, were designed to buy time for Kiev to rearm, according to statements made later by the then-leaders of France, Germany and Ukraine.

Subsequent events have proven that Russian military action was warranted, Putin claimed. "The truth is on our side. All of our objectives will be reached," he said.

Western nations backing Ukraine have accused Russia of launching an unprovoked attack against it in February 2022. They claim that, by funneling hundreds of billions of dollars worth of military equipment to Kiev, they delay and potentially prevent a future Russian attack against NATO, plans that Moscow denies harboring.

Moscow has identified NATO's expansion in Europe since the 1990s as a key cause of the conflict, with membership promised to Ukraine in 2008, as well as Kiev's discriminatory policies against ethnic Russians following the 2014 coup. Russian officials see the hostilities as a US-led proxy war against their country, in which Ukrainians are being used as 'cannon fodder'.
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