Putin accuses West of ‘adding fuel to fire’ with conflict in Ukraine

15 Aug 2023 • 10:03 PM MYT
The Independent
The Independent

The world’s most free-thinking newspaper

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Vladimir Putin has accused Western countries of adding ‘fuel to the fire’ by funding the conflict in Ukraine.

Addressing participants of an international security forum, the Russian president shifted the blame for Russia’s ongoing invasion.

Putin said countries that were “pumping billions of dollars into the neo-Nazi regime” were “igniting the conflict even more, to draw other states into it.”

It comes as experts told The Independent that Western pressure on Ukraine’s counteroffensive to achieve a “Hollywood”-style breakthrough against Russia’s forces is “unrealistic.”