MOSCOW, March 1. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said insists that it’s a special operation to demilitarize and denazify the country that’s taking place in Ukraine and disagrees with emotional assessments.
During a conversation with reporters, a Kremlin spokesman on Tuesday was asked if the Russian special operation could be called a war.
"You are asking this question from the point of view of emotions," Peskov said. "I am telling you officially: President [of Russia Vladimir] Putin, as the commander-in-chief, gave the order to start a special operation, and a special operation is being carried out."
Russian President Vladimir Putin on February 24, amid a strong escalation of the situation in Donbass and in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics, announced a special military operation in Ukraine. He stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories, but aims to demilitarize and denazify the country. The Russian Defense Ministry said that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. The Kremlin spokesman said Ukrainian nationalists make multiple attempts to use civilian population as a human shield.