PATRIOT PARK /Moscow Region/, August 16. /TASS/. The West is using the people of Ukraine as cannon fodder to maintain its hegemony, Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a video address to the 10th Moscow Conference on International Security on Tuesday.

"They (Western countries - TASS) need conflicts to maintain their hegemony. This is why they have been using the people of Ukraine as cannon fodder while running the anti-Russia project; they have closed their eyes to the use of neo-Nazism ideology and mass killings of civilians in Donbass and they have been supplying weapons, including heavy ones, to the Kiev regime," the Russian leader said.

The decision to launch a special military operation in Ukraine that fully complies with the UN Charter was made in these circumstances. "This operation has clear goals - to ensure the security of Russia and Russian people and to save citizens of Donbass from a genocide," the Russian leader emphasized.

"The developments in Ukraine show that the United States has been seeking to prolong the conflict," Putin added. He said Washington was using the same practices to ignite conflicts in Asia, Africa and Latin America.