One of Vladimir Putin’s closest ally in the Russian Government has claimed the closest allies of Ukraine in the West are waging a “direct, hot” war at Russia. This is despite Britain, France and other allies of Kyiv stressing over the past four years they are not in a conflict with the country and pledging not to send boots on the Ukrainian ground until a peace deal is struck, to avoid NATO being dragged into the unlawful war ordered by Putin in 2022.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov stressed that Ukraine is being prepared to become anti-Russia. He said: “And it has become the spearhead of the West’s hybrid war, but recently not only a hybrid war, but a direct, ‘hot’ war of the West against the Russian Federation.”