Moscow, 22 March 2024 (dpa/MIA) - More than two years after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine, a top Kremlin official has said that it is now a "war," which he blamed on the West.

The Kremlin has until now insisted that the attack on Ukraine ordered on February 24, 2022, was described only as a "special military operation" to ensure the "demilitarization and denazification" of Russia's neighbour. This term implied that the operation had a limited scope, while the use of the broader term "war" was effectively banned.

"It began as a special military operation, but as soon as the clique emerged, when the collective West became involved on the side of Ukraine, it became a war for us," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov explained in an interview published on Friday in Argumenty i Fakty magazine.

In response to questions from the media, the Kremlin spokesman clarified that Russia was effectively at war, but that the combat operations would retain their current legal status. "De jure, it is a special military operation," he said.

Peskov, who has been President Vladimir Putin's press spokesman since 2000, called on Russians to unite and to "mobilize internally."

During the war, the Russian military has occupied large parts of Ukraine but was unable to take the capital Kiev. Ukrainian troops later succeeded in driving the occupying forces back from some parts of the country with Western military assistance. 

However, Russia still occupies almost a fifth of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it illegally annexed in 2014.

Tens of thousands of people, including many civilians, have been killed in the fighting on the ground, as well as by ongoing Russian attacks using missiles and drones.

Russian troops are now on the offensive again due to the faltering Western military aid and are attempting to conquer further Ukrainian territory.

Photo: EPA