Putin Accuses the West of Using Ukrainians as 'Cannon Fodder'

Russian President Vladimir Putin accused the West on Friday of "exploiting" Ukraine and using its population as "cannon fodder" in the ongoing war.

The Russian leader launched a heated attack against the Western nations that have assisted Ukraine in the conflict that began after Putin launched a full-scale invasion on February 24.

The U.S. has provided just over $50 billion in military, financial and humanitarian aid since the conflict began, according to the Kiel Institute for the World Economy, a think tank in Germany. On November 20, Europe, for the first time, surpassed the U.S. in the value of total committed aid to Ukraine, providing nearly 55 billion euros.

Putin accused the West of having "shamelessly siphoned off and exploited" Ukraine's resources, encouraged genocide and terror in the eastern Donbas region, and of turning the country into a "colony."

"[The West] now cynically uses the Ukrainian people as cannon fodder, as a battering ram against Russia, continuing to supply Ukraine with weapons and ammunition, directing mercenaries, pushes it on a suicidal path," the Russian leader said in a video message. Putin was addressing a summit of defense ministers from the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation, which is a Eurasian political, economic and security organization, as well as a group of former Soviet countries.

Putin has repeatedly described the war, which the Kremlin calls a "special military operation," as a conflict between Russia and the West.

He criticized the U.S. in a similar attack in August, accusing Washington of trying to "prolong" the conflict in Ukraine.

Speaking at the Moscow International Security Conference on August 16, he said that "Western globalist elites" were "provoking chaos, inciting old and new conflicts," and attempting "to preserve the hegemony and power that is slipping out of their hands."

Putin said that Washington "and its vassals crudely interfere in the internal affairs of sovereign states," as he accused them of organizing "provocations, coups, civil wars" while "threats, blackmail and pressure try to force independent states to submit to their will."

"The so-called collective West is purposely destroying the European security system," Putin added, referring to the NATO military alliance.

He said that, for the West to "maintain their hegemony," they made Ukrainians "cannon fodder," ignored the spread of "neo-Nazi ideology"—referring to one of his justifications for his invasion—and "continue to pump the Kyiv regime with weapons."

"The situation in Ukraine shows that the U.S. is trying to prolong this conflict," Putin added.

Newsweek has contacted the Biden administration for comment.

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