According to RIA Novosti, vasily nebenzya, speaking at a UN Security Council meeting on March 22, said that russia had allegedly achieved one of its goals in the war against Ukraine.

"Given that the Ukrainian Armed Forces have not been fighting with their own weapons for a long time, we can say that the goal of our 'SVO' to demilitarize Ukraine itself has been achieved. Now the militants survive exclusively on supplies from NATO countries," nebenzya said.

He reminded that among the declared goals of the so-called "SVO" by russia are demilitarization and "denazification" of Ukraine, as well as granting russian the status of the second state language in Ukraine. In addition, russia seeks to distance NATO from its borders, in particular, by demanding that the Alliance not accept Ukraine, Georgia and Moldova as members, and that Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia leave the bloc.

On December 22, 2022, vladimir putin, meeting with propagandists, stated that russia wanted to end the war in Ukraine as soon as possible, using the term "war" in the context of a "special operation" for the first time. Nikita Yuferyev, an opposition politician from St. Petersburg, filed a complaint with the prosecutor's office and the Interior Ministry, demanding that putin be held accountable for using the term "war".

"vladimir putin called the war a war... But there was no decree on the end of the SVO (special military operation - ed.), no war was declared. Several thousand people have already been convicted for such words about war," he explained.

On March 22, 2024, dmitry peskov, the spokesman for the russian president, admitted that the situation in Ukraine had escalated into a war.

"We are in a state of war. Yes, it started as a special military operation, but as soon as this company was formed there, when the collective West became involved on the side of Ukraine, it became a war for us. I am convinced of this. And everyone should understand this for their internal mobilization," he said.

The EU called peskov's statement cynical.