Putin’s lies exposed: Russian troops slaughter civilians waiting at bus stop as Kremlin leader absurdly claims West is to blame for war in Ukraine

Russian troops were accused of killing Ukrainian civilians waiting at a bus stop during a major speech by Vladimir Putin to Moscow’s elite today, during which he claimed the West was to blame for his continued invasion.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said several rockets fired by the Russian military hit civilian targets in attacks on the southern city of Kherson.

He accused Russia of “mercilessly killing” Ukraine’s civilian population as his Russian counterpart delivered his annual State of the Union address in a rambling two-hour speech to lawmakers.

Among his claims, Putin said: “Responsibility for inciting the Ukrainian conflict, for its escalation, for the number of casualties… rests solely with the Western elite.” The US called the speech “absurd”, while Kiev said Putin was in the country in a “different reality”.

Zelenskyy provided his own rebuttal in an Instagram post with photos of the aftermath of the Russian strikes in Kherson. “The world must not forget for a moment that Russian brutality and aggression knows no bounds,” he wrote. “The terrorist state will be responsible for all its inhumane crimes against our people and Ukraine.”

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Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said several rockets fired by the Russian military hit civilian targets in attacks on the southern city of Kherson.

In the photo: A wounded man (center) lies on the ground near where a Russian missile hit Kherson on Tuesday. On the left the body of a strike victim

At least five people were killed and 16 others were injured in hospitals in today’s attacks on Kherson, the city council said.

Photos posted by Zelensky on Instagram show at least one body lying in a pool of blood on the sidewalk. Another person was injured on the ground, their clothes clearly damaged by the blast. A second body can be seen, half covered with a foil blanket.

The building next to the bus stop was also torn apart, and debris was strewn across the street. The strike damage extends into the street.

“The Russian army is shelling Kherson heavily. Again mercilessly killing the civilian population,” Zelenskyy wrote. “A parking lot, residential areas, a high-rise building and a public transport station were hit.”

AFP reporters also saw bodies covered with plastic sheets or foil blankets on the street near a bus stop and a supermarket in Kherson.

Regional authorities in the city said on Sunday that three adult members of a single family had been killed in shelling. Four others – including two children – were injured when a grenade flew into the garden of a house in the village of Burgunka, officials said.

Separately, an 8-year-old boy was injured by shelling in the same village, regional authorities said.

Kherson is the capital of one of four regions that Russia allegedly annexed but never fully controlled, along with Donetsk, Lugansk and Zaporizhia.

Despite Russia’s withdrawal from Kherson in November, when Ukraine’s lightning-quick counteroffensive liberated hundreds of square miles in a matter of weeks, the city is regularly attacked by Moscow forces from across the Dnipro River.

In the photo: Paramedics load a stretcher with a dead citizen into an ambulance on February 21. The person died in a Russian missile attack on Kherson

In the photo: Ukrainian soldiers are seen today at the site of the Russian missile attack in Kherson

In the photo: A bus stop in Kherson was cordoned off after the area was hit by a Russian missile

Pictured: People in Kherson assess the damage after a Russian missile hit on Tuesday

Pictured: A person removes broken glass from a window damaged after firing during the Russian attack on Ukraine on February 21 in Kherson, Ukraine

Oleksandr Prokudin, head of Kherson’s local military administration, said Russian troops attacked the city “probably with Grad” multiple rocket launchers and 20 explosions were heard.

The strikes came as Russian President Vladimir Putin gave a state of the nation address in Moscow nearly a year after Russia invaded Ukraine.

In his long-delayed state of the nation address, Putin portrayed his country – and Ukraine – as victims of Western double-dealing and said it was Russia, not Ukraine, that was fighting for its existence.

“We are not fighting against the Ukrainian people,” Putin said in a speech on Friday, days before the first anniversary of the war. Ukraine “became a hostage to the Kiev regime and its Western masters, who effectively occupied the country.”

The speech reiterated a series of grievances the Russian leader has often cited to justify the widely condemned war, as he promised no delay in military delays in Ukraine’s illegally annexed territories and apparently any offers of peace in a to reject conflict, which again fears for a new Cold War.

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded and stormed Kiev, apparently expecting to overrun the capital quickly. But fierce resistance from Ukrainian troops – backed by Western weapons – drove Moscow’s troops back.

While Ukraine has recaptured many territories originally held by Russia, the two sides are locked in other wars.

Many of the speeches touched on old ways – although Putin sharply increased tensions with Washington by declaring that Moscow would suspend its participation in the last remaining nuclear arms control treaty with the United States.

The so-called New START treaty limits the number of long-range nuclear warheads they can deploy and restricts the use of missiles capable of carrying nuclear weapons.

Among his claims during Tuesday’s speech, Putin said: “Responsibility for inciting the Ukrainian conflict, for its escalation, for the number of casualties … rests solely with the Western elite.” The US called the speech “absurd”, while Kyiv said Putin was in a “different reality”.

In the speech, Putin offered his own version of recent history, ignoring arguments by the Ukrainian government that it needs Western help to thwart a Russian military takeover.

Putin has denied any wrongdoing, even as Ukrainian Kremlin forces have attacked civilian targets, including hospitals, and faced widespread accusations of war crimes.

On the ground in Ukraine, heavy fighting and shelling continued in the east and south of the country on Tuesday.

At least six people have been killed and seven others injured in the past 24 hours, the Ukrainian presidential office said yesterday morning.