MOSCOW: Russia's special military operation in Ukraine is a "forced measure" and it was left without other options, President Vladimir Putin said on Thursday while assuring the worried international community that Moscow did not intend to "damage" the global economic system.
President Putin announced a military operation in Ukraine early Thursday.
The assault began hours before dawn with a series of missile attacks against locations near the capital Kyiv, as well as the use of long-range artillery against the city of Kharkiv, near the Russian border.
It quickly spread across central and eastern Ukraine as Russian forces attacked the country from three sides.
Addressing top Russian business leaders here, Putin explained that the security risks for Russia were made so high it was impossible to react with other means, the state-run TASS news agency reported.
"This is the most important thing, it must be clear: the things that are happening are a forced measure," the Russian leader said as the West, led by the United States condemned Putin's unilateral military actions and threatened to impose more sanctions on Russia.
"They simply left us without options to act differently," Putin was quoted as saying by the TASS news agency.
Russia remains part of the global economy, he said. "Russia remains part of the global economy, and in this respect to the extent it remains this part, we do not plan to damage the system, which we feel we belong ourselves," he said. "We do not intend to damage the global economic system, which we belong ourselves," Putin said.