Kharkiv, Ukraine — Russian President Vladimir Putin has ordered military operations in Ukraine, promising aggression against the eastern European country in defiance of Ukrainian pleas for peace and U.S. promises of economic consequences.
In a speech broadcast on Russian television Thursday morning local time, Putin said the operations “do not include plans for the occupation of Ukraine” but warned that any foreign interference with Russia would lead to “immediate” action resulting in “consequences as you never experienced in your history,” according to a translation of the speech published by the New York Times. The aim of the operation, Putin said, is the “demilitarization and denazification of Ukraine” — part of an ongoing Russian effort to portray Ukraine’s military as under the command of neo-Nazis.
Putin’s comments came as the United Nations Security…
