Russian President Vladimir Putin is endeavouring to build a pro-Russian empire stretching from "Vladivostok to Lisbon", a former Russian president has warned.
Ex-president and deputy chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said Putin launched his brutal invasion of the former Soviet republic to bring peace to Ukraine, in a Telegram post.
The shocking allegations were made as Western leaders shared fears Moscow is planning a new military offensive in southern and eastern parts of Ukraine.
Medvedev said: "To change the bloody and full of false myths consciousness of a part of today’s Ukrainians is the most important goal.
"The goal is for the sake of the peace of future generations of Ukrainians themselves and the opportunity to finally build an open Eurasia – from Lisbon to Vladivostok."
He further accused "Nazis, murderers and collaborators" of stirring up "Russophobia" in Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991.
The ex-Russian leader also said Putin's "special military operation" in Ukraine was undertaken in a bid to "demilitarise" and "de-Nazify" the country.
Medvedev added the offensive "will not only be decided on the battlefields".
He also questioned the legitimacy of Ukrainian sovereignty saying: "The passionate part of Ukrainians has been praying for the Third Reich for the last 30 years."
The former president revealed on Wednesday Moscow intends to fight attempts to seize Russian property abroad in courts around the globe.
He said: "Our opponents … should understand that they will face a large number of cases in courts.
"Both in the national courts of the United States and Europe and in international courts."
Medvedev's comments come amid heightened concerns from Western officials including NATO chief Jens Stoltenberg that Rusasia will push to try to capture Ukraine's eastern region of Donbas in "coming weeks".
Officials warned Russian troops may attempt to create a land bridge to occupied Crimea.
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky yesterday accused Russian military of carrying out the worst crimes since World War II.
He told the UN Security Council civilians had been murdered and Russian tanks had crushed people "for pleasure".
After finishing his speech via video link, he showed gruesome images of dead Ukrainians including charred and mutilated bodies.
Mr Zelensky said: "The Russian military searched for and purposefully killed anyone who served our country
"They killed entire families, adults and children, and they tried to burn the bodies."
He urged the UN to take action saying failure to do so would make the world body ineffectual.
Mr Zelensky added: "Are you ready to close the UN? And the time of international law is gone?
"If your answer is no, then you need to act immediately."
President Zelensky was praised for his ferocious and passionate attack on Russian military, telling the UN that "accountability must be inevitable".
He said: "We are dealing with a state that turns its veto at the UN Security Council into the right to [cause] death."
Before Putin launched his invasion into Ukraine, the Russian parliament's deputy chairman Pyotr Tolstoy said Finland and Ukraine should be incorporated back into an enlarged Russia.
Speaking in January, he claimed NATO members Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania will “crawl” back under the Kremlin’s sway after realising the “insignificance of their position”, according to Znak media.
Tolstoy did not specify how this “restoration” might happen, but claimed it could be in the next ten years.
He later claimed his comments about the Kremlin restoring its old empire at a Russian Press Day event had been a “joke”, but he previously made clear he holds such views.
Last year he declared “there will be no Ukraine”, describing it as “part of Russia which has temporarily seceded”.
He claimed Russia could take Ukraine by force, rapidly overrunning the country and reaching the Polish border.
The United Russia MP said: "We will finish everything in a week
“We will return Kyiv to the Russian people, we will return Kyiv...There is no future for an independent Ukraine.”
