Ukraine took action to end the ‘warring’ that has been raging since 2014.

ST. PETERSBURG, Russia (AP) — Russian President Vladimir Putin said Wednesday that Moscow’s action in Ukraine was intended to stop a “war” that has raged in eastern Ukraine for many years.

Putin stated at a meeting of veterans that Moscow had long sought a settlement to the conflict within Ukraine’s eastern industrial heartland, Donbas. Russia-backed separatists are fighting Ukrainian forces in Donbas since 2014.

“Large-scale combat operations involving heavy weapons, artillery, tanks and aircraft haven’t stopped in Donbas since 2014,” Putin said. “All that we are doing today as part of the special military operation is an attempt to stop this war. This is the meaning of our operation — protecting people who live on those territories.”

On Wednesday, Putin again insisted that Russia had tried to negotiate a peaceful settlement before sending in troops, but “we were just duped and cheated.”

He described Ukraine’s east as Russia’s “historic territories,” adding that Moscow conceded their loss after the 1991 Soviet collapse but had to act to protect Russian speakers there.

Putin has explained his decision to send troops into Ukraine on Feb. 24 by the need to protect Russian speakers and conduct “demilitarization” and “denazification” of Ukraine to prevent it from posing a threat to Russia — claims rejected by Ukraine and its Western allies as a cover for an unprovoked act of aggression.

Putin attended the meeting of veterans and politicians during Wednesday’s trip to St. Petersburg. This was to commemorate the 80th anniversary when the Red Army overthrew the Nazi siege on the city.

The siege on the city, which was then known as Leningrad took nearly 900 days. It was lifted only in January 1944. This marked one of World War II’s bloodiest chapters. During the siege, approximately 1 million people were killed in Leningrad. Most of these deaths were due to starvation.

On Wednesday, Putin laid a wreath at Piskaryov Memorial Cemetery in the city. This cemetery is where 420,000 civilian casualties of the siege as well as 70,000 Soviet soldiers were buried. He also planted flowers in the area where his brother, who had died during the siege while he was still a child, was buried in mass graves.