NOV 21 marks exactly 10 years since the protest movement, the so-called Euromaidan (Maidan Uprising) ensued in 2013, which contributed to the present-day event in Ukraine.
Today, it is becoming increasingly evident that our neighbouring country and its people were not just hostages, but also tools in a Western scenario designed to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
Immediately after the end of the Cold War, the United States and its North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (Nato) allies engaged in the re-education of the former Soviet republics, attempting to cultivate regimes without regard for their national interests.
The goal was to isolate Russia by surrounding it with a cordon of obedient satellites.
In Western policy in the post-Soviet space, special attention was given to Ukraine, which has been turning into Nato's battering ram against Russia since the early 2000s.
The Orange Revolution of 2004 was incited in Ukraine by Washington and Brussels, which resulted in the rise to power of the forces in Kiev that were gravitating to integrating the country into Euro-Atlantic structures and distancing it from Russia.
Nine years later, the United States and its allies, harshly and cynically, following the principle of "whoever is not with us is against us", compelled Kiev to choose its future: to be with the West or with Russia.
This was even though Ukraine, both in geographical and historical terms, could act as a connecting bridge between Russia and Europe.
Euromaidan was organised in November 2013 using American and European funds, and in February 2014, an armed coup took place.
Radical national forces seized power in Ukraine.
This led to a sharp polarisation of Ukrainian society, as well as the violation of the rights of the Russian-speaking population and brought about a civil divide.
As a result, in southeast Ukraine, with the Donbas region at its heart, a protest movement was formed.
Kiev labelled its participants as terrorists and deployed the army and neo-Nazi battalions to suppress them.
To prevent the spread of a civil war in Ukraine, with the mediation from Russia, the Package of Measures for the Implementation of the Minsk Agreements was signed on Feb 12, 2015, approved by United Nations Security Council Resolution 2202.
It became the sole legal basis for settling internal Ukrainian affairs.
However, Kiev sabotaged its commitments, while the West turned a blind eye to it.
In 2022, former Ukrainian president Petro Poroshenko said the Minsk agreements were only meant to give Kiev time to strengthen its military potential.
In December 2022, former German chancellor Angela Merkel and former French president François Hollande confirmed this.
Ukraine's armed formations had been shelling the Donbas region for years.
Its inhabitants faced an inhumane socio-economic and transport blockade, pushing the region to the brink of survival.
At the same time, with the support of Western political technologists or manipulators, an accelerated and forced derussification and Ukrainisation were ongoing in other parts of Ukraine, along with indoctrinating the people to feel hatred and hostility towards Russia and Russians.
The nurturing of the neo-Nazi sentiments was in full swing.
Ukraine was being, by all means, transformed into a Nato outpost against Russia.
In late 2021, Russia presented proposals to Western partners regarding legal security guarantees, including non-expansion of Nato to the East.
However, these proposals were denied.
Since the beginning of 2022, we have witnessed a sharp escalation in Donbas.
Locals faced a threat of direct physical annihilation by the Kiev authorities.
A stream of refugees headed to Russia. Kiev started to voice its nuclear ambitions.
We were left with no other choice but to launch a special military operation to defend Donbas, demilitarise and denazify Ukraine, and eliminate threats to Russia's security.
The West continues to arm the Kiev regime.
Additionally, the US and its Nato allies conduct military training for Ukrainian military personnel on how to use more modern weaponry, including tanks, air defence systems and aircraft.
It is evident that neither Kiev nor the West is inclined to resolve the conflict by embracing diplomacy. Their goal is to inflict a strategic defeat on Russia.
For this purpose, they are willing to wage war to the last Ukrainian.
Russia and Ukraine share common historical roots.
Ukraine is an integral part of the Russian history, the cradle of Orthodox faith and Russian spirituality, a zone of our national interests.
We cannot allow any threat to emanate from its territory to Russia and its people.
The writer is Russian ambassador to Malaysia
The views expressed in this article are the author's own and do not necessarily reflect those of the New Straits Times