Russia has always treated the people of Ukraine with warmth, and it still does, despite the current tragic confrontation, Russian President Vladimir Putin said Friday, according to TASS.

"It is Ukraine, the Ukrainian people, who are the first and main victim of the deliberate fomentation of hatred toward Russians, toward Russia. We can see this in the nature of even combat operations. It's just amazing what's going on there. In general, it is as if Ukrainians do not exist. They are thrown like into a furnace, and that's it... We have always treated the Ukrainian people with respect and warmth - it was and still is, despite the current tragic confrontation," he stressed.

Putin believes that Russia's clash with the neo-Nazi regime in Ukraine was inevitable. "Russia's clash with the neo-Nazi regime that emerged in Ukraine was inevitable. And if appropriate actions had not been taken on our part in February, everything would have been the same, only from a worse position for us," he stated.

Putin believes that the situation in Ukraine was deadly for Russia. "The situation in Ukraine has been brought by its so-called friends to the point where it has become deadly for Russia and suicidal for the Ukrainian people themselves," he stated.