OREANDA-NEWS Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova has said that Russia has never deliberately tried to destroy the culture of Ukraine, unlike the country of the West. She said this during a briefing, TASS reports, according to Gazeta.ru.

According to her, people who accuse Russia of destroying Ukrainian culture have little understanding of the history of the Ukrainian-Russian common space. She recalled that in Russia there are a huge number of monuments related to Ukraine, named streets and other geographic objects in honor of this country, including in view of its being part of the USSR.

Zakharova stressed that the West's arms supplies to Ukraine are inconsistent with their declared goal to protect and restore Ukrainian culture.

On February 24, Russian President Vladimir Putin said that he had decided to conduct a military special operation in Ukraine in response to a request for assistance from the heads of the LNR and DNR.