New Delhi: Russia's President Vladimir Putin on Thursday said Ukrainians and Russians are "one people" but that Ukrainians are "threatened and brainwashed", as quoted by the news agency AFP.
"I want to say that the special military operation is going strictly according to schedule, according to plan," he said, opening a meeting with his security council.
"We are at war with neo-Nazis," Putin said, adding: "I will never give up on my conviction that Russians and Ukrainians are one people."
He hailed the Russian army saying, " Russian army is fighting courageously, like real heroes".
“Now on Ukrainian territory, our soldiers, and officers are fighting for Russia, for a peaceful life for the citizens of Donbas, for the denazification and demilitarization of Ukraine, so that we can’t be threatened by an anti-Russia right on our borders that the West has been creating for years,” he added.
He likewise ordered compensation to be paid to the families of Russian troopers killed in Ukraine.
"Our duty is to support the families of those who fought for the people of Russia," Putin said.
On Thursday, An airstrike by Russia hit two schools and private houses in Ukraine's Chernihiv region on Thursday, killing 22 people and injuring dozens, Reuters reported.
The news was confirmed by Chernihiv Governor Viacheslav Chaus in an online post. He said Russian aircraft attacked two schools in the Staraya Podusivka area (of Chernihiv) and private homes.
"Rescue work is ongoing. According to the state emergency services, at least 22 bodies have been recovered from rubble," Reuters quoted Chaus as saying.