A Putin propagandist on Russian state TV has branded the West as “barbarians” plotting to “escalate” the war in Ukraine. Speaking on Rossiya-1, one of the Kremlin’s stooges blamed the West for an “increase” in Middle East “tension”.

He told the state TV programme that NATO powers have had “plenty” of opportunities to “stop” the war in Donbas. “Ten years ago the war in Donbas began. The West had plenty of opportunities to stop it.

“All they had to do was bark. Then they had a lot of opportunities to prevent everything from happening: the tragedy in Odessa. If the West wanted to prevent a special military operation, it would have prevented it.

“There would not have been an increase in tension in the Middle East. But at each of these turning points, the West chose to escalate.”

The moustachioed man, who Express.co.uk are still working to identify, then claimed that Russia was contending with western “barbarians” keen to “destroy everything in their path”.

He said: “I have one question: do realise that we, Russia, are dealing with an environment, especially from the West, that consists of barbarians?

“Aggressive, very important, terribly ignorant, really unlettered, and vicious barbarians.

“I’m not saying we’re Rome, but they are surely barbarians. Barbarians who destroy everything in their path. Everything this civilisation of barbarians, illiterates, filth degenerates touched has turned into a wild field.

“And our task, first of all, is to stop the advancement of this wild field, this destruction in our direction and secondly, to start restoring what can still be saved.”

This comes after Ukraine claimed that the Kremlin conducted a false flag operation after launching drone strikes on the Zaporizhia Nuclear Plant – the largest in Europe.

Kyiv’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations Sergiy Kyslytsya told a Security Council meeting on Monday that, “What happened at the ZNPP on 7th and 9th of April 2024 and thereafter was a well-planned false flag operation by the Russian Federation.”

Moscow has claimed that the April attacks on the facility were carried out by Ukrainian drones, which Kyiv’s military intelligence agency (HUR) rejects, describing the latest strike as “Russia‘s provocation.”