Putin falsely describes Ukraine's government as a 'band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis' in latest propaganda blitz as Russian troops fight to take Kyiv

Russia's President Vladimir Putin meets with members of the Delovaya Rossiya [Business Russia] All-Russian Public Organization at Moscow's Kremlin.

Photo by Alexei Nikolsky\TASS via Getty Images

• Putin falsely described Ukraine's government as a "band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis."
• It's not the first time Putin has baselessly referenced Ukraine to Nazi Germany.
• His latest televised propaganda blitz came as Russian forces closed in on Kyiv. 

Russian President Vladimir Putin falsely described Ukraine's government as a "band of drug addicts and neo-Nazis" in a television appearance on Friday.

In the speech, Putin also said Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's government "lodged itself in Kyiv and taken hostage the entire Ukrainian people," according to a translation from New York Times Moscow bureau chief Anton Troianovski and The Guardian.

The baseless comparison to Nazi Germany is not a first for Putin.

In his televised war declaration on Thursday, Putin said Russia was invading Ukraine to prevent a genocide against Russian-speakers and aimed for the "demilitarization and de-Nazification of Ukraine."

Not only has there been no evidence that a genocide was carried out in Ukraine, but the "de-Nazification" claim also has no merit because Zelensky is Jewish.

Ukraine's official Twitter account even lashed out at Putin after the claim, posting a photo on Thursday that showed what appeared to be caricature images of Adolf Hitler tending to a small Putin. 

Putin's remarks come as Russian forces close in on Ukraine's capital city Kyiv, which was rocked early Friday by explosions. 

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