"The Ukrainian people will be liberated from neo-Nazi rulers. It deserves to live in good neighborliness, friendship, prosperity next to its Slavic brothers," he said in the film, aired by the Rossiya-24 television channel, TASS reported.
On February 24 Russian President Vladimir Putin announced what Russia calls a "special military operation" in Ukraine in response to a request for help by the heads of the Donbass republics.
The West subsequently imposed sweeping sanctions on Russia and stepped up the shipment of weapons to Kiev, which are worth billions of dollars.