Putin argued he was forced into his decision, accusing the “Western elite” of seeking “to finish us off once and for all”.

Many of Russia’s top officials and state company executives are said to privately oppose the war, but have stayed in their posts and accepted it instead of speaking out. Also in the audience were soldiers who had been injured on the battlefield, including one man from the pro-Putin All-Russia People’s Front movement, in a wheelchair.

Speaking hours before US President Joe Biden gave an address in Warsaw reaffirming a unified West’s determination to support Ukraine’s democracy, national independence and territorial integrity, Putin’s address made it clear that no end to the war was probable in the near future.

This, after all, was Putin telling his countrymen and women that Russia is under military, political, economic and cultural assault from the West – ie America – and that Ukraine’s pro-Western leadership is a pawn in its strategy.

The speech, which he postponed in December, came ahead of the first anniversary of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine on Friday. Russia has sustained huge losses in Ukraine but is expected to launch a new offensive in the northern spring.

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At least 18,955 civilian casualties have been recorded, according to a report by the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights – 7199 civilians have been killed and 11,756 injured, but the organisation said that the actual figures were likely to be considerably higher.

Putin claimed Russia tried to settle the conflict in the Donbas region by peaceful means but the West’s commitment to peace turned out to be a “cruel lie” and claimed Kyiv was trying to gather biological and nuclear weapons.

“We were doing everything possible to solve this problem peacefully, negotiating a peaceful way out of this difficult conflict, but behind our backs a very different scenario was being prepared.

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“I want to repeat: it is them who are culpable for the war, and we are using force to stop it,” Putin said to great applause.

US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Putin’s announcement was “deeply unfortunate and irresponsible”.

He said the United States would not change its compliance with the treaty, no matter what Russia did.

“I think it matters that we continue to act responsibly in this area,” he said. “It’s also something the rest of the world expects of us.”