Nasrallah made the remarks in a televised address to a ceremony in commemoration of late influential Lebanese Shia cleric and co-founder of Hezbollah, Sayyed Abbas Al-Moussawi, who was assassinated by Israeli military forces in an airborne attack in southern Lebanon on February 16, 1992, Al-Mayadeen reported.

“The events taking place between Ukraine and Russia are very dangerous for the whole world,” the Hezbollah chief stated, denouncing the double standards taken by Western states vis-à-vis the conflict.

“Western countries are doing everything against Russia except for direct combat. Today the world only respects the strong and it is has remained silent in the face of US violations,” the Hezbollah leader pointed out.

“The United States is to blame for the crisis in Ukraine, as Washington had been inciting and working on this scenario for weeks,” Nasrallah highlighted.

He underscored that the Russia-Ukraine conflict “is a lesson for those who trust and count on the United States".

“Washington has done everything to push for the current scenario. This is the fate of those who hand over their weapons, and rely on hollow guarantees,” the Hezbollah chief underlined.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on the morning of February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years". The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

When clarifying the unfolding developments, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.