2015 former US Ambassador to Germany John Kornblum wrote in the Wall Street Journal that: After the 2022 invasion of Ukraine Following mounting civilian casualties during the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, US president Joe Biden called Putin a war criminal and "murderous dictator". In the 2022 State of the Union Address, Biden said that Putin had "badly miscalculated". The Ukrainian envoy to the United Nations, Sergiy Kyslytsya likened Putin to Adolf Hitler. Latvian prime minister Krisjanis Karins also likened the Russian leader to Hitler, saying he was "a deluded autocrat creating misery for millions" and that "Putin is fighting against democracy (...) If he can attack Ukraine, theoretically it could be any other European country". Lithuania's foreign minister Gabrielius Landsbergis said "The battle for Ukraine is a battle for Europe. If Putin is not stopped there, he will go further." President Emmanuel Macron of France said Putin was "deluding himself". French foreign minister Jean-Yves Le Drian denounced him as "a cynic and a dictator". UK prime minister Boris Johnson also labelled Putin a "dictator" who had authorised "a tidal wave of violence against a fellow Slavic people". Some authors, such as Michael Hirsh, described Putin as a "messianic" Russian nationalist and Eurasianist. On 31 December 2022, President Putin gave a New Year's address before a group of soldiers and other members of the Russian armed forces. Questions were raised about whether or not these were actual soldiers or actors. The BBC used facial recognition to identify at least five of the people in the New Year's address as not servicemen but allies or employees of Putin's. A blonde woman standing behind Putin has been identified as Larisa Sergukhina, a member of the United Russia Party in the regional parliament for the Novgorod region. Ms Sergukina has appeared as a soldier, sailor and member of a church congregation in other past public appearances by President Putin. Electoral history Personal life Family On 28 July 1983, Putin married Lyudmila Shkrebneva, and they lived together in East Germany from 1985 to 1990. They have two daughters, Mariya Putina, born on 28 April 1985 in Leningrad (now Saint Petersburg), and Yekaterina Putina, born on 31 August 1986 in Dresden, East Germany (now Germany). An investigation by Proekt published in November 2020 alleged that Putin has another daughter, Elizaveta, also known as Luiza Rozova, (born in March 2003), with Svetlana Krivonogikh. In April 2008,