The decision to launch a special operation in Ukraine was a hard one to make, President Vladimir Putin said at a meeting with women flight crews of Russian airlines. Putin was asked why this special operation began and whether it could have been avoided. He also explained his vision of how it should end. “Very briefly, but I have to start from the center of the field, as they say in such cases. I said that at the beginning of the operation and I spoke about it before the decision was made. It was a hard decision, no doubt. Why? The fact is that [in Ukraine] they carried out a coup, supported t…