You literally said he had no choice but to invade. That is, from you, a statement of believed fact. Why are you trying to backpedal, here? This is what you said. You even agree that I quoted you. How can you say “he had no choice but to invade”, and now imply you never claimed to agree?

If you didn’t agree, you’d have said “Putin claimed he had no choice”. But you didn’t. You said, flat out, he had no choice.