Yes, he really said it

Vague statement from you, what details are you going to give us?

It is more complicated, many people don't know about the years before and the power struggles between oligarchs, riots, and assassination plots (it's wild to me to just hire someone who has tried to kill you before). The media fails to give the proper context to put the events into perspective. However, Russia still invaded Ukraine without any reasonable justification, and this was an incredibly disingenuous thing to say.