Putin used a meeting with parliamentary leaders on Thursday to challenge the United States and its allies to try to defeat Russia in Ukraine, which it invaded on Feb. 24. All parliamentary leaders thanked Putin for his decisions.

The Russian parliament, dominated by United Russia, a party that always supports Putin, did not reveal what will be discussed in the extraordinary session.

Vladimir Vasilyev, head of United Russia, which has 325 seats in the 450-seat parliament, said lawmakers will discuss more than 60 issues in the extraordinary session.

“It is necessary that the ongoing processes receive a legal response,” Vasilyev said on the Telegram channel of the party that supports Putin.

“So the council discussed the agenda for the 15th: we plan to consider a little more than 60 issues,” Vasiliev said. He did not reveal what issues it is. The Communist Party said more than 80 bills will be discussed.

In Thursday’s meeting with Putin, Lower House Speaker Vyacheslav Volodin told Putin that the Russian parliament will help the two Kremlin-backed separatist republics in eastern Ukraine develop their own legal system.

Putin claims that the invasion of Ukraine, which he calls a “special military operation,” is necessary, as he maintains that Moscow was forced to defend the Russian-speaking population from alleged persecution that he claims the West has ignored.

Ukraine and its Western supporters say Putin has no justification for what they say is an imperialist land grab against a country whose borders Moscow recognized when the Soviet Union collapsed.

Putin has increasingly portrayed the war as a battle between Russia and the United States, which he says has humiliated Russia since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991 by expanding NATO eastward and allegedly using Ukraine to threaten Russia.

The United States has repeatedly said it does not want to fight Russia. U.S. President Joe Biden said in March that Putin could not remain in power, comments the White House later said did not mean Washington was trying to bring about regime change in Moscow.