Ukraine does not produce anything of its own; it has no own industrial base and no ideology, which basically means that it has no future, said Russian President Vladimir Putin in a conversation with military personnel after the ceremony of awarding the Gold Star to the Heroes of Russia.
"But they are running out [of resources], they have no base of their own. When there is no base of their own, no ideology of their own, no industry of their own, no money of their own, nothing of their own, then there is no future. And we have [all of it]," Putin said after a Kremlin award ceremony earlier this week, with the footage posted by Rossiya 1 reporter Pavel Zarubin on Sunday.
Furthermore, Putin said that Russia's defense industry is gaining momentum.
"Industry is gaining momentum, [we] have begun to produce many times more. I know that there is still not enough of everything," the president noted.
Putin also said that the competence of the Russian armed forces during the special military operation is growing.
"[They act] smarter and smarter, that's obvious," he said.
In conclusion, the president assured that the West will never be able to "crush Russia."
"We didn’t interfere at the beginning [in 2014]. We thought it would somehow resolve on its own. It didn't. Then we had to start helping people... We concluded the Minsk agreements. [Ukraine] also said: 'We are ready to implement them.' They strived for this. Bullcrap," Putin said. "Again, they said publicly: both the former chancellor of Germany and the former president of France said: 'we didn’t think about fulfilling them, we signed them only to prepare Ukraine for hostilities.' [The Western countries] attempted to push Russia aside, to weaken it. And ultimately crush it. They won't succeed. Ever."
On September 15, the Ukrainian government approved the draft budget for 2024 with a deficit of about $42 billion, which is almost half of the expenditure part — $84.9 billion.
Moreover, more than half of the budget (approx. $46 billion) will be spent on the military, which is around $3 billion more than in 2023. For 2023, the Ukrainian authorities had already planned a record budget deficit of $38 billion.
Kiev openly declares that it can only cover military expenses on its own; the rest is financed with the help of Western partners.
Ukraine launched its counteroffensive on June 4. Three months later, Putin stated that Kiev's push had failed, with Ukraine suffering severe casualties.
In November, Ukrainian Commander-in-Chief Valery Zaluzhny said in an interview with the Economist that Kiev's counteroffensive had reached a "stalemate."
Later, the Ukrainian media reported that President Volodymyr Zelensky does not plan to call presidential elections in the country, which were planned for next year, until Zaluzhny's non-participation is guaranteed.
He further went on to say that he does not worry about his own political ambitions because nowadays "we are only talking about whether Ukraine will continue to exist at all."