Russian President Vladimir Putin explained why Russia decided not to conduct intense hostilities during the special military operation on the territory of Ukraine.
Answering a question from journalists about the threat of the protracted nature of the armed conflict, the president said that intense hostilities would trigger additional losses.
"As for what happens and how. I have said this many times before: the intensification of hostilities leads to unjustified losses. Little by little a little becomes a lot," Putin stressed.
The head of state stressed that the speedy completion of the special operation in Ukraine was preferable.
On December 22, President Putin spoke to reporters after a meeting of the State Council of the Russian Federation. Below are some of his statements that he made while answering questions:
About the situation in Ukraine:
It all started after the coup. Yet, spinning the military conflict is not our goal. On the contrary, our goal is to end the war, and we are striving for this.
All armed conflicts end with negotiations. The sooner this becomes clear to Kyiv, the better. We never gave up on it. It was the leadership of Ukraine that excluded negotiations for themsevles.
Russia is spending military supplies, these are big numbers, but the difference with the Ukrainian military-industrial complex is massive. Kyiv will soon run out of stocks, whereas we are able to speed up the production of weapons, and it will not harm other industries.
The Russian Federation assumed that fundamental foundations of the unity of the peoples of Russia and Ukraine would be stronger than disunity, but it turned out to be not.
It is only us and no one else who wants the Russian people united. This is what we will be doing, and we will accomplish this.
The sooner the conflict in Ukraine ends, the better.
Putin about Western assistance to Ukraine:
The supplies of Patriot air defense systems to Kyiv will only prolong the conflict in Ukraine.
Russia will "crack" the Patriot complexes one by one if they are delivered to Ukraine. These are outdated systems, they are worse than the S-300, and there is an "antidote" for them.
NATO's military resources are not on the verge of exhaustion, but they are running out of their Soviet stocks of weapons. Russia has destroyed almost all Soviet-made military equipment that NATO countries supplied to Ukraine.
Ukraine's transition to NATO weapons is a "big question" and it does not come easy.
The Admiral Gorshkov frigate will soon enter the Russian service. The warship is armed with new weapons that will only strengthen the military power of the Russian Federation.