Putin says West intends to fight Russia until last Ukrainian

The West can supply Ukraine with additional equipment, but the mobilisation reserve is finite, which shows the intention of Western countries to fight with Russia to the last Ukrainian, Russian President Vladimir Putin said.

He made the remarks at an operational meeting with the permanent members of the Security Council of Russia on June 22, TASS reports.

"I understand that this is preliminary data because it is impossible to see everything to the end on the battlefield, but in general it is clear. From this, we can conclude that equipment, of course, can be supplied additionally, but the mobilisation reserve is not limitless," Putin said, commenting on the data announced by Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu and Russian Security Council Secretary Nikolai Patrushev on Ukrainian troop losses in equipment and personnel.

"It seems that Ukraine's Western allies have really decided to fight Russia to the last Ukrainian," the president stressed.

During the meeting, Putin heard Shoigu's report on Ukrainian losses and then compared this data with what Patrushev received through other channels.

According to the Defense Ministry and the Security Council, the Ukrainian Armed Forces personnel losses exceeded 13,000. Putin also asked how the Defence Ministry assesses the prospects for new supplies of Western equipment.

Following the reports, the Russian president emphasised that the Ukrainian army's reserves are not exhausted, so Russian commanders should be guided by realities when constructing combat operations.

"We must proceed from the fact that the enemy's offensive potential is not exhausted, a number of strategic reserves have not been activated yet, and I ask you to keep this in mind when building combat operations. We have to proceed from realities," Putin concluded.