Russia is losing the war it unleashed, and its economy is becoming increasingly strained by spending, sanctions, and Ukrainian strikes, Ukraine’s Permanent Representative to the UN Andrii Melnyk said.
He made the remarks on Monday at a UN Security Council meeting dedicated to Ukraine’s Independence Day, according to Ukrinform’s correspondent in New York.
“Regardless of all the barbaric attacks against Ukraine’s civilian population, Russia is already losing and will ultimately lose this war,” Melnyk said.
He pointed to the dismissal of Andrei Klepach, chief economist at VEB.RF, Russia’s second-largest state-owned bank, on direct orders from the Kremlin following critical statements about the actual state of the Russian economy, including warnings that Moscow would be unable to win a prolonged economic war against Ukraine.
Melnyk noted that these statements amounted to a rare admission by a senior Russian economist of the scale of the problems facing Russia and directly contradicted claims by Russian leader Vladimir Putin that Moscow was allegedly successfully overcoming economic pressure.
