MOSCOW, June 22. /TASS/. The West can supply additional military equipment to Ukraine but it does not have an endless amount of manpower to work with, meaning Western countries intend to fight Russia until the last Ukrainian, Russian President Vladimir Putin pointed out at a briefing with permanent Security Council members.
"I realize that this is preliminary information because it is impossible to get a complete picture of the battlefield but overall it is clear. One can conclude that, of course, it is possible to supply additional hardware but the mobilization reserve is not infinite," the Russian head of state said commenting on the data on Ukrainian equipment and personnel losses provided by Defense Minister Sergey Shoigu and Security Council Secretary Nikolay Patrushev.
"It seems that Ukraine’s Western allies have indeed decided to fight Russia until the last Ukrainian," the president stressed.
During the meeting, Putin listened to Shoigu’s report on Ukrainian losses and then compared that information with the data obtained by Patrushev via other channels. "Nikolay Platonovich, I asked you to maintain interaction with your colleagues from various agencies in order for us to have an objective picture of what is going on," he explained, asking for an account of "how it looks from the point of view of various agencies participating in the special military operation." "It is clear that the main responsibility rests with the Defense Ministry but nevertheless, other agencies also accumulate information," the Russian president added.
According to the Defense Ministry and Security Council, Ukrainian personnel losses have surpassed 13,000 people. Putin was also interested in how the Defense Ministry assessed the prospects of new supplies of Western military hardware.
Having listened to the reports, the president emphasized that Ukrainian army reserves had not been exhausted and Russian commanders should be practical when planning combat operations. "One has to proceed from the premise that the adversary’s advance potential has not been exhausted; a number of strategic reserves have not yet been engaged and I am asking to keep this in mind when planning combat operations. It is necessary to proceed from the real situation," Putin concluded.