BEIJING, December 15. /TASS/. Ukraine will inevitably lose the conflict with Russia without assistance from its foreign donors, Li Haidong, a professor at the China Foreign Affairs University, told the Global Times newspaper.

"It is almost impossible for Ukraine to defeat Russia militarily. Without external assistance, Ukraine will definitely be defeated by Russia. These are basic rational judgments," he said, commenting on Putin’s combined Direct Line Q&A session and year-end press conference.

According to the expert, Western countries are likely to continue providing aid to Ukraine but its scale may decrease. Ukraine's fate is not determined by itself, but rather by the domestic politics of the US, Li added. In his view, given that opinions of Western countries and the US regarding military aid to Ukraine are not united, the conflict may ultimately lead to divisions within the West.

"The current tense relationship between Russia and the West is indeed caused by the US, which did not respect Russia's status as a major power nor provide Russia with reasonable space for its interests in handling the post-Cold War order," Li pointed out, as cited by the Global Times. "The US and the West should reflect on their actions," he added.

Putin said during his combined Q&A session and year-end press conference on December 14 that the goals of Russia’s special military operation remained the same, including the need to denazify and demilitarize Ukraine and ensure its neutral status. Putin pointed out that Ukraine produced almost no weapons and received everything for free but the "freebies" seemed to be coming to an end. The Russian president added that the Ukrainian armed forces had failed to achieve any results in their counteroffensive.