Putin can't "outlast the West" and Congress must prove it – US State Department

The US Department of State has declared that Russian President Vladimir Putin will not be able to "outlast" the US or the West, adding that the US Congress must now prove that Putin's bet was "wrong".

Source: Radio Liberty, citing Matthew Miller, spokesperson for the US Department of State

Quote: "Vladimir Putin’s bet was that he could outlast the West and that the West would weaken, the West would stop supporting Ukraine, and that Russia would still be there ready to fight, and he just had to outlast us. We have said that from the beginning, that that was his assessment.

But I don’t believe that – and I don’t believe that until today he had actually ever come out and said it. And so what I will say is, for the part of this Administration, we have made clear that we believe that bet is wrong and we believe that he will not outlast the West and he will not outlast the United States of America. And now it’s up to the United States Congress to prove that that bet is wrong."

Details: During his press conference on 14 December, Miller also drew attention to the fact that Putin confirmed during his press conference that despite Russia's losses and the resulting crippling of the economy and international isolation, his war aims had not changed.

Quote: "He still wishes to conquer Ukraine, he still wishes to subjugate Ukraine, and nothing that he set out to accomplish in this campaign has he given up on, despite the fact that his army has been rolled back from their initial objectives, despite the fact, as I said, they’ve suffered a multitude of battlefield defeats. He still has all the same war aims that he had from the beginning."

Background: Earlier, Russian dictator Vladimir Putin claimed that peace would come only when Russia achieves its goals in Ukraine.

Prior to that, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy stated that without the help of its allies, Ukraine would have to fight Russia alone, as it did at the beginning of the full-scale invasion.

Throughout the full-scale Russian invasion, Ukrainian forces have been dependent on military, economic and social assistance from a US-led coalition of countries.

The flow of US aid is now close to being exhausted, and unless the US Congress supports President Biden's proposals, the US will not have the funds to further aid Ukraine in 2024.

Support UP or become our patron!