Putin says Russia's victory over Ukraine is "inevitable"

MOSCOW, 18 Jan. (DPA/EP) -

The president of Russia, Vladimir Putin, has assured that his country's victory over Ukraine is "inevitable", since Russian companies now produce as many missiles "as all the countries in the world combined".

"I have no doubt about it," President Putin said confidently during a visit to the state arms company Almaz-Antey, from where he highlighted the importance for Russia of missile production in a context of war like the current one, in which the Russian arms and ammunition factories have been working non-stop for months since the start of the invasion of Ukraine.

That same day, during a visit to Saint Petersburg on the occasion of the 80th anniversary of the victory of the Soviet troops over the siege of that city by the Nazi Army, Putin once again insisted on describing the kyiv authorities as "neo-Nazis", recalling the praise that they have dedicated to Stepan Bandera, a Ukrainian nationalist who is an ally of Adolf Hitler.

"Therefore, we have every reason to call the current Ukrainian rulers neo-Nazis," Putin has settled, who in the coming days could announce a new mobilization of troops, according to speculation by the Intelligence services of Ukraine and other Western countries.