2026-02-08 08:00
publication
2026-02-08 08:00
Russia is not winning the war against Ukraine; This war is a failure for Moscow, which is massively losing its soldiers, gaining small territories and struggling with an economic recession, said the head of Ukrainian diplomacy Andriy Sybiha.
“Russia is not winning its war against Ukraine. In fact, this war is a failure for Moscow,” he wrote on the X platform.
Sybiha reported that in 2025, Russia lost 480,000. soldiers (wounded and killed), taking up an additional 0.7 percent territory of Ukraine. In January 2026, despite losses exceeding on average PLN 1,000. soldiers per day, Russia took another 0.04 percent. – the minister calculated, emphasizing that this is the lowest monthly progress of the Russian army in nine months.
“Over the previous 25 months – from January 2024 to January 2026 – Russia occupied an additional 21 percent of the Donetsk Oblast, losing hundreds of thousands of soldiers. Nevertheless, this is an area smaller than the part of the Donetsk Oblast still controlled by Ukraine,” he emphasized.
The minister declared that the Russian economy had entered a deep recession. “The combined budget deficit of Russian regions reached a record level of $21 billion in 2025 – an eightfold increase compared to 2023,” he wrote.
He noted that Russia, which is unable to reverse the decline in production in 12 key industrial sectors, is starting to raise taxes. This leads – according to Sybiha – to the closure of Russian companies.
“Russia's inadequate budget planning will lead to even larger financial gaps. The discrepancy between the Russian Ministry of Finance data and reality will mean at least USD 25 billion less oil revenues to the Russian budget this year,” he stressed.
The head of Ukrainian diplomacy stated that Ukraine is currently intensifying its campaign of long-range strikes against legitimate military targets on Russian territory.
“In 2025, 719 such strikes were carried out, causing losses of USD 15 billion. The campaign will continue. The war is returning to where it came from – to Russia. And that is fair,” he said.
“For (Russian leader Vladimir) Putin, the situation will only get worse – both on the battlefield and in the economy. Additional sanctions pressure, especially against Russia's shadow fleet and energy sector, as well as increased support for Ukraine's defense and resilience, are crucial,” emphasized the head of the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.
From Kiev Jarosław Junko (PAP)
jjk/ akl/
