Russia's combat losses are constantly increasing, and its economy is weakening, while Ukraine is intensifying its campaign of deep strikes against legitimate military targets on Russian territory. This was written by Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andriy Sybiha on the social network X, as reported by UNN.
Russia is not winning the war against Ukraine. In fact, this war is a failure for Moscow. In 2025, Russia lost 480,000 soldiers who were wounded or killed, occupying an additional 0.7% of Ukraine's territory. In January 2026, despite losing an average of over 1,000 soldiers per day, Russia occupied an additional 0.04%. This is the lowest monthly progress in 9 months. Over the previous 25 months, from January 2024 to January 2026, Russia occupied an additional 21% of Donetsk Oblast, losing hundreds of thousands of soldiers. However, this is less than the area of Donetsk Oblast still controlled by Ukraine.
He added that at the same time, the Russian economy entered a deep recession. The total budget deficit of Russian regions reached a record level of $21 billion in 2025, which is eight times more than in 2023.
Moscow is unable to stop the decline in production in 12 key industries. Instead, it is raising taxes. In 2025, 15% more Russian enterprises closed, and another 10% are on the verge of closure. Russia's inadequate budget planning will lead to even larger budget gaps. The discrepancy between the data of the Russian Ministry of Finance and reality will lead to the Russian budget losing at least $25 billion in oil revenues this year.
Instead, the minister emphasized that Ukraine is intensifying its campaign of deep strikes against legitimate military targets on Russian territory. In 2025, 719 such strikes were carried out, causing $15 billion in damage. And the campaign will continue. The war is returning to where it began - to Russia.
"For Putin, the situation will only worsen, both on the battlefield and in the economy. Additional sanctions pressure, particularly on Russia's shadow fleet and energy sector, as well as increased support for Ukraine's defense and resilience, are critically important. The greater the pressure on Moscow and support for Ukraine, the faster the war will end. The faster Putin loses his illusions about his ability to achieve anything militarily, the faster efforts to achieve peace will succeed," the Foreign Minister summarized.
Recall
Last year, Russia spent significantly more money on military needs than previously thought. This is evidenced by an analysis by the German Federal Intelligence Service (BND). According to the analysis, expenditures could have been up to 66% higher than officially stated.