Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Ukrainian strikes on Russian logistics infrastructure are a response to Russian attacks on civilian enterprises and logistics in Ukraine.
According to him, Russia’s direct losses from one of the operations against Wildberries amounted to about 1 trillion rubles. Taking into account the company’s debts, related losses incurred by other companies, and the need to restructure logistics processes and restore Wildberries, he estimated the total damage at about 3 trillion rubles.
“Putin does not want to end the war and is expanding the scale of the strikes. He is waiting for winter. They are striking our civilian enterprises, logistics, Ukrposhta, and have been burning down Nova Poshta since 2022. Why are we striking, in particular, Wildberries? Because it involves both supplies of military goods and large amounts of money for Russia. Our operation was very carefully calculated”, the Ukrainian leader said in a conversation with journalists today.
According to Zelenskyy, Ukraine is also recording the social impact of military operations in Russia.
“Many people in Russia want the war to end. They put it this way: ‘Just let it end.’ In our view, the statistics are as follows: more than 60% of Russian society wants this war to end, wants a ceasefire. That means public sentiment is moving in this direction, and the trends are obvious. We have also seen that support ratings for Putin’s government have fallen sharply. We are talking about United Russia. They removed Yabloko from the election because they expected Yabloko to get a maximum of 3% or 4%, but then they looked at public sentiment, and there it was immediately at 11–12%, with an upward trend. They removed them simply so that there would be no alternative to the war and to his rule”, he said.
According to the Ukrainian leader, Russia can produce up to 1,300 ballistic missiles a year and currently has 600–630 such missiles.
“We have a fairly good understanding of the number they expect to reach from today until the end of winter. They could have about 100 ballistic missiles a month. They do not have that yet. We are working to weaken their military industry; there are corresponding tasks to strike military targets and implement other anti-ballistic sanctions.
We have started shooting down other missiles quite effectively. Our combat aircraft are doing it, and we have more IRIS systems — the relevant systems are available, and missiles specifically for them are arriving to counter Russian cruise missiles. Hawk systems are also being used, and we shoot down cruise missiles by many means. But ballistic missiles are ballistic missiles. We are now working to ensure that there are not 1,300 of them, to reduce that number”, he said.
“I wanted to find 300 missiles for Patriots for the winter package. The request from our Air Force is for 360. But when 600 are produced a year, 360 is not easy. We are working with countries on additional capabilities. And I would very much like to believe that we can gain access to some small percentage of U.S. stocks, say 5% or 10%. We are ready to pay for this supply. In other words, America could replenish its stocks, while we could make it through the winter”, the president added.
He described ballistic missiles and financing for Ukraine’s defense as the country’s two main global problems.
“We should have €30 billion in European funds, which we expect to receive. Their allocation depends on the adoption of the relevant legislation. And here it is very important that parliament works — the entire parliament, including the opposition. Because these €30 billion belong neither to the government nor to the opposition, but they are needed for the defense of the entire country”, he stressed.
Zelenskyy also said that Ukraine’s Defense Ministry faces a budget shortfall of $27 billion, of which $8–10 billion is needed to ensure the start of 2027, while nearly $20 billion is needed for military salaries, payments to the families of those killed and other expenses.
“I am working on this issue with the French and the Germans. Essentially, we need to secure the second part of the European funds that were allocated for Ukraine, and this is an extremely difficult task”, he said.
