German Chancellor Olaf Scholz warned in a new interview that Russian President Vladimir Putin likely has the resources necessary to continue his military invasion of Ukraine for a “long time.”
Scholz made the comments while discussing Russia’s brutal war with CBS’s Face the Nation in a pre-recorded interview that aired Sunday morning. The German chancellor, who was elected to replace Angela Merkel upon her retirement, told anchor Margaret Brennan that the Russian president began preparing to invade his western neighbor at least one year before formally launching the military effort. That time, Scholz explained, allowed Putin to stockpile necessities that would ensure he could continue his efforts for as long as necessary.
RUSSIA DECLARES VICTORY IN UKRAINE’S LUHANSK REGION
Asked by Brennan when Russia would run out of resources, meaning weapons and funds, Scholz said that: “No one really knows.”
“He has — he is perhaps the leader of a very great country with a lot of people living there, with a lot of means, and he is really doing this brutal war with — and he prepared for it [for] very long,” he continued. “I think the decision to — to do this war was taken one year before it started or possibly earlier because he prepared for it. And so, he will be able to continue with the war really a long time.”
The chancellor went on to point out that the western nations backing Ukraine in it’s fight for sovereignty also had deep pockets.
“This is the message we say to [Putin]: We are able to support the Ukraine as long as necessary for defending its serenity, the democracy, the rule of law and all the things the people in Ukraine are looking for,” Scholz said.
Scholz couldn’t say if Putin’s expansion efforts stopped at Ukraine, telling the network that the West’s continued support for the European nation “will help to give him the view that this is not working and that he will not be successful.”
As for a timeline for the rest of the war, the German leader told the network: “The conflict will end when Putin understands that he will not be successful with idea to conquer part of the territory of his neighbor.”
Russia began invading Ukraine in late February and has turned millions of women and children into refugees fleeing the violence. The bloodshed has also killed tens of thousands of Ukrainians and an unknown number of Russians. President Joe Biden and other major western leaders condemned Putin as a war criminal as devastation mounted across the European country and committed to providing Ukraine with the necessary resources to fight the invasion.
CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE WASHINGTON EXAMINER
Ukraine has united in its resolve to fight the continued invasion, though it is unclear how long the country will be able to keep Russian forces from taking any major cities.
Putin withdrew his forces from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv toward the end of May in order to concentrate on taking the Donbas, which is located in the southeastern part of Ukraine and controlled by Russian-backed separatist groups.
