Putin has decided he must either control Ukraine or destroy it - military expert Sher

British analyst and military expert James Sherr said this in the "West Studio with Anton Borkovsky" program on the "Espresso" TV channel.

He said that in the Western sense, Ukraine is winning.

"Putin's understanding is still not so clear. Ukraine has suffered very significant territorial losses, particularly along the Black Sea coast, as well as devastating economic losses due to the consequences of the establishment of an occupation regime. Millions of people have been deported, including more than a quarter of a million children. The economic consequences are colossal, and Western aid will barely cover minimum economic needs in the long run," said Sherr.

In his opinion, Moscow is far from convinced that Ukraine is on the path to victory in this war,

"From the time the war began in 2014, Putin was determined that he would either gain control of Ukraine or destroy it, and nothing has changed since then. This war began because the Minsk agreements failed to live up to their mission  and did not cause the destabilization in Ukraine that was expected in Russia. The French and Germans, who were expected to help, did not help, and Zelenskyy, who was considered weak and a potential puppet, instead shocked everyone. And shocked back in December 2019 during a meeting  in the "Normandy format", where his speech even made Putin noticeably nervous, and caused Surkov hysteria off camera. Even before January 2021, Lavrov issued a clear ultimatum to the West: either you tame Ukraine, or we will. And since then, the countdown to full-scale  war," the expert added.

Scherr emphasized that a few months before the war, everything indicated that a violent conflict was inevitable.

"The current leadership in Moscow is determined and ready for a protracted war, no matter how long it lasts, no matter what the cost to Russia, even if only ruins remain of the Russian economy. Even if the Russian armed forces are currently paying a huge price, they are playing  "until they win. As Stalin said, "winners are not judged", and it doesn't matter what the price will be. Putin, in particular, believes that if he wins the geopolitical struggle, the economic indicators will pick up by themselves. So he is ready to pay any economic cost while he is in power to oppress Ukraine," he said.

The expert believes that the Russians are focused on forcing the West to convince Ukraine to make dangerous concessions and baseless compromises.

"The Kremlin understands the need to wage a protracted war. And I think it will continue as long as they have the strength. And it's quite possible that together we will force them to exhale. This is an extremely realistic goal for all of us, which means that the West must accept the inevitability of a protracted war, and some countries are already succeeding in this, while others are not yet," Scherr concluded.