Putin hasn’t lost war yet: Duda says support for Ukraine is West's duty

Duda said this in an interview with Almar Latour, publisher of The Wall Street Journal, the press service of the Polish president reports.

"Today they say that Vladimir Putin has lost the war and his defeat is that Finland has joined NATO, although for years Finnish society has been hesitating whether it should abandon its neutrality. Ladies and gentlemen, Vladimir Putin has not lost any war," Duda said.

He reminded that hundreds of people are dying in Ukraine every day, both at the front and in the rear, in peaceful Ukrainian cities. The politician urged international partners not to underestimate Russia.

"Russia is a nuclear power, it has gigantic weapons depots. Why laugh that it is rolling out tanks from the 1960s if each tank weighs 50-60 tonnes? If it moves, it will crush, regardless of whether it is modern," the Polish president said.

According to him, Russian President Putin will lose the war when the Russian army is pushed back from Ukraine's internationally recognised borders.

"Then we will say that they have gained nothing from this war, that their plan to enslave Ukraine has failed, their imperial ambitions have been punished, they have lost hundreds of thousands of people," Duda said.

"The war continues, Russia is increasingly mobilising, the Russian economy is going into war mode. Please do not doubt that they can use propaganda to convince people to tighten their belts, and even if they are hungry, they should be proud because Russia is great. Today, our common duty as a Western community, of which Poland is a part, is to support Ukraine," the president added.

• Earlier, Duda warned the world against the desire to end the war as soon as possible.