Putin says Russia’s defense sector makes victory in Ukraine ‘inevitable’

MOSCOW

The Russian president on Wednesday said his country would win in Ukraine because of its powerful military-industrial complex, claiming that the defense industry manufactures the same number of missiles as the rest of the world combined.

“Our defense industry annually produces about as much air defense missiles for various purposes as all military-industrial enterprises in the world produce. Our production is comparable to world production,” Vladimir Putin told workers at the St. Petersburg Obukhov plant, a facility of the state-owned Almaz-Antey Corporation which makes air defense systems.

Putin said that after the withdrawal of Western companies from Russia, due to its war on Ukraine, domestic companies successfully replaced them.

The workers said they work round the clock due to the Russia’s “special military operation,” but fear that after its completion they may lose their jobs.

Putin promised that the plant’s capacities will be used for the production of civil goods, and there will also be military orders.

Commenting on the end result of Russia’s military campaign in Ukraine, that started in February, Putin said: “In terms of the final result and the victory that is inevitable, there are several things that … are at the heart of our victory. … industry, and the state of public finances, and the social sphere … creates the basis for our effective development and victory. It (victory) is secured. I have no doubt about it,” he stressed.

• Military-industrial complex
• Russia
• Vladimir Putin