When our deep strikes were not reaching Moscow and St. Petersburg, Putin did not think much about it. He understood that the war was far from the Kremlin. Of course, once he feels what is happening in Moscow, he will begin to understand what is happening in the Kursk, Belgorod, and Bryansk regions. He’ll begin to grasp the reality of the situation. When not one hundred drones but a thousand start reaching Moscow, and when he feels it and sees it, he will be advised to move somewhere beyond the Urals. That will be a moment that opens a new chapter on the path toward ending the war. The farther Putin is from Moscow, the closer the end of the war and peace will be. He fears for his life. And then there are the elites. Where do the Russian elites live? Moscow and St. Petersburg – the two major cities. Those places will be reached, because that is where they make the decisions to kill us. That is why deep strikes have had, and continue to have, a major impact. We must keep working on this. It is constant, difficult, and daily work. We must all stay focused and energized. The heroes are those on the front line. And all of us, the entire state, must keep carrying shells to them. If we do, we will bring a just and strong peace for Ukraine. That is what victory means for us. From an interview with the Financial Times. (3/3)

This is a big mistake to allow the aggressor to take something. It was a big mistake at the very beginning, starting with 2014. And even before that, during the attack and occupation of parts of Georgia. And even before that, when Chechnya was occupied, with total destruction and one million casualties – both killed and wounded. Many mistakes were made. That's why now I don't want to be the President who will repeat the mistakes made by my predecessors or other people. I'm not just speaking about Ukraine. I'm speaking about the leaders of different countries that allowed an aggressive country like Russia to come onto their territory. Because you can't stop Putin with your kisses or flowers. I never did it and that's why I don’t feel that it's the right way. My advice to everybody – don’t do that with Putin. Otherwise, there will be a first step, then in five years, he will rebuild his military, increase the number of soldiers, his army will be well trained. Because he has lost a lot of well-trained people. He is losing 30–35 thousand people per month now. Can you imagine this in the 21st century? Can you imagine – he’s losing 35,000 each month? I'm not sure that he knows about it.