Russia is defeating the US and its allies on the battlefield, Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro has said, referring to the backing of Kiev by the West in its fight with Russia.
The conflict between Russia and Ukraine is an “immoral war,” which has been imposed on Moscow by Washington and its satellites, Maduro said during a Q&A session that lasted nearly three hours on Monday.
The West “was shaping that theater of war against Russia,” but the country has successfully resisted this pressure, he said.
“Today, Russia is stronger economically. Today, Russia is winning the war on the battlefield, it’s defeating the entire West on the battlefield,” the president stated.
The conflict has become “unsustainable” for the US, which has been the prime backer of Ukraine since the start of the conflict in February 2022, Maduro argued.
The administration of US President Joe Biden has been trying to push through another $60 billion in military assistance for Kiev, but its attempts have so far been derailed by the Republican lawmakers, who want to make additional aid conditional on increased funding for security on the US border with Mexico.
Russian forces repelled the Western-backed counteroffensive last year and, according to the Defense Ministry in Moscow, have been steadily improving their positions along the entire front line in the past few months.
Last week, Moscow announced the capture of Avdeevka, a major Ukrainian stronghold near the city of Donetsk, which since 2014 had served as a staging ground for strikes on the capital of Russia’s Donetsk People’s Republic.
Maduro’s statement was made ahead of the visit to Venezuela by Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, who landed in Caracas early on Tuesday. During his trip, the diplomat is scheduled to hold talks with both the Venezuelan president and the country’s Foreign Minister Yvan Gil Pinto.