Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer stated that Russian President Vladimir Putin "believes he's profitable" the conflict with Ukraine regardless of most analysts assessing that Moscow's army has largely failed.

The Austrian head of presidency on Monday grew to become the primary Western chief to take a seat down with Putin since he launched the internationally condemned invasion of Ukraine on February 24. Throughout a Sunday interview with NBC Information' Meet the Press, Nehammer described the dialogue as "frank and difficult," explaining that he advised the Russian chief immediately that his forces have been struggling substantial losses and committing alleged conflict crimes.

"It was not a pleasant dialog," the chancellor stated, who added that he's "pessimistic" concerning the route the conflict goes, noting that Russia seems to be getting ready for a "large" new battle within the Donbas area in jap Ukraine.

"I feel he's now in his personal conflict logic. He thinks the conflict is important for safety ensures for the Russian Federation. He does not belief the worldwide group. He blames Ukrainians for genocide within the Donbas area," Nehammer defined, based mostly on his dialog with Putin.

Putin and Nehammer
Austrian Chancellor Karl Nehammer stated Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin believes he's "profitable" the conflict in Ukraine. Above to the left, Putin seems to be on throughout talks with Belarus President Alexander Lukashenko on April 12. Above to the precise, Nehammer speaks throughout a information convention on March 31 in Berlin.Steffi Loos-Pool/MIKHAIL KLIMENTYEV/Sputnik/AFP through Getty Photographs

Putin "believes he's profitable the conflict," he stated. Nonetheless, the Austrian chief famous that Putin advised him that "it is higher the conflict ends sooner than later." Nehammer assessed that the Russian president "is aware of precisely what is going on on" and contended that Western leaders have to proceed to "confront" him immediately.

"We have to look in his eyes and confront him with what we see in Ukraine," he stated.

Throughout a press briefing in Moscow after his dialogue with Putin, Nehammer advised reporters: "I made it clear to Mr. Putin, his perspective, his view shouldn't be shared by anyone."

Newsweek reached out to the Russian embassy for remark. After the talks, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov was quoted by Russia's state-run TASS information company merely as saying: "Sure, the assembly is over."

As a part of the European Union, Austria has joined different Western nations in implementing sanctions focusing on the Russian financial system and Moscow elite. On the similar time, the nation has maintained its militarily impartial standing all through the battle.

"We're militarily impartial, however have a transparent place on the Russian conflict of aggression in opposition to Ukraine," Nehammer tweeted forward of his assembly with Putin, including, "It has to cease!"

Putin initially justified the unprovoked assault in opposition to Ukraine by claiming bizarrely that the Japanese European nation was led by "Neo-Nazis" and wanted to be "de-Nazified." In actuality, Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelensky is Jewish and had members of the family, who died within the Holocaust genocide carried out by the German Nazis throughout World Conflict II. When Zelensky gained his 2019 election with practically three-quarters of the vote, Ukraine's prime minister was additionally Jewish.

The Russian president and different prime Moscow officers have moreover claimed that Ukraine's authorities is finishing up a "genocide" in opposition to native Russian audio system within the nation's jap area. Nonetheless, Zelensky himself is a local Russian speaker, and was criticized by his foremost political opponent throughout his presidential marketing campaign for not talking Ukrainian nicely.

Regardless of Putin's reported perception, analysts have assessed that Russia's army is basically failing to attain its goals in Ukraine. The Russian president reportedly believed that he would shortly take management of a lot of Ukraine and that the federal government in Kyiv would fall. Because the conflict approaches two months, Russia has failed to beat any main Ukrainian metropolis and Zelensky's authorities stays in cost.

On Thursday, Ukraine took credit score for sinking Russia's flagship Moskva cruiser with a missile strike. Though Moscow stated that the ship sank attributable to climate after an ammunition explosion onboard, the Pentagon stated Friday that it had confirmed a Ukrainian missile resulted within the cruiser's demise.

At 610 toes in size, the Moskva was the third-largest in Russia's fleet. The vessel was additionally the one certainly one of Moscow's warships that have been able to carrying nuclear weapons. It reportedly had been utilized as an necessary retailer of weapons for the offensive in opposition to Ukraine.

"From a purely army standpoint, it is rather necessary as a result of it is a flagman of the Black Sea fleet. However it's incomparably extra necessary from the standpoint of symbolic significance," Andrei Illarionov, an economist and former coverage adviser to Putin, advised CNN on Friday, commenting on Russia's perspective on the lack of the Moskva.

"So it is a very, very painful blow to the morale and to the standing of the navy and the Russian military," Illarionov stated.

It is unclear what number of troops Russia has misplaced within the conflict, however estimates vary as excessive as some 20,000. NATO beforehand estimated roughly a month into the conflict that Moscow had misplaced between 7,000 and 15,000 troopers. After the NATO estimate, Russia stated that it had misplaced beneath 1,400 troops.

Even Russia's personal reported quantity is awfully excessive. To place it in perspective, the U.S. misplaced slightly below 2,500 troopers in two-decades of conflict in Afghanistan.