US intelligence assessed that Russia could take Kyiv in just three days. Russia's Defense Minister now says the war could last until at least 2025.
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Shoigu added that Russia could achieve its military goals with "consistent implementation of the measures in the action until 2025."
Since Russia's invasion of Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin and allies like Shoigu have repeatedly stressed the need to keep Ukraine inside Russia's sphere of influence, and to defeat what they describe as Ukraine's "Nazi regime".
I've never understood why people think wars will be short.
Number of global conflicts 'ended' since 2000 : 26. List of those that lasted under 10 years:
Russo-Georgian War (11 days)
Wagner Uprising (1 day)
Number of ongoing conflicts: 59 List of those which are under 10 years old:
Russo-Ukrainian War (9 years, 7 months and 1 week)
Yemeni Civil War (9 years, 1 week and 4 days)
Numbers derived from this likely incorrect Wikipedia list of conflicts, but there's no way anyone truly agrees on the list details for something like this anyway. The overall point is, anyone advocating for War is advocating for a 10 years minimum commitment to destruction. And that's before considering environmental effects, long-term trauma, etc. Never trust anyone who says that any war will not last a very long time because of military prowess.
I recall the internet claims that Afghanistan would be a few weeks, and also Iraq v2 - because of the US' military superiority. It doesn't really matter whose military it is in whatever coalition, or how much funding they get. It's all just long-term destruction.