Russia's former president and deputy chairman of the security council Dmitry Medvedev said that the ongoing war between Moscow and Kyiv could continue for decades warning that the West is destined to face defeat, regardless of whether it takes years or even decades. Russia sees no alternative but to persist in the struggle, he said. Russia-Ukraine War: Russian security council deputy chairman and former president Dmitry Medvedev attends a meeting.(AP)

“Should it take years or even decades, then so be it. We have no choice: either we will destroy their hostile political regime, or the collective West will eventually tear Russia to pieces,” Dmitry Medvedev wrote in a Telegram post, RT reported.

The former Kremlin leader said that such an outcome would be undesirable for all parties involved, warning that is Russia loses the battle, the West will also “perish”.

“Nobody needs this," Dmitry Medvedev asserted, terming Ukraine as a state with a "terrorist" essence while emphasizing Russia's determination to completely disassemble it and prevent Kyiv from emerging again. The conflict is existential for Russia, he said saying that Western support for Ukraine will eventually wane as their own interests are affected by it.

“For them, this is a strange war in which people who are strangers to them are dying. And while they do not feel sorry for them, the West will never go beyond the point when its own interests get hurt too much,” the former Russian president said, continuing, “Someone else’s war sooner or later becomes boring, costly, and irrelevant.”

This comes as Ukrainian president Volodymyr Zelensky hailed the "historic" decision to supply F-16 fighter jets to strengthen Ukraine's Soviet-era air force while he was on a visit to the Netherlands just two days after the United States approved the transfer to Ukraine of Dutch as well as Danish US-made warplanes.

Dutch prime minister Mark Rutte said, "The Netherlands and Denmark commit to transfer F-16s to Ukraine once the conditions for such a transfer have been met."

The decision is "absolutely historic, powerful and inspiring for us," Zelensky said, adding, "This is another step towards strengthening Ukraine's air shield."

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