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.

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”.