Shoigu: "Here, of course, I can't help but emphasize that today we are at war not so much with Ukraine, the Ukrainian army, but with the collective West," he was quoted as saying by RIA Novosti.

He noted that Ukraine has run out of its own weapons left over from Soviet times, and many European countries that had Soviet-made weapons have "cleaned out everything they had, all their warehouses, and swept them thoroughly," transferring all the weapons they have to Kiev.

"But we keep kicking in and kicking out, and the time has already come when we are really at war with the collective West plus NATO," the minister said. [link to russian.rt.com (secure)]