NEW: Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that Western military assistance remains vital to Ukraine’s ability to maintain its defense against Russian aggression. Putin’s longstanding theory of victory relies on the assumption that the West will abandon Ukraine. Putin gave an interview to a Kremlin journalist on January 28 in which he claimed that the war in Ukraine could be over within two months if the West stops providing Ukraine with military assistance and that Ukraine’s dependence on Western military aid indicates that Ukraine has “no sovereignty.” Putin’s claims about how quickly the war will end without further Western military assistance and his explicit rejection of Ukrainian sov