A confused Vladimir Putin claimed that his troops "haven't started" their military onslaught in Ukraine yet - despite losing around 75,000 soldiers since invading the country in February.
The Russian President - who describes the conflict as a "special military operation" - made the bizarre comment while attending the Eastern Economic Forum in the city of Vladivostok.
In his speech, Putin hardly mentioned Ukraine apart from a reference to grain exports.
However, when a moderator asked him if anything had been lost from the conflict, he claimed Russia actually gained from it.
He said: "We have not lost anything and will not lose anything.
"Everything that is unnecessary, harmful, and everything that prevents us from moving forward will be rejected."
Putin added chillingly: "And the most important, and I want to stress it one more time - we have not started from a military activities point of view".
Putin, who has been in power since 1999, added: "In terms of what we have gained, I can say that the main gain has been the strengthening of our sovereignty, and this is the inevitable result of what is happening now.
"This will ultimately strengthen our country from within."
He admitted that a "polarisation" is happening "both in the world and inside the country" - but said he thinks this is "beneficial".
He went on to say: "Military actions in 2014 were started - after the coup in Ukraine - by those who didn’t want normal, peaceful development and attempted to suppress their own people by carrying one military operation after another, and by an eight-year-long genocide of the people of Donbas."
Russia sent tens of thousands of troops into Ukraine on February 24 in what it called a special operation to degrade its southern neighbour's military capabilities and root out people it called dangerous nationalists.
Ukrainian forces have mounted stiff resistance - but neither side has disclosed how many soldiers have been killed.
However, the West estimates Putin has seen 75,000 military personnel killed or maimed.
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) verified a total of 5,718 civilian deaths during Russia's invasion of Ukraine as of September 4. Of them, 372 were children.
Furthermore, 8,199 people were reported to have been injured.
However, the real number of casualties could be higher, the OHCHR specified.
In July, Putin said he was just getting started in Ukraine and dared the United States to try to defeat Moscow - claiming it would fail.
Earlier today, we reported that Russia sent a convicted mass murderer to fight in Ukraine nicknamed 'maniac' for his cruelty and given him an award.
Ivan Neparatov, 34, was convicted of five separate murders and reportedly took pleasure in killing them.
The murderer was a gang leader who "strangled his victims personally and experienced great pleasure from doing so".
One of his victims was a female strangled in a robbery, another a man stabbed 88 times.
Exiled Russian law enforcement expert Sergey Kanev said Neparatov "loved to strangle and torture animals, for which he received the nickname 'Maniac'".
Meanwhile, Europe is preparing to cut winter gas use after Russia failed to reopen a crucial pipeline in an ongoing "weaponisation of energy".
Germany and France aim to lower heat in public buildings, while Italy plans to close them early and cut street lighting by 40%. Germans have been told to reduce usage.
