Russia’s President Vladimir Putin has asked oligarchs to donate to the country’s budget in a bid to stabilise the country’s finances as he presses ​on with his invasion of Ukraine, The Bell online media outlet ​reported late on Thursday, citing unnamed sources.

It said Putin met ⁠Russia’s top businessmen behind closed doors on Thursday.

The Financial Times ​also published a similar report on Thursday, citing three people familiar with ​the matter.

The Bell, citing the sources, said Putin discussed military funding and continuation of the war, which is in its fifth year since Russia’s full-scale invasion in ​February 2022.

Russia will fight on, Putin said, until it captures ​the remaining areas of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region not under its control, the report ‌added.

The ⁠Bell also said billionaire Suleiman Kerimov at the meeting with Putin pledged to donate 100 billion roubles ($1.23 billion).

Reuters could not immediately verify the report. Calls to Kerimov’s office in Russia’s Federation Council were not answered outside ​of business hours ​on Friday.

As the war ⁠in Ukraine drags on, Russia is facing a double whammy of falling budget revenues from energy sales and ​an economic slowdown, which affects tax income ​from other ⁠sectors of the economy.

Sources told Reuters earlier this month that the Russian government has been preparing a possible 10% cut to all “non-sensitive” spending in this ⁠year’s ​budget, but the final decision will hinge ​on the sustainability of the oil price rise triggered by the Iran war.