Vladimir Putin has been bluntly told by a top US general that he is “miserably” losing the war in Ukraine with figures on his own side also warning of a “full-scale defeat”.
Retired four star American General Jack Keane said Russia’s spring and summer offensive has already failed “miserably” with the country now losing more territory than they have the ability to take.
“That means that Ukraine is on the offensive and is retaking territory,” the ex-Vice Chief of Staff of the US Army, now chairman of the Institute for the Study of War, said.
His comments came after Aleksey Chadaev, former Kremlin adviser and head of the Ushkuynik drone-warfare centre, warned Putin’s course could lead to “a full-scale defeat”. He argued Russia should accept a ceasefire and regroup.
Prominent Russian war correspondent Anastasia Kashevarova also complained that “the enemy is hitting everything that moves on the roads […].”
View 3 ImagesKashevarova said Ukraine is ‘hitting everything that moves'(Image: social media; E2W news)
She added: “Ukraine’s policy is: the more Russians die, the better”.
Kashevarova said silencing those who speak out against Putin’s failures in the war, or blocking the internet, would not solve the problem. “Of course, you can shut us all up, imprison us,” she taunted.
But “blocking the internet will not solve the issue of the growing swarm of [drones] flying deep into the rear.
“The enemy will continue to kill us. There is no longer any need to open the internet to know that something has hit somewhere.”
New footage showed desperation in Moscow as a Pantsir-SMDE-E air defence system was lowered by helicopter onto the rooftop of an elite apartment high rise in Sokolniki district.
The system is being used to protect against Ukrainian drone strikes, and an increasing number of tower blocks in the Russian capital deploying the same weapons systems.
View 3 ImagesPutin has refused to engage in talks with Zelensky(Image: AFP via Getty Images)
Amid Putin’s refusal to engage in talks with Volodymyr Zelensky to end the war, Ukraine staged punishing new overnight strikes on Russia. They attacked Semikolodezyanskaya oil depot in Lenino, occupied Crimea, igniting it in flames.
Petrol shortages in the annexed territory are causing mayhem with strict rationing imposed and car-owners forced to dodge drones and drive to the Russian mainland to fill up.
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Ukrainian drones also hit railway infrastructure and set a substation on fire in Rodakove, in occupied Luhansk region. This followed the largest attacks of the war on Putin’s hometown St Petersburg in recent days.
Russia killed one and left 25 others injured in attacks in Zaporizhzhia region, and one person died in Odesa.
Zelensky is due in London on Sunday for talks with Sir Keir Starmer and the leaders of France and Germany.