Russia will ‘win war’ against NATO claims Solovyov
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Russian troops are floundering in Ukraine, a prominent Vladimir Putin mouthpiece has admitted - adding: “NATO has smelt our blood.” Russian TV presenter Vladimir Solovyov, known for his incendiary remarks and devotion to the Russian President, used his Russia-1 show, Evening with Vladimir Solovyov, to lament the current situation in Ukraine, seven months after Putin ordered his full-scale invasion.
Solovyov - who unlike Putin describes the conflict as a war as opposed to a “special operation” - was speaking at a time when Ukrainian forces were making significant gains in the east of the country, regaining the key town of Lyman at the weekend.
Lieutenant General Igor Konashenkov of the Russian Defence Ministry confirmed Russian soldiers were in full retreat just hours after Putin declare the Kherson region had been annexed by Russia.
Solovyov said: "We ourselves understand that things are tough in the Kherson area that, yes, we managed to avoid encirclement and the dissection of our forces.
Vladimir Putin has been warned by Vladimir Solovyov Russia is failing in Ukraine (Image: GETTY)
Vladimir Putin and Defence Minister Sergei Shiogu (Image: GETTY)
"They are actively on the offensive, merrily, with gusto, I'd say."
Without providing evidence, Solovyov claimed many of Ukraine’s soldiers were mercenaries, adding that they "are full of it" and did not care about "using up their men”.
Despite the alliance having no direct involvement inside Ukraine, Solovyov warned: "NATO has smelt our blood.
"They're buoyed by how easy it was for them in Kharkiv region and how quickly Lyman fell into their hands, and now in Kherson region.
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Vladimir Putin chairs a meeting at the Kremlin (Image: Reuters)
“They think the momentum's with them and not with us, and that they can wipe their feet on us."
Admitting his concern at Ukraine’s rapid progress in regaining Kharkiv, the country’s second city, Solovyov added: ”There hasn't been a single operation after Kharkiv that would alleviate this bitterness, nor have there been any returned or added territories.
"The whole West is starting to mock us."
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Volodymyr Zelensky, Ukraine's President (Image: GETTY)
A destroyed Russian tank in the Kharkiv region (Image: GETTY)
Solovyov was not the only prominent figure to offer fierce criticism of Russia’s military performance.
Speaking this evening, a Russian-installed official in Ukraine suggested President Vladimir Putin's defence minister should consider killing himself due to the shame of the defeats in the Ukraine war in an astonishing public insult to Russia's top brass.
In a four-minute video message, Kirill Stremousov, the Russian-installed deputy head of the annexed Kherson region lambasted the "generals and ministers" in Moscow for failing to understand the problems on the front.
Russia vs Ukraine: The military imbalance (Image: Express)
He added: "Indeed, many say: if they were a defence minister who had allowed such a state of affairs, they could, as officers, have shot themselves. But you know the word 'officer' is an incomprehensible word for many.
"The ministry of defence does not consist only of ministers, generals, corrupt looters and other various scum, but all those heroes who gave their lives to defend Russia.
"Let's say this: The ministry of defence does not only consist of ministers, generals, corrupt marauders and other various scum, but all those heroes who gave their lives today, who stand to the end."
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov (Image: GETTY)
Chechen leader Ramzan Kadyrov and Yevgeny Prigozhin, founder of the Wagner Group of mercenaries, have likewise ridiculed generals, saying the military was riddled with nepotism and that senior officers should be stripped of their ranks and sent to the front barefoot to atone for their sins.
Shoigu, one of Putin's closest allies, was appointed in 2012. So close was their relationship that the two men regularly spent holidays together in the forests and mountains of Shoigu's native Tuva.
Speaking this evening, President Volodymyr Zelensky said Ukrainian forces have recaptured more than 195 square miles of territory and dozens of settlements in the southern Kherson region alone since October 1. In a video address, he also said there had been more military successes in the east.