Putin humiliation as frontline commander admits troops cannot beat Ukraine

The commander of a pro-Russian battalion combating a determined rearguard motion in a village in jap Ukraine has delivered a crushing blow to President Vladimir Putin – by admitting his troops “cannot win”.

Alexander Khodakovsky, chief of the self-declared Donetsk People’s Republic’s Vostok Battalion, was talking on the finish of per week by which Kyiv claimed counteroffensive good points on the southeastern entrance, regaining management of the village of Urozhaine within the Donetsk area on Wednesday.

Speaking in a video uploaded to the moment messaging service Telegram on Thursday, Khodakovsky referred to as for “freezing the front”, saying his troops “cannot win” in opposition to Ukraine.

He mentioned: “Can we bring down Ukraine militarily?

“Now and in the near future, no.”

Overnight into Saturday, Ukraine’s air drive mentioned it shot down 15 out of 17 Russian drones focusing on northern, central and western areas of the nation.

The deputy governor of the western Khmelnytskyi area, Serhii Tiurin, mentioned two individuals had been wounded and dozens of buildings broken by an assault.

In the northwestern Zhytomyr area, a Russian drone assault focused an infrastructure facility and brought about a hearth.

However, no casualties had been reported, mentioned Governor Vitalii Bunechko.

Nevertheless, seven individuals together with a six-year-old lady had been killed in a missile strike on town of Chernihiv within the north of the nation.

Meanwhile, in Russia, Putin visited prime army officers within the metropolis of Rostov-on-Don close to the Ukrainian border.

The Kremlin mentioned that Putin listened to stories from Valery Gerasimov, the commander in command of Moscow’s operations in Ukraine, and different prime army brass on the headquarters of Russia’s Southern Military District.

The actual timings of his go to weren’t confirmed, however state media revealed video footage that gave the impression to be filmed at night time, exhibiting Gerasimov greeting Putin and main him right into a constructing.

The assembly itself was held behind closed doorways.

It was Putin’s first go to to town for the reason that Wagner mercenary group’s tried mutiny in June, when the group’s fighters briefly took management of town.

During June’s short-lived revolt, Wagner founder Yevgeny Prigozhin repeatedly denounced Gerasimov, who serves as chief of the final workers of the Russian armed forces, in addition to Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu for denying provides to his fighters in Ukraine.

Prigozhin insisted the rebellion was not aimed toward Putin however quite at eradicating Gerasimov and different prime brass who he accused of mismanaging the struggle in Ukraine.