'Countdown has started' to the end of Vladimir Putin's rule of Russia, Ukraine says
28 June 2023, 13:35 | Updated: 28 June 2023, 13:49
The countdown has started to the end of the Vladimir Putin's regime, a top Ukrainian official has said.
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Describing Putin as an "inadequate person who has lost connection with reality", Andriy Yermak, a top aide to Volodymyr Zelenskyy, said " the world must conclude that it’s impossible to have any kind of serious relationship" with Russia.
It comes after the failed coup over the weekend by Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin, who has since retreated to neighbouring Belarus.
Mr Yermak told reporters on Wednesday: "I think the countdown has started.
"What Ukraine has seen since 2014 has become evident for the entire world," he added, referring to Russia's illegal annexation of Crimea and backing for the breakaway of the Donbas.
Mr Yermak said: "This is a terrorist country whose leader is an inadequate person who has lost connection with reality. The world must conclude that it's impossible to have any kind of serious relationship with that country."
It comes after Russia bombed a restaurant and several civilian homes in the Ukrainian city of Kramatorsk, in the Donetsk region in the east of the country, on Tuesday.
Some eight people were killed in the attacks, three of whom were teenagers. At least another 56 people were injured.
The Wagner Group uprising was short-lived, lasting less than 24 hours, and the private army's soldiers have since retreated from Rostov and their positions closer to Moscow.
But the coup attempt left Putin and the Russian army "much diminished", according to Lord Richard Dannatt, the former chief of the general staff of the British armed forces.
"This is significant as far as Ukraine is concerned, he said. "Prigozhin has left the stage to go to Belarus, but is that the end of Yevgeny Prigozhin and the Wagner Group?"
Meanwhile a senior general nicknamed 'General Armageddon' with close links to Prigozhin has disappeared. Sergey Surovikin could be under interrogation for possible collusion with the Wagner uprising, US intelligence agents have claimed.
The Ukrainian armed forces have continued to push their counter-offensive into the east of the country, retaking an area that have been held by Russian-backed troops since 2014, according to the UK's military of defence.
The Ukrainian army captured land around the village of Krasnohorivka on Tuesday, just east of the major city of Donetsk, and about 150 miles from the Russian border.
But the counter-offensive has been slower than some onlookers expected, with Russian troops digging in.
Explaining the pace of the Ukrainian push, Zelenskyy said: "Some people believe this is a Hollywood movie and expect results now. It’s not. What’s at stake is people’s lives."
He added: "Whatever some might want, including attempts to pressure us, with all due respect, we will advance on the battlefield the way we deem best."
