Ukranian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy's close aide says Russian President Vladimir Putin is "living in fear for his life" amid severe setbacks in the Ukraine war.
What Happened: "[Putin] is very afraid because there is no forgiveness in Russia for tsars who lose wars," Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to the Ukrainian president's chief of staff, told British newspaper The Times.
"He is fighting for his life now. If he loses the war, at least in the minds of the Russians, it means the end. The end of him as a political figure. And possibly in the physical sense," Arestovich said.
This comes after Russia withdrew its forces from the Kherson region earlier this month, marking one of the biggest defeats for Putin, who wanted to end the war in days. Instead, it has dragged on for months now. Arestovich said the defeat in Kherson had left many wondering if Russia could ever win this war, as it was the only regional capital that Moscow had captured since the onset of the war in February.
"This has forced even people who are very loyal to Putin to doubt that they can win this war," Arestovich said.
Earlier this week, a report revealed that in the early days of the Russia-Ukraine war, Putin‘s forces suffered "electronic fratricide" after the jammers they installed to disrupt Ukraine's air-defense radars jammed Russia's own communications.
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