Plotting Kremlin insiders could assassinate Vladimir Putin and claim he died from a heart attack, a security expert has claimed.
In recent weeks speculation about the Russian President's health has been rife - meaning many Russians may well believe it if they were told he had suddenly died from an illness.
Dr Robert Thornton, a professor in conflict and security studies at King's College London, said that many within Russia's FSB security service believe Putin should be removed.
Generals are "losing patience" and "want him gone", he said, after Russian forces halted efforts to take Ukrainian capital Kyiv.
Dr Thornton told The Sun that a select band of senior figures would likely tell Putin he must either leave office or be killed.
If the latter occurred, Dr Thornton said, many would find it believable.
The professor said: "You’d get someone to say: ‘Poor Mr Putin had a heart attack, from all the strain of his special military operation and we’ve put so-in-so in charge'."
With Russian forces taking heavy losses, many within the military are questioning Putin's invasion.
Ukrainian leaders estimate that more than 30,000 Russian troops have died since the start of the invasion in February.
Dr Thornton said: "There is bound to be morale issues in the army and leadership issues and people asking why we are doing this.
"There’s bound to be a groundswell of junior officers and those at the lower echelons of the Russian army who are saying ‘what are we doing this for?’ and this might percolate upwards to the more senior ranks."
Pope Francis said today he would meet soon with Ukrainian officials to discuss the possibility of a visit to their country.
Francis disclosed the coming meeting in a question-and-answer session with children in one of the Vatican's main courtyards.
A Ukrainian boy named Sachar asked him: "Can you come to Ukraine to save all the children who are suffering there now?"
The 85-year-Francis, who has been using a wheelchair because of knee pain, responded that he often thought of Ukrainian children and wanted to visit the country but had to choose the right time.
"It is not easy to make a decision that could do more harm than good to the rest of the world. I have to find the right moment to do it," he said, according to a Vatican transcript of the event.
He did not elaborate.
"Next week I will receive representatives of the Ukrainian government, who will come here to talk, to talk even about an eventual visit of mine there. We'll see what happens," Francis said.
Francis has several times implicitly criticised Putin over the invasion, but without naming him.
He also has used terms such as "unjustified aggression" and "invasion" and has lamented atrocities against civilians.
Francis has been invited by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy, Kyiv Mayor Vitaliy Klitschko, Major Archbishop Sviatoslav Shevchuk of Ukraine's Byzantine-rite Catholic Church and Ukraine's ambassador to the Vatican, Andriy Yurash.
