Russian President Vladimir Putin's allies are reportedly already planning who will succeed him while the country's bungled invasion of Ukraine drags on.
When he first ordered the invasion into their neighbours, Putin claimed it would be won within just 72 hours. But after more than a year of conflict, pressure is intensifying on the 70-year-old as the Russian public's patience with the war running out, the Daily Star reports.
Overall an estimated 700,000 soldiers have been lost in the war so far, with over 70% of those being men injured so badly they could not return to the front line. Official intelligence from Ukraine has said that Putin's supporters are currently looking to replace him just 48 hours after the International Criminal Court issued an arrest warrant for him.
Andriy Yusov, from Ukraine's military intelligence directorate, said: “The circle around Putin is narrowing. (He is becoming) more and more toxic.
"Within the Kremlin, there is more and more dissatisfaction with what is happening. There is an increasingly gloomy understanding of the prospects, specifically the geopolitical catastrophe of the Putin regime. Thus, the search for Putin's successor is already under way.”
He made the comments on a Ukrainian news channel yesterday (March 18), which were posted to Twitter and translated by Anton Geraschenko, an adviser to the Minister of Internal Affairs of Ukraine.
The news comes as a former US Army General claimed that Putin's army was facing “total collapse” by the end of the year. Ben Hodges, who served as commanding general in the United States Army in Europe, predicted Russian forces would end up succumbing to the battle of attrition in Ukraine.
Hodges tweeted: "Russia is being attrited at such a rate that they may collapse before the end of this year, assuming the West delivers in time what we've promised. War is a test of will and a test of logistics."
