Deluded Vladimir Putin thought Russia would defeat Ukraine ‘in just THREE days’
Russian despot leader Vladimir Putin thought he could defeat Ukraine in just three days, according to leaked intelligence.
Putin, responsible for thousands of deaths in Ukraine after his barbaric full-scale invasion one year ago tomorrow, was reportedly told by confidants that Russian sympathisers were waiting in Kyiv to overthrow the Ukrainian government.
A year on, Volodymyr Zelensky remains in power in Ukraine and recent fighting has been largely at a standstill after significant Ukrainian advances in October.
Revealed by The Sun, emails from within the FSB – the Russian intelligence services – shows Putin was told there were 2,000 people in every city waiting to overthrow the Ukrainian president.
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Getty Images)
The source, known as Wind of Change, showed the emails to Russian human rights activist Vladimir Osechkin.
Osechkin founded ‘Gulagu,’ which monitors abuses in harsh Russian prisons.
The report read: “We issued reports that at minimum about 2,000 trained civilians in every major city in Ukraine were ready to overthrow Zelensky.
“And that at least 5,000 civilians were prepared to come out with flags against Zelensky on the beck-and-call of Russia.”
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AFP via Getty Images)
Wind of Change then goes on to explain that the FSB thought that once Zelensky had been toppled, the Ukrainians would then fight amongst themselves to win Putin’s favour.
The source added: “Do you want a laugh? We were expected to be the arbitrators for crowning Ukrainian politicians who were supposed to start tearing each other apart competing for the right to be called aligned with Russia.”
Wind of Change then went on speak about what would happen if the supposed three-day plan to take Kyiv within three days failed.
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Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
“What if it doesn’t work?’ This question was left unanswered when they planned to take Kiev in three days.”
Russian troops came within 19 miles of Kyiv, but were ousted around April last year.
Experts have put the Russian failure to secure victory on a range of things including poor intelligence, equipment and tactics.
The email from the source is dated from March 11, the same day the FSB chief was arrested on suspicion of feeding information to Ukraine.
The defence think tank Royal United Services Institute (RUSI) also said that Russian intelligence underestimated Urkaininan resolves due to some poor approval rating s for Zelensky.
However, this underestimated what the Ukrainian response would be in the scenario of a full-scale invasion.
Ukrainian citizens, facing repeated barrages from Russian artillery on their homes and infrastructure, appear to be remaining defiant instead.
One worker in Kyiv told the Mirror: “They can knock us down but we keep getting back up again.
“It must be frightening for the Russians to see that we can not only stand up to them but now we will show them how we will win this conflict.
“Yes it can be frightening but we are Ukrainians and we are together.”