Putin vows to ‘end off’ Ukraine and mocks Britain for its financial system and small armed forces – as Trump is accused of ‘holding a gun to Zelensky’s head’

Vladimir Putin vowed to ‘finish off’ Ukraine while standing aboard a brand new Russian nuclear submarine during a visit to an Arctic naval base yesterday.

Speaking to submariners, Putin smugly declared: ‘Not long ago I said we’d grind [Ukraine] down — now it looks like we’ll finish them off.

He also mocked the state of the British economy and armed forces after Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron revealed yesterday they would deploy an Anglo-French ‘reassurance force’ to Ukraine following a ceasefire deal.

‘[Britain] is jumping on us, behaving aggressively… but their economy is, I think, in the ninth or tenth place in the world,’ the Russian President smirked. 

‘Hence the armed forces – what is it, 170,000 or 180,000? That’s all the armed forces of the UK!’

The Kremlin chief’s comments reflect his growing confidence in the fate of his war in Ukraine, not least because the United States – previously one of Kyiv‘s most consequential allies – is now holding Volodymyr Zelensky over a barrel.

The latest version of President Donald Trump‘s much-touted minerals deal, initially framed as a way for Ukraine to obtain security guarantees from Washington, has been described by experts as ‘an expropriation document’ and likened to ‘holding a gun’ to Zelensky’s head. 

Professor Alan Riley, an expert on energy law at the Atlantic Council, said the deal was unlike anything he had ever seen before after being shown a copy of the latest text by the Telegraph.

A United States-Ukraine Reconstruction Investment Fund would control Ukraine’s natural resources including critical minerals and natural gas. Three of the five board members on the new fund would be chosen by the US and Washington would enjoy the first right of refusal on all projects.

The US would also have the power to examine the books and accounts of any Ukrainian ministry or agency when it wants to. 

‘There are no guarantees, no defence clauses, the US puts up nothing,’ Riley said. 

‘The Americans can walk away, the Ukrainians can’t. I’ve never seen anything like it before.’

Putin’s comments to submariners yesterday came as he explored the depths of the submarine Arkhangelsk, named after the Russian city.

He also officially launched a new nuclear submarine – named the ‘Perm’ after a city in the Ural mountains – from the port of Murmansk.

The Perm is the sixth submarine in Russia’s Yasen and Yasen-M classes built by the Sevmash shipyard near Murmansk – but it is believed to be Russia’s first nuclear-powered submarine to carry hypersonic Zircon missiles as standard issue.

These fearsome projectiles have a reported range of 900 kilometres (560 miles) and their speed renders them very difficult to defend against.

Meanwhile, Russia’s armed forces continued to batter targets across Ukraine with drone strikes overnight, even as Ukraine and the US push for a partial ceasefire to avoid further attacks on energy infrastructure and Black Sea shipping assets.

The General Staff of Ukraine’s Armed Forces reported early this morning: ‘The Russian invaders committed another war crime, using Shahed drones, [and] massively attacked Poltava.

‘They deliberately hit civilian infrastructure, housing developments and administrative buildings of oil and gas industry enterprises.’

In Kharkiv region, Putin’s military machine hit Zolochiv with four kamikaze drones – destroying a civilian house and damaging ten more.

Two strikes also targeted Zolochiv hospital and a football ground, wounding several people.

The Black Sea port city of Odesa also suffered overnight strikes, along with targets in the region of Zaporizhzhia.

Since the US and Ukraine agreed on a partial ceasefire following talks in Saudi Arabia, Putin has said he would only observe the terms should Western nations lift some of their long-held economic sanctions on Moscow.

He called for Zelensky to be ousted as Ukraine’s President and for the government to be replaced by an internationally supervised interim administration to hold elections.

And he is also opposed to a Franco-British plan to station a European peacekeeping force in Ukraine to police a future peace deal.

British and French diplomats and defence chiefs will head to Ukraine in the coming days to discuss what Macron styles as a ‘reassurance force’.

‘These reassurance forces are a British-French proposition that is desired by Ukraine,’ Macron announced yesterday, adding the troops would not be deployed to frontlines, but instead at ‘strategic areas’ around Ukraine.

As European leaders work to reassure Ukraine their allies will come to its defence, the US continues efforts to push Kyiv into signing a highly exploitative minerals deal.

If signed in its current form, the deal would see the United States handed control of Ukraine’s mineral wealth and infrastructure linked to natural resources – an agreement unparalleled in the history of modern diplomacy.

On top of this, the plan – which was obtained by the Telegraph – hands America unprecedented control over the sale of the war torn nation’s resources which could include vetoing sales to China or restricting sales to Europe.

Kyiv would not be given any security guarantees in return.

This deal is running parallel with talks between Russia and America to restore West Siberian gas flows to Europe in large volumes.

The revived Russia-Europe gas trade would flow through Ukraine’s network, and then via the Baltic once the sabotaged Nord Stream pipelines are mended. 

Professor Riley said of the deal: ‘It is not compatible with EU membership, and perhaps that is part of the purpose. 

‘I have to wonder whether the real intention might not be to force Zelensky to reject it.’