Putin ‘may give up in months’ as Russian troops’ life expectancy on frontline is 20 minutes

Ukraine’s brutal blitz on energy grids could force a Putin surrender in months, as raw Russian recruits face a 20-minute battlefield life expectancy

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Vladimir Putin could be forced to surrender within months as Ukraine’s crippling endgame blitz leaves Russian frontline troops facing a shocking battlefield life expectancy of just 20 minutes. Expert analysts claim that Kyiv’s relentless, devastating strikes on the Kremlin’s energy grid are threatening to completely freeze Russia’s war machine by next year.

Retired US Army officer Ben Hodges believes the military tide has turned dramatically following a string of humiliating setbacks for Moscow.

Hodges, said: “It’s clear to almost anybody that’s watching that the momentum has shifted in favour of Ukraine. The momentum has shifted because the Russian ground operations have been stopped and the Russian Navy is barely a factor anymore.”

Putin’s faltering regime is currently plagued by severe fuel shortages, rolling blackouts and gridlocked queues at petrol stations as Ukrainian forces systematically detonate oil depots and refineries.

Hodges added: “Ukraine’s long-range missile strikes are wrecking Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure and if they can continue this over the coming weeks, then it will be long term damage.

“If they can sustain this, going towards the end of the year, it will be very, very difficult for the Russians to support their own operations. I don’t think they’ll be able to sustain it at this sort of level deep into next year.”

Former British intelligence officer Philip Ingram agreed that a dramatic new phase of the conflict is underway.

Ingram said: “What we’re seeing is definitely the start of a new chapter in the war. It’s taken Ukraine a significant amount of time to develop the technology, build the manufacturing capacity and build the numbers of drones that they have done.

“They’re starting to have an effect because Vladimir Putin himself has admitted the difficulties that Ukrainian drone attacks are having on fuel supplies across Russia.”

In a rare, humiliating admission, the Russian despot recently confessed his forces are facing “problems” due to the precision strikes. The resulting crisis has triggered widespread fuel panics across more than 50 Russian regions.

Kyiv has placed a particular chokehold on occupied Crimea, wiping out vital bridges and plunging the annexed peninsula into a total state of emergency.

Hodges warned that it is not the time for Ukraine to “take their foot off the gas pedal when it comes to Crimea.”

He said that the onslaught is “going to get worse and worse for Russia as the summer goes along, because Ukraine are going to keep getting better and better with their long- range precision strikes.”

He added: “It feels like they are increasing the scale of what they’re doing, not just the the quality…the war is coming home to them.”

However, Hodges noted a total collapse depends heavily on Western support. He also suggested that if Putin starts conscripting wealthy youths from Moscow or St Petersburg to cover his losses, public support will completely disintegrate.

He said: “If all the privileged young people all of a sudden find themselves putting on that green uniform of the Russian army, then enthusiasm will really drop for support of this war.”

Meanwhile, Russian military expert Keir Giles said Kyiv is successfully bringing the brutal reality of the conflict right to Putin’s doorstep.

Giles said: “Putin is gradually being forced to publicly admit more and more of the reality of the war. In that respect, Ukraine’s long-term aim of bringing that reality home to Russians across the country is beginning to succeed.”

Moscow’s dwindling army has reportedly suffered over one million casualties, including 500,000 deaths, since the 2022 invasion.

Desperate for manpower, the Kremlin is shoving 1,000 raw recruits a day into the meatgrinder with just a few days of hasty training, resulting in catastrophic frontline survival rates.

Hodges concluded that Putin will keep fighting “as long as he thinks he can win…the casualties don’t matter to him.”

However, he added: “Maybe the people around him can convince him that what he’s doing is ruining Russia.”