Putin on brink as general mocks Kremlin's nuclear threats and slams Ukraine war

Vladimir Putin has been sharply criticised by a Russian general (Image: Getty)

A Russian general has launched a blistering attack on Vladimir Putin, saying the Kremlin's war in Ukraine is an unmitigated disaster. Leonid Ivashov is a well-known military figure and public official who served as the former President of the Academy for Geopolitical Problems.

The retired colonel general has been an outspoken critic of Putin's war in Ukraine, accusing the Russian President of provoking the conflict and demanding his resignation. As head of the All-Russian Officers Assembly in January 2022, he issued a statement warning that the war "will threaten the very existence of Russia." The retired general appears not to have changed his mind after almost four years of bitter and gruelling fighting.

Colonel General Leonid Ivashov is a long time critic of Putin (Image: X social media)

In his latest attack on Putin, he accused the Kremlin tyrant of having condemned Russia to a "strategic defeat".

He pointed out that the Russian leader had himself warned that a strategic defeat would lead to the country's collapse.

“According to Vladimir Putin’s statements, a strategic defeat will lead to Russia’s collapse," he said.

"However, there is no clarification of what is meant by this ‘strategic defeat.’ The fact that we are isolated and permanent members of the UN Security Council are making statements in support of Ukraine is already our strategic defeat.”

He mocked Putin's boasts that Russia had lethal nuclear missiles that could obliterate the US and the West in general.

"The Kremlin has been touting its latest missile developments, such as the Burevestnik and Poseidon," he continued.

"We cling to the missile Burevestnik and the nuclear torpedo Poseidon like a plaster cast. In reality, the United States will be able to destroy us before these reach their targets, if we even manage to fire them.”

Russian forces are increasingly likely to seize the crucial city of Pokrovsk, dubbed the "gateway to Donetsk". However, the general dismissed the potential capture of the key logistical and transport hub as irrelevant.

"That we advanced somewhere near Pokrovsk is only a tactical success; we have no operational-tactical successes, and at the strategic level we have suffered defeat in every direction," he said.