VLADIMIR Putin has just two years left of fighting, Ukraine’s spy chief has declared – as the UK taunts Russia over its 1.5 million casualties.
The Kremlin tyrant’s war machine is set to be hammered by his flailing economy, eye-watering losses and rock-bottom morale.
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Lieutenant General Oleh Ivashchenko told The Times: “Russia has military and economic resources for the next year, but we estimate it will end in 2028.
“Russia recruits roughly 1,000 people every day, sometimes 1,200, but look at these casualty figures.”
He added: “Yesterday it was 1,410, the day before it was 1,511. Of those, around 60 per cent are killed in action.”
Putin is thought to be losing 6,000 more soldiers than he can afford every month, according to Western intelligence.
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Kyiv says Moscow has lost more than 1.5 million troops – including some 450,000 deaths.
If Russia continues down the same trail of destruction for 18 months, statistics suggest the Kremlin will take another 765,000 casualties.
Ivashchenko said the skyrocketing figures have contributed to poor morale in Russia – where no one is firmly backing the war effort.
“Morale is very low because nobody wants to fight,” he added.
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“Also the morale of the Russian population is very low: most people do not really want war.”
Reports also emerged earlier this week that the Russian Orthodox Church – which backs Putin’s war – sent fragments of a medieval prince‘s hand to frontline soldiers.
The bizarre gift was made in a bid to boost morale and provide “spiritual strength”.
The spy chief also called Putin “subnormal” for his barbaric invasion.
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He said: “Draw your own conclusions about a person who wants to kill other people to seize their territory.”
His comments came as Britain laid bare the dark reality of Putin’s battlefield losses which have reached over 1.5 million.
A video ticker was released by the UK’s Embassy in Moscow on social media to highlight to the desperate scale of the Russian toll.
“More and more broken families are the true cost of Putin’s war,” said the caption against a backdrop of the Kremlin.
Russia’s economy has also taken a significant hit since the outbreak of war nearly five years ago, Ivashchenko added.
Last month, reports emerged that Russians were draining billions from bank accounts amid fears deposits would be seized to fund the war.
A staggering £18billion has been pulled from Russian banks so far this year – with an eye-watering £2.5billion taken out in the first two weeks of August alone.
Kyiv has been blasting Putin’s oil refineries, depots and energy hubs in a bid to cripple the economy and spark financial chaos.
This week, a refinery in Rostov-on-Don and three air defence assets were struck by Ukrainian forces.
Just days earlier, a huge blaze was reported at the Ryazan Oil Refinery, one of Russia’s biggest processing hubs.
About 40 per cent of Russia’s oil-refining infrastructure has been disabled because of Ukraine‘s precision attacks, the Kyiv Independent reports.
Fuel shortages have become widespread while exports of gasoline and diesel have been banned.
Ivashchenko said: “The main problems facing the Russian economy are a shortage of labour resources, a growing budget deficit and a deteriorating situation in the banking system.
“At the same time, it still has enough resources to wage war against Ukraine. We do not rule out that these resources will last through 2027 to 2028.”
It comes after overnight Russian air strikes killed at least seven civilians and injured more than 120 across Ukraine in just 24 hours.
In Pavlohrad, Dnipropetrovsk region, five people died and 67 were wounded by a Russian drone which targeted a shopping mall.
Ukraine also launched some of its heaviest ever overnight strikes on Russia.
Kyiv used its domestically-produced long-range missiles and drones to hit oil refineries and online marketplace hubs in multiple regions, further crippling Putin’s economy.
Moscow claimed to have downed or disrupted 777 incoming drones in the overnight hours — the second highest of the entire war.
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In Volgograd, a key oil refinery was hit by missiles, reports claimed, while in Saratov, a giant Ozon e-commerce complex was left in flames, with the city shrouded in smoke.
In the same region, there were reports of explosions close to a major military airbase in Engels, home to Putin’s long-range strategic bomber aircraft.