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VLADIMIR Putin has been labelled “hesitant” and “rattled” as the Russian tyrant grapples with Ukraine’s surprise invasion.
Kyiv’s troops launched a shock offensive into the Kursk region last week and have now progressed up to 18 miles (30km) into Vlad’s territory, ruffling the president‘s feathers.
Putin strangely squints and rubs hands while addressing military chiefs
He has appeared nervous in recent crunch meetingsEast2West
Ukraine troops and tanks have rumbled into RussiaREUTERS/Viacheslav Ratynskyi
Kyiv troops drive deeper into Vlad’s turfROMAN PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images
Footage has since emerged of a nervous Vlad addressing Russia’s security and defence chiefs.
He appears unsteady as he twitches and rubs his hands together.
International Institute for Strategic Studies senior researcher Nigel Gould-Davies said the 71-year-old looked “rattled”.
Gould-Davies wrote on X: “Putin discussing Ukraine’s incursion into Russia, which he says the West is behind.
“He looks and sounds not angry, outraged, determined — but hesitant and rattled.”
The Kyiv Post also took to X, boasting that their enemy was “visibly nervous”.
It comes after footage last week circulated of Vlad being told by military chiefs that his country had been invaded.
Army bosses told their leader up to Ukrainian troops had crossed the border, appearing to infuriate him.
Nail-biting footage captured Vlad at the head of a long table flanked by his Kremlin cronies.
On a screen at the other end of the room General Valery Gerasimov said: “Units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, numbering up to 1,000 men, went on the offensive in order to seize a section of territory in the Sudzhinsky district of Kursk region.”
A snarling Putin raged: “As you know, the Kyiv regime has undertaken another large-scale provocation.
“It is firing indiscriminately from various types of weapons, including rockets, at civilian buildings, residential houses and ambulances.”
Since then, Volodymyr Zelensky‘s forces have surged deeper into Russia in what is widely seen as a possible bid to divert Kremlin troops away from under-fire Ukraine regions and towns.
Kyiv claims it has thrown thousands of troops into Russia, forcing mass evacuations.
Kursk citizens – some 76,000 – were rushed out of the region from last week but now residents in the neighbouring Belgorod have also been asked to leave.
Russian state media reported as many as 11,000 Belgorod locals were given orders to leave.
President Zelensky said his troops aimed to take the conflict into “the aggressor’s territory”.
He said the Russians had been launching thousands of attacks from Kursk and it was finally time for his forces to storm in to stop them.
This is the biggest attack the Ukrainians have launched on Vlad’s turf.
Vlad on Monday insisted Moscow would eventually push the Ukrainians back despite the fierce fighting boiling on.
He said Ukraine’s offensive appeared a ploy to gain leverage at the negotiating table for potential peace talks.
A Kursk man reacts to debris following a reported Ukrainian missileKommersant Photo/Anatoliy Zhdanov via REUTERS RUSSIA
Ukraine’s troops putting together a drone to assist the incursionPhoto by ROMAN PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images
Evacuated Kursk locals have been queuing for humanitarian aidAP Photo
These are just some of the thousands of troops piling over the borderROMAN PILIPEY/AFP via Getty Images
English (US)