Russia’s troops withdrawing and risk being attacked by Ukraine forces – Radakin

Russia’s bid to take all of Ukraine during its invasion looks to have “fallen apart” as Vladimir Putin’s troops retreat away from Kyiv, the head of Britain’s armed forces has said.

Admiral Sir Tony Radakin said the Russian president had been “misled” about the effectiveness of his country’s armed forces, with “early indications” suggesting Moscow was withdrawing troops – a move that has opened them up to counter attacks by Ukrainian defenders.

In a speech and follow-on question-and-answer session at an Institute for Government (IfG) event, the Chief of the Defence Staff said Mr Putin was a “weaker and more diminished figure today” than he was before the invasion started on February 24.

He announced that the UK was “incredibly cautious” about believing Russian claims of withdrawing from Kyiv but said there did appear to be signs the Kremlin was preparing to focus its efforts on the east and south of Ukraine.

Sir Tony said: “I think we are seeing that Russia’s ambitions to take Kyiv and Russia’s ambitions to take the whole of Ukraine, and do that in a very swift and impressive fashion, those ambitions have fallen apart.

“And it looks now that less emphasis is being placed on Kyiv and more emphasis is being placed on the east and the south.

“We are starting to see the early indications of those forces being moved back from Kyiv and retreating to both Russia and Belarus.

“That in itself is a difficult evolution for Russia because they are doing that under contact, so Ukraine armed forces will attack those Russian forces as they retreat.”

During his opening remarks on Thursday, the British military chief said the coming weeks would “continue to be very difficult” for Ukraine before adding: “But in many ways, Putin has already lost.

“Far from being the far-sighted manipulator of events that he would have us believe, Putin has damaged himself through a series of catastrophic misjudgments.”

He added: “Like all authoritarians, he allowed himself to be misled as to his own strength, including the effectiveness of the Russian armed forces.

“What is very clear is that Putin is a weaker and more diminished figure today than he was a month ago.

“And, conversely, Nato is stronger and more united today than at any time I can remember.”

Sir Tony, who replaced General Sir Nick Carter in the top job late last year, would not say whether he believed the Russian armed forces was in mutiny.

He instead said there was “disquiet at all levels” of Moscow’s military.

He branded it “insane” and “morally bankrupt” that Russian officers, according to Western intelligence, had led troops into battle without informing them that an invasion had been ordered.

He said the Kremlin’s plans “haven’t gone well” and that the way senior commanders had prosecuted the invasion “looks to us like it has been very poorly conducted”.