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Volodymyr Zelensky has issued a chilling prediction that Vladimir Putin ‘will die soon’ because the Russian leader faces renewed speculation about his health.
Ukraine’s President begged for the US to ‘stay strong’ as a tentative ceasefire on energy infrastructure attacks appears getting ready to collapse.
Zelensky made the claim during a sit-down interview with journalists in Paris after he met French leader Emmanuel Macron in Paris yesterday.
Speaking in Ukrainian, he said: ‘Putin fears losing his power.
‘He’ll die soon, and that’s fact, and it would come to an end.’
The comment has added fuel to rumours the 72-year-old Russian leader is battling ill-health.
Putin allegedly has 4 doctors permanently on duty at his man official residence, according leaked documents.
Last October, the Kremlin had to disclaim he had serious health issues after he was admitted to a Moscow hospital undergoing regular examinations.
A famous incident in June 2022 saw the Russian president grip a table so hard his veins began to bulge during a gathering with then-Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu.
He also appeared slouched and was slurring his words.
Putin also seemed frail and off-colour while meeting along with his Belarusian counterpart Alexander Lukashenko last May to debate the continued war in Ukraine.
In the course of the wide-ranging interview, Zelenksy also discussed European support for Ukraine and the shaky Black Sea ceasefire brokered by the US on Tuesday.
Zelensky said that Putin is attempting to ‘hit the European Union from inside’, referencing Hungary, whose leader Victor Orban has cozied as much as Russia.
This dig at a European power comes as Starmer and Macron prepare to host one other summit of the ‘coalition of the willing’ today in Paris.
All eyes are currently on the success of a tenuous ceasefires agreed between Russia and Ukraine this month.
Each side agreed to a 30-day pause on attacks on energy infrastructure last week.
Nevertheless each countries have now accused the opposite of breaking the terms of the tentative U.S-brokered deal and disagreed about when the energy ceasefire was meant to have begun.
The Russian Defense Ministry claimed that Ukrainian drone attacks hit an electrical facility within the Bryansk region early Wednesday and an influence grid facility within the Kursk region the day before.
Zelensky’s communications adviser Dmytro Lytvyn said there had been ‘eight confirmed hits on energy facilities’ from Russia.
Despite this Ukraine and Russia agreed to an naval ceasefire to the Black Sea this week.
Zelensky said of those fragile negotiations: ‘A ceasefire within the Black Sea is to begin with vital today and for the Russians.
‘They’ve not controlled the corridor within the Black Sea for a very long time.’
On the energy side of the deal, he added: ‘I don’t need to lie.
‘There have been no Russian attacks on energy infrastructure tonight. But there have been Russian attacks on civilian infrastructure.
‘Ukraine didn’t respond with energy sector [strikes] either.’
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