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<\/p>\nVLADIMIR Putin is making a \u201csecond calamitous blunder\u201d almost two years after invading Ukraine, the head of Britain\u2019s armed forces has warned.<\/p>\n
Admiral Sir Tony Radakin mocked the Kremlin despot as \u201cno grand master of strategy\u201d as Putin\u2019s main gambits had failed or backfired \u2013 his army is stretched and his Black Sea Fleet scattered.<\/p>\n
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But the tyrant's biggest mistake was pushing Russia\u2019s economy towards Soviet-style collapse.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf his first catastrophic mistake was invading Ukraine, he is now making his he is now making his second calamitous blunder," Admiral Radakin said when delivering the Chief of Defence Staff\u2019s annual lecture in London.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Russian economy is being twisted even more out of shape.<\/p>\n
\u201cNearly 40 per cent of all Russian public expenditure is being spent on defence.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is more than the aggregate of health and education.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd the last time we saw these levels was at the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the Soviet Union.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cThis is disastrous for Russia and its people.\u201d<\/p>\n Admiral Radakin admitted that Ukraine\u2019s counter-offensive, however, gained less ground than was hoped and that Russian defences were stronger than expected.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n He said Ukraine was fighting with a \u201ccitizen army\u201d of men in their 30s and 40s with families back home.<\/p>\n \u201cUkraine is cautious with their lives. We would be too.<\/p>\n "And it speaks volumes about the contrasting approaches of Russian and Ukrainian leaders," he said.<\/p>\n The UK armed forces boss also backed President Zelensky\u2019s insistence that the conflict had not reached a stalemate, saying: \u201cTerritory is not the only measure of how this war progresses.<\/p>\n \u201cTalk of stalemate or the advantages to Russia of settling for a long war are too superficial.\u201d<\/p>\n He added Russia\u2019s attempt to weaponise energy exports backfired when Europe reduced its dependence on Russian gas.<\/p>\n \u201cPutin sought to withhold global food supplies. But the world responded with the Black Sea Grain Initiative," Admiral Radakin said.<\/p>\n \u201cHe sought to coerce the West with reckless nuclear threats.<\/p>\n \u201cBut elicited global condemnation, including China, India and Saudi Arabia.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd now he\u2019s wanted by the International Criminal Court.<\/p>\n \u201cHe\u2019s suffered the shock and humiliation of an attempted coup.<\/p>\n \u201cCrimea is no longer safe. The Black Sea Fleet has scattered.<\/p>\n \u201cHe has to keep 400 thousand troops in Ukraine to hold on to what he has taken.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd he cannot order a general mobilisation – at least ahead of next year\u2019s election – for fear of how his own people will respond.\u201d<\/p>\n He said Russia had \u201cfew real friends abroad\u201d, with Putin increasingly "resembling a prisoner of his own making\u201d.<\/p>\n It comes after Kyiv suffered a hellish night after Russia launched a massive missile\u00a0attack overnight that left 53 people injured.<\/p>\n Ukraine's air defences downed ten\u00a0strikes\u00a0– believed to be powerful Russian Iskander missiles – but damage was caused by falling rocket debris.<\/p>\n The\u00a0horror\u00a0hit damaged a children\u2019s\u00a0hospital\u00a0and apartment building and wounded 53 people including six children, one aged only five.<\/p>\n It marked one of the biggest number of injured in the Ukrainian capital in months.<\/p>\n Twenty people were hospitalised as a result of the heavy bombardment of Kyiv, including two children.<\/p>\n The military administration in the Ukrainian capital said the city had faced "the second high-speed missile attack on Kyiv in the last two days.\u00a0<\/p>\n Meanwhile, footage showed\u00a0Russia\u00a0had put its flag over the ruins of Maryinka, a hotly-disputed town in the Donetsk region, as it makes gains on the frontline.<\/p>\n The attacks happened as President\u00a0Volodymyr Zelensky was outside the country on a visit to Washington, where President\u00a0Joe Biden\u00a0warned that Russia was banking on the United States abandoning\u00a0Ukraine.<\/p>\n Biden warned his foes they were making a \u201cChristmas gift\u201d to\u00a0Vladimir Putin\u00a0by refusing to sanction urgent new munitions for Kyiv and said the US would "continue to supply Ukraine with critical weapons and equipment as long as we can."<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/newspress-collage-603ddyeun-1702456754026.jpg\")
<\/picture>PUTIN\u2019S FURY <\/span><\/p>\nKyiv endures \u2018night of hell\u2019 as Russia launches huge missile blitz injuring 53<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/newspress-collage-24716484-1699873581417.jpg\")
<\/picture>DEATH FROM ABOVE <\/span><\/p>\nPutin assassination fears as he deploys missiles to his Black Sea mansion<\/h3>\n
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