VLADIMIR Putin’s bloody war machine is slowly starting to grind to a halt as battlefield gains in Ukraine falter amid ongoing peace talks.
The end of their territorial triumph comes after Russia announced they are looking to call-up another 160,000 troops – only hours after they claimed they “can’t accept” any peace deal.
The latest Kremlin ploy could have huge ramifications with Donald Trump already voicing serious concerns over Putin’s readiness to agree to a ceasefire in recent days.
And as tensions rise off the battlefield, pressure is also beginning to mount for Putin on it.
Russia made up 240sq km inside Ukrainian territory in March, according to US-based Institute for the Study of War (ISW).
This marks the lowest number of gains since November 2024 with Putin’s men managing to seize 150sq km more land in February.
Another major statement by the Kremlin has seen Putin launch a major new conscription campaign targeting 160,000 new soldiers to fight for the Russian army.
The despot’s move is the biggest mobilisation for the Kremlin in the last 14 years.
Despite the huge drive in numbers the country’s defence ministry claimed the campaign “is in no way connected” to the war in Ukraine.
But with Mad Vlad continuing to refuse to commit to any truce agreement he has started to publicly anger US president Trump.
Trump admitted he was “p***ed off” with Putin on Sunday after the Russian tyrant again called for Volodymyr Zelensky’s removal from office.
The Republican said he felt the remarks were clearly just another bid to stall peace efforts.
Further pointing towards Russia’s refusal to want peace, Deputy Foreign Minister Ryabkov was quoted by state media as saying: “We take the models and solutions proposed by the Americans very seriously, but we can’t accept it all in its current form.
“As far as we can see, there is no place in them today for our main demand, namely to solve the problems related to the root causes of this conflict.
“It is completely absent, and that must be overcome.”
With US-Russia relations teetering over Trump’s comments, the Kremlin has also fired warning shots at Europe.
Top Kremlin TV mouthpiece Vladimir Solovyov lashed out at a potential peacekeeping plan which has been in the works for weeks.
Sir Keir Starmer and Emmanuel Macron have put forward an idea to help maintain a future truce deal by sending their troops to patrol he border.
The proposal has been widely condemned by Putin and his Kremlin pals as a clear escalation of Russia-European tensions.
Solovyov has now gone a step further and said any international soldier sent to Ukraine will die.
He spouted on state TV: “We’ve already buried a lot of Brits here, and a lot of Frenchmen.
“Well, come [to Ukraine], all of you, all of you die.”
He then mockingly urged Starmer to personally lead the troops he was planning to deploy.
“It would be good if the columns of French and British troops were led directly by their supreme commanders,” he continued.
“So that if we use tactical nuclear weapons, we use them wisely.
“No one will even remember Starmer’s name.”
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