Vladimir Putin has discovered Russia is no longer invincible after the invasion of Ukraine, UK Defence Secretary Ben Wallace has said.
Vladimir Putin has realised that Russia is not invincible
The government minister claims that a series of failures from Russia's army during the conflict proves that the nation is no longer a global "superpower" and says the Russian President had misplaced hope in his troops.
Asked how he thinks the war will end, Wallace told the Evening Standard newspaper: "I don't know. I mean, superpowers have lost wars before: the Soviet Union in Afghanistan, the United States in Vietnam. It's not unheard of for big powers to have to reconcile a defeat in a neighbouring country, or another country they've been engaged in."
Pressed on whether he suspected Putin would lose his war, Wallace said: "Well, he's not a superpower is what he has just discovered. That's the key.
"One part of it is like, you believed your own hype, you believed your parade ground hype, you counted tanks on the parade ground and presume you are invincible and you are not."
Wallace says that the world must continue to support Ukraine to prove to Putin that his lack of "regard for human lives" cannot be allowed to triumph.
He said: "At every turn, people have underestimated Ukraine and overestimated Russia.
"But he has got in his back pocket, millions of people he can shove into a meat grinder with no rules, no regard for human lives and innocent people and civilians.
"If that is successful, that will send a message across the whole world that that's how you win wars. We cannot, the international community, accept that."