PUTIN DEFEAT ‘IS MATTER OF TIME'

ZELENSKY HAILS UK SUPPORT AS RUSSIAN LEADER TOLD HE’LL FACE ‘DESPOT’S RECKONING’ | 'This is our home and our independence: we will win'

- Nicholas Cecil and Rachael Burford

UKRAINE’S president Volodymyr Zelensky today said it was “just a question of time” before Vladimir Putin’s invasion fails after the Kremlin appeared to have ditched its initial military strategy to capture the country.

On day 33 of the conflict, Mr Zelensky hailed Britain for being “definitely on our side” as the Government warned the Russian president he faced the reckoning of “despots and dictators” over war crimes committed by his troops. He also voiced frustration at some countries in the West, including Germany and France, for not taking a tougher stance against Mr Putin.

With his original invasion plan having been derailed, the Russian president now appears to be seeking to seize control of the Donbas region of eastern Ukraine which includes Donetsk and Luhansk, two areas controlled by Moscow-backed separatists.

However, his forces are believed to have already suffered at least 10,000 deaths and there is growing public disquiet in Russia at the invasion.

Even if he can seize the east of Ukraine, his army risks getting bogged down in an insurgency war for many years as happened in Afghanistan for Soviet troops, as well as later the US-led forces, before they withdrew.

Speaking to The Economist, Mr Zelensky stressed his country still believed in victory.

“It’s impossible to believe in anything else. We will definitely win because this is our home, on our land, our independence,” he said. “It’s just a question of time.”