Top Putin allies break ranks with Kremlin on state TV over Ukraine war reality

Kremlin loyalists are beginning to concede Russia's war in Ukraine is faltering, with Moscow's once-triumphant narrative collapsing after more than three years of fighting.

Western countries have poured billions into Ukraine's defence, while hopes that Donald Trump may strike a peace deal have faded. "Russians have got to wake up and accept reality. A lot of people are dying and they don't have a lot to show for it," US Vice President JD Vance said last week.

His comments came after Donald Trump slammed Russia for spending millions on bombs, missiles, ammunition, despite gaining "virtually no land". Tatyana Montyan - a former Ukrainian lawyer who then became an avid defender of Russia and its invasion - now admits the number of Russian soldiers are falling, and that President Vladimir Putin may have to mobilise again - a move that has already forced thousands of military-aged men out of the country.

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"In the first half of September, the pace of the offensive slowed significantly. They may have committed their last reserves," Montyan said in an interview on September 22. Politician Dmitry Rogozin also admitted "it's impossible to advance. There's a deadlock at the front."

Meanwhile Pavel Gubarev, a veteran of Russia's proxy wars in Donetsk, spoke of "incomparably heavy losses" on the Russian side. He also argued Ukrainian strikes on oil refineries gave Kyiv a strategic advantage.

"In reality, the current situation is already tantamount to defeat for us," he wrote. Figures on the war have backed up the warnings. Russia seized just 1,548 square kilometres between June and August - around 0.003% of Ukraine's landmass, and lost almost 95,000 troops in the same period (more than 1,000 per day), according to Ukraine’s Deep State group.

Further cracks are beginning to show on Russia's state-sponsored TV, where a guest openly challenged the Defense Ministry for claiming there had been catastrophic Ukrainian losses. "With the outbreak of hostilities, the Ukrainian army went up to 800,000 people. Then it increased by somewhere near 100,000–120,000 per year. Thus, there can be no 1,700,000–2,000,000 losses because, in that case, the Ukrainian army simply would not exist," the guest said.

He was then pressed by the host on whether he thought the Russian Defence Ministry of lying, which would be considered a crime in wartime Russia. The guest said: "Not only ours. It is a huge mistake to underestimate the Ukrainian army".

Military analyst and former officer of Ukraine’s Security Service Ivan Stupak said the warnings pointed to a deep fatigue within Russian citizens, who are nearing four years of a war that has isolated them from the rest of the world.

"Propagandists speak as long as they are allowed to. If they tell the truth and it causes harm, we will see it in the Russian authorities’ actions toward them," Ivan Stupak told the Kyiv Independent, adding the dissent shows Russians "are not ready to fight endlessly, contrary to what the Kremlin claims."