Putin vows to 'finish off' Ukraine and mocks British Army in furious rant (2025)

President Vladimir Putin made outrageous claims about the future of Ukraine and even laid into the size of the British military in a fresh act of bravado - despite ongoing so-called peace talks

Russian President Vladimir Putin has mocked the size of the British military and even vowed to “finish off” Ukraine, in a bizarre rant whilst speaking to his troops. The Kremlin chief was speaking to submariners on board a Russian nuclear submarine when he scoffed about Ukraine’s future, making a grim prediction about winning the war.

He said: "Not long ago I said we'd grind them down - now it looks like we'll finish them off.” He went on to say that the UK: "is jumping on us, behaving aggressively... but their economy is, I think, in the ninth or tenth place in the world. Hence the armed forces - what is it, 170,000 or 180,000? That's all the armed forces of the UK!"

Putin has also proposed putting Ukraine under external governance under the UN in a bid to end the war. Speaking to nuclear submariners he claimed Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, whose term expired last year, lacks legitimacy to sign a peace deal.

Under Ukraine's constitution it is illegal to hold national elections while the country is under martial law. Putin claimed any agreement that is signed with the current Ukrainian government could be challenged by its successors. It came as Russia again launched fresh overnight missile and drone attacks across Ukraine.

And Putin declared new elections could be held under external governance. This, he said, could be: "Under the auspices of the UN, with the United States, even with European countries, and, of course, with our partners and friends, we could discuss the possibility of introduction of temporary governance in Ukraine.”

It comes in the wake of a ‘coalition of the willing’ Paris summit in which British PM Keir Starmer said of Kremlin delaying tactics: "They are playing games and they're playing for time. We can't let them drag this out while they continue prosecuting their illegal invasion."

During the Paris summit European leaders, including the UK discussed plans for deploying troops to Ukraine to bolster security if a peace deal is struck. Russia and Ukraine have agreed tentatively to pause strikes on energy infrastructure, but quickly accused each other of violations.

Russia launched 163 strike and decoy drones at Ukraine late on Thursday damaging residential buildings and injuring a 19-year-old in Zaporizhzhia. In Poltava, drones damaged warehouses, an administrative building, and a high-voltage transformer, according to regional head Volodymyr Kohut.

Damage to buildings and infrastructure facilities was also reported by the authorities in the Odesa, Kharkiv, Dnipro and Mykolaiv regions. Russian said Ukraine struck a gas metering station in Sudzha in the Kursk region with US-made HIMARS rockets, destroying the facility.

It said another Ukrainian strike on an energy facility in Russia's Bryansk region led to a power cut-off, and added that air defences downed 19 Ukrainian drones that attempted to strike an oil refinery in Saratov. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said Ukrainian strikes on Russian energy assets was a sign that Mr Zelensky cannot control his military.

He said: "The Ukrainian armed forces aren't following orders from the country's leadership and are continuing attempts to strike Russia's energy infrastructure.” Mr Putin declared in overnight remarks that the Russian military has "gained steam" and is pushing offensives all along the front line.

He said: "Our troops are moving forward and liberate one territory after another. Our troops are holding strategic initiative all along the line of contact."