A SINGLE bullet is the only thing that can stop Vladimir Putin, an ex-Kremlin adviser has sensationally warned.
Despite international pressure, heavy losses and mounting costs, the Russian despot has ploughed on with his grinding war in Ukraine.
GettyVladimir Putin pictured at the Kremlin palace in Moscow this week[/caption]
GettyVolodymyr Zelensky speaks during a press conference on February 23 in Kyiv[/caption]
A Ukrainian soldier of an artillery unit fires towards Russian positions outside Bakhmut
With Donald Trump now cosying up to Putin, ex-Kremlin adviser Anders Aslund has warned the West that its “half-measures won’t work” to stop Moscow’s bloodbath invasion.
Ukraine’s allies have spent 36 months rallying around Volodymyr Zelensky in an effort to crush Putin’s invasion.
But three years of isolation by the West are now thawing after Trump stunned ally nations by igniting a rapprochement with Putin.
Just weeks into his second term, Trump has pedalled Kremlin lines blaming Ukraine for the war.
In a shocking rant last week, the US leader branded Zelensky a “dictator without elections”.
Trump also claimed the Ukrainian president talked Washington into “spending $350 billion dollars to go into a war that couldn’t be won”.
And last night tensions hit boiling point as Trump and Zelensky had a furious showdown at the White House – with a war of words erupting in the Oval Office.
Aslund believes Trump has sided “with the person who gives him the greatest compliments, which is likely to be Putin”.
But it has brought to an end Washington’s united front against Moscow with allies in Europe.
Putin arrogantly thought he could capture Kyiv in days after ordering his troops across the border in February 2022.
Three years on, however, the despot has been left red-faced as his invasion stalls and his army suffers heavy losses.
Yet despite pressure from other nations and escalating costs, Putin has pushed forward with his illegal invasion and appears hellbent on pursuing warfare.
Aslund, former senior advisor to Russian president Boris Yeltsin, has warned the only way to stop Putin now could be his death.
When asked who could stop Putin, he said: “A bullet.”
It comes as diplomatic turmoil has erupted between Kyiv and Washington in the last week amid a public spat between Trump and Zelensky.
The US president is pushing for a quick peace deal and also demanding Ukraine sign over resource rights to pay for its military support.
Zelensky and other leaders in Europe fumed last week after being frozen out of initial peace talks between Washington and Moscow.
But their public show of display infuriated Trump, who sparked uproar as he lashed out at Zelensky.
Anders Aslund worked as a senior advisor to Russian president Boris YeltsinSupplied
Putin could invade give other countries, Zelensky warns
VOLODYMYR Zelensky has warned that Vladimir Putin is eyeing five other European countries for invasion.
The Ukrainian leader said that if despot Vlad isn’t stopped five European nations will be on his mind.
The five countries Zelensky has warned about are Eastern European states that all have “Russian roots”, Russian populations, or were part of the Soviet Union or its sphere.
Zelensky said Putin could use those populations as a pretext for invasion – like he had with Crimea.
He named Poland, Slovakia, Latvia, Estonia, and Moldova as those nations potentially being eyed by the Russian.
The Ukrainian president said: “When you have Russian speaking people, or their roots, or their families… it’s our history… then you are at risk.
“At the very beginning, they said that they are not occupying our territories… that they are defending Russian-speaking people.
“If we will fall down… I think all such countries who I mentioned have this risk because of Russian policy, because their view of the Russian world.”
Latvia, Estonia, Moldova, and parts of Poland were all within the Russian Empire – while Latvia, Estonia, and Moldova were in the Soviet Union.
Slovakia, meanwhile, was a communist country in the Warsaw Pact and its people are ethnically Slavic like Russians.
Russia has long seen itself as the protector of Slavic peoples – while Putin has explicitly said he wants to rebuild the Russian Empire.
Ukraine now has the largest and most experienced army in Europe with a million troops under arms.
Trump said he “trusts” Putin as he branded Zelensky a “dictator without elections”.
The Ukrainian leader accused Trump of falling for Russia’s propaganda and fake news.
The Kremlin has insisted Putin is serious about negotiating a settlement to end the war in Ukraine.
But the dictator would still want to achieve all his aims, just without the grinding warfare.
Putin has ambitions to make Russia similar to the once-mighty Soviet Union – and wants to see Nato, a military alliance of 32 countries led by the US, torn apart.
Aslund has warned Western nations to ramp up its rebuttal of Putin’s aggression.
He told The Sun: “The Ukraine war shows that one has to stand up to Russian aggression, but the West needs to engage much more to tip the balance to Ukraine so that it can win.
“Half-measures don’t work. More arms and funding are needed as soon as possible.
“The West should confiscate Russia’s central bank reserves in the West and use that money to buy arms for Ukraine so that it can defeat Russia.
“The West definitely need to take more seriously Russia’s threat.”
It comes as Sir Keir Starmer has grappled with kickback from other European countries over his peace plan.
The PM has laid out a proposal that could see thousands of troops on the ground in Ukraine.
APVladimir Putin, right, and Donald Trump give a joint news conference at the Presidential Palace in Helsinki, Finland, July 16, 2018[/caption]
Firefighters work at a site of an infrastructure facility hit by a Russian drone strike in Ternopil region, UkraineReuters
But European leaders expressed their scepticism during talks in Paris earlier this month.
Germany‘s chancellor Olaf Scholz branded the plan “completely premature”, “highly inappropriate”, and said he was “a little irritated”.
Aslund, who also served as a Swedish diplomat in Kuwait, Poland, Geneva, and Moscow, also told how Russia’s economy is in far worse shape than Putin lets on.
He said the humiliated dictator has forked out more cash than Moscow can afford in a desperate bid to cover up his losses in Ukraine.
Aslund believes Putin could be forced to scale back his war efforts this year – or stop the invasion altogether as he grapples economic and financial pressure.
“Russia seems to overspend troops, armory and money,” Aslund, who was economic advisor to President Leonid Kuchma of Ukraine from 1994 to 1997, said.
“Its war tactics do not appear sustainable in the medium term and perhaps not even in the short term – the second half of 2025.
“Official inflation is 12 per cent and real inflation probably twice as much, the interest rate is 21 per cent and officially forecast growth this year between one to two per cent.
“Unemployment is 2.1 per cent, that is a massive shortage of labour – and soldiers.
“Official liquid reserves are down to $38 billion, which only suffices to finance a budget deficit of two per cent of GDP for one year.
“Russia will have to cut public expenditures in the fall.”