Two of Putin's top army lieutenants have 'openly declared war' on Defence Minister and staunch Putin loyalist Sergei Shoigu after a series of embarrassing defeats for the Kremlin in Ukraine.
Chechen boss Ramzan Kadyrov and founder of the Wagner 'private army' or militia Yevgeny Prigozhin have turned on the minister amid heavy defeats and losses over the last two weeks, The Guardian reports.
It comes after Russia illegally annexed four Ukrainian regions including Donetsk and Luhansk in an announcement to which he gathered all of the country's top leaders and told the world the regions would 'remain with Russia forever.'
But just 24 hours later, there was clear evidence Ukraine was making major gains in the regions, recapturing land that Putin had just claimed as part of Russia.
This week gains in the south and east of Ukraine continued and triggered the two army leaders to openly 'declare war' on the Defence Minister, who is an easy target to blame for Russia's poor military results.
The Kremlin is turning to increasingly desperate measures in order to save face and try and halt the Ukrainian advance, including recruiting prisoners straight out of jail and, now, open infighting.
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