A Ukrainian intelligence chief has claimed Russian President Vladimir Putin "will not die tomorrow" despite having several illnesses.
In an interview with a Ukrainian newspaper, Kyrylo Budanov, the Chief Intelligence Directorate of Ukraine's Ministry of Defence, declared: "He [Putin] has several serious illnesses, one of which is cancer."
Bundanov said he "fully confirms" the information about the despot's ill health.
However, he also said: "It is not worth hoping that Putin will die tomorrow.
"He has at least a few more years. Like it or not, but it's true.”
Bundanov added Putin’s mental state was “confused” and hinted at the toll the failing war could be taking on him, claiming he was in a manic state.
He said: “Here we can argue a lot about the state of the dictator, who thought he would capture the whole country [ Ukraine ] in three days and raise the Russian flag on the administration building in Kyiv.
“And for the third month in a row, declaring that he has the second and sometimes the first army in the world, he cannot cope, in his words, 'with backward non-state Ukraine'.
“This is his rhetoric. That's what state he should be in?”
Rumours have been flying around about the despot's health.
Last week, an unnamed oligarch was recorded saying that the Russian leader was “seriously ill with blood cancer.”
Ashley Grossman, a professor of endocrinology at Oxford University, told New Lines that Putin had developed a “Cushingoid” appearance, the technical word for a puffy face.
Ms Grossman said this was “compatible with steroid use", which he may be on due to cancer treatment.
She is not the first person to analyse his health with former MI6 operative Christopher Steele claiming to LBC Radio that Putin has to take regular breaks from meetings to seek medical treatment.
He said: "There's no clear political leadership coming from Putin, who is increasingly ill, and in military terms, the structures of command and so on are not functioning as they should."
The Kremlin has publicly declared that Putin is fit and well.
Yet, the Russian dictator's strict coronavirus precautions, such as the use of the long table to meet world leaders, have led people to believe otherwise.
Others have said Putin is suffering from a condition where decision making can be affected, called cancer-related cognitive impairment.
The disorder causes patients to "lose focus" and have problems remembering things, as well as making people have "crazy" judgments without thinking them through.
According to the NHS, chemotherapy can cause a "change in your thinking processes.
It states: "People often describe being in a 'mental fog' or even slightly detached from the world around them."
