Putin vows to ‘finish off’ Ukraine as he mocks UK for size of its army

He made the comments while visiting an Arctic military base

The 72-year-old was speaking during a visit to an Arctic naval base yesterday when he made the comments.

While standing aboard a new nuclear-powered submarine, Putin appeared confident that this latest addition could bring a worrying end to the war with Ukraine, which has been ongoing since Russia's invasion in February 2022.

He said: "Not long ago I said we'd grind [Ukraine] down - now it looks like we'll finish them off."

While Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy seems confident that Putin's days are numbered, the Russian leader seemed in a jovial mood at the naval base, even taking the time to mock the state of the UK's economy.

Putin said: "[Britain] 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!"

However, current statistics show that in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the United Kingdom actually sits in sixth place in the world, while Russia is down in 11th partly due to the sanctions imposed when it first invaded Ukraine.

His comments come after Sir Keir Starmer and French President Emmanuel Macron promised to deploy an Anglo-French 'reassurance force' to Ukraine following a ceasefire deal.

Putin's research on the size of the British military is quite accurate. According to the Gov.uk website, as of January, the current strength of the UK Armed Forces is 180,780 compared to the 1.5 million personnel in the Russian military.