Putin marks low-key birthday as Ukraine pressures mount

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KYIV – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin marked his 70th birthday on Friday with little fanfare, amid further signs that key parts of his invasion of Ukraine were unravelling and triggering unprecedented criticism at home.

News programmes made only glancing references to the birthday and public events were low key – in contrast to just a week ago when Putin held a huge concert on Red Square to proclaim the annexation of nearly a fifth of Ukrainian land.

On the world stage, in a clear repudiation of Putin’s record, the Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Russia’s most prominent human rights group, Memorial, which Moscow shut down at the end of 2021.

A Ukrainian human rights group and a jailed campaigner against abuses by the pro-Russian government in Belarus also shared the award.

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, launched on Feb 24, has killed thousands, displaced millions, pulverised cities and damaged the global economy.

But Moscow has faced a series of setbacks since abandoning an early advance on the capital Kyiv. Ukrainian forces have advanced swiftly since breaking through the Russian front in the northeast at the start of September, and in the south this week.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said in a video address his forces had liberated 2,434 sq km and 96 settlements in the east of the country in their latest offensive.

Reuters could not confirm the figures independently.

Reports of Russia’s failures on the battlefield have brought unusual public recrimination from Kremlin allies and regular reshuffles in the top brass.

Russian news site RBC said on Friday that Moscow had sacked the commander of its Eastern Military District. It did not give details on reasons and there was no immediate comment from the army or the Kremlin.

A day earlier, one Russian-installed leader in occupied Ukrainian territory went as far as suggesting Putin’s defence minister should have shot himself.

Late on Thursday, US President Joe Biden said the prospect of defeat could make Putin desperate enough to use nuclear weapons, the biggest risk since the Cold War Cuban Missile Crisis.

“We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban missile crisis,” Biden said in New York.

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