Putin's inner circle will eventually kill him, Ukraine’s Zelenskyy says

But analysts say that is unlikely, as Putin’s closest owe their positions to him

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy in his daily address from Kyiv, on February 24. AP

Russian President Vladimir Putin will one day be killed by his own inner circle, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has claimed.

Mr Zelenskyy's comments were featured in a Ukrainian documentary called Year, The Times reported.

His prediction comes after Mr Putin warned his people that they might not survive as a nation if Ukraine wins the war.

“There will definitely be a moment when the fragility of Putin’s regime will be felt inside the state," Mr Zelenskyy told the documentary.

“And then the predators will devour a predator. They will find a reason to kill a killer.”

Buy analysts say it is unlikely that Mr Putin’s inner circle would move against him because they owe their positions to him.

Mr Putin has recently accused the US-led military alliance of wanting to “disband the former Soviet Union and Russia”, and claimed that he has no choice but to take Nato’s nuclear capabilities into account.

Putin's inner circle – in pictures

The return to Ukrainian control of the Crimean Peninsula would be part of an end to the war, Mr Zelenskyy said on Sunday.

“This is our land. Our people. Our history. We will return the Ukrainian flag to every corner of Ukraine,” he wrote on Twitter.

Mr Putin is being “too confident” in his military’s ability to grind Ukraine into submission, the head of the CIA said on Sunday.

CIA Director William Burns told CBS that Mr Putin believed “he can make time work for him, that … he can grind down the Ukrainians, that he can wear down our European allies, that political fatigue will eventually set in”.

One year of the Russia-Ukraine war - in pictures

“At some point, he’s going to have to face up to increasing costs as well, in coffins coming home to some of the poorest parts of Russia," Mr Burns said.