Vladimir Putin is 'fighting for his life' and fears he could be killed if Russia suffers further heavy setbacks after the liberation of Kherson, a senior Ukrainian intelligence figure has claimed.

Oleksiy Arestovich, an adviser to Volodymyr Zelensky's chief of staff, said the shock capture of the Russian-held territory has dramatically raised fears in the Kremlin that Ukraine will win the war.

He said, according to The Times: '[Putin] is very afraid because there is no forgiveness in Russia for tsars who lose wars.

'He is fighting for his life now. If he loses the war, at least in the minds of the Russians, it means the end. The end of him as a political figure. And possibly in the physical sense.'

Kherson's huge importance to the Kremlin - both because of its link to Russian-annexed Crimea and Ukraine's Odessa port to the west - made it an embarrassing loss to Putin when he ordered his troops to retreat last week.

He added: 'This has forced even people who are very loyal to Putin to doubt that they can win this war.'

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