Putin does not control situation in Russia, vertical of power has crumbled - Zelenskyy

President Volodymyr Zelenskyy believes that there has already been a split in Russian society, the vertical of power that the Russian aggressor Vladimir Putin built for many years has crumbled - and the Russian dictator has weakened.

He said this in an interview with CNN, Ukrainian News Agency reports.

"Putin does not control the situation in the regions. He does not control the security situation. We all understand that his entire army is on the territory of Ukraine, almost all of it. And that is why the Wagner group went so easily, because who can stop them? He does not control regional politics, he does not absolutely control those people who are there. That is, all the vertical that he had, it has crumbled," Zelenskyy believes.

According to him, the Kremlin conducted analysis according to which half of the people in Russia supported Prigozhin and half supported Putin during the mutiny of the Wagner PMC.

"18 or 19 regions of Russia specifically supported Prigozhin's actions and 21 specifically supported Putin.

And a certain number of regions did not know who to support. Half of the people in Russia are wavering. And very strongly. All stories that he controls everything are already weak stories. That is, this is a different Putin - I am not talking about a different person - this is a different person already in terms of power: an old person, a person without energy and a person who does not control the processes," Zelenskyy added.

The President also predicts that now the Russian dictator will be engaged in somehow bringing society together.

This, in particular, is evidenced by his trips to remote regions.

"Where does Putin come out of the bunker? He went to Dagestan. If you look at the analytics, he went to Dagestan, where Putin has the least support - a lot of people there, whom he sent to die in the war, died - first, and there is a lot of support for Prigozhin. He just goes to Dagestan like a political beast, where they shoot a theatrical video, as if a certain number of people are applauding him there. This is the theater of one actor," Zelenskyy concluded.

As Ukrainian News Agency earlier reported, Putin is losing control over his own people, which was especially evident in the weak reaction to the Wagner PMC uprising.