Moment slumped ‘cancer-stricken’ Putin struggles to stay awake during war meeting before camera is mysteriously cut

THIS is the stunning moment a seemingly exhausted Vladimir Putin struggles to keep his eyes open during a crunch meeting with his defence minister.

The bloated Russian president, rumoured to be undergoing debilitating cancer treatment, was seen slumped over and bleary-eyed in the incredible footage - which mysteriously cut away as he appeared to drift off.

Putin, 69, is seen in the Kremlin hunched over his desk as he unenthusiastically congratulates his troops on "liberating" the eastern Ukrainian region of Luhansk.

Sitting in a staged televised meeting with Defence Minister Sergei Shoigu, a worn-out Putin tells his forces who fought in the campaign to capture the strategically-important region to "rest and develop their combat capabilities".

The Russian leader - who's rumoured to have Parkinson's or terminal cancer - staggered through his speech and appeared to almost doze off.

In a hoarse voice, Putin says: "Other military units, including the East group and the West group, must carry out their tasks according to previously approved plans."

It comes as Shoigu reported that the "complete liberation" of the so called Luhansk People's Republic had been "successful".

The region's Ukrainian governor Serhiy Haidai said the city was abandoned so as to stop the Russians from destroying it from a distance.

He told the that Ukrainian defenders were new in new fortified positions.

He admitted losing control of Luhansk to Russia was painful but hinted at a possible counter attack.

"This is just one battle we have lost, but not the war," he said.

The strategically important city of Lysychansk fell into Russian hands today, completing a long-held objective by Moscow to capture the whole of the Donbas region which consists of neighbouring Donetsk.

Just before the invasion on February 24, Putin recognised the so-called independent states of Luhansk and Donetsk where Russian proxies have been fighting an insurgency since 2014.

The capture of Lysuchansk, sealing the rest of Luhansk for Moscow, was a major military goal set out by the Kremlin when it invaded earlier this year and rounds off a dismal campaign to capture the whole of Ukraine.

Mad Vlad's troops marched across the border in Belarus and western Russia in a bid to capture Kyiv in what Putin believed would be a 'short war'.

What ensued was weeks of fighting that cost Putin tens of thousands of troops and equipment and forced his men to retreat from Kyiv after failing capturing the capital and installing its own puppet government.

Reports about Putin's declining health have continued to persist after the leader was spotted looking unwell at public gatherings and was pictured with a thyroid cancer doctor.

In April, Putin gurned while clutching a candle near the altar at a midnight mass for Orthodox Easter.

He was filmed fidgeting and biting his lips and appeared agitated.

Meanwhile, a US spy chief claimed Putin was received advanced treatment for cancer.

The high-ranking officials reportedly said aides inside the Kremlin are "sensing that the end is near" for the 69-year-old Russian dictator.

It's been claimed that Putin could already be using tricks such as pre-recorded appearances and even body doubles to stage manage his health.