Putin to make ‘very important announcement’ on Ukraine war today, claims Russian official

VLADIMIR Putin will make a "very important" announcement today on the war in Ukrainian, a pro-Russian official has claimed.

Mad Vlad will reportedly make a statement on the ongoing war as part of ongoing events marking 80 years since the siege of Leningrad - now St Petersburg - in World War 2.

Vladimir Rogov, a pro-Putin official appointed by the Russians to run the occupied Zaporizhzhia region in Ukraine, claimed Putin will make the "important" speech today in St Petersburg.

Rogov is the chairman of the We Are Together with Russia group which advocates for the occupied regions to be absorbed into the Russian Federation.

He made the announcement on his Telegram channel - but there has been no official confirmation from the Kremlin.

Russian officials have often teased announcements by Putin - but a flurry of last minute cancellations of events, visits and speeches often make Vlad's moves hard to track.

Putin had been expected to be in St Petersburg this week - and reportedly was due to attend a flower laying ceremony at the Monument to the Heroic Defenders of Leningrad.

Nazis besieged the city from September 8, 1941, to January 27, 1944.

And on January 18, 1943 - 80 years ago tomorrow - there was a key breakthrough in efforts to break the siege.

It is a key part of Russia's victory in World War 2 - which they continue to hail and often shamelessly invoke as they attempt to justify the war in Ukraine.

Vlad and his cronies claim the brutal war - which continues to see civilians slaughtered - is an actually "denazification" of the nation.

Regional authorities are reported to be preparing for Putin's visit - with St Petersburg being the tyrant's hometown.

The nature of what Putin's announcement could be is unknown - but speculation continues to swirl round Putin.

Russian state media reports today Putin has submitted a draft law for the "termination of international treaties" with Europe.

So this could be connected to reports of an "announcement".

Vlad has long been rumoured to be ill - possibly suffering with cancer and Parkinson's - and speculation is growing about if he could retire in 2023.

Russia continues to be bogged down in the war - pushed back on most fronts and now locked in grinding, brutal and muddy warfare with Ukraine.

Putin's future is now believed to be tied to the war's success of failure.

And fears continue to loom that Russia could further escalate the conflict, either with another large mobilisation or potentially using new devastating weapons such as nukes.

Putin today chaired a meeting on Russia's flagging economy via video link from his official residence outside of Moscow.

He admitted the economy was likely to have shrunk by 2.5% in 2022.

Russia continues to terrorise Ukraine - leaving at least 60 people feared dead as they dropped a missile meant for sinking aircraft carriers on an apartment block in Dnipro.

It has been reported that Vlad has ordered his new top general - General Valery Gerasimov - to take control of the Donbas by March.

Gerasimov was installed as the campaign floundered under "General Armageddon" Sergey Surovikin.

But the rogue state was left furious after Britain committed to send tanks to Ukraine.

"The message we're sending to Putin -- and, frankly, anyone else that cares to be watching -- is that we made a commitment to support Ukrainians until they are victorious," said Foreign Secretary James Cleverly.

"What Putin should understand is we are going to have the strategic endurance to stick with them until the job is done and the best thing that he can do to preserve the lives of his own troops is to recognize that."