“That would’ve really hit public opinion. It’s like saying you can’t get anything from Amazon.”

Putin is under pressure as Ukraine’s largest attack on Moscow, combined with hints of full mobilisation, leads to dwindling public support, says Robert Fox, defence editor at the Evening Standard and writer for the i paper.

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“The only way to keep this system afloat is to construct it in a manual way and replace the old guys with the new generation.”

Putin must replace his management system to survive, as his inner circle is now “of his age or older”, says political scientist and analyst Nikolai Petrov.

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“Drafting troops from St Petersburg and Moscow would be a massive gamble.”

The strikes on St Petersburg and Moscow are making Putin’s grip on power “more tenuous”, as the cities are home to the Russian leader’s largest support base: the oligarchs, says Cormac Smith, a former British diplomat to Ukraine.

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“Crimea is becoming a burden for Russia.”

Ukraine has paralysed life in Crimea with its recent attacks on energy grids and infrastructure, increasing the burden on Putin, says former Major General Chip Chapman.

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“These longer to medium range strike drones are able to pick off the Russian trucks and trains.”

Ukraine isolates Crimea through a thoughtout campaign which denies Russian land forces freedom of movement and freedom of manoeuvre, says The ISW’s George Barros.

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“I understand Putin hasn’t been outside, as it were, for weeks, if not months now.”

Putin is “terrified” of venturing outside of his “highly defended palaces or the Kremlin” as he fears being taken out by Ukraine, says Hamish de Bretton-Gordon, the author of ‘Tank Command.’ 

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“Every authoritarian regime has an internet kill switch which they can employ, but the population do get generally quite disturbed when those things happen and it can exacerbate your economic model.”

Putin’s paranoia is “elevated” as outrage from internet blackouts in Russia sparks fears of assassination for its president, says former Major General Chip Chapman.

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“We could walk back into the occupied territories without a shot being fired.”

Ukraine has “clawed back the battlefield” by targeting Putin’s “achilles heel” with its strikes on Russia’s oil refineries, says former British Army soldier and journalist Shaun Pinner.

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