A Russian military expert has admitted on a Kremlin controlled TV that Vladimir Putin should avoid “big cities” as they “risk major losses.”

Vladimir Popov said on Russia’s Channel 1 TV that the Ukrainians are “very strong and motivated” and warned that Russian forces should avoid big cities.

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Russia has lost around 30,000 troops in 93 days of fighting and on 24 February Putin had around 200,000 soldiers, many are dead, wounded, captured and thousands have fled. The Ukrainian army now has around 900,000 fighters, Russia is vastly outnumbered.

Popov said, “Based on Ukraine’s representations of the way its forces are positioned on the Eastern front, there are up to 35 nationalist battalions.

“That is a very large force.

“[Ukrainians] are very motivated.

“You can’t change or convince them.

“Those military units are very strong.

“They’re also very motivated.

“They should be dealt with only through force, meaning they have to be physically destroyed.

“There is no other way.”

People in the Russian TV studio were seen shaking their heads in disagreement with military expert’s assessment.

He added, “There are certain successes [for Russia].

“But there is no sense to enter large towns right now, all of them are mined solely to put up our flag in the centre of the town.

“We would risk major losses.”

He added: “Big cities are too much to handle without jeopardising our Armed Forces”.