AS Kyiv launches a crippling endgame blitz, Vladimir Putin may be forced to end his war in Ukraine in just months, experts say.

Ukraine’s relentless strikes on Russian energy infrastructure could freeze the Kremlin’s war machine by next year.

Retired US Army officer Ben Hodges said momentum had clearly shifted in Ukraine‘s favour following a string of recent Russian setbacks.

Putin’s regime is facing fuel shortages, energy blackouts and long queues for gas as Kyiv continues to blast oil depots and refineries.

His front line troops continue to take heavy losses – with a shocking report revealing that Russian soldiers have an average life expectancy of just 20 minutes on the battlefield.

Hodges told The Sun: “It’s clear to almost anybody that’s watching that the momentum has shifted in favour of Ukraine.

“The momentum has shifted because the Russian ground operations have been stopped and the Russian Navy is barely a factor anymore.”

He added: “Ukraine’s long-range missile strikes are wrecking Russia’s oil and gas infrastructure and if they can continue this over the coming weeks, then it will be long term damage.

“If they can sustain this, going towards the end of the year, it will be very, very difficult for the Russians to support their own operations.

“I don’t think they’ll be able to sustain it at this sort of level deep into next year.”

Ex-British intelligence officer Philip Ingram told us: “What we’re seeing is definitely the start of a new chapter in the war.

“It’s taken Ukraine a significant amount of time to develop the technology, build the manufacturing capacity and build the numbers of drones that they have done.

“They’re starting to have an effect because Vladimir Putin himself has admitted the difficulties that Ukrainian drone attacks are having on fuel supplies across Russia.”

In a rare admission, Putin last week said Russia was facing “problems” in its war with Ukraine following strikes on the pariah’s energy infrastructure.

The attacks have sparked oil shortages across Russia – with more than 50 regions now facing severe fuel crises and countless gas stations imposing strict limits.

In particular, Ukraine has focused on imposing an energy blockade on the occupied territory of Crimea by striking bridges connecting the region to Russia.

The peninsula in the south east of Ukraine, which was annexed by Moscow in 2014, has seen power blackouts and even declared a state of emergency.

Hodges said: “It’s definitely not the time for Ukraine to take their foot off the gas pedal when it comes to Crimea.”

He said it was crucial for Ukraine to keep up their blitzing campaign on Russian energy infrastructure.

Earlier this month, plumes of thick black smoke crowded the skies over Moscow after a stunning attack on a Russian oil depot – with humiliating footage showing its lid blowing off in the air.

The strikes came after Volodymyr Zelensky announced Kyiv would be launching a massive 40-day endgame campaign in an effort to turn the tables on Russia’s war.

Hodges said Kyiv’s campaign is “going to get worse and worse for Russia as the summer goes along, because Ukraine are going to keep getting better and better with their long- range precision strikes”.

He said: “It feels like they are increasing the scale of what they’re doing, not just the the quality… the war is coming home to them.”

But the ex-officer highlighted that a decapitation of Russia’s war machine and a major turning of the tides would only come if three conditions were addressed.

He said: “Number one, is Ukraine able to sustain what it’s doing? Number two, will the West contribute to that specific capability?

“And number three, whether or not Russia finally figures out a way to do a better job of protecting their own facilities.”

Hodges said drafting soldiers from Moscow or St Petersburg – the cities mostly shielded from the war so far – could cause Putin’s public support to plummet.

He said: “If all the privileged young people all of a sudden find themselves putting on that green uniform of the Russian army, then enthusiasm will really drop for support of this war.”

Meanwhile, Russian military expert Keir Giles said Ukraine had succeeded in bringing the realities of war into Putin’s backyard.

He told The Sun: “Putin is gradually being forced to publicly admit more and more of the reality of the war.

“In that respect, Ukraine’s long-term aim of bringing that reality home to Russians across the country is beginning to succeed.”

He noted that there was “a long way between that and forcing any kind of reassessment by Putin of his war strategy”.

But Giles said increased pressure on Crimea had made “occupation there increasingly untenable”.

He said: “Putin is going to be faced with harder and harder choices.

“All of this means he may eventually accept what has been obvious for some time – that Russia has more to gain from freezing the conflict than from continuing to fight if current trends persist.”

Hodges said Putin would continue the war for “as long as he thinks he can win”.

“I do feel confident that he will keep going as long as he thinks he can win… the casualties don’t matter to him,” the former officer said.

“But maybe the people around him can convince him that what he’s doing is ruining Russia.”

The Russian despot is desperately trying to recruit more soldiers as his meatgrinder tactics continue to incur heavy losses.

His dwindling army is thought to have suffered over one million casualties and at least 500,000 deaths since the bloody invasion started in 2022.

It comes after a bombshell report revealed that for every eight Russian front line deaths or serious injuries, Kyiv is reportedly losing just one soldier.

Additionally, Russian soldiers have 10 days to three weeks left to live, according to the Foreign Policy report, citing military bloggers.

About 1,000 recruits are being signed into the Russian army per day, with troops undergoing just a few hasty days of training.

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