Military mini-coup already taken place in Putin's bunker - political scientist Piontkovsky

He shared his opinions with Espreso TV.

"When missiles and aircraft end up in Ukraine, Ukraine needs them not to strike Moscow, but to stop the barbaric attacks on Ukrainian cities. Ukraine will simply declare that if the destruction of the Ukrainian infrastructure does not stop, then after the first new strike, using your own terminology, we will strike at dual-use facilities: Moscow's energy and logistics infrastructure," Piontkovsky said.

According to the political analyst, the prospect of Ukraine getting long-range missiles has caused panic in the Russian leadership.

"We see a deadlocked conflict and mutual dissatisfaction in Russia, which reaches the point of hatred. In my opinion, what happened that night in the bunker was a military mini-coup. When General Shoigu and Gerasimov, tired of the six-month campaign of harassment by Prigozhin and Kadyrov, demanded that Putin remove Surovikin, Prigozhin's protege, and return Gerasimov to command the army. We need to understand these details and relationships to understand the prospects of the war," Piontkovsky added.

• On February 9, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said the EU leaders had privately declared their readiness to provide combat aircraft to Ukraine. 

• Deputy Chairman of the Russian Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that the countries of "old" Europe should stop supporting Ukraine and remember their imperial past.