Vlad the bad: I'II finish off Ukraine

Putin brags about 'grinding down' nation

- BY CHRIS HUGHES

RUSSIAN president Vladimir Putin has ridiculed the UK's Armed Forces and vowed to "finish off" Ukraine in a stunning outburst.

The Kremlin chief scoffed at Ukraine's future while speaking to troops on a Russian nuclear submarine.

He bragged: "Not long ago I said wed grind them down now it looks like we'll finish them off."

The Russian leader went on to say that the UK "is jumping on us, behaving aggressively ... but their economy is, I think, in the ninth or 10th place in the world. Hence the armed forces what is it, 170,000 or 180,000? That's all the armed forces of the UK."