Vladimir Putin’s planned invasion looks to be slowing on multiple fronts, as Russian soldiers have retreated from the Kyiv region and Ukrainians are successfully battling back Russian troops in northern Ukraine. US intelligence agencies have assessed that logistics and disinformation are impeding the progress of Russian forces. Top Russian military officers and advisers are lying to Putin about how badly troops are performing on the ground, leaving Putin ignorant and with very little alternatives. “He (Putin) has three alternatives right now,” fugitive Russian businessman Mikhail Khodorkovsky told CNN.

“[The] first way out is to keep pressing Ukraine and perhaps lose soldiers in the process since the Ukrainians are fighting back even harder every day,” he added.

Another option for Putin would be to use “weapons of mass destruction (WMD) in the goal of forcing the Ukrainians to retreat,” according to Mr Khodorkovsky.

“And the third alternative is to begin serious discussions,” he continued.

According to the Institute for the Study of War, what appeared to be a withdrawal of Russian forces from the Kyiv region was actually a redeployment to Ukraine’s eastern province of Donbass.

Since 2014, Ukrainians have clashed with Russian soldiers and Russian-backed rebels in eastern Ukraine.

The World Health Organization (WHO) and the United States have issued warnings about potential chemical-weapons attacks in Ukraine, where Russian tanks are transporting chemicals.

Both the WHO and the United States have prepared measures to deal with such a danger.

Thousands of nuclear bombs, missile warheads, and artillery rounds were stockpiled by the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Under the Treaty of Non-Proliferation of Nuclear Weapons (NPT) that Russia signed, member states must prevent the spread of nuclear weapons, including chemical and biological weapons.

Russian tanks carrying chemicals represent a direct violation of NPT.

According to Ukraine’s President Zelensky, Russians are “dragging out the meeting process.”

Kremlin spokesperson said that the west’s delivery of weapon to Ukraine is hampering the Russian-Ukrainian negotiations and is having “a negative effect”.

According to Mr. Khodorkovsky, the only way to get Putin to sit at the negotiation table seriously is if NATO and the US threaten with military action.