Putin Aide Quits, Leaves Russia Over Ukraine Invasion

A veteran aide of President Vladimir Putin has resigned over the Ukraine war and left Russia with no intention to return, two sources said on Wednesday, the first senior official to break with the Kremlin since Putin launched his invasion a month ago, Natalia Zinets, Natalie Thomas and Vitalii Hnidiy reported for Reuters.

Photo Insert: Chubais was one of the principal architects of Boris Yeltsin's economic reforms of the 1990s and was Putin's boss in the future president's first Kremlin job.

The Kremlin confirmed that the aide, Anatoly Chubais, had resigned of his own accord. Chubais hung up the phone when contacted by Reuters. The sources did not say where he was.

Chubais was one of the principal architects of Boris Yeltsin's economic reforms of the 1990s and was Putin's boss in the future president's first Kremlin job. He later ran big state businesses under Putin and held political jobs, lately serving as Kremlin special envoy to international organizations.

US President Joe Biden flies to Europe on Wednesday for an emergency NATO summit on Ukraine, where invading Russian troops are stalled, cities are under bombardment and the besieged port of Mariupol is in flames.

Four weeks into a war that has driven a quarter of Ukraine's 44 million people from their homes, Russia has failed to capture a single major Ukrainian city or depose the government, while Western sanctions have ostracized it from the world economy.

In a related development, Poland expelled 45 diplomats for espionage or “activities inconsistent with their diplomatic status.”

Russian forces have taken heavy losses, have been frozen in place for at least a week on most fronts and face supply problems in the face of fierce resistance. They have turned to siege tactics and bombardment, causing massive destruction and many civilian deaths.

Moscow says its aim is to disarm its neighbor, and its "special military operation" is going to plan. It denies targeting civilians, but couldn’t explain why hundreds of senior citizens, the disabled, children, babies, and their mothers have died due to missiles and artillery rounds fired by Russian troops.

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