President Joe Biden told CNN on Wednesday his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin has "absolutely" been weakened by the short-lived mutiny over the weekend.
It was his most definitive comment to date on how the rebellion by Wagner Group boss Yevgeny Prigozhin affected the Russian leader's stature.
Biden and his team have been cautious in commenting on the events, wary of providing Putin pretext for claiming a western plot to oust him. But on Wednesday, Biden expanded on his views of Putin's diminished stature.
"It's hard to tell but he's clearly losing the war," Biden told reporters on the White House South Lawn, mistakenly referring to the war in Iraq instead of Ukraine.
"He's losing the war at home. He's become a bit of a pariah around the world. And it's not just NATO, it's not just the European Union, it's Japan," he added.
Asked again if Putin is weaker today than he was last week, Biden said: "I know he is."
This is a breaking story and will be updated.
