Russia airs ‘confident’ Putin interview — as some of his losses to mutiny are revealed

Humiliated Russian President Vladimir Putin claimed to be “confident” over his invasion of Ukraine in an interview apparently taped before last week’s coup attempt on him — as new details emerged about the losses his military suffered during the short-lived mutiny.

“We feel confident, and of course, we are in a position to implement all the plans and tasks ahead of us,” Putin told Kremlin correspondent Pavel Zarubin in a clip aired Sunday after a meeting with military graduates that reportedly happened Wednesday.

“This also applies to the country’s defense, it applies to the special military operation, it applies to the economy as a whole and its individual areas,” Putin asserted.

The interview, to be broadcast in its entirely Sunday by Rossiya state television, emerged as it was revealed that up to 39 Russian pilots and crew members were shot down by the opposing renegade Wagner Group of mercenaries who had declared war on Putin, according to the Express.

A top Russian general may have been among the dead, who were on the six downed helicopters speciliazing in electronic warfare and high-tech plane known to operate at higher than usual altitudes, the outlet said.

Meanwhile, the pre-coup interview aired by Russia included Putin jawing on about Ukraine, including how he dedicates copious amounts of time to his assault there.

“Of course, this is paramount,” the Russian leader said of Russia’s war with its neighbor. “Every day starts and ends with this.”

The 70-year-old strongman did not mention last week’s insurrection by thousands of mercenaries from the Wagner Group, which had been fighting on Russia’s behalf in Ukraine but then suddenly took control of a city in southern Russia and moved toward the country’s capitol in a coup attempt on Putin.

Prigozhin and his hired guns mutinied after Prigozhin claimed the Russian military killed a huge number of his members in an airstrike.

About 36 hours later, Yevgeny Prigozhin bizarrely and abruptly called off his insurrection.

Just before hostilities ended, a nervous-looking Putin labeled the rebellion a threat to Russia’s very existence.

Prigozhin has since reportedly gone into exile in Belarus, a Russian ally. In return, Russian authorities said they’d drop criminal charges against him for leading the revolt.

It remains unclear how much the saga has shaken the foundations of Putin’s power, but experts say it clearly doesn’t look good for the Russian dictator.

“We saw the rising tensions over several months that led to this,” Secretary of State Anthony Blinken said Sunday morning on ABC’s “This Week.”

“But exactly where this goes, we don’t know,” Blinken continued. “What we do know is that we’ve seen real cracks emerge — again, a direct challenge to Putin’s authority surfacing very publicly.”

The Russian Ministry of Defense ignored Prigozhin’s actions during its daily briefing Sunday.

With Post wires