Biden suggests Putin has confined or fired his closest allies as Russia's disastrous war continues in Ukraine, but no 'hard evidence'

• President Joe Biden on Thursday said it appears Vladimir Putin is becoming increasingly isolated.
• Biden said it seems that Putin has fired or placed some of his advisors under house arrest.

President Joe Biden on Thursday suggested Russian President Vladimir Putin is becoming increasingly self-isolated amid ongoing Russian military failures in Ukraine.

The US president told reporters that there's "some indication" that Putin has removed some of his closest allies, or put them under some kind of confinement.

"There's a lot of speculation, but [Putin] seems to be — I'm not saying this with a certainty — he seems to be self-isolating, and there's some indication that he has fired or put under house arrest some of his advisers," Biden said. "But I don't want to put too much stock in that at this time because we don't have that much hard evidence."

Following Thursday's press conference in which Biden announced an unprecedented move to unleash stockpiled US oil in an effort to bring gas prices down, the president was asked to comment on reports that Putin is being purposefully misinformed about the status of his military's performance in Ukraine because his advisors are "too afraid to tell him the truth."

A US official told NBC News and CNN earlier this week that the US has intelligence suggesting Putin's advisors are feeding the president bad information about the Russian military and the effects of crippling sanctions throughout the country.

"Putin didn't even know his military was using and losing conscripts in Ukraine, showing a clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information to the Russian president," the unidentified official said.

Earlier this month, reports in Ukrainian media claimed that Putin fired Roman Gavrilov, the deputy chief of Rosgvardia, the Russian national guard. The Russian newspaper Kommersant later reported that Gavrilov had resigned.

Gavrilov's departure followed reports that Putin had punished other senior military and intelligence officials as a result of military setbacks. Andrei Soldatov, a Russian Moscow-based journalist alleged that Putin placed two senior FSB officials — head of foreign intelligence Sergei Beseda and his deputy — under house arrest over intelligence failings.

Before that, the head of Ukraine's security council said Putin had fired eight generals over the invasion.

Russian forces invaded Ukraine on February 24. But despite Ukraine's troops being outnumbered and outgunned, the Ukrainians have maintained a fierce resistance, leading to a largely stalled invasion.

The State Department did not immediately respond to Insider's request for comment.