Stavridis, who was NATO’s Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from 2009 to 2013, spoke of the invasion in a radio show on Saturday.

Stavridis was a guest on “The Cats Roundtable” on WABC New York, a show hosted by grocery-store billionaire John Catsimatidis, who also owns WABC.

Asked whether Putin knew the invasion of Ukraine was a mistake, Stavridis said: “I think in the dark, quiet hours at two o’clock in the morning when he wakes up, he realizes he’s made a mistake. Publicly, he’ll never admit that. Never.”

Stavridis said Putin would maintain the “fiction” that Neo-Nazis run Ukraine and that he was forced into the conflict by NATO, rather than choosing to invade.

But, he said, Putin knows he is responsible for the invasion, the sanctions, and the military pushback.

“I think he knows it in his heart, he’ll never admit it publicly,” he said.

Putin is “burning through capability” in Russia’s military, per Stavridi.