Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky might want to watch his back after threatening Russian President Vladimir Putin with “sudden death”. Zelensky said the sudden death of Putin would bring an end to the war between the two nations.

While being interviewed by former late-night TV host David Letterman, who asked the Ukrainian president: “Let’s just say that Putin got a really bad cold and died. Or accidentally fell out of a window and died. Would this continue?”

“No,” Zelensky said. “There would be no war. There wouldn’t be,” assuming the next Russian leader wouldn’t carry on with Putin’s mission.

But why would Zelensky say such a thing out of the blue, and was it a mere hypothetical or is the Ukrainian President sending Putin a “warning shot”?

It was reported Monday that Putin canceled his annual end-of-year press conference, causing speculation that he’s in failing health. This isn’t the first we’ve learned of Putin’s illness, but his alleged medical issues do seem to be spiraling downward, leaving many to speculate he might now have much time left.

Letterman interviewed Zelensky in October for his Netflix show “My Next Guest Needs No Introduction.” During the interview Zelensky told Letterman that Putin’s death would end the war because Russia’s political system gives the president so much power.

“The authoritarian regime is dangerous as it poses great risks. Because you can’t allow just one person to have total control over everything. That’s why when such a person is gone, institutions come to a halt,” said Zelensky, speaking during an interview conducted on a Kyiv subway platform.

“That’s what happened back in the Soviet Union. Everything collapsed. And that’s why I think if he’s gone, it will be hard for them. They will have to deal with their internal policy, rather than foreign issues.”

Zelensky said that “quite a large percentage” of Russians are not living in reality and believe Putin’s claims about how the war is going.