By Oyintari Ben
According to Pentagon’s intelligence officer, Russia’s failures and depleted resources in Ukraine demonstrates that its forces are currently unable to accomplish President Vladimir Putin’s original objectives for invading the nation.
The Defense Intelligence Agency’s director, Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, said at an intelligence and national security conference outside of Washington, that he believes Putin will need to change his objectives for this operation at this point. As it is currently very obvious that he will be unable to accomplish his original goals.
Putin reportedly ordered troops into the neighboring country of Ukraine in February with the intention of toppling the country’s pro-Western government, according to US sources.
Earlier in the conflict, Ukrainian forces ousted Russian combatants from their positions near the nation’s capital. Another significant setback for Russia occurred last week when a Ukrainian counteroffensive forced Russian troops to withdraw from a sizable portion of northeastern Ukraine.
In response to Putin’s reluctance to fully deploy Russian soldiers in order to provide additional men for the battle, Berrier claimed that “the Russians planned for an occupation, not necessarily an invasion, and that has set them behind.”
Analysts warn that it’s impossible to predict what may come next, and President Joe Biden and other US officials have been careful not to declare Russia’s most recent pullback a Ukrainian win or a turning point in the war.
Putin is “getting to a decision” stage, according to Berrier. “We don’t know what that decision will be. But it will determine how long this battle lasts in significant part.”
At the Intelligence and National Security Summit for the intelligence community held at the National Harbor in Maryland just outside of Washington, Berrier participated in a panel discussion with other top officials.
When asked about worries that Putin would use WMD if US and NATO-backed Ukrainian forces defeat him on the battlefield, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen responded, “I don’t think we should underestimate Putin’s fidelity to his original purpose, which was to rule Ukraine. We haven’t seen any evidence, in my opinion, that he has strayed from that.”
Cohen added that the US shouldn’t undervalue Putin’s “appetite for danger.” Putin and his officials warned NATO not to get involved in the battle early on by making references to Russia’s nuclear arsenal and devastating reprisal.
Despite this, Cohen stated that there was no hard evidence of WMD use planning. Other security and intelligence sources stated that increased attempts to influence the US political system would be the most likely form of any Russian reprisal against the US.
Separately, during a significant regional summit on Friday in Uzbekistan, Putin threatened to intensify the offensive against Ukraine and issued a warning that if Ukrainian forces target Russian installations, Moscow may increase its attacks on the nation’s infrastructure.
The leaders of China, India, Turkey, and several other nations attended the summit.
Putin declared that Russia’s primary military objective was the “liberation” of all of Ukraine’s eastern Donbas region and that he did not see a reason to change that goal. “We’re not in a haste,” Putin said.
