Russia-Ukraine war: Anger, frustration and determined to escalate war: US intelligence views Vladimir Putin | Volodymyr Zelensky | The world

He hoped he would dominate in two days in a battle that lasted more than two weeks. Vladimir Putin According to US intelligence estimates, anger, frustration over military defeats and the prospect of further violence and destruction in Ukraine

In the last days, U.S. officials have publicly expressed concern that the Russian president will escalate the conflict to quell opposition in Ukraine.. Russia has even more military advantages and will bomb the country in the coming weeks. And as other parts of the world reacted to the gruesome images of the war that began, Putin is isolated Internal pressure by what CIA Director William Burns called the “campaign bubble.”

View: What’s on Putin’s mind? The startling information of the two close associates of the Russian president

Understand himTo Putin’s moodIt is difficult to detect from a distance, it is very important for Western countries, which provide more military assistance to Ukraine and It also seeks to prevent Putin from directly confronting NATO countries or accessing the nuclear button.. During a two-day testimony before Congress last week, US intelligence officials openly expressed concern about what Putin might do. Those concerns are increasingly shaping the debate over what US lawmakers are prepared to do for Ukraine.

For two decades, Putin dominated Russia’s government and security services, ruling with a small inner circle and sidelining dissent. He has long been critical of the break-up of the Soviet Union, rejected Ukrainian sovereign claims, and commented on ending the nuclear war with the Russians as “martyrs”. Burns told lawmakers he had believed for “many years.” Putin grew up with a “fiery mixture of lack and ambition.”

Putin hopes to capture Q within two days, Burns said. Instead, his army failed to take control of major cities and had already lost several thousand soldiers. Western nations have imposed sanctions and other measures that have paralyzed the Russian economy and reduced the living standards of both oligarchs and ordinary citizens. Most of the foreign currency that Russia had hoarded as a bulwark against sanctions is now frozen in foreign banks.

Burns is a former U.S. ambassador to Moscow, who has met with Putin several times. Asked about the Russian president’s state of mind, he told lawmakers: He did not think Putin was crazy. “I think Putin is angry and frustrated now.”Said. “It will double and try to crush the Ukrainian army without taking into account civilian casualties.”

Russia’s recent unsubstantiated claims that the United States is helping Ukraine develop chemical or biological weapons suggest that Putin may be prepared to deploy such weapons in a “false flag” operation, Burns said.

There is no obvious way to end the war. It is almost unthinkable that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zhelensky, the world-renowned leader of his country’s opposition, would suddenly recognize Russia’s annexation of Crimea or support Russia’s granting new autonomy to parties from its friends in eastern Ukraine. And even if he captures Q and ousts Zhelensky, Putin will still have to account for the Western-backed insurgency in a country of more than 40 million.

“It does not have a lasting political solution, despite fierce opposition from the Ukrainians,” Burns said.

President Joe Biden’s Director of National Intelligence Avril Haynes said Putin sees this as “a war he will not lose”. “But what you want to accept as success may change over time considering the significant costs it incurs,” he added.

Intelligence analysts believe that Putin recently raised the level of Russia’s nuclear alert “with the aim of preventing the West from providing further support to Ukraine.”

White House concerns about the increase have at times frustrated both Democrats and Republicans. After initially signaling its support, the Biden administration has in recent days refused to support a Polish plan to donate Soviet-era warplanes to Ukraine, which would require the United States to participate in the exchange. Management has previously delayed sanctions on the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and will not send Stinger Air defense missiles to Ukraine before changing course.

Question was raised on Thursday, Haynes bYudin can see the change in aircraft as more important than the anti-tank and anti-aircraft weapons already sent to Ukraine.. Haynes did not disclose whether the United States had intelligence to support the discovery.

Meanwhile, the West is watching to see if there are any holes in Putin’s “propaganda bubble” as the violence escalates and more Russians are killed. An independent Russian political analyst, Krill Rokov, wrote in his telegram that the war was “lost” and “epic defeat.”

“One mistake is that the West did not want to oppose the occupation, it was laziness, greed and division,” Rokov wrote. “The idea that the Russian economy is self-sufficient and secure is one mistake. Another mistake is the idea of ​​the quality of the Russian military. The main mistake is the idea that Ukraine is a failed country and the Ukrainians are not a nation.

“Four Mistakes Are High When Making a Decision”Said.

Prior to the invasion, 60 percent of those surveyed by the Levada Center, Russia’s leading independent think tank, saw the United States and NATO as the “initiators” of the conflict in eastern Ukraine. Only 3% responded to Russia. Polling was in January and February, and the Levada Center has not released any new polls since the war began.

By Noman the Merchant

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