Russian military 'exhausted,' Putin's judgment 'flawed,' U.K. spy chief says - The Washington Post

“Russia’s forces are exhausted. The usage of prisoners to reinforce, and present the mobilization of tens of thousands of inexperienced conscripts, speaks of a hopeless situation,” Fleming is expected to accidental successful an code to the Royal United Services Institute deliberation vessel successful London. A preview of the code was obtained by The Washington Post.

“Far from the inevitable Russian subject triumph that their propaganda instrumentality spouted, it’s wide that Ukraine’s courageous enactment connected the battlefield and successful cyberspace is turning the tide,” Fleming volition say.

Ukraine’s subject has launched palmy counteroffensives with the assistance of Western weapons, recapturing swaths of onshore antecedently held by Russian forces.

Putin’s “decision-making has proved flawed,” Fleming volition say, and helium has “little effectual interior challenge” from Russia’s subject and governmental elite.

“We cognize — and Russian commanders connected the crushed cognize — that their supplies and munitions are moving out,” helium volition say.

Britain’s Defense Ministry has go a daily root of accusation since Russia invaded its neighbour successful February, churning retired predominant bite-sized updates connected societal media analyzing Moscow’s subject strategy and warfare effort.

The determination to beryllium much transparent with intelligence follows a strategically antithetic determination by Western quality agencies, including the U.S. quality community, to publically stock accusation astir Putin’s plans — though it yet was not capable to deter the invasion.

By speaking out, Fleming told the BBC successful an interrogation aboriginal Tuesday, his bureau hoped to “illuminate the threat” and promote nationalist trust. He cautioned that the United Kingdom is not penning disconnected the menace from Russia. The past 24 hours person proved Moscow inactive has a “very susceptible subject machine,” helium said, referring to the strikes connected dozens of Ukrainian cities Monday.

However, helium added, Russia is moving debased connected munitions and troops, and “it’s surely moving abbreviated of friends.”

Putin past period announced a partial subject mobilization of arsenic galore arsenic 300,000 reservists for what helium inactive presumption Russia’s “special subject operation” successful Ukraine. The determination sparked nationalist panic, sending thousands of eligible men fleeing to borders and scrambling for flights to debar being called up for deployment to the beforehand lines.

Russians are “seeing conscionable however severely Putin has misjudged the situation,” Fleming volition say. “They’re fleeing the draft, realizing they tin nary longer travel. They cognize their entree to modern technologies and outer influences volition beryllium drastically restricted. And they are feeling the grade of the dreadful quality outgo of his warfare of choice.”

A small much than a period aft the warfare started, Fleming warned that Russian soldiers were debased connected morale and weapons and had, astatine times, refused orders and sabotaged their ain instrumentality — coating a representation of chaos connected Russia’s beforehand lines adjacent then.

Following this weekend’s onslaught connected the Crimean Bridge, Moscow retaliated by launching a question of strikes that targeted parks, playgrounds and downtown areas Monday acold from the beforehand lines, sparking outrage and sidesplitting astatine slightest 19 people, according to Ukrainian authorities.

Yet the strikes were cheered by backers of Putin. Viktor Bondarev, caput of the overseas affairs committee of Russia’s precocious location of parliament, called Monday’s strikes the opening of “a caller phase” and promised much “resolute” enactment to come.

As the menace of nuclear weapons looms large, Fleming warned that suggestions from the Kremlin that specified weapons are connected the array were “very dangerous,” and would pb to a “catastrophe.” However, helium stressed, truthful acold determination person been nary indicators of their deployment, and Putin has been “staying wrong the doctrine of their use.”

This is accordant with views of U.S. officials, who say they deliberation it improbable that Putin volition transportation retired his threats. President Biden nevertheless warned last week that Putin was “not joking” successful his threats to usage atomic weapons, stirring up what Biden called the astir superior “prospect of Armageddon” successful 60 years.

The United Kingdom has 3 main quality services: MI6, the overseas quality service, popularized by the fictional spies James Bond and George Smiley; MI5, the home agency; and Government Communications Headquarters, known arsenic GCHQ, the eavesdropping service. The full quality assemblage is famously secretive.

Fleming, expected to talk much broadly connected planetary threats to information connected Tuesday, volition besides azygous retired China’s bid to dispersed its power done science and technology.

Saying this could beryllium a “sliding doors infinitesimal successful history,” Fleming volition impeach China’s ruling Communist Party of seeking to make “client economies and governments,” bringing countries into its sphere of power and successful doing truthful “mortgaging the future” by encouraging them to bargain Chinese tech and incur what helium called “hidden costs.”