1 year ago
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By David Brunnstrom and Michael Martina
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. quality expects the reduced tempo successful warring successful Ukraine to proceed successful the adjacent respective months and sees nary grounds of a reduced Ukrainian volition to resist, contempt attacks connected its powerfulness grid and different captious wintertime infrastructure, the Director of National Intelligence said connected Saturday.
"We're seeing a benignant of a reduced tempo already of the struggle ... and we expect that's apt to beryllium what we spot successful the coming months," Avril Haines told the yearly Reagan National Defense Forum successful California.
She said some the Ukrainian and Russian militaries would beryllium looking to effort to refit and resupply to hole for a counter-offensive aft the winter, but determination was a question arsenic to what that would look like, and added:
"We really person a just magnitude of skepticism arsenic to whether oregon not the Russians volition beryllium successful information prepared to bash that. I deliberation much optimistically for the Ukrainians successful that timeframe."
Asked astir the effects of Russian attacks connected Ukraine's powerfulness grid and different civilian infrastructure, Haines said Moscow's purpose was partially to undermine the volition of Ukrainians to resist, and added: "I deliberation we're not seeing immoderate grounds of that being undermined close present astatine this point."
She said Russia was besides looking to impact Ukraine's capableness to prosecute struggle and added that Kyiv's system had been suffering precise badly.
"It tin implicit time, obviously, person an impact. How overmuch of an interaction volition beryllium babelike connected however overmuch they spell after, what they're susceptible of doing, the resilience of that captious infrastructure, our capableness to assistance them support it."
"Ukraine's system is suffering precise badly. It's been devastating, and ... evidently taking down the grid volition person an interaction connected that arsenic well."
Haines said she thought Russian President Vladimir Putin had been amazed that his subject had not accomplished more.
"I bash deliberation helium is becoming much informed of the challenges that the subject faces successful Russia. But it's inactive not wide to america that helium has a afloat representation astatine this signifier of conscionable however challenged they are ... we spot shortages of ammunition, for morale, proviso issues, logistics, a full bid of concerns that they're facing."
Haines said Putin's governmental objectives successful Ukraine did not look to person changed, but U.S. quality analysts thought helium whitethorn beryllium consenting to standard backmost his near-term subject objectives "on a impermanent ground with the thought that helium mightiness past travel backmost astatine this contented astatine a aboriginal time."
She said Russia appeared to beryllium utilizing up its subject stockpiles "quite quickly."
"It's truly beauteous extraordinary, and our ain consciousness is that they are not susceptible of indigenously producing what they are expending astatine this stage," she said.
"That's wherefore you spot them going to different countries efficaciously to effort to get ammunition ... and we've indicated that their precision munitions are moving retired overmuch faster successful galore respects."
Haines said the United States had "seen immoderate movement" successful supplies of munitions from North Korea, "but it's not been a batch astatine this stage."
She said Iran had supplied Russia with drones and Moscow was looking for different types of precision munitions from Tehran, thing that would beryllium "very concerning successful presumption of their capacity."
(Reporting by David Brunnstrom, Michael Martina and Eric Beech; Editing by Daniel Wallis)
English (US)