CIA director, Bill Burns have claimed that Russian President, Vladimir Putin believes that he cannot afford to lose in Ukraine and is now ‘doubling down’ on the ongoing war, however, he admitted that he does not show signs of planning to use tactical nuclear weapons.
According to the CIA director, Putin has not changed his view that his troops can defeat Ukraine’s forces Despite the failure of Russian forces to capture Kyiv and their struggle to advance along the war’s main front lines in the southeastern Donbas region.
Putin’s belief in Russia’s ability to wear down Ukrainian resistance probably has not been shaken despite key battlefield defeats, Burns told a conference on Saturday.
‘I think he’s in a frame of mind in which he doesn’t believe he can afford to lose,’ Burns asserted.
The US intelligence agency chief went on to add that Putin has been ‘stewing’ for years about Ukraine – which was once part of the Soviet Union – describing the Russian leader’s thinking on the issue as a ‘very combustible combination of grievance and ambition and insecurity’.
The Russian leader has not been deterred by the stiff resistance demonstrated by Ukraine’s armed forces in the war, “because he staked so much on the choices that he made to launch this invasion,’ Burns submitted.
‘I think he’s convinced right now that doubling down still will enable him to make progress.’
Africa Today News, New York reports that Burns, a former US ambassador to Russia who has spent much time studying the Russian leader, said the CIA and other Western intelligence agencies see no sign that Moscow is prepared to deploy tactical nuclear weapons in order to gain a victory in Ukraine or to target Kyiv’s supporters.
Russia had placed its nuclear forces on high alert shortly after launching the invasion on February 24. Since then, Putin and other Russian officials have made thinly veiled threats hinting at a willingness to deploy Russia’s tactical nuclear weapons if the West directly intervenes in the Ukraine conflict.
Africa Today News, New York