"He has no sustainable political end game in the face of what is going to continue to be fierce resistance" from Ukraine's military, Haines said. 

March 8, 2022

Russian President Vladimir Putin is likely “undeterred” by the effect of the West’s coordinated economic sanctions and his military’s setbacks in Ukraine and will seek to “escalate” his country’s aggression against Kyiv in the coming weeks, top U.S. intelligence leaders said Tuesday, CBS News reports.

An “aggrieved” Putin likely “perceives this as a war he cannot afford to lose,” said director of national intelligence Avril Haines, who testified along with other intelligence chiefs before the House Intelligence Community as part of an annual hearing on worldwide threats.She was joined by CIA Director William Burns, FBI director Christopher Wray, Cyber Command Commander and NSA director Gen. Paul Nakasone, and Defense Intelligence Agency director Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, who will all appear again for additional testimony before the Senate Intelligence Community on Thursday.Haines said Moscow had encountered “significantly more resistance” from Ukraine than it had anticipated, and that it would be “especially challenging” for the Russians to hold and control Ukrainian territory in the face of what would likely be a “persistent and significant insurgency.”Read more

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