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The U.S. CIA Director warned that Vladimir Putin remains convinced he can win the war in Ukraine as he believes that time is on his side.
What Happened: The U.S. top intel chief Bill Burns during a House Intelligence Committee hearing on Thursday, said, “I think he’s (Russian president) doubling down.”
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“I believe he’s convinced that he can make time work for him, that he can grind down the Ukrainians through this war of attrition, that he can wear down Western supporters of Ukraine,” said Burns, a former U.S. ambassador to Russia.
“Putin is very much taking a longer-term view” and is convinced that “Ukraine matters more to him than to us,” the CIA chief said, adding that the West needs to “puncture” that perception.
The comments came after the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, in its annual report on global threats on Wednesday, wrote that the Kremlin would not likely make major territorial gains in Kyiv this year.
The top American intelligence agency also added that Putin would continue to build Russia’s nuclear arsenal amid heavy losses in the Ukraine battlefield.
Amid reports that Russia is negotiating with China for drones, Burns suggested that Beijing would have to weigh the economic impact if it chose to arm Moscow. He added that this could deprive it of access to the European market.
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