Russian President Wladimir Putin was “surprised” by the underperformance of its military and the Russia-Ukraine war, “and the fact that they didn’t achieve more,” he said Chief of the US Secret Service.

Although the US believes that Putin is becoming more informed about the problems his army is facing in Ukraine, it is not clear “that he has a full picture at this point of how challenged it is,” he said Avril Hainesthe Director of National Intelligence speaking at a defense forum on December 3, 2022.

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What happened

The intelligence agencies see “munitions shortages, low morale, supply problems, logistics — a whole range of concerns that they face,” Haines said.

Putin suffered a Trifecta of major setbacks during his invasion of Ukraine, politically, economically and on the battlefield, but US intelligence sees no evidence that Putin has changed his political goals.

“He doesn’t see Ukraine as a separate country, and of course he says that publicly quite regularly. He actually sees it as part of his sovereign national domain,” Haines said told NBC journalist Andrea Mitchel during an interview at the Reagan National Defense Forum in California.

Russia’s military setbacks

While Putin’s intentions may not waver, protests in Russia have increased. The country’s deteriorating economic situation due to heavy US and European sanctions, as well as growing dissent among Russian politicians, elites and oligarchs, have put Putin under political pressure.

Meanwhile, Moscow’s battlefield losses in terms of troops, equipment and ammunition have resulted in a “slowed pace” in the conflict in Ukraine, and US intelligence expects the war to weaken further in the coming months.

Although the conflict is expected to heat up again in the spring, Putin may be ready to “downsize…