As the war in Ukraine enters its second year, CIA Director William Burns said Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being too confident in his militarys ability to grind Ukraine into submission.
Burns, in a television interview, said the head of Russias intelligence services had displayed in their November meeting a sense of cockiness and hubris that reflected Putins own beliefs that he can make time work for him, that he believes he can grind down the Ukrainians that he can wear down our European allies, that political fatigue will eventually set in.
That conversation, in which Burns warned of the consequences if Russia were to deploy a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, was pretty dispiriting, Burns said.
Burns said he judged Putin as quite determined to continue prosecuting the war, despite the casualties, tactical shortcomings and economic and reputational damage to Russia.
I think Putin is, right now, entirely too confident of his ability … to wear down Ukraine, Burns told CBS Face the Nation in an interview that aired Sunday. Burns said that at some point, hes going to have to face up to increasing costs as well, in coffins coming home to some of the poorest parts of Russia, where he said many of the conscripts being thrown as cannon fodder are from.
Burns also said Putin was underestimating U.S. resolve to support Ukraine, saying that it has been his experience that the Russian leaders view is that Americans have attention deficit disorder and well move on to some other issue eventually.
The comments came at a critical juncture for the war as the Biden administration is confident that the Chinese leadership is considering whether to provide lethal military equipment to Russia.
It would be a very risky and unwise bet, Burns said, adding that such a move could only further strain relations between the worlds two largest economics. Thats why I hope very much that they dont.
Burns said Chinas leader, Xi Jinping, has closely watched how the war has evolved, and I think, in many ways, hes been unsettled and sobered by what hes seen. The CIA director spoke of where Putins hubris has now gotten Russia, and said that in authoritarian systems, when nobody challenges a leader, you can make some huge blunders.
Meanwhile, the question of military aid and the pace of the war is also a source of uncertainty in the U.S. as Republican lawmakers criticized the administration for not sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. was providing Ukraine with the military aid needed to retake territory seized by Russia. The domestic politics of support for Ukraine are also complicated by some GOP members of Congress who say the administration should pull back and focus more on the needs at home.
Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said planes and long-range artillery could help end the war on a faster timeline. This whole thing is taking too long, McCaul said. And it really didnt have to happen this way, said McCaul, R-Texas.
Ukraine won support last month from Baltic nations and Poland in its quest to obtain Western fighter jets, but there have been no signs that nations such as the U.S. and Britain will change their stance of refusing to provide warplanes to Kyiv.
Biden said in an ABC News interview on Friday that hes ruling it out for now, saying that they are not the weaponry that Ukrainians need in the near term.
But Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said the White House has been slow in providing what Ukraine seeks, including jets. That has been a pattern with this administration from the beginning, where they have slow-rolled critical military weapons systems, he said.
Jake Sullivan said the U.S. is already providing parts to keep Ukraines fleet of Soviet-era jets flying, but supplying F-16s is really a question for another day, for another phase of the war.
(AP)
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