JRL NEWSWATCH: “Putin thinks he can win in Ukraine because it matters more to him than to the U.S., says CIA chief” – NBC
“‘I think he’s doubling down,’ said William Burns. ‘I believe he’s convinced that he can make time work for him.'”
“… Putin is betting that Russian forces can prevail in Ukraine through a grinding war of attrition and believes ‘Ukraine matters more to him than us,’ [said] CIA Director William Burns …. Despite morale and other problems facing Russian forces in Ukraine, ‘Putin is very much taking a longer-term view,’ Burns told a House Intelligence Committee hearing [on Thursday]. … ‘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. …’ [Meanwhile,] [i]n its annual report on global threats, the Office of the Director of National Intelligence wrote that Russia likely would not be able to make major territorial gains in Ukraine this year, and would be hard-pressed to take the entire Donbas ….”