JRL NEWSWATCH: “Russia Lacks Firepower to Keep Advancing, U.S. Intelligence Chief Says” – New York Times

“While both Ukrainians and Russians say the pitched battle for the city of Bakhmut could determine whether Russia can pursue more of an offensive, Western officials are skeptical.”

“Even as Ukrainian and Russian leaders predicted that the fall of Bakhmut could open the way for a broader Russian offensive, the U.S. intelligence chief said Wednesday that the Kremlin’s forces were too depleted by a year of war to wage such a campaign. The chief of the Wagner mercenary group, which has spearheaded the grueling, street-by-street Russian assault on Bakhmut, the besieged city in eastern Ukraine, said on Wednesday that his forces had taken the eastern part of the city. … But … Avril D. Haines, the director of national intelligence, argued that Russia, having suffered — and inflicted — staggering losses in Ukraine, lacked the troops and the ammunition to make major advances this year. And she said its battered forces had a serious morale problem. …”

Click here for: “Russia Lacks Firepower to Keep Advancing, U.S. Intelligence Chief Says” – New York Times/ Julian E. Barnes, Anatoly Kurmanaev, Richard Pérez-Peña