The top US intelligence chief says that despite attacks on Ukraine's power grid and other critical winter infrastructure, she doesn't see any evidence of a reduced Ukrainian will to resist and expects a reduced tempo in fighting to continue in the next several months.
Avril Haines said at the annual Reagan National Defense Forum in California that we are seeing a kind of a reduced tempo already of the conflict and we expect that to be what we see in the coming months.
She said both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries would be looking to refit and resupply in order to prepare for a counter-offensive after the winter, but there was a question as to what that would look like, and added:
We have a fair amount of skepticism as to whether or not the Russians will be prepared to do that. I think it's more optimistic for the Ukrainians in that timeframe. Asked about the effects of Russian attacks on Ukraine's power grid and other civilian infrastructure, Haines said Moscow's aim was partly to undermine the will of Ukrainians to resist, and he said we don't see any evidence of that being undermined right now.