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In their first public comments since the war in Ukraine, US intelligence chiefs told Congress on Tuesday that Moscow is likely to “double down” its attacks in the next few weeks but without having a “sustainable end goal".
Speaking before the House Intelligence Committee, Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines said Russian President Vladimir Putin underestimated the military strength of the Ukrainian resistance.
“We assess Moscow underestimated the strength of Ukraine's resistance and the degree of internal military challenges we are observing which include an ill-constructed plan, morale issues and considerable logistical issues,” Ms Haines said.
While Mr Putin has repeatedly said over the past two weeks that the war is going “according to the plan”, Ms Haines described a Russian military faced with serious challenges on the battlefield.
“They're facing significantly more resistance from the Ukrainians than they expected and encountering serious military shortcomings.”
But even with such setbacks, the US intelligence chief did not expect Mr Putin to back down, describing the war in Ukraine as one “he cannot afford to lose".
Speaking at the same hearing, CIA Director Bill Burns said Mr Putin is “angry and frustrated".
He argued that Mr Putin’s calculus in the first two weeks of the war was based on his modernised military capturing the capital Kyiv and facing a favourable landscape in Ukraine.
“He’s been proven wrong,” the CIA director said.
“Instead of seizing Kyiv within the first two days of the campaign, which was what his plan was premised upon, after nearly two weeks they still have not been able to fully encircle the city.”
But similar to the Ms Haines's assessment, Mr Burns expected the Russian leadership would escalate the war in the coming weeks.
“[Mr Putin] is likely to double down and grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties.”
He added, however, that Russia “has no sustainable political end game in the face of what will continue to be fierce resistance from Ukrainians.”
The CIA director described the war as a personal matter for Mr Putin, tied to a “deep personal conviction”.
“He has been stewing in a combustible combination of grievance and ambition for many years".
But on the ground, Mr Burns said Russia is facing a higher number of casualties than Ukraine.
Director of the Defence Intelligence Agency Lt Gen Scott Berrier put the number of Russian dead “with low confidence, somewhere between 2,000 and 4,000".
He assessed that Moscow “had a bad plan and I think their logistics support is not what it needs to be".
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MATCH INFO
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Ajax 2-3 Tottenham
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Final: June 1, Madrid
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Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
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Quick pearls of wisdom
Focus on gratitude: And do so deeply, he says. “Think of one to three things a day that you’re grateful for. It needs to be specific, too, don’t just say ‘air.’ Really think about it. If you’re grateful for, say, what your parents have done for you, that will motivate you to do more for the world.”
Know how to fight: Shetty married his wife, Radhi, three years ago (he met her in a meditation class before he went off and became a monk). He says they’ve had to learn to respect each other’s “fighting styles” – he’s a talk it-out-immediately person, while she needs space to think. “When you’re having an argument, remember, it’s not you against each other. It’s both of you against the problem. When you win, they lose. If you’re on a team you have to win together.”
FULL%20RESULTS
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Fire and Fury
By Michael Wolff,
Henry Holt
Our legal columnist
Name: Yousef Al Bahar
Advocate at Al Bahar & Associate Advocates and Legal Consultants, established in 1994
Education: Mr Al Bahar was born in 1979 and graduated in 2008 from the Judicial Institute. He took after his father, who was one of the first Emirati lawyers
Play-off fixtures
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KEY DEVELOPMENTS IN MARITIME DISPUTE
2000: Israel withdraws from Lebanon after nearly 30 years without an officially demarcated border. The UN establishes the Blue Line to act as the frontier.
2007: Lebanon and Cyprus define their respective exclusive economic zones to facilitate oil and gas exploration. Israel uses this to define its EEZ with Cyprus
2011: Lebanon disputes Israeli-proposed line and submits documents to UN showing different EEZ. Cyprus offers to mediate without much progress.
2018: Lebanon signs first offshore oil and gas licencing deal with consortium of France’s Total, Italy’s Eni and Russia’s Novatek.
2018-2019: US seeks to mediate between Israel and Lebanon to prevent clashes over oil and gas resources.
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Results
First Test, Brisbane: Australia won by 10 wickets
Second Test, Adelaide: Australia won by 120 runs
Third Test, Perth: Australia won by an innings and 41 runs
Fourth Test: Melbourne: Drawn
Fifth Test: Australia won by an innings and 123 runs
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UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
