US intelligence expects the reduced tempo in fighting in Ukraine to continue in the next several months but sees no evidence of a reduced Ukrainian will to resist, despite attacks on its power grid and other critical winter infrastructure, the Director of National Intelligence said.
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“We’re seeing a kind of a reduced tempo already of the conflict … and we expect that’s likely to be what we see in the coming months,” Avril Haines told the annual Reagan National Defense Forum adding that both the Ukrainian and Russian militaries would be looking to try to refit and resupply to prepare for a counter-offensive after the winter.
“We actually have a fair amount of skepticism as to whether or not the Russians will be in fact prepared to do that. I think more optimistically for the Ukrainians in that timeframe,” Avril Haines said.
On Russian attacks on Ukraine’s power grid and other civilian infrastructure, Avril Haines said Moscow’s aim was partly to undermine the will of Ukrainians to resist.
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“I think we’re not seeing any evidence of that being undermined right now at this point,” Avril Haines said.
“It can over time, obviously, have an impact. How much of an impact will be dependent on how much they go after, what they’re capable of doing, the resilience of that critical infrastructure, our capacity to help them defend it. Ukraine’s economy is suffering very badly. It’s been devastating, and … obviously taking down the grid will have an impact on that as well,” Avril Haines said.
