When the war in Ukraine entered its second year, CIA Director William Burns said that Russian President Vladimir Putin is “very confident” in the military’s ability to grind Ukraine into submission.
Burns, in a televised interview, said that the head of the Russian intelligence service had shown at the November meeting “a sense of arrogance and hubris” that reflected Putin’s own belief that “if he can make time for him, he believes that he can reduce it. Ukrainians who can wear down European allies we, who are finally tired of politics.”
The conversation, in which Burns warned of the consequences if Russia were to deploy nuclear weapons in Ukraine, was “pretty disturbing,” Burns said.
Burns said he judged Putin to be “determined enough” to continue prosecuting the war, despite casualties, tactical inadequacies and economic and reputational damage to Russia.
“I think Putin right now, is very confident in his ability … to wear down Ukraine,” Burns told CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday. Burns said that “at some point, they will also have to face increased costs, in coffins that arrive in some of the poorest regions of Russia,” where he says many conscripts “are thrown in as cannon fodder” from.
Burns also said Putin downplayed the U.S. decision to support Ukraine, saying the Russian leader’s experience is that America has “an attention deficit disorder and we’re going to move on to some other problem.”
The comments come at a critical juncture in the war as the Biden administration “believes that China’s leadership is considering” whether to supply “dead” military equipment to Russia.
“It would be a very risky and unwise bet,” Burns said, adding that such a move could only further strain relations between the world’s two largest economies. “That’s why I really hope he doesn’t.”
Burns said China’s leader, Xi Jinping, has been watching closely how the war has developed, and “I think, in many ways, he’s uneasy and uncomfortable with what he’s seeing.” The CIA director spoke about “where Putin’s hubris has now gotten to Russia,” and said that in an authoritarian system, when “no one challenges” the leader, “you can make big mistakes.”
Meanwhile, questions about military aid and the pace of the war are also sources of uncertainty in the US as Republican lawmakers criticize the administration for not sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.
White House national security adviser Jake Sullivan said the U.S. is providing Ukraine with the military aid it needs to retake Russian-held territory. The politics of domestic support for Ukraine have also been complicated by some GOP members of Congress who say the administration needs to step back and focus more on needs at home.
Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the House Foreign Relations Committee, said aircraft and long-range artillery could help end the war on a faster timeline. “This has all been a long time coming,” McCaul said. “And it really shouldn’t have happened that way,” said McCaul, R-Texas.
Ukraine won support last month from the Baltic states and Poland to acquire Western fighter jets, but there are no signs that countries such as the US and Britain will change their refusal to provide fighter jets to Kyiv.
Biden said in an ABC News interview on Friday that he is “governing now,” saying he is not the weapon Ukrainians need in the near term.
But Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, said the White House has been slow to provide what Ukraine is looking for, including jets. “This has been a pattern with this administration since the beginning, where they have a critical military weapons system that is slowly being phased out,” he said.
Jake Sullivan said the U.S. has provided parts to maintain Ukraine’s Soviet-era jet fleet, but providing F-16s “is really a question for another day, for another phase” of the war.
Jake Sullivan appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CNN’s “State of the Union” and ABC’s “This Week.” McCaul is on ABC and Dan Sullivan is on NBC.