Russia is about to “run out of power” in Ukraine

• Britain’s intelligence chief said Russia was likely to “lose momentum” in Ukraine soon.
• This, he said, would give Ukraine a chance to respond to the invading forces.
• Military and other Russian experts made similar assessments as the conflict turned into a war of attrition.

Richard Moore, the head of Britain’s Secret Intelligence Service (MI6), said Thursday at the Aspen Security Forum in Colorado that Russia’s military offensive in Ukraine is likely to lose momentum in the near future, giving Ukrainian forces an opportunity to “strike back”.

“I think they’re about to run out of steam,” mor . said from the Russians. “They will have to stop somehow, and this will give the Ukrainians opportunities to respond.”

Moore said it was important for Ukrainian morale to “demonstrate their ability to respond.”

“I also think, frankly, that this will be an important reminder to the rest of Europe that this is a campaign that can be won by the Ukrainians. Because we are about to enter a very harsh winter,” Moore said.

“I don’t want it to sound like a character from ‘Game of Thrones.'” The head of British intelligence said winter is coming, and obviously in this atmosphere, with that kind of pressure on the gas supply and all that’s left, we’re having a hard time.

Russia’s unprovoked invasion of Ukraine triggered a global energy crisis. Concern about energy supplies is particularly high in Europe, which is highly dependent on Russia for oil and gas. But if the West can maintain the political will to continue providing vital military assistance to Ukraine to fend off the invaders, there appears to be a growing consensus among Kremlin analysts and scholars that Russia will eventually come to a standstill regarding its ability to extend and prolong the offensive. .

“The Russians are exhausted,” said retired General Ben Hodges, former commander of the US Army in Europe, He recently said from the inside. “They don’t have much they can do now.”

Hodges suggested that Ukraine might push Russian forces back to its prewar borders by next year.

After failing to capture Kyiv in the early days of the war, Russia turned its attention to Donetsk and Luhansk – the two provinces that make up the eastern Donbass region. By early July, Luhansk was controlled by Russia, but the conflict had now turned into a war of attrition, with Russian forces advancing at an increasing and grinding pace while incurring heavy losses.

General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, told reporters on Wednesday that “Russian advances have reached perhaps six to 10 miles” in the past few months.

Fiona Hill, who served as Russia’s chief expert on the National Security Council under the Trump administration, He said from inside He said last week that the Russians had “a lot of problems and in the long run”.

Hill said Russia will struggle with both the issues of manpower and the preservation of its military equipment.

“The problem becomes keeping the military equipment and everything in the long run. They will be dismantling equipment,” Hill said, adding, “We see them go back, not just to the tactics of earlier times, but the equipment of earlier times, pulling a lot of things out of the scrap yard or storage. Cold. There is a lot of speculation about how long it will take to replenish lost equipment.”

Last week, the British Ministry of Defense said that Russia may resort to Recruitment from prison To address troop losses in Ukraine.

Moore said Thursday that Russia has likely lost nearly 15,000 troops in Ukraine so far since the invasion began about five months ago. But the head of British intelligence stressed that this was a “probably conservative estimate”.

CIA Director William Burns, who also spoke at the Aspen Security Forum this week, offered a similar assessment of the Russian death toll. Burns said that the latest estimates from US intelligence agencies indicate that the number of Russian soldiers killed about 15,000, and nearly 45,000 were wounded.

“And the Ukrainians suffered as well – maybe a little less. But, you know, big losses,” Burns said.