The U.S. Intelligence chief presents himself to the Senate: Putin is preparing for war extension

“We assess that Putin is preparing for a prolonged conflict in Ukraine during which he is still trying to achieve goals beyond Donbas. We estimate Putin's strategic goals have probably not changed, meaning that it refers to the decision in late March to refocus Russian forces in Donas as a temporary shift to regain the” initiative, Haines said.

She said Putin's short-term military goals are to capture two Donetsk and Luhansk regions, as well as a neutral zone around them and the siege of Ukrainian forces in that part of the country from the north to achieve a search of a ground bridge towards the Crimea and to hold the Kherson province from the turn of the Crimea water.

American intelligence has also seen signs that Putin wants to increase the land bridge all the way to Transnistria, Moscow's occupied region in Moldova, where he can control all coasts of Ukraine on the Black Sea. Haines thinks Putin will face a difficult task to achieve all these goals.

“The Russian forces may be able to achieve most of the current goals in the coming months, we believe they will not be able to increase control over a ground bridge that extends to Transnistria and includes Odessa without launching a form of mobilization, and it seems very unlikely they will be able to establish control in the coming weeks over the two regions (Donnetsk and Luhansk) and the neutral zone they want.

Haines also spoke of the danger that the war in Ukraine could turn into nuclear war. In general, American intelligence believes Moscow can make the most explosive threats, but would not use nuclear weapons if Putin does not believe his regime is in danger. /Periscopi/