Russian President Vladimir Putin was misled by his advisers about how poorly the war in Ukraine is going, a US official said. Follow updates here.
| US intelligence officials have determined that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being misinformed by his advisers about his nation’s forces’ poor performance in Ukraine, according to a US official.
The findings demonstrate a “clear breakdown in the flow of accurate information” to Putin, and show that Putin’s senior advisers are “afraid to tell him the truth”, the official said. Biden spoke with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday to discuss the latest developments in the war. But underscoring the limits of intelligence, the US also underestimated Ukraine’s will to fight before the invasion, said Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, head of the Defence Intelligence Agency, in recent testimony before Congress.US President Joe Biden and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky on Wednesday discussed additional US aid, sanctions and Kyiv’s peace talks with Russia in an hour-long call, the two sides said.
The White House separately said the two discussed Washington’s efforts “to fulfil the main security assistance requests by Ukraine, the critical effects those weapons have had on the conflict, and continued efforts by the United States with allies and partners to identify additional capabilities to help the Ukrainian military defend its country”.
Russian forces also shelled the northern city of Chernihiv overnight, damaging civilian structures including libraries and shopping centres, according to Vyacheslav Chaus, the region’s governor, who said he was sceptical of Russia’s promise. “Do we believe this? Surely not,” he said in a video statement.
They added that Scholz is committed to a G7 agreement that energy supplies from Russia would be paid for only in euros or US dollars. Dublin-based AerCap had the largest exposure of any lessor when European Union sanctions forced the termination of Russian leases, accounting for 5 per cent of its fleet by value.
Lessors had until Monday to wind up current rental contracts in Russia under sanctions imposed by the European Union. It comes a day after Poland said it was banning Russian coal imports, expected by May. Morawiecki says Poland will take steps to become “independent” of Russian supplies and is calling on other European Union countries to “walk away” as well. He argues that money paid for Russia’s oil and gas is fuelling its war machine.
Germany, the EU’s biggest economy and one of the most reliant on Russia’s natural gas, has signed deals with several suppliers of LNG, which is shipped to neighbouring European countries and then pumped in. Officials say they aim to end the use of Russian oil and coal this year and natural gas by mid-2024.
“But let’s be absolutely clear, it’s not the objective of the UK government, and it’s very, very important that everybody gets this. We are simply setting out to help to protect the people of Ukraine, and to protect them against absolutely barbaric and unreasonable violence.” He also said he did not think the G7 and NATO should be expected to lift sanctions on Russia if a ceasefire was agreed in Ukraine.
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