US Intelligence Indicates Putin’s War Aims in Ukraine are Unchanged
U.S. intelligence reports continue to warn that Russian President Vladimir Putin has not abandoned his aims of capturing all of Ukraine and reclaiming parts of Europe that belonged to the former Soviet empire, six sources familiar with U.S. intelligence said, even as negotiators seek an end to the war that would leave Russia with far less territory.
The reports present a starkly different picture from that painted by U.S. President Donald Trump and his Ukraine peace negotiators, who have said Putin wants to end the conflict. The most recent of the reports dates from late September, according to one of the sources.
The intelligence also contradicts the Russian leader’s denials that he is a threat to Europe.
The U.S. findings have been consistent since Putin launched his full-scale invasion in 2022. They largely align with the views of European leaders and spy agencies that he covets all of Ukraine and territories of former Soviet bloc states, including members of the NATO alliance, according to the sources.
"The intelligence has always been that Putin wants more," Mike Quigley, a Democratic member of the House Intelligence Committee, said in a Reuters interview. "The Europeans are convinced of it. The Poles are absolutely convinced of it. The Baltics think they’re first.”
Russia controls about 20% of Ukraine’s territory, including the bulk of Luhansk and Donetsk, the provinces that comprise the industrial heartland of the Donbas, parts of Zaporizhzhia and Kherson provinces and Crimea, the strategic Black Sea peninsula.
Putin claims Crimea and all four provinces as belonging to Russia. Trump is pressuring Kyiv to withdraw its forces from the small part of Donetsk they control as part of a proposed peace deal, according to two sources familiar with the matter, a demand that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy and most Ukrainians reject.
“The president’s team has made tremendous progress with respect to ending the war" and Trump has stated that a peace deal "is closer than ever before," said a White House official without addressing the intelligence reports.
In an X post on Saturday, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard said intelligence officers have briefed lawmakers that "Russia seeks to avoid a larger war with Europe" and that its troops’ performance in Ukraine shows it currently lacks the capacity to overrun "all of Ukraine, let alone Europe."
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence, the CIA and the Russian embassy did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
PROGRESS ON SECURITY GUARANTEES
Trump’s negotiators - his son-in-law Jared Kushner and billionaire real estate developer Steve Witkoff - have for weeks been negotiating the 20-point peace plan with Ukrainian, Russian and European officials.
While U.S. officials say they have made progress, major differences remain on the issues of territory.
Kushner and Witkoff were meeting on Friday with Ukrainian negotiators in Miami and were to hold talks with Russian representatives this weekend, said a White House official.
Source : Reuters
