Between 2,000 and 4,000 Russian troops have been killed in the invasion of Ukraine, the head of the CIA, William Burns, has said, Reuters reports.
The veteran diplomat, a former US ambassador to Moscow, also said the US had done “intensive intelligence sharing” with Ukraine, including details of Russian military planning and continued to do so daily.
Vladimir Putin was unlikely to back down, Burns said, but neither did the CIA see how the Russian president could accomplish his goal of taking Kyiv and replacing President Volodymyr Zelenskiy’s government with a pro-Moscow or puppet leadership.
The CIA estimate of the Russian death toll goes far beyond the figure of nearly 500 killed in action given by the Russian defence ministry six days ago.
Burns said:
I think Putin is angry and frustrated right now. He’s likely to double down and try to grind down the Ukrainian military with no regard for civilian casualties. I fail to see how he can produce that kind of an end game and where that leads, I think, is for an ugly next few weeks in which he doubles down ... with scant regard for civilian casualties.
He was speaking at a House of Representatives intelligence committee hearing alongside other intelligence officials.
