乌克兰基辅-美国情报机构负责人表示俄罗斯在乌克兰的战争并暗示乌克兰军队在未来几个月可能会有更光明的前景。
艾薇儿·海恩斯提到了一些人过去的指控俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京的顾问可能是为了保护他免受有关战争发展的坏消息——对俄罗斯来说，并表示他“越来越了解军队在俄罗斯面临的挑战。”
美国国家情报总监海因斯周六在加利福尼亚州西米谷举行的里根国防论坛上说，“但我们仍然不清楚他在这个阶段对他们面临的挑战有多了解。”。
她说，她的团队“已经看到冲突的节奏有所放缓”，并展望未来，预计双方都将寻求改装，补给和重组乌克兰可能的反攻春天的时候。
海恩斯在接受美国全国广播公司(NBC)记者安德烈·米切尔(Andrea Mitchell)采访时说:“但我们实际上对俄罗斯是否真的准备这么做持相当大的怀疑态度。”。“我认为乌克兰人在这段时间内会更加乐观。”
周日，英国国防部在最新的情报评估中指出，俄罗斯独立媒体的新迹象表明，俄罗斯公众对军事行动的支持“显著下降”
Meduza表示，它获得了联邦保护局最近进行的一项秘密意见调查，该局负责守卫克里姆林宫，为政府高级官员提供安全保护。
这项由克里姆林宫委托进行的调查发现，55%的受访者支持与乌克兰和谈，而25%的人希望战争继续下去。报告没有提到误差幅度。
俄罗斯顶级独立民调机构勒瓦达中心(Levada Center)在11月份进行的一项类似民调中发现，53%的受访者支持和谈，41%的人表示支持继续战斗，6%的人尚未决定。该公司表示，对1，600人调查误差不超过3.4%。
英国国防部指出，“尽管俄罗斯当局努力加强对信息环境的全面控制，但这场冲突对许多俄罗斯人来说已经变得越来越明显”，因为普京在9月份下令“部分动员”预备役人员以支持他在乌克兰的部队。
英国外交部表示:“由于俄罗斯不太可能在未来几个月内取得重大战场胜利，对克里姆林宫来说，保持民众对战争的默许可能会越来越困难。”。
最近几周，俄罗斯的军事重点一直是打击乌克兰全国范围内的基础设施，在顿涅茨克地区的巴赫穆特市发起攻势，并炮击赫尔松市的一些地点。乌克兰军队在被俄罗斯占领了8个月后，于上月解放了赫尔松市。
在周六的晚间讲话中，乌克兰总统弗拉基米尔·泽伦斯基(Volodymyr Zelenskyy)猛烈抨击西方压制俄罗斯至关重要的石油工业的努力，该工业是普京战争机器的一个重要资金来源每桶60美元的价格上限对大部分俄罗斯石油的进口是不够的。
“为俄罗斯的价格设定这样的限制不是一个严肃的决定，这对恐怖主义国家的预算来说是相当舒适的，”泽伦斯基说，他指的是俄罗斯。他说，每桶60美元的价格仍能让俄罗斯每年获得1000亿美元的收入。
“这笔钱不仅将用于战争，也不仅用于俄罗斯对其他恐怖政权和组织的进一步支持。这笔钱将被用于进一步破坏那些现在试图避免做出重大决定的国家的稳定，”泽伦斯基说。
澳大利亚、英国、加拿大、日本、美国和欧盟27国周五同意将俄罗斯石油价格限定在每桶60美元。这一限制将于周一生效，同时欧盟对俄罗斯海运石油实施禁运。
俄罗斯当局拒绝了价格上限威胁周六停止供应支持它的国家。
俄罗斯副总理亚历山大·诺瓦克(Alexander Novak)周日表示:“我们将向这些国家出售石油和石油产品，这些国家将在市场条件下与我们合作，即使我们不得不稍微减产。”。
美国负责政治事务的副国务卿维多利亚·纽兰周六访问了一个为乌克兰国内流离失所者提供支持的乌克兰援助组织，她还访问了乌克兰高级官员，这是西方支持乌克兰反击俄罗斯军队和应对战争后果的又一表现。
纽兰和来自东北部哈尔科夫、南部赫尔松和东部顿涅茨克等地区的年轻人一起，用乌克兰国旗蓝黄两色的纱线组装洋娃娃。
“这是在绝对关键时刻对他们的心理支持，”纽兰说。
“正如普京总统最清楚的那样，这场战争可以在今天停止，如果他选择停止并撤出他的部队——然后谈判就可以开始，”她补充道。
US intel chief thinking 'optimistically' for Ukraine forces
KYIV, Ukraine --The head of U.S. intelligence says fighting inRussia’s war in Ukraineis running at a “reduced tempo” and suggests Ukrainian forces could have brighter prospects in coming months.
Avril Haines alluded to past allegations by some thatRussian President Vladimir Putin’s adviserscould be shielding him from bad news — for Russia — about war developments, and said he “is becoming more informed of the challenges that the military faces in Russia.”
“But it’s still not clear to us that he has a full picture of at this stage of just how challenged they are,” Haines, the U.S. director of national intelligence, said Saturday at the Reagan National Defense Forum in Simi Valley, California.
She said her team was "seeing a kind of a reduced tempo already of the conflict” and looking ahead expects both sides will look to refit, resupply, and reconstitute fora possible Ukrainian counter-offensivein the spring.
“But we actually have a fair amount of skepticism as to whether or not the Russians will be in fact prepared to do that,” said Haines, speaking to NBC's Andrea Mitchell. “And I think more optimistically for the Ukrainians in that time frame.”
On Sunday, the British Ministry of Defense, in its latest intelligence estimate, pointed to new signs from an independent Russian media outlet that public support in Russia for the military campaign was “falling significantly.”
Meduza said it obtained a recent confidential opinion survey conducted by the Federal Protection Service, which is in charge of guarding the Kremlin and providing security to top government officials.
The survey, commissioned by the Kremlin, found that 55% of respondents backed peace talks with Ukraine while 25% wanted the war to go on. The report didn’t mention the margin of error.
Levada Center, Russia’s top independent pollster, found in a similar poll carried out in November that 53% of respondents supported peace talks, 41% spoke in favor of continuing the fight, and 6% were undecided. It said that poll of 1,600 people had a margin of error of no more than 3.4%.
The British Defense Ministry noted that “despite the Russian authorities’ efforts to enforce pervasive control of the information environment, the conflict has become increasingly tangible for many Russians" since Putin in September ordered a "partial mobilization” of reservists to bolster his forces in Ukraine.
“With Russia unlikely to achieve major battlefield successes in the next several months, maintaining even tacit approval of the war amongst the population is likely to be increasingly difficult for the Kremlin,” the British ministry said.
In recent weeks, Russia’s military focus has been on striking Ukrainian infrastructure nationwide, pressing an offensive in the Donetsk region city of Bakhmut and shelling sites in the city of Kherson, which Ukrainian forces liberated last month after an 8-month Russian occupation.
In his nightly address on Saturday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy lashed out at Western efforts to crimp Russia’s crucial oil industry, a key source of funds for Putin’s war machine, saying their$60-per-barrel price capon imports of most Russian oil was insufficient.
“It is not a serious decision to set such a limit for Russian prices, which is quite comfortable for the budget of the terrorist state,” Zelenskyy said, referring to Russia. He said the $60-per-barrel level would still allow Russia to bring in $100 billion in revenues per year.
“This money will go not only to the war and not only to further sponsorship by Russia of other terrorist regimes and organisations. This money will be used for further destabilisation of those countries that are now trying to avoid serious decisions,” Zelenskyy said.
Australia, Britain, Canada, Japan, the United States and the 27-nation European Union agreed Friday to cap what they would pay for Russian oil at $60 per barrel. The limit is set to take effect Monday, along with an EU embargo on Russian oil shipped by sea.
Russian authorities have rejected the price cap andthreatened Saturday to stop supplyingthe nations that endorsed it.
“We will sell oil and oil products to those countries, which will work with us on market conditions, even if we have to somewhat cut production,” Deputy Prime Minister Alexander Novak said Sunday.
In yet another show of Western support for Ukraine's efforts to battle back Russian forces and cope with fallout from the war, U.S. Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria Nuland on Saturday visited the operations of a Ukrainian aid group that provides support for internally displaced people in Ukraine, among her other visits with top Ukrainian officials.
Nuland assembled dolls out of yarn in the blue-and-yellow colors of Ukraine's flag with youngsters from regions including Kharkiv in the northeast, Kherson in the south and Donetsk in the east.
“This is psychological support for them at an absolutely crucial time,” Nuland said.
“As President Putin knows best, this war could stop today, if he chose to stop it and withdrew his forces — and then negotiations can begin,” she added.
