Because the battle in Ukraine enters its second yr, CIA Director William Burns stated Sunday that Russian President Vladimir Putin is being “too assured” in his army’s potential to grind Ukraine into submission.

Burns, in a tv interview, stated the top of Russia’s intelligence providers had displayed of their November assembly “a way of cockiness and hubris” that mirrored Putin’s personal beliefs “that he could make time work for him, that he believes he can grind down the Ukrainians that he can put on down our European allies, that political fatigue will finally set in.”

That dialog, through which Burns warned of the results if Russia had been to deploy a nuclear weapon in Ukraine, was “fairly dispiriting,” Burns stated.

Burns stated he judged Putin as “fairly decided” to proceed prosecuting the battle, regardless of the casualties, tactical shortcomings and financial and reputational harm to Russia.

“I believe Putin is, proper now, solely too assured of his potential … to put on down Ukraine,” Burns informed CBS’ “Face the Nation” in an interview that aired Sunday. Burns stated that “in some unspecified time in the future, he will must resist growing prices as effectively, in coffins coming residence to a few of the poorest components of Russia,” the place he stated most of the conscripts “being thrown as cannon fodder” are from.

Burns additionally stated Putin was underestimating U.S. resolve to help Ukraine, saying that it has been his expertise that the Russian chief’s view is that People have “consideration deficit dysfunction and we’ll transfer on to another difficulty finally.”

The feedback got here at a vital juncture for the battle because the Biden administration is “assured that the Chinese language management is contemplating” whether or not to supply “deadly” army tools to Russia.

“It could be a really dangerous and unwise guess,” Burns stated, including that such a transfer may solely additional pressure relations between the world’s two largest economics. “That is why I hope very a lot that they do not.”

Burns stated China’s chief, Xi Jinping, has intently watched how the battle has advanced, and “I believe, in some ways, he is been unsettled and sobered by what he is seen.” The CIA director spoke of “the place Putin’s hubris has now gotten Russia,” and stated that in authoritarian methods, when “no one challenges” a pacesetter, “you may make some large blunders.”

In the meantime, the query of army support and the tempo of the battle can be a supply of uncertainty within the U.S. as Republican lawmakers criticized the administration for not sending F-16 fighter jets to Ukraine.

White Home nationwide safety adviser Jake Sullivan stated the U.S. was offering Ukraine with the army support wanted to retake territory seized by Russia. The home politics of help for Ukraine are additionally sophisticated by some GOP members of Congress who say the administration ought to pull again and focus extra on the wants at residence.

Rep. Michael McCaul, chairman of the Home International Relations Committee, stated planes and long-range artillery may assist finish the battle on a quicker timeline. “This entire factor is taking too lengthy,” McCaul stated. “And it actually did not must occur this manner,” stated McCaul, R-Texas.

Ukraine received help final month from Baltic nations and Poland in its quest to acquire Western fighter jets, however there have been no indicators that nations such because the U.S. and Britain will change their stance of refusing to supply warplanes to Kyiv.

Biden stated in an ABC Information interview on Friday that he is “ruling it out for now,” saying that they don’t seem to be the weaponry that Ukrainians want within the close to time period.

However Sen. Dan Sullivan, R-Alaska, stated the White Home has been sluggish in offering what Ukraine seeks, together with jets. “That has been a sample with this administration from the start, the place they’ve slow-rolled vital army weapons methods,” he stated.

Jake Sullivan stated the U.S. is already offering components to maintain Ukraine’s fleet of Soviet-era jets flying, however supplying F-16s “is known as a query for an additional day, for an additional part” of the battle.

Jake Sullivan appeared on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” CNN’s “State of the Union” and ABC’s “This Week.” McCaul was on ABC and Dan Sullivan was on NBC.