Intelligence suggests Putin’s immediate goals for Ukraine war may have shifted

New intelligence reviewed by US and Western officials suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin may have shifted his immediate focus in the Ukraine war towards the shorter-term objectives of solidifying his hold on territory his forces have seized as well as boosting his country’s struggling economy, multiple people familiar with the matter told CNN.

New intelligence reviewed by US and Western officials suggests Russian President Vladimir Putin may have shifted his immediate focus in the Ukraine war toward the shorter-term objectives of solidifying his hold on territory his forces have seized and boosting his country’s struggling economy, multiple people familiar with the matter told CNN. This represents an evolution from recent US and Western intelligence assessments suggesting that Putin felt the state of the war was to his advantage, that he had the momentum as well as the manpower to sustain a longer fight against a faltering Ukraine and seize the entire country. The perception Putin may have shifted his thinking has played into President Donald Trump and his negotiators’ belief that the Russian president may be more willing to consider a potential peace deal than in the past, two US sources familiar with the matter told CNN. However, senior US officials remain skeptical of Putin and his repeated assertions in ongoing talks that he wants a peace deal, even though what is being proposed by the US is incredibly generous to Russia, handing them most of the territory they’ve taken. There is also a widespread belief that even if Russia agrees to a version of the agreement on the table it may look to resume the war and try to seize more of Ukraine in the long-term. “I think that he may be thinking - I don’t want to say thinking smaller - but thinking about what a reasonable nearer-term objective is,” said a senior western intelligence official. The pressure exerted by an increasingly angry Trump administration, threatening more sanctions and a struggling Russian economy, have Putin in a potentially difficult position. There has also been strong emphasis in talks on the potential for investments between the US and Russia if the war ends, opportunities the US has called “historic.”