New York: Russia almost won its war in Ukraine before Moscow’s military plans fell apart, a Danish intelligence officer said, Newsweek reported.
Quoting an interview with Danish newspaper Berlingske, the head of Russian analysis for Danish intelligence agency Forsvarets Efterretningstjeneste said that Russia could have easily invaded and taken over Ukraine in only two weeks after Vladimir Putin launched the “special military operation”.
In the early weeks of the invasion, the officer said that Russia was close to winning the war, but poor decision-making cost Russia adding that the major reason for the losses was Vladimir Putin’s ideological convictions, rather than poor intelligence.
“We put a lot of the blame for this on Putin’s shoulders,” the official said, citing decision-making among a small group of his allies that was not shared with others.
“These are pretty small factors that ended up deciding the outcome,” he said, adding that he believes Vladimir Putin is still interfering in the military’s conduct of the war.
“He has a general to lead this war. So he shouldn’t be sitting there getting input from all these other generals,” he told the Danish newspaper saying that he doubts that Russia will be able to launch a winter offensive.
This comes as Russia said 63 of its soldiers had been killed in a Ukrainian New Year’s Eve attack on their quarters in the town of Makiivka.
