CIA Chief Reveals Russia's Weak Spots on Battlefield

William Burns, director of the US Central Intelligence Agency, has said that Ukraine will be able to move forward in its offensive against Russia.

"It is going to be a tough slog, but we’re going to do everything we can as an intelligence agency to provide the kind of intelligence support and sharing that’s going to help the Ukrainians to make progress," Bloomberg cites Burns.

Burns has stated that Russia's defence is underpinned by a number of significant structural weaknesses. These include low morale, poor command and disarray among the political and military leadership.

He also noted that the mutiny of Wagner Group leader Yevgeny Prigozhin in June had "exposed some of the significant weaknesses in the system that Putin has built."

"For a lot of Russians watching this used to this image of Putin as the arbiter of order, the question was does the emperor have no clothes or at least why does it take so long for him to get dressed," Burns said.

He added that Putin will likely try not to give the impression that he was overreacting to the rebellion.

Burns also said that the rebellion was a "unique opportunity" for CIA recruitment in Russia. CIA has recently posted its first video on Telegram to let Russians know how to contact it.

The CIA chief added that the video had been viewed 2.5 million times over the week since it was posted.

Burns also believes that Russian President Vladimir Putin may still get even with the Wagner PMC financier Yevgeny Prigozhin for the rebellion he orchestrated.

Earlier, the head of the UK’s MI6 foreign intelligence service called on Russians outraged by the war in Ukraine to join the ranks of the UK’s intelligence service.