President Joe Biden is warning that Russian President Vladimir Putin doesn’t have a ‘way out’ of his war on Ukraine – as the nation’s top intelligence official predicted a ‘prolonged conflict’ there.
Biden made the remarks at a Maryland fundraiser Monday evening, as lawmakers were preparing to fund another multi-billion aid package to help Ukraine repel Russia’s invasion.
He said Putin ‘doesn’t have a way out right now, and I’m trying to figure out what we do about that.’
He is one of many people inside the administration how has been trying to assess Putin’s motives – including a U.S. intelligence apparatus that spend months debating whether he intended to invade Russia’s neighbor and what his end-game might be
More than two months’ worth of losses of troops and equipment in Ukraine do not appear to have persuaded the Russian leader to call off the invasion.
‘We assess President Putin is preparing for a prolonged conflict in Ukraine during which he still intends to achieve goals beyond the Donbas,’ Director of National Intelligence Avril Haines testified Tuesday.
She spoke while appearing before the Senate Armed Services Committee.
That follows a warning Saturday by CIA Director Bill Burns. Putin is ‘in a frame of mind in which he doesn’t believe he can afford to lose,’ said at a Financial Times event.
‘I think he’s convinced right now that doubling down still will enable him to make progress.’
Russia continues to pound Ukraine after a May 9th parade in Moscow marking the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II. That included continued shelling of Odessa and a school in eastern Ukraine.
The House is preparing to vote on $40 billion package to aid Ukraine – $7 billion more than Biden requested. The additional funds in the latest version are split between military and humanitarian aid.