Russian President Vladimir Putin might order his troops to use more aggressive methods to conquer Ukraine because of its lackluster performance so far, NBC News reported on Tuesday.
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According to the report, which is based on what former and current US officials to the network, the Russian leader "is growing increasingly frustrated by his military struggles in Ukraine and may see his only option as doubling down on violence."
"This is somebody that's clearly been caught off guard by the size of the Ukrainian resistance," Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., the chairman of the Intelligence Committee, said on MSNBC. "He has isolated himself. He's not been in the Kremlin very much. ... You've got less and less inputs, and these inputs are from sycophants."
The network further said that Western intelligence agencies are analyzing Putin's every move to pick up behavioral shifts and it appears that his overall conduct and mindset have changed despite there not being any intelligence to suggest that he is mentally unstable.
"The US has solid intelligence that Putin is frustrated and directing unusual bursts of anger at people in his inner circle over the state of the military campaign and the worldwide condemnation of his actions," the network said, based on what the sources said.
"He is no longer the same cold-blooded, clear-eyed dictator that he was in 2008," former CIA Director John Brennan said. Another Western diplomat said Putin was increasingly insulated and misinformed. "We don't believe he has a realistic understanding of what's going on," the diplomat said.
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