The US intelligence director rules out that Russia could carry out a "significant offensive" this year

He affirms that the military communication channels with Moscow remain open despite the tension

MADRID, 4 May. (EUROPA PRESS) -

The director of National Intelligence of the United States, Avril Haines, has ruled out this Thursday that Russia could carry out a "significant offensive" throughout this year in Ukraine due to the lack of ammunition and sufficient weapons for it.

This was stated during his appearance before the United States Senate Armed Services Committee, where he stressed that Russia will run into difficulties "regardless of whether Ukrainian troops successfully carry out a counterattack."

"In fact, if Russia does not implement a mandatory mobilization and guarantee the entry of ammunition and weapons by third countries and beyond imports from Iran, it will be increasingly difficult for them to continue with their operations," he said. punctuated.

In this sense, he has indicated that Russian President Vladimir Putin "has probably reversed some of his ambitions" in the framework of the invasion of Ukraine to "consolidate his control over the occupied territory in the east and south of the country and ensure that Ukraine never becomes a member of NATO".

However, he has stressed that he does not consider it likely that Russia will negotiate a "stop" this year unless "political factors make him change his mind" and has pointed out that the Russian forces "are preparing to defend themselves against the Ukrainian counteroffensive". but "they have gained less territory in the month of April than during any of the three preceding months."

In addition, Haines has qualified that military communication between Washington and Moscow is maintained despite the increase in tension and has stressed that the latest US intelligence reports point to a low probability that Moscow plans to resort to nuclear weapons.

On the other hand, it has indicated that the US government does not have sufficient information to comment on the drone attack carried out on Wednesday afternoon against the Kremlin.

"We have seen that the Ukrainian government has denied any involvement in this. And, at this time, we have no information that would allow us to analyze the situation independently," Haines said.

In this sense, he stressed that Putin "does not usually spend nights in the Kremlin" and recalled that although Ukraine has denied his responsibility this time, on previous occasions it has been "ambiguous or has not ruled on its possible responsibility" in other attacks.

The intelligence community of the North American country considers that the accusations made by Russia, which insist that kyiv has tried to assassinate Putin, are, most likely, pure "disinformation".