WASHINGTON (AP) – U.S. intelligence officials say Russian President Vladimir Putin has been misinformed by his advisers about the poor performance of his nation’s forces in Ukraine.
A U.S. official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media, said Wednesday that Putin was aware of the situation and that there was a persistent tension between him. and senior Russian military officials.  Biden, in an exchange of views with reporters, said he could not comment.
The government hopes that revealing the finding could help Putin reconsider his choices in Ukraine.  The war has led to a bloody stalemate in much of the country, with heavy casualties and the morale of Russian troops sinking as Ukrainian forces and volunteers project an unexpectedly strong defense.
But the publicity could also further jeopardize Putin’s isolation, which U.S. officials say seems at least partly driven by a desire to regain Russian prestige lost since the fall of the Soviet Union.
Biden, meanwhile, told Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky during a 55-minute conversation that an additional $ 500 million in immediate aid to Ukraine was on the way.  It is the latest explosion in US aid as the Russian invasion continues.
Asked about the latest information, Foreign Minister Antony Blinken did not confirm the findings, but suggested that there is a dynamic in the Kremlin where advisers are reluctant to talk to Putin honestly.
“One of the Achilles heel of authoritarianism is that there are no people in these systems who tell the truth to the authorities or have the ability to tell the truth to the authorities, and I think that is what we see in Russia,” Blinken said.  journalists during a stop in Algeria on Wednesday.
The unnamed official did not elaborate on the details of how the US Secret Service made its decision.
The intelligence community concluded that Putin was unaware that his army was using him and was losing troops in Ukraine.  They also found that he was not fully aware of the extent to which the Russian economy was affected by the economic sanctions imposed by the United States and its allies.
The findings show a “clear collapse in the flow of accurate information” to Putin and show that Putin’s top advisers are “afraid to tell him the truth,” the official said.
Biden briefed Zelensky on the latest batch of aid during a call in which leaders also discussed security assistance already delivered to Ukraine and the impact of weapons on the war, according to the White House.
Zelesnkyy has pressed the Biden government and other Western allies to provide Ukraine with military aircraft, something the United States and other NATO nations have so far been reluctant to accept over concerns that it could lead to Russia extending the war beyond from the border of Ukraine.
Prior to Wednesday’s announcement of $ 500 million in aid, the Biden government had sent about $ 2 billion in humanitarian aid and security assistance to Ukraine since the start of the war last month.
That’s all part of the $ 13.6 billion bill approved by Congress earlier this month for Ukraine as part of a broader spending bill.
The new information came after the White House on Tuesday expressed skepticism about Russia’s public announcement that it would withdraw its operations near Kyiv in a bid to boost confidence in ongoing talks between Ukrainian and Russian officials in Turkey.
Russian forces pounded areas around the Ukrainian capital and another city overnight, regional leaders said Wednesday.
The Pentagon said Wednesday that in the past 24 hours it had seen some Russian troops in areas around Kyiv moving north toward or toward Belarus.
Pentagon spokesman John Kirby told CNN and Fox Business in an interview that the United States does not see this as a withdrawal but as an attempt by Russia to resupply, reposition and then reposition troops.
Putin has long been considered an outsider outside Russia and surrounded by officials who do not always tell him the truth.  U.S. officials have said they believe the limited flow of information – possibly exacerbated by Putin’s heightened isolation during the COVID-19 pandemic – could give the Russian president unrealistic views on how quickly he could overtake Ukraine. .
Before the war, the Biden administration launched an unprecedented effort to publicize what it believed were Putin’s invasion plans, based on intelligence findings.  As Russia continued to invade, the White House was widely credited with drawing attention to Ukraine and pushing initially reluctant allies to support harsh sanctions that have hit the Russian economy hard.
But by underscoring the limits of intelligence, the United States has also underestimated Ukraine’s willingness to fight before the invasion, said Lt. Gen. Scott Brier, head of the Defense Intelligence Service, in a recent statement to Congress.
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AP authors Matthew Lee in Algeria Algeria and Lolita C. Baldor contributed to the report.