Speaking at a Senate Armed Services Committee hearing Tuesday, U.S. Chief of Staff General Todd Wolters was asked by Sen. Roger Walker, a Republican in Mississippi, if there was a gap in information that led the U.S. to overthrow the U.S. Ukrainian defense. “It could exist,” Wolters replied. “As we have always done in the past, when this crisis is over, we will conduct a comprehensive post-action review in all areas and in all departments and find out where our weaknesses were and make sure we can find ways to improve, and that could be one of those areas. “ While US intelligence had predicted that Russia was planning to invade Ukraine – which the Biden government released aggressively to turn global sentiment against the Kremlin – the intelligence community did not evaluate the Russian military’s poor performance. In the early hours of the war, US officials offered to help Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky flee the country as Russian troops moved toward Kyiv, fearing he would be killed. Zelensky refused, asking for weapons instead to help Ukraine defend itself against Russia. US and NATO allies have continued to assist in re-equipping the Ukrainian army with weapons, including Javelin anti-tank missiles and Stinger anti-aircraft missiles used against Russian forces. While estimates vary widely, sources familiar with the estimates say thousands of Russian soldiers have been killed in the conflict. U.S. officials say they have no clue about the morale of the Russian military. More than a month after the war, Russia said on Tuesday it would “drastically reduce” its military offensive in the Ukrainian cities of Kyiv and Chernihiv, following talks between representatives of the two nations on Tuesday. U.S. officials told CNN it was a “major” change of strategy from Moscow, with Russian forces withdrawing to parts of the north and focusing on gains in the south and east. “At a hearing in the Senate Intelligence Committee earlier this month, the director of the National Intelligence Service, Avril Haines, said that the US intelligence community had assessed that Russian President Vladimir Putin underestimated the potential resistance that the Ukrainians would face before the invasion.” . “I think we did well there,” he said. “We did not do so well in anticipating the military challenges he faced with his own army.” Lt. Gen. Scott Berrier, chief of the Defense Intelligence Service, said US intelligence estimates before the invasion were based on a number of factors, including that the Ukrainians “were not as prepared as I thought they should be.” “Therefore, I questioned their willingness to fight. That was a bad assessment on my part, because they have fought bravely and honestly and are doing the right thing,” he said. Asked by Arkansas Democratic Sen. Tom Cotton about estimates of how long Kyiv would last or how long Ukraine could maintain its air defenses, Berrier said the intelligence community “made some assumptions about the “(Putin)’s cases, which turned out to be very, very wrong.” “His actual activity as he entered this struggle overturned his operation,” Berrier said of Putin. “And what we’ve seen is a transfer, if you will, of the business he’s doing now.”
