Conflict in ukraine has been ongoing for nine months and has involved us intelligence agencies, the russian government, and the ukrainian government. avril haines, us director of intelligence, stated that both sides would attempt to “refit, resupply and reconstitute” for any counter-offensive in the spring. most of the fighting is currently located around the bakhmut and donetsk region of eastern ukraine, and russia has lost more than half of the territory it seized. russian attacks on ukraine’s energy infrastructure have also occurred.
War in ukraine began in march of this year and most of the fighting has occurred in the bakhmut and donetsk region of eastern ukraine. following russia’s withdrawal of troops from the west of the kherson region last month, fighting had slowed down. ukrainian president volodymyr zelensky has expressed his concerns about the shortages of ammunition, morale, supply issues, and logistics that his country is facing. last saturday, he stated that a price cap set by his western allies on russian oil exports was “weak” and “not serious” enough to damage the russian economy.
Intelligence believes russian president vladimir putin does not have a full picture of the challenges his military is facing. the kremlin spokesman dmitry peskov declared that moscow had prepared for the move but would not be selling its oil under the cap. the opec+ group, comprised of countries including russia and the united arab emirates, agreed to reduce output by two million barrels per day from november in an effort to bolster oil prices. the ukrainian security service has also imposed sanctions against 10 senior orthodox church figures, alleging that they have supported russia’s invasion. these sanctions are part of a series of measures taken by the ukrainian government against religious groups deemed to be a threat.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-63849268?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA
