WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Ukrainian troops are intent on retaining the Russian territory they have seized for “some period of time” and an expected Russian counteroffensive will be a difficult fight, CIA Deputy Director David Cohen said on Wednesday.
Russian President Vladimir Putin will have to “deal with reverberations back in his own society” over the loss of Russian territory, Cohen said at an intelligence conference.
Ukraine launched a major cross-border incursion on Aug. 6 into Russia’s Kursk region, where Ukraine has claimed the capture of 100 settlements, while Russian forces continue to inch forward in the eastern Donetsk region.
Cohen said he believed Putin will mount a counteroffensive but expected that to be a difficult fight for the Russians.
On Tuesday, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said the war with Russia would eventually end in dialogue, but that Kyiv had to be in a strong position and that he would present a plan to U.S. President Joe Biden and his two potential successors.
Putin has said any deal needs to start with Ukraine’s acceptance of “realities on the ground,” that would leave Russia with possession of substantial chunks of four Ukrainian regions as well as Crimea. Now Ukraine says it controls more than 1,200 square km (463 square miles) of Russia’s Kursk region.
(Reporting by Jonathan Landay; Writing by Doina Chiacu; Editing by Franklin Paul and Jonathan Oatis)
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