The heads of the US and UK foreign intelligence services have acknowledged some achievements in the Ukrainian military’s incursion into western Russia.
CIA Director William Burns and MI6 Chief Richard Moore appeared on stage together during a public event in London on Saturday.
Moore referred to Ukraine’s offensive in Russia’s western region of Kursk. He described it as “a typically audacious and bold move by the Ukrainians…to try and change the game.”
Burns said the offensive “has exposed some of the vulnerabilities of” Russian President Vladimir Putin and his military. He said the incursion also “did raise questions” across the Russian elite about where the war is headed.
Burns added that there was a moment in the fall of 2022, when he thought there was “a genuine risk” of “the potential use of tactical nuclear weapons” by Russia in Ukraine.
That was when the Ukrainian military was engaged in a counteroffensive in the eastern region of Kharkiv and elsewhere.
Moore cautioned that it would be wrong to take Russia’s nuclear threats lightly. But he said, “Nobody in the West is going to be intimidated by such talk or any other behavior by the Russian state.”